The Norman Conquest marks the transition from Old English to Middle English, the chief phonological difference between the two being the falling together or coalescing of unaccented vowels.

The Normans, although finding in England a legal system in may ways more advanced than their own, have brought here trial by jury, in which jurors are witnesses summoned from the vicinity of the crime, and used as part of the proof of innocence or guilt.

The Accord of Winchester, which establishes the primacy of the Archbishop of Canterbury over the Archbishop of York in the Church of England, had originated in a dispute over primacy between Thomas, the archbishop of York, and Lanfranc, the new Norman archbishop of Canterbury, soon after the latter had taken office.

The case is first heard by King William at the old Saxon royal capital of Winchester at Easter (April 8) 1072, in the royal chapel in the castle.

It is then heard at Windsor at Pentecost (May 27), where the final settlement is made, with William deciding in Lanfranc's favor, and formalized in this document.

This does not end the Canterbury-York dispute over the primacy, as it will continue for a number of years after this.