-
400
History of English
-
450
Old English
This includes the Coming of Christianity and literacy, The Anglo-Saxon or Old English Language, The Vikings and English after Vikings -
450
Anglo-Saxton Settlement
-
597
St. Augustine arrives in Britain
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700
The writing of Beowulf
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1066
The Norman Invasion
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1086
"Doomsday Book" compiled
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1100
Middle English
including Norman Conquest, French (Anglo-Norman) Influence, Middle English After the Normans, Resurgence of English, Chaucer and the Birth of English Literature -
1150
The oldest surviving manuscripts in Middle English date from this period
-
1385
English replaces Latin as main language in schools (except Universities of Oxford and Cambridge)
-
1392
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
-
1440
The invention of the Printing Press
-
1450
The Great Vowel Shift begins
-
1485
Early Modern English
Includes Great Vowel Shift, The English Renaissance, Printing Press and Standardization, The Bible, Dictionaries and Grammars, Golden Age of English Literature, William Shakespeare, International Trade -
1492
The discovery of North America
-
1550
Modern English
The Industrial and Scientific Revolution,Colonialism and the British Empire, The New World, American Dialect, Black English, Britain’s Other Colonies, Language Reform, Later Developments, 20th Century -
William Shakespeare writes his first plays
-
Publication of Shakespeare's First Folio
-
The American Revolution
-
Noah Webster publishes “The American Spelling Book”
-
First edition of the “Oxford English Dictionary” is published
-
History of English
