Comments by "TheEvertw" (@TheEvertw) on "Normans and Saxons? No Such Thing!" video.

If you talk about the Britons, yes these were a different people than the Normans / Angles / Saxons. But there were strong racial connections between the Saxons, Angles and the Normans / Vikings. All coastal North-Sea regions were strongly connected. Not all Vikings left after they raided, and they did more than just raid. There was a lot of trading going on as well, and the various peoples intermixed. Which is why they all speak similar languages (Germanic).
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@WilliamPayneLondon Silly Brit hanging on to his precious Exceptionalism in the face of evidence to the contrary. You are first of all EUROPEAN, always were, always will be. Nationalism is only a recent invention, our links are much, much older.
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@thotslayer9914 Almost every language in Europe is Indo-European, including the Celtic spoken by the Britons. If you go back to the Bronze age - early Iron age, the peoples of Europe are even more connected than the North-Sea peoples of the dark ages. The Celtic peoples were closely linked from Ireland to Turkey, and major trade routes spread British Tin all over the continent, in exchange for e.g. Mediterranean wine. Nations are a recent invention. All throughout time, people have been much more mobile than we give them credit for. Except for a single class during a short period (serfs being part of the land in the Feodal system). But even then, e.g. traders, monks, soldiers (mercenaries) and artisans traveled all over the continent, and all over the seas. In fact, sea travel was preferred over land travel because it was safer and easier. So, Britain being an island was no obstacle at all to intermingling with the people of the continent. Hell, fit people can even swim across the channel. I am so glad these ultra-nationalist fantasies of British exceptionalism are being thoroughly thrashed by research.
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Interesting point! The Normans had not been long in France before 1066 (only 150 years). My bet is that most were bi-lingual, with many maintaining links to their roots in the North, if not making regular visits & exchanges. Normans / Vikings did more than raid, they also traded a lot.
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@Hfil66 Many oppressors try to erase a people's identity by erasing their language. People have a right to learn the language of their fathers. The UK is becoming more and more English-centered, with Westminster ONLY operating in the interest of the English. If you want to stop Welsh (and Scottish) nationalism, deal with that first. But instead nationalist sentiments have been fueled in order to get support for Brexit. That is a double-edged sword. By encouraging nationalism, the Brexiteers have put in motion the dissolution of the UK.
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@liammorgans7329 That is a bit off topic, ain't it? Also, a large portion of those laureates have non-British names, pointing to the importance of immigration for top quality research. Just to mention a few: Canetti, Fleming, Dirac, Hayek, Ishiguro, Kao, Katz, etc, etc, etc. If you wanna argue about "Fleming" being British, that name literally means "From Flanders" (modern Belgium).
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@liammorgans7329 The point of this discussion is how dependent the UK has always been on immigration -- which you have confirmed. Thank you!
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 @derrickthewhite1 The Saxons were also descendants of Scandinavian warriors (people from the North-Sea coasts), who had come to England a few centuries earlier.
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The "English" did not speak English, as that had not been created yet. They spoke Germanic languages, probably in various dialects, and were probably multi-lingual to facilitate trade, and by old folk teaching their grandchildren the language of the place of their origin.
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So, can the history of England be summarized as "EU immigrants coming to live in the UK, with the previous generation of immigrants opposing that"? History does repeat itself...
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