Thus after a union of nearly a hundred and forty years Normandy was
finally separated from England (S108). From that time the Norman
nobles were compelled to choose between the island of England and the
Continent for their home. Before that time the Norman's contempt for
the Saxon was so great, that his most indignant exclamation was, "Do
you take me for an Englishman?"
Now, however, shut in by the sea, with the people he had hitherto
oppressed and despised, the Norman came to regard England as his
country, and Englishmen as his countrymen. Thus the two races, who
were closely akin to each other in their origin (S126), found at last
that they had common interests and common enemies,[1] and henceforth
they made the welfare of England their main thought.
[1] Macaulay's "England"; also W. Stubb's "Early Plantagenets,"
p. 136.