History, Wonder Tales, Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends The Flemish | Page 107

THE INFLUENCE OF FLEMISH ON THE ENGLISH
VOCABULARY
E.C. Llewellyn
The Settlement of Flemish in England, and General Intercourse
1. 1.
IN the Middle English period the Low Dutch people which had the most intercourse
with English was naturally enough the Flemish. Most of the Flemings who came over
with William I were soldiers, and these did not all return to the Continent when the
Conquest was completed. Some were planted out at special points as military
colonies, as, for example, that under Gherbord at Chester. This policy was continued
by William II, who established a military colony at Carlisle.
William I replaced the higher native English clergy by foreigners, and Flemings had
their share in the appointments, e.g. Hereman, Bishop of Salisbury, Giso of St. Trudo,
Bishop of Wells, Walter, Bishop of Hereford, and Geoffrey of Louvain, Bishop of Bath.
Thierry states that not only soldiers, ecclesiastics, and traders, but whole families
came over. Matilda, William's queen, was the daughter of Count Baldwin V of
Flanders, and doubtless she had many Flemings in her train.
The immigration of Flemings went on steadily after the Conquest and in such numbers
that Henry I did not know what to do with them. There is a tradition that in his reign an
incursion of the sea made thousands homeless in the Low Countries and that the
refugees came to England. They were settled first on the Tweed, but four years later
were transferred to Wales. These settlements were reinforced in 1105 and 1106, and
according to Florence of Worcester Henry sent another large body to South Wales in
1111. The colonies at Haverfordwest, Tenby, Gower, and Ross may have been
intended to keep the Welsh in check; at any rate that was the result, for the districts
settled lost entirely their Welsh character, and the dialects spoken in them to-day
retain in vocabulary a pronounced Flemish element. Some of the Flemish mercenaries
who came in Stephen's time were deported to Wales.
The Flemish immigration into Scotland also was considerable. The shores of the
Clyde received a large settlement at the time of the expulsion of the Flemings from
England by Henry II. A colony at Berwick held the Redhall there by the tenure of
defending it against the English. Many Scottish armies had a Flemish element,
whether mercenaries or a levy of the settlers it is impossible to state. At the Battle of
the Standard in 1138 there was a Flemish contingent under a son of Gilbert of Ghent;
and they were present also in the expedition of William the Lion in 1173-4. The
Flemish element in the early Scottish towns was so large that a