Evening star., 1927-04-25
lEAT CONQUEROR
WILL Be HONORED
ance Will Join England in
3emembering 900th Birth
day of Famous King.

The romantic origin of William the
uuueror and its far-reaching lnflu-
&C on English civilization are re-
led by the National Geographic
,ietv in an account of the celebra-
= 70 be held by France and Eng
nd this year to mark the 900tn
tai anniversary Of the noted son of
bert Count of Hiesmois, and Ar
4D.te. the tanners daughter.
France and England this year viii
p nor Robert and Arlette, when they
.frbrate the 9O0th anniversary of the
nth to them of q son, William the
spuuueror. (" says a bulletin from the
Geographic Society.
Departure Of Williams fleet from
r}ives. -Mer, Normandy, for Eng
md in 1866 will be re-enacted From
Dives the vessels viii proceed to lie
'avre and up the Seine to Rouen,
he old Norman capital, where other
,remonies will take place.
If all the world loves a lover Rob
1T Count of Hiesmois is entitled to
much affection this year.
1t Was Apple Blossom Time.
cit was Spring and a rare sunny
7ay in Normandy, apple blossoms
.nnting the lazy air, when Robert,
ZEN in the ardent age of IS, rode up
.am the hunt TO his Castle Falaise.
rs he passed the spring where women
ID Falaise still wash their clothes he
card a lifting song, so the legend
roes, and saw that the singer was
ssautiful. Robert wooed Arlette, the
sanner's daughter Lochinvarlike he
carried her into his castle.
"T1e son born of this romance was
lY.if iS1p .NY1N.
are and the English speaking peoples
of the world William must be COM
,ared with some geographic force
Ike the Gulf Stream to gauge the
greatness of his deeds.
although William the Conqueror
never in his life went more than $50
miles from home, although the scene
of his decisive victory at Hastings,
England lies but $50 miles from his
birthplace, Falaise, he diverted the
whole course Of English life. His 700
open boats that sailed from Dives
>ur-Mer with 5000 knights and arch
crs carried as invisible cargo many
Of the words in this bulletin. Three
fourths of the words in our present |
English language crossed the Channel
IN Williams train. OF the SO com !
mon words (omitting articles and |
y
one e-fourth, followed the Norman con-
querors into Britain. If William had |
never crossed the Channel our speech |
might be chiefly mixture of Scandi- |
nayian and German.
Paradox Explained.
'"The arithmetic of the foregoing |
seems slightly awry. One |
declares three-fourths of the |
words in the English language came |
rom France. The next points out |
hat only one-fourth of the words in |
me typical paragrah have such origin. |
Both figures are correct. For eXpla- |
nation of the paradox we must look |
nto the conquest itself
after William had been crowned in |
" Westminster Cathedral, London, he |
'ewarded his lieutenants with grants |
Il land. Norman French lords ruled |
he shires and the Anglo-Saxon and |
Danish peasant farmers. For 300l
ears the language of the court and |
he mobiles remained French. The |
common people continued to speak /
Anglo-SaXon. But a remarkable thing |
happened. When the two languages |
merged, AngloSaXon supplied terms |
or simple, everyday acts and things; |
Norman French. coming from Latin |
md Greek roots. supplied terms for |
thoughts and for science.
When a scientist writes he uses many |
words from south Europe. But for
COMMON speech and plain English we
all back on Anglo-Saxon words from
lorth Europe.
Pass Through williams Country.
Americans going to France pass
through William the Conoueror's
country whether they land at Cher
'ourg or LIE Havre. The Cherbourg
,oat train to Paris passes through
Falognes, where young Duke William,
Weakened by the court fool, fed from
ssassins in the dead of night; Bayeux,
where the 230-foot tapestry gives a
motion picture record of Williams
conquest in eight colors; Caen, where
wo abbeys built by William and Ma
Ida, his wife, contain their tombs,
nd Lisieux, whose archbishop wrote
he Co-4queror's official biography.
The lie Havre- Paris boat train
kirts Lillibonne, where William got
he assent Of his barons and the
hurch prelates to his expedition:
'asses through Rouen. where the Vik-
ng pirate, RoIlo, Williams great
grandfather set UP his
apital and where William died, and
Iantes, where William, fat and so,
ell off his horse upon embers at the
Gene of his last conquest and was
aortally injured.
Left Domesday Book.
1.-TWO important survivals of Will
lam's times in England are The Bat
lie Abbey. which he erected on the
ill near Hastings, where he gained
is famous victory, and the Domes-
ay Book.
I'm Chancery Lane, London, stands
tudor House and within the house a
tudded ancient chest. No treasure
s more precious to England than the
)omesday Book and its chest. Will
lam the Conqueror ordered his aides
o go through England and write
own every lord, every peasant, every
ere, every OK, every plow and every
Jig. Domesday Book comes down to
Is as the Western worlds first thor
ugh census. To England it gives
'asis for land deeds, and, what is
more important 10 Englishmen, it
ellis the Englishman whether his an
testers came over with the con-
uerors 4"