hellog〜英語史ブログ / 2018-09-24

■ #3437. ノルマン征服に従軍したフランドル人 [history][flemish][norman_conquest][me_text]

　昨日の記事「#3436. 英語と低地諸語との接触の歴史」 ([2018-09-23-1]) の (2) で，ノルマン征服に付き従った外国軍のなかにフランドル人がおり，征服後もブリテン島に残ったらしいと述べた．これに関して，1338年頃に詩人 Robert Mannyng of Brunne が訳した Chronicle のなかに，次のような言及がある．Baugh and Cable (108) に引かれているものを現代語訳とともに再掲する．

To Frankis & Normanz, for þar grete laboure,
To Flemmynges & Pikardes, þat were with him in stoure,
He gaf londes bityme, of whilk þer successoure
Hold ȝit þe seysyne, with fulle grete honoure.

To French and Normans, for their great labor,
To Flemings and Picards, that were with him in battle,
He gave lands betimes, of which their successors
Hold yet the seizin, with full great honor.

　Chamson (285) は，この記述を受けて次のように述べている．

The last two lines, referring to lands held by the successors of the foreign troops, indicate that the Flemings remained in Britain. Other non-Norman foreigners, e.g. the Bretons, are known to have left Britain after their service to William. During the conquest and its aftermath, large numbers of traders and mercenaries from the Low Countries came to Britain.

　フランドル人は，ノルマン征服の最中とその後に，その立ち位置から，ノルマン人とイングランド人を結びつける役割を演じたと考えることができるかもしれない．軍事・経済的にそうだったとすれば，言語的にもそうだったのではないかと，確かに考えてみたくなる．

　・ Baugh, Albert C. and Thomas Cable. A History of the English Language. 6th ed. London: Routledge, 2013.
　・ Chamson, Emil. "Revisiting a Millennium of Migrations: Contextualizing Dutch/Low-German Influence on English Dialect Lexis." Contact, Variation, and Change in the History of English. Ed. Simone E. Pfenninger, Olga Timofeeva, Anne-Christine Gardner, Alpo Honkapohja, Marianne Hundt and Daniel Schreier. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins, 2014. 281--303.

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