What did the conquering Normans of England think about the Saxons?

Answer 1

Contrary to some Hollywood and Mythical interpretations of the Robin Hood legend, the Normans and Saxons got along rather well, largely due to an intentional arrangement of marriages by William the Conqueror and his allies into Saxon families (and vice versa). We see this today in degree of integration of Norman components in English customs, language and so on. And the rivalry with France that would define much of the history between both countries for centuries to come. The Picts, on the other hand, still want everybody off their island. ---- The Normans were a ruling hierarchy, originally from the same place as the Saxons (Modern-day Denmark) although they had been settled in Normandy for a few hundred years. I don't have the time to go into massive detail about genetics but from what I have read in a book on British geneology I have to warn you not to presume that the Saxons and the Picts were the only people on the island. It fact, the Picts by then were extinct as a race and had been replaced by the Scots (from Ireland, yes I know it's confusing) and the Welsh were different entirely. There were various other cultural influences besides them. To the point. The Normans never really talked to the people below them (i.e. everyone but the Normans) except to give them orders. It was around this time that words like peasant (farmer) and maçon (mason/bricklayer) entered the English language. (This answer is a stub. Feel free to expand it.)