In the last two thousand years, many languages and language varieties have been spoken and written in Norwich and the surrounding area. In this lecture, Professor Christopher Joby takes us on a journey from the language of Boudica to the many languages spoken in Norwich today. For much of this period, English in its many forms has been the dominant language in the city. However, invaders and migrants have brought new languages to Norwich including Old Norse, Norman French, Hebrew, Dutch, and, more recently, languages as diverse as Polish and Cantonese. Professor Joby examines who spoke these languages, to whom, and with what consequences.

Decline in religious observance and ignorance of Christian morals were widely perceived to be the cause of a surge in vice and immorality in Georgian England. Campaigns for the ‘Reformation of Manners’ failed to turn the tide and concern reached a climax with the Royal Proclamation for the Encouragement of Piety and Virtue and for the Preventing and Punishing of Vice, Profaneness and Immorality issued on 1 June 1787.

In Norwich no one could ignore the evidence of empty pews in parish churches, failure to observe the Sabbath, drunkenness and blasphemous language in alehouses and the prostitutes on the streets. On the instructions of the magistrates, local constables did their best to stem the tide. More shocking examples of vices such as domestic violence and sexual harassment occurred behind closed doors or otherwise out of sight but some were brought to light by victims’ depositions to the mayor’s court.