Anglo-Norman Arising
the wealth of norman England is poised to grow
towns enlarge, markets exchange, a fresh fertilising sprinkled culture
kingdoms extend with numbers reducing
old and new empires jostle, reshaping across continents and islands
what of England's exploited common people ?
thirty odd years, grinding lifespan under yoke of nature and powerful men
some twenty-eight thousand slaves, their chains recast
submerging in land of toil, one and a half million serfs, feudal tenure
serving hierarchical masters and lords
means to ends of ambitious persons, kingly and ecclesiastical
bodies supplied for food, battle and pleasure
social systems of necessity, fear and status, capital and labour
promises promises, marriage, ambition
martial opportunistic rulers from the Duchy of Normandy
Norsemen upon Norsemen, top-down history
veneer of eight thousand foreigners over Anglo-Saxon England
old nobility orders quelled and subsumed
a new imposing Franko-Viking and Gallo-Roman aristocracy
military prowess with a pious bent
royal administrative structures, replacement earls, abbots and bishops
cross-channel semi-absentee supplanted rule
building castles, installing garrisons, subduing rebellion, gaining land
more danegeld placation, writs, charters, records
Latin, elite Gallo-Romance... Anglo-Norman arising
divine and earthly rule by monarchs supreme
constrained by wily popes playing alternative papal legate games
competing families claim crown succession
the identity of England deepens, widening, diversifying
churches built with magnificent sturdy presence
protected forests, monastic revival, canon and common law
high birth, elevating spires, merchants and courts
spreading French as a second and intermediate, infiltrating language
determining social level through schools and trade
dynamics blending ancient Germanic tongue and Roman parlance
fluidity, precision, layers of meaning
short notes in the wind, longer softer melodies, the sounds of England
expanding country, alert and on its toes
conflict with royal Scotland, pushing into Wales, eventually Ireland
acquiring half of France, managing civil war
assertive, devious, treacherous, conniving, alliance and attack
seeking reward, endeavour beyond the shore
positive feedback seeping down, common people absorbing England
foundations of a becoming English state
will of higher authorities, church encouraging folk to bend the knee
earthly wages, compensation in heaven
commoner before the throne, the cross and military lordly commanders
the trumpet of victory and time passing
a mighty other-worldly purpose aligned with king, god and England
Copyright © Ian Love | Year Posted 2018
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