History of the English Language

  • Period: 400 to

    History of English Timespan

  • 410

    The Goths Invade

    The Goths Invade
    The Goths sack Rome. The first Germanic tribes arrive in Britain.
  • Period: 410 to 1100

    Old English

  • 500

    The King of Kent

    The King of Kent
    Ethelbert, the King of Kent was baptized. He is the first English king to covert to Christianity.
  • 600

    The Rise of Saxon Kingdoms

    The Rise of Saxon Kingdoms
    Latin speakers begin referring to the country as Anglia and later as Englaland.
  • 700

    Earliest Scripts of Old English

    Earliest Scripts of Old English
    Approximate date of the earliest manuscript records of Old English.
  • 800

    Suspected Date of Beowulf's Writing

    The author was an anonymous Anglo-Saxon poet, referred to by scholars as the Beowulf poet. The suspected date of his writing is 800-1100.
  • 1066

    The Norman Invasion

    The Norman Invasion was lead by William, Duke of Normandy, resulted in social and political changes all over England.
  • 1100

    Danes Attack England

    Danes Attack England
    The Danes attack England, and the king escapes to Normandy.
  • 1209

    The University of Cambridge

    The University of Cambridge
    The University of Cambridge is formed by scholars from Oxford.
  • Period: 1209 to 1436

    Middle English

  • 1300

    English Becomes Dominant

    English Becomes Dominant
    English becomes the dominant language of all classes.
  • 1387

    Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

    Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is a collection of 24 stories that run over 17,000 lines.
  • 1436

    The Invention of the Printing Press

    The printing press was an invention by Gutenberg. This helped spread news around.
  • 1497

    The Discovery of North America

    John Cabot is credited with the discovery of continental North America. This ended up expanding England.
  • Period: 1497 to

    Modern English

  • English Bible

    English Bible
    William Tyndale's English translation of the Bible is published.
  • Publication of Shakespeare's First Folio

    The First Folio is the first published collection of Shakespeare's plays, produced 7 years after his death.
  • The Daily Courant

    The Daily Courant
    The first regular daily newspaper in English is published in London.
  • The American Revolution

    The American Revolution happened because North American colonies rejected assisting France. The American colonies won.
  • Dictionary

    Dictionary
    The 5th volume of the Dictionary of American Regional English is published by Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.