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Three Germanic tribes, the Jutes, Saxons and Angles were seeking new lands to conquer, and crossed over from the North Sea. -
During the invasion, the native Britons were driven north and west into lands we now refer to as Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. -
This evolves in between the 5th and 11th century and it is divided in three stages:
Prehistoric - 5th to 7th century
Early Old English - 7th to 10th century
Late Old English - 10 to 11th century -
This period contains of the earliest documented evidence of English language - showcasing the leading figures in Anglo-Saxon literature -
Final phase of Old English language which was brought about the Norman Invasion. -
The Norman Conquest was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conqueror. -
During this period that the English language, and more specifically, English grammar, started evolving with particular attention to syntax. -
In this period has been attributed with the loss of case endings that ultimately resulted in inflection markers being replaced by more complex features of the language. -
Geoffrey Chaucer know as the Father of English Literature. Had various works that the English language was more or less “approved” alongside those of French and Latin, though he continued to write up some of his characters in the northern dialects. -
Usage of the clerks of Chancery in London, who prepared the king's documents. Before the 1430s, official records were mainly in Latin and French, but after that date mainly in an English based on the Central Midland dialect. -
A change in pronunciation, vocabulary or grammar. The rebirth of societal and cultural movements during the Elizabethan Age.