ear than through the eye learning a second language presents no
great problem. The ability to speak one or more languages besides
one's native tongue is largely a matter of opportunity, as can be
seen in a number of European countries today. In this connection
we may again recall the situation of Belgium, where the majority
of the people can get along in either Flemish or French, regard-
less of which of the two languages they habitually use.

Charles H. Haskins' The Normans in European History ( Boston,
1915) furnishes an excellent background to the events discussed in this
chapter. Norman influence in England before the Conquest is dis-
cussed by J. H. Round, "Normans under Edward the Confessor," in
his Feudal England ( London, 1895), pp. 317-31. E. A. Freeman's
History of the Norman Conquest (6v., 1867-79) is still standard,
though often and sharply criticized. The same author published con-
venient small volumes on the period in A Short History of the Norman
Conquest of England ( Oxford, 1880) and William the Conqueror
( London, 1888). The chapter in John Beddoe's The Races of Britain
( Bristol, 1885) on the Norman immigration is largely based on the
evidence of personal names, and while the results are interesting, the
evidence is untrustworthy because of the fashion of employing French
names and the uncertainties of nomenclature during the period under
discussion. For the general history of the period Austin L. Poole's
From Domesday Book to Magna Carta 1087- 1216 ( Oxford, 1951) is
excellent. On the relations between France and England, see T. F. Tout
, France and England: Their Relations in the Middle Ages and
Now ( Manchester, 1922), especially chapter III. The first attempt of
much value to determine the position of the French and English
languages in England, except for Freeman's discussion, was Oscar Scheibner
, Ueber die Herrschaft der franzdsischen Sprache in England
vom XI. bis zum XIV. Jahrhundert (Annaberg, 1880). Bertrand Clover
's The Mastery of the French Language in England from the
Xlth to the XIVth Century borrows heavily from Scheibner and adds
nothing of value. Behrens' discussion in Paul's Grundriss der Ger-
manischen Philologie is rather brief. The fullest attempt to collect the
documentary evidence is Johan Vising's Franska Språket i England
(3 pts., Göteborg, 1900-02). The author's views are epitomized in Le
Français en Engleterre: mémoire sur les études de l'anglo-normand
( Macon, 1901) and Anglo-Norman Language and Literature ( London,
1923). Chapter IX (Le français à l'étranger ) of F. Brunot's Histoire
de la langue française, vol. I ( Paris, 1905) presents clearly the inter-
national character of French in the Middle Ages.

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