Flemish bilingualism (Dutch and French) and its implications for communication in Anglo-Norman England.

Elisabeth van Houts

Mutual comprehensibility Old English and Dutch

Alpertus of Metz, ? Miracula s. Waldburgae Tielensia, c. 2 ( ed. O. Holder-Egger, MGH, SS xv, 2, p. 765) [1022-3]: Erat quidam ex Britannia conductus a mercatore in navim suam; hic veniens ad Tiel, arreptus est a daemonio; quem …comprehenderunt et in corium bovis, quod linguae Britanniorum ‘hudisac’ vocatur, ligaverunt. Trans: ‘A merchant employed someone from Britain on his ship. When he arrived at Tiel he was possessed by the devil; when their attempt to calm him down with words failed… they caught him and tied him up in a leather bag which the English call a ‘hyddesacc’.

Written by priest or canon of the Walburgis church at Tiel in c. 1022 (p. 764). Almost certainly to be identified as Alpertus of Metz the author dedicated his account to Bishop Adalbero of Utrecht (c. 1010-26). Important is that ?Alpertus felt he should explain to Adalbero/his audience the English word ‘hyddesacc’ as it is very similar to the Dutch word ‘huidenzak’, ie leather bag. Perhaps, because the text was written in Latin. Nevertheless,the vocabulary suggests in this case mutual comprehensibility between the English and the Dutch language.

Bilingualism (Dutch and French) of Flemish churchmen

St Arnulf of Oudenaarde/bishop of Soissons (d. 1087): Quadam die in conuentu fratrum quiddam proloqui uolens non potuit [sc. Arnulfus] more Francorum ad unguem exprimere uerbum; idcirco dixit ei abbas ut ad horam sileret, ne scilicet utilitas cause differetur, si latius inde tractaretur.‘One day, when in the company of his brothers he wanted to say something but could not fluently say this in French, the abbot told him to keep silent so that he would not be unnecessarily longwinded and so hold up the conversation.’

Vitae, Miracula, translation et alia hagiographica sancti Arnulphi episcopi Suessionensis, ed. Renée Nip, CCCM, 285 (Turnhout, 2015), 16-17; for a discussion, see R. Nip, Arnulfus van Oudenburg, bisschop van Soissons (d. 1087). Studie van de bronnen en diplomatische editie van BHL 703 (Handschrift Brussel, Koninklijke bibiliotheek, 982) (Turnhout, 2004), 154-5

John of Warneton (Waasten), bishop of Thérouanne (1109-30): namque archidiaconum Atrebatensem Iohannem de Monte Sancti Eligii regularem canonicum, lingua Latina, Romana et Theutonica adprime eruditum, personam… ‘For archdeacon of Arras, John of Mont Elois, a regular canon, a person very skilled in Latin, French and Dutch….’

Simon of St Bertin, Gesta abbatum sancti Bertini Sithiensium, c. 56 (MGH SS xiii, 646-7 ) and Walterii archidiaconi Tervanensis , Vita Karoli comitis Flandrie et Vita domni Ioannis Morinensis episcopi…, ed. Jeff Rider CCCM, 217 (Turnholt, 2006), p xxxviii.

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Abbot William of Andres (c. 1220–34): Ex consuetudine quoque patrie nostre in curia nostra per singulas quindenas humanas leges et iudicia mundana constat exerceri, que omnia non nisi Flandrensi idiomate discuti debent et terminari; et luce clarius apparet, quod, dum prelati nostri circa hec minus idonei extiterint, dum principum et nobilium terre propter linguarum dissonantiam minus notitiam et gratiam habuerint, ecclesiam nostram quandoque fuisse ex defectu prelatorum exheredatam et adhuc periclitari.

‘Also, it is the custom of our country that human laws and secular judgments are carried out every fortnight in our courts, all of which should be discussed and settled only in Flemish speech, and it appears more clearly than the light of day that as our rulers [= abbots] would be less suitable in this regard and would have less friendship with and grace from the princes and nobles of the land because of the difference of tongues, our church would be disinherited at some time through the failure of the rulers [= abbots] and to that degree would be endangered.’

[Alternative translation (note tenses)]: ‘…it appears more clearly than the light of day that, when our rulers [= abbots] were less suitable in this regard and had less acquaintance with and grace from the princes and nobles of the land because of the difference of tongues, our church has been disinherited at times through the failure of the rulers [= abbots] and is still being endangered.’

William of Andres, Chronicon Andrense, c. 150 ed. J. Heller, MGH SS 24, pp. 684–773 at p. 735; The Chronicle of Andres, trans. Leah Shopkow (Washington, 2017) p. 182 (c. 245) [first passage.

After 1066 Dutch speaking Flemish facilitated Norman contact with Anglophones

Gerard ‘of Arras’ or ‘of ’, c. 1073 moneyer at Arras who had dealings with archbishop of Canterbury (1070-89). Lanfranc provided the funds for Gerard to pay his debts and an entry fee to become monk at Bec. According to Niksanen, in 1080 Gerard accompanied Anselm as far as Wissant for the abbot’s first visit to England and 1092-3 came all the way, via Wissant, with him to England (p. 43 n. 1). Bec’s interest in the early 1070s in Gerard must have been his Anglo-Flemish contacts as money lender and businessman who was bilingual in French and Dutch and almost certainly knew some English (Letters of Anselm, , vol.I The Bec letters, ed. and trans. Samu Niskanen , OMT, (Oxford 2019) I, no. 13, pp. 42-5 [1072]; no. 86, p. 252-3 [late ]; no. 130. pp. 380-3 [1073])

Engelhard, ‘of the castle of of Lens’ c.1075-8 Anselm’s letter to Countess Adela of Flanders of 1075x8 seeks her intercession for Engelhard, ‘of the castle of Lens’, an old man who wants to become a monk at Bec, and he needs permission to leave Flanders from Adela’s son Robert the Frisian. (ditto, I, 77, pp. 22-3).

Notes 1.Norman sea routes were either from Boulogne, Wissant (St Omer and Guines) for Canterbury and London or from , Cherbourg to south west of England ie Winchester. 2. ‘Dutch’ born queens of England Matilda of Flanders (d.1083), (d. 1151)

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