Which two languages were commonly used throughout England during the Middle Ages?

Alright, let's talk about languages in medieval England. After the Norman Conquest in 1066, things got linguistically interesting. William the Conqueror and his Norman aristocracy spoke Norman French, a dialect of Old French. This became the language of the royal court, the government, and the upper classes for several centuries. Think of legal documents, literature, and high society conversations – all happening in Norman French! However, the vast majority of the population, especially the common folk, continued to speak Anglo-Saxon, which we now know as Old English. So, you had this fascinating situation where the ruling class spoke French, and the everyday people spoke English. Over time, these two languages influenced each other, eventually leading to the development of Middle English, the ancestor of the English we speak today. While Welsh and Gaelic languages were spoken in other parts of Britain, like Wales and Scotland, they weren't commonly used throughout England itself during the Middle Ages.