History of English By rayvenc@rmckenna.org 400 Start of Old English 410 Romans left Britain for good 430 Christianity spreads through Britain 700 Suspected date of Beowulf's writing 793 Vikings attack England 1066 Norman Invasion 1150 Start of Middle English 1337 Start of Hundred Years war 1347 Black Death starts 1381 Peasants Revolt 1387 Chaucer's Canterbury Tales 1440 Invention of Printing Press 1492 Discovery of Americas 1500 Start of Modern English 1623 Publication of Shakespear's First Folio 1755 Samuel Johnson's Dictionary 1775 American Revolution starts 1914 World War 1 starts 1939 World War 2 starts 1963 MLK Jr. "I have a dream" speech