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The Normans, who came from present-day Normandy in France, spoke French, which they established at England's official language for the next 150 years. The leaders of England, including the royal family, nobles, judges, and clergy, therefore spoke French.
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In 1204, during the rein of King John, England lost control of Normandy and enetered a long conflict with France. Fewer people in England wished to speak French, and English again became the country's unchallenged dominant language.
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Recognizing that nearly everyone in England was speaking English. Parliament acted the Statute of Pleading in 1362 to change the official language of court business from French to English.
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The diffusion of the dialect spoken in London and the university cities was first encouraged by the introduction of the printing press to England in 1476. Grammar books and dictionaries printed in the eighteenth century established rules for spelling and grammar that were based on the London dialect.
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The first English colonies were built in North American, beginning with Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, and Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620.
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The nucleus of the southeastern colonies was Virginia, where the first permanent settlement by the English in North America was established at Jamestown in 1607. About half of the southeastern settlers came from social-class backgrounds, including deported prisoners, indentured servants, and political and religious refugees.
