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The Normans in Great Britain

-    The strong system of government which the Normans introduced meant that the Anglo-Norman Kingdom was easily the most powerful force in the British Isles. Not surprisingly therefore,

the authority of the English monarch gradually extended to other parts of these islands in the next 250 years.

By the end of 13^,h century a large part of eastern Ireland was controlled by Anglo-Norman lords in the name of English King and the whole of Wales was under his direct rule (at which time the custom of naming the monarch's eldest son the Prince of Wales' began). Scotland managed to remain politically independent in the medieval period.

-    The cultural story of this period is different. 250 years ago the Norman conquest, it was Germanie language (Middle English) and not the Norman (French) which had become the dominant one in all classes of society in England. Furthermore, it was the Anglo- Saxon concept of common law , and not the Roman law, which formed the basis ofthe legał system.