The Anglo-Normans are mainly the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the Norman conquest by William the Conqueror in 1066.

A small number of Normans were already settled in England prior to the conquest.

Following the Battle of Hastings, the invading Normans and their descendants formed a distinct population in Britain, as Normans control all of England, parts of Wales (the Cambro-Normans) and, after 1130 parts of southern and eastern Scotland, following David I's conquest, and from 1169, vast swaths of Ireland (the Hiberno-Normans).

Over time their language evolves from the continental Old Norman to the distinct Anglo-Norman language.The composite expression regno Norman-Anglorum for the Anglo-Norman kingdom that comprises Normandy and England appears contemporaneously only in the Hyde Chronicle.