Why is the Norman Conquest normally considered the start of the British Monarchy? Why do we consider the British Anglo-Saxons?

by YouAreBreathing

Two questions that touch on common considerations of "Englishness" and its conquests.

I'm not a UK citizen, so my understanding of what is commonly considered the start of the English Monarchy might be wrong. But in the English histories I read/watch, people generally talk about the Norman Conquest as the real/most significant beginning of the English monarchy. Why? There were Anglo-Saxon monarchs before, and part of William the Conquerors claim to the throne was his relation to the dead King. It can't be because it was the most recent foreignly invaded Monarch, because Henry Tudor did that. So why does the history of the monarchy so often base itself around the Norman conquest?

On a related note, why do we consider the British to be "Anglo-Saxons"? Why not Britons or Celts? Or even Romans? Or Normans? Was it because the Anglo-Saxons brought the first unified culture? Since, to my understanding, the Britons and Celts didn't operate nationally but more in clans? Was it because the Anglo-Saxon invaders intermixed with the local population more than the Normans? Did many Normans even come over in the conquest or was is mostly just a Norman ruler ruling over an Anglo-Saxon people?

2deux2

Ok, a few things to clear up:

  • Britain did not exist prior to the 1707 Act of Union whereby the Parliaments of England and Scotland were replaced with the Parliament of the United Kingdom. When you are talking about the Norman conquest you are talking about the English monarchy. The Scots had their own kings who were not removed by the conquest
  • The first King of England was the Anglo-Saxon Athelstan in 939 who briefly united the warring Saxon kingdoms and subdued the Vikings. But his kingdom was full of Vikings and not stable. The largest Viking city Jorvik (York) rebelled after his death. In 1016, the Viking King Cnut conquered England, Denmark, Norway and parts of Sweden and it took about 25 years for England to revert to an Anglo-Saxon monarchy.
  • The Normans then conquered the Anglo-Saxons. The Norman line of monarchs (via the Plantagenets) lasted over 400 years until 1485, they built many of England's most famous castles and cathedrals which are still visible today i.e. the Tower of London and Windsor Castle, & Durham, Gloucester and Winchester Cathedrals to name a few. The Queen's oldest residences dates back to the Normans- she gives her Christmas address from Windsor Castle which was founded by them. There are very few Saxon buildings left in England and nothing on the scale of what the Normans built.

So in summary- England only became stable after the Norman conquest and many of the great royal buildings were started then- hence the importance of 1066 in England's national identity and to the Monarchy

On your later question-

  • The British people are known internally as Britons, not Anglo-Saxons- it's only in the US and a few other places that they refer to people of British descent as Anglo-Saxons
  • The English language is heavily influenced by Anglo-Saxon (50%+ of its words) so it's probably as good a word as any to describe them
  • The Normans were a minority after the conquest- the majority of people in England or the rest of Britain have never identified as Norman