History of english By jfossum12 450 450-480 Earliest Old English inscriptions Old English 800 800 Old English epic poem “Beowulf” composed 871 871 Alfred the Great becomes king of Wessex and encourages English prose and translation of Latin works 1000 1000 The discovery of North America was during the year 1000 1000 Suspected date of Beowulf's writing was during the year 1000 1150 The oldest surviving manuscripts in Middle English date from this period 1066 1066 The Norman Invasion started during the year 1362 1362 English is used in English Parliament for the first time Middle English 1385 1385 English replaces Latin as the main language in schools 1387 1387- 1400 Chaucer's Canterbury Tales was between the years 1440 1440 The invention of the Printing Press was introduced in the year 1500 1500 Start of English Renaissance 1526 1526 William Tyndale prints his English translation of the New Testament of “The Bible” 1607 1607 Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the New World, established Modern English 1623 1623 Publication of Shakespeare's First Folio was during the year 1765 1765-1783 The American Revolution was between the years 1788 1788 Noah Webster publishes “The American Spelling Book” 1804 1804 Lewis and Clark document exploration of routes to American West 1828 1828 Noah Webster publishes his “The American Dictionary of the English Language” 1989 1989 Second edition of the “Oxford English Dictionary” is published
