Influence of French on English England, kept their Norman mother tongue, while the more modest rural and urban strata continued to speak English. Norman was a particular variety of the Gallo-Roman language, spoken in Normandy. It was one of the Oil languages alongside, among others, the Picard and the Walloon. The Norman language was modified in contact with the Anglo-Saxon language. It then integrated words and phrases from English and give birth to a dialect, Anglo-Norman, still spoken on the Anglo-Norman isles. Anglo-Norman can be described as a vernacular language, on English soil in the 11th century, in the field of literature, culture, court and
History of the British Isles invaded and settled by Gaels. The Early medieval period saw a series of invasions of Britain by the Germanic-speaking Saxons, beginning in the 5th century. Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were formed and, through wars with British states, gradually came to cover the territory of present-day England. Around 600, seven principal kingdoms had emerged, beginning the so-called period of the Heptarchy. During that period, the Anglo-Saxon states were Christianised (the conversion of the British ones had begun much earlier). In the 9th century, Vikings from Denmark and Norway conquered most of England. Only the Kingdom of Wessex under Alfred the Great survived and