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Long ago, Celtic tribes, called Britons, lived on this fertile island. Unfortunately, the Celts (pronounced /kelts/) lived in many tribes without one united army. -
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Roman soldiers successfully invaded the island in the year 43A.D. Romans spoke Latin. The Romans called the island Britannia, named after the Britons they found living there. The Romans built roads, walls, cities, and castles. -
The Germanic invaders were the Angles and Saxons (called the Anglo-Saxons) and the Jutes. These barbaric Germanic pirates took control of Britannia, harming the Celtic Britons terribly, burning their homes and villages and killing or enslaving them. Many Celts fled to Scotland and Wales and France. -
The island suffered yet another invasion, bringing changes to the English language. In about 787, the Vikings invaded. The Vikings lived across the water, in Scandinavia (the Norsemen lived in Norway and the Danes lived in Denmark). -
In 1066 another invasion occurred. William the Conqueror was a French nobleman from Normandy, France. He led his Norman soldiers in defeating the English at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. -
There were no more invasions of England. English became more important than French. -
Early Modern English began soon after Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in Germany in 1436. With the printing press came books, instead of scrolls and manuscripts written by hand. William Caxton set up a printing press in London in 1476. -
At about the same time as the invention of the printing press, a great Renaissance began in Italy and swept across Europe, reaching England by 1500. -
There are many important authors in Modern English, but one of the most famous writers is William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616).