Heavy borrowing from French occurred in two phases:

   1066-1250. About 900 words were borrowed during this phase, with
   most of them showing the effects of Anglo-Norman phonology.

   Examples from this source are:
   Social: baron, noble, dame, servant, messenger, feast, minstrel,
   juggler, largess.

   Literary: story, rime, lay, douzepers.

   Church: The largest number of words were borrowed for use in
   religious services since the French-speaking Normans took control
   of the church in England.

   1250-1400. The heaviest borrowing from French occurred in this
   period because after about 1250 there were more French speakers
   who began speaking English--remember the loss of Normandy in 1204.

   The words borrowed during this phase are found in many areas.
   Government and Administrative: govern, government, administer,
   crown, state, empire, royal, majesty, treaty, statute, parliament,
   tax, rebel, traitor, treason, exile, chancellor, treasurer, major,
   noble, peer, prince, princess, duke, squire, page (but not king,
   queen, lord, lady, earl), peasant, slave, servant, vassal.

   Ecclesiastical: religion, theology, sermon, confession, clergy,
   clergy, cardinal, friar, crucifix, miter, censer lectern, abbey,
   convent, creator, savior, virgin, faith, heresy, schism, solemn,
   divine, devout, preach, pray, adore, confess.

   Law: justice, equity, plaintiff, judge, advacate, attorney,
   petition, inquest, felon, evidence, sue, accuse arrest, blame,
   libel, slander, felony, adultery, property, estate, heir,
   executor.

   Military--Army and Navy: (Much of the fighting during this time
   was done in France. Many now-obsolete words for pieces of armor,
   etc., were borrowed at this time.) army, navy, peace, enemy, arms,
   battle, spy, combat, siege, defence, ambush, soldier, guard, mail,
   buckler, banner, lance, besiege, defend, array.

   Clothing: habit, gown, robe, garment, attire, cape, coat, collar,
   petticoat, train, lace, embroidery, pleat, buckle, button, tassel,
   plume, satin, taffeta, fur, sable, blue, brown, vermilion, russet,
   tawny, jewel, ornament, broach, ivory, turquoise, topaz, garnet,
   ruby, pearl, diamond.

   Food: feast, repast, collation, mess, appetite, tart, sole, perch,
   sturgeon, sardine, venison, beef, veal, mutton, port, bacon,
   toast, cream, sugar, salad, raisin, jelly, spice, clove, thyme.

   Social: curtain, couch, lamp, wardrobe, screen, closet, leisure,
   dance, carol, lute, melody.

   Hunting: rein, curry, trot, stable, harness, mastiff, spaniel,
   stallion, pheasant, quail, heron, joust, tournament, pavilion.

   Art, Learning, Medicine: painting, sculpture, music, beauty,
   color, image, cathedral, palace, mansion, chamber, ceiling, porch,
   column, poet, prose, romance, paper, pen, volume, chapter, study,
   logic, geometry, grammar, noun, gender, physician, malady, pain,
   gout, plague, pulse, remedy, poison.

   Common words and expressions include nouns--age, air, city, cheer,
   honor, joy; adjectives--chaste, courageous, coy, cruel, poor,
   nice, pure; verbs--advance, advise, carry, cry, desire;
   phrases--draw near, make believe, hand to hand, by heart, without
   fail (These are loan-translations).

   Many of the above words differ from Modern French in form and
   pronunciation because of phonological changes such as the following:

   French /s/ was lost before other consonants in the 12th century,
   so OF feste became MF fete (MnE feast). Cf. forest--foret,
   hostel--hotel, beast--bete.

   In the 13th century the French j' came to be pronounced zh', and
   ch' became sh'. Early borrowings (i.e., before the 13th century)
   thus have the ch' and j' pronunciations: charge, change,
   chamber, chase, chair, chimney; just, jewel, journey, majesty,
   gentle. Later borrowings (i.e., after the 13th century) have the
   zh' and sh' pronunciations: chamois, chaperon, chiffon, chevron,
   jabot (last trim on the front of a dress), rouge.
   The Anglo-Norman dialect was also different from the dialect of
   Paris, which was Central French: AN retained the initial ca-,
   which became cha-, chie- in CF, e.g.: MnE caitiff, not CF chaitif.
   English contains words borrowed from both dialects at different
   times, e.g.:
             cattle  < AN catel       catch < AN cachier
             chattel < CF chatel      chase < CF chacier (MF chasser)
   CF also showed an early dislike of w-, but the northern dialects
   did not, e.g.: warden from AN and guardian from CF. CF also
   dropped the /w/ in qu- (i.e., AN /kw/, CF /k/), so MnE has
   quarter, quality, question, etc., pronounced /kw-/. (cf. MF
   qualite, etc.)
   Vowels also show some differences. For example, AN retained the ei
   diphthong, but in the 12th century it became oi in CF, so:

             MnE leal < AN leial         MnE loyal < CF
             MnE real < AN reial         MnE royal < CF
   Some 10,000 French words were borrowed into Middle English, and
   about 75% (7500) of these words are still in use. These words were
   quickly assimilated into English; i.e., English suffixes, etc.,
   were freely added to the borrowed French words; e.g., gentle,
   borrowed in 1225, is found compounded with an English word,
   gentlewoman, in 1230.



   This heavy borrowing from French had several effects on English:

   Native words were replaced:
   OE aeeele -- F. noble
   OE aeeeling -- F. nobleman
   OE here -- F. army
   OE campa -- F. warrior
   OE sibb -- F. peace

   English and French words were retained with a differentiation in
   meaning:
   hearty--cordial
   ox--beef
   sheep--mutton
   swine--pork
   calf--veal
   house--mansion

   The Old English word-forming powers were reduced, with less use of
   prefixes and suffixes and fewer compounds.


   Latin Borrowings. In a sense the French words were Latin
   borrowings since French developed from Vulgar Latin--as did all
   the Romance languages. The borrowings that came directly from
   Latin tended to be more learned in character--e.g., allegory,
   index, magnify, mechanical, private, secular, zenith. Aureate
   terms--direct borrowings from Latin--were a stylistic affectation
   of the 15th century Scottish Chaucerians such as James I,
   Henryson, and Dunbar. Some of these words have been dropped from
   English (or never really made it in) while others have survived,
   e.g., diurnal (daily or daytime), tenebrous (dark), laureate,
   mediation, oriental, prolixity.

   It has been pointed out that as a result of Middle English
   borrowing from French and Latin, Modern English has synonyms on
   three levels: popular (English), literary (French), and learned
   (Latin), as in rise--mount--ascend; ask--question--interrogate;
   fire--flame--conflagration; holy--sacred--consecrated.

   Based on Baugh and Cable, A History of the English Language.


 http://pages.towson.edu/duncan/brmideng.html