The history of the English language By andrew_smith188 Period: 450 BCE to 480 BCE early old English 500 St. Augustine arrives in Britain. https://www.magnificat.ca/cal/en/saints/saint_augustine_of_canterbury.html 580 The suspected date of Beowulf's writing. https://books.google.com/books?id=kWs1Wvp0otAC&pg=PA187&lpg=PA187&dq=Suspected+date+of+Beowulf%27s+writing&source=bl&ots=KA-yo5EXIE&sig=BdotGAozc4DOFqRRXYiqcI9sjw4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwizpsbDgOTJAhUT62MKHUJ_BmoQ6AEIKzAB#v=onepage&q=Suspected%20date%20of%20Beowulf's%20writing&f=false Jan 1, 600 Anglo- Saxton language cover (Modern English) http://www.thehistoryofenglish.com/timeline.html Jan 1, 700 vikings raid of britian being. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_activity_in_the_British_Isles Jan 1, 800 Old English epic poem "Beowulf" composed https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/beowulf Jan 1, 871 Saxon Chronical http://avalon.law.yale.edu/medieval/angsaxintro.asp 878 Danelaw established, dividing Britain into Anglo-Saxon south and Danish north 1000 The oldest surviving manuscript of “Beowulf” dates from this period Period: 1066 to 1399 middle english 1100 London becomes de facto capital of England 1154 “The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle” discontinued 1209 Cambridge University established 1362 English is used in English Parliament for the first time 1388 Chaucer begins “The Canterbury Tales” 1450 The Great Vowel Shift begins Period: 1450 to 1755 Early Modern English 1500 Start of English Renaissance 1549 First version of “The Book of Common Prayer” published 1623 First Folio of Shakespeare’s works is published 1755 Samuel Johnson publishes his “Dictionary of the English Language” 1763 Britain wrests control of Canada from the French Period: 1763 to 1989 Late Modern English 1777 Last native speaker of the Celtic Cornish language dies 1788 British penal colony established in Australia 1804 Lewis and Clark document exploration of routes to American West 1840 British colony established in new Zealand 1922 British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) founded 1989 Second edition of the “Oxford English Dictionary” is published
