WE'VE ALWAYS HAD THEIR NUMBER:

Lazy, arrogant cowards: how English saw French in 12th century: A twelfth-century poem newly translated into English casts fresh light on the origin of today's Francophobic stereotypes. (Jonathan Wynne-Jones, 17 Jan 2010, Daily Telegraph)

Written between 1180 and 1194, a century after the Norman Conquest united England and Normandy against a common enemy in France, the 396-line poem was part of a propaganda war between London and Paris.

Poet Andrew de Coutances, an Anglo-Norman cleric, describes the French as godless, arrogant and lazy dogs. Even more stingingly, he accuses French people of being cowardly, and calls them heretics and rapists.

Speaking of which, we just watched the great Adventures of Robin Hood again last night. Norman scum.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 17, 2010 8:28 AM