Identité, espace, langue

Abstract

The British Isles have been occupied by different populations in different times. In the historical times, Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Scandinavian and Norman French have succeeded each other in turn. The Anglo-Saxons have created the regnum Anglorum, which the Normans duly conquered in 1066. But, whatever the ethnic differences, a common English identity was soon recognized by their neighbours: to accept this fact discards the old debate Normans vs Anglo-Saxon, but makes it compulsory to face the consequences of domination, conquest and imperialism on the British Isles. The English identity was certainly reinforced by constructing the “otherness” of those excluded as Barbarians. And language also played an important part in the process, the “triumph of English” bridging the chronological gap between the British and Anglo-Saxon past and the England of the Hundred Years War.