Abstract
Cultural assimilation was strongly affected by the precise nature of the social interaction between the English and the Normans during the medieval period. Yet one cannot simply mechanically trace the relative contribution of each ethnic group and the shape of the new integrated culture from the numbers of individuals in each people, or even from the numbers of each people in various social groups. Just as personal interaction and constructs of identity affected cultural assimilation, so the melding of the two cultures affected questions of identity and relations between the English and Normans, a point that is no more than common sense. This chapter examines the contribution of culture to ethnic relations and identity and the complexity of relations between culture and identity. Three case studies are discussed, one of which investigates the telling of history after the Norman conquest, showing more ways in which it influenced identity, but also showing the limitations of that influence and how identity shaped history.