Read Ivanhoe, as William the Conqueror believed that a leaderless people would not revolt he wiped out the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy (according to some versions this is why Robin Hood had to flee to the forest) but left the common people alone. This is why a live animal is a cow (koo in Anglo-Saxon) but its meat is beef (boeuf in French). Anglo-Norman French also became the language of the law courts and was known as Law French. While it was eventually abandoned many terms survive (e.g. attorney and bailiff). As the Jews had to interact with the common people they would have had to be conversant in Early Middle English.
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