The History of the English Language Timeline Project By faiths 410 BCE 410 The Goths, speakers of a now extinct East Germanic language, sack Rome. The first Germanic tribes arrive in Britain. 500 St. Augustine Arrives in Britain 580 Suspected date of Beowulf’s writing 600 Anglo-Saxon Language covers most of modern day English 700 Vikings Raids of Britain begin 800 Old English Epic poem Beowulf composed 871 The Anglo-Saxon Chronical began 900 Charles II of France grants Normandy to the Viking Chief Hrolf the Gange 1000 The oldest surviving manuscript of Beowulf dates from the period 1066 The Norman Invasion 1086 Domesday book created 1100 London becomes De Facto Capital of England 1200 King John loses the province of Normandy to France 1215 Magna Carta created 1300 Britain broadcasting Corporation 1300 English is used in English Parliament for the first time 1400 The great Vowel Shift begin 1450 Printing Press was born 1492 Discovery of America 1500 Start of English Renaissance 1536 Great Bible Published 1600 Robert Cawdrey publishes the first permanent English Dictionary 1607 Jamestown was established 1621 Discovery of North America 1623 Publication of Shakespeare's first folio 1700 Publication of the first daily English Language newspaper 1783 The American Revolution 1788 Britain colony established in Australia 1989 Second edition of the "Oxford English Dictionary" got published Jun 14, 2012 First Black President Dec 17, 2012 Osama Bin Laden Died