1.07 By luxal 400 Old English Era (400–1100) Period: 400 to 2000 History of English Language and Literature (400-2000) 635 The founding of the Monastery at Lindisfarne 700 Suspected date of Beowulf 871 The Reign of King Alfred the Great 1066 The Norman Invasion 1100 Middle English Era (1100–1500 1347 The Black Death in England 1387 Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales 1440 The invention of the printing press 1455 The War of the Roses 1492 The discovery of the Americas 1500 Modern English Era (1500–2000) 1623 Publication of Shakespeare's First Folio 1642 The English Civil War 1760 The Industrial Revolution begins 1776 The American Revolution 1939 World War II