The History of English By TG1208 450 Anglo-Saxon Invasions of Britain Period: 450 to 1150 Old English 700 Beowulf written 793 Viking raids begin on England 878 King Alfred the Great establishes Danelaw 1016 Cnut the Great becomes King of England, uniting England, Denmark, and Norway 1066 The Norman Invasion Period: 1150 to 1500 Middle English 1171 Murder of Thomas Becket 1340 The Black Death ravages Europe (1340s-1400) 1400 Geoffrey Chaucer writes The Canterbury Tales 1455 The Wars of the Roses (1455-1487) 1485 The beginning of the Tudor dynasty with Henry VII Period: 1500 to 1800 Early Modern English 1534 The English Reformation 1603 Death of Queen Elizabeth I and the end of the Tudor Dynasty 1604 First English Dictionary published by Robert Cawdrey 1623 Shakespeare's First Folio published 1642 The English Civil War (1642-1651) 1775 The American Revolution (1775-1783) Period: 1800 to 2000 Late Modern English 1837 Reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1865) 1861 The American Civil War (1861-1865) 1914 World War I (1914-1918) 1939 World War II (1939-1945) 1947 Independence of India and Pakistan 1991 The collapse of the Soviet Union
