Welcome to the History of English Podcast, a podcast about the history of the English language.

This is episode 74, Head Cities and Home Towns.

In this episode, we're going to look at an important development that was taking place

in England in the years after the Norman Conquest.

It happened very gradually, so it's easy to miss it, but it's very important to the

history of England and the overall story of English.

That development was the growth of towns and cities.

Most of the people still lived in the countryside, but new towns and villages were dotting the

landscape, and the existing towns were starting to grow even larger, and they were starting

to acquire a greater degree of independence.

A new capital city was also emerging at London.

So this time, we'll see how the growth of towns and cities shaped the future of the English

language.

But before we begin, let me remind you that the website for the podcast is historyofenglishpodcast.com.

And you can always reach me directly by email at kevinathistoryofenglishpodcast.com.

And I'm on Twitter at EnglishHistPod.

So let's turn to this episode, and let me begin by noting that I've looked at life in

the English countryside in the prior few episodes.

I looked at life on manners and farms, and I've looked at the new royal forests that

were established in the countryside.

But I haven't said very much about the towns and cities of England after the conquest.

And part of the reason for that omission is the fact that relatively few people lived

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