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5000 BCE
Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-Europeans living in Eastern Europe and Central Asia -
400 BCE
Celtics tribes
Celts inhabit much Europe, and beginning to colonize the British Isles. -
450
Anglo-Saxon settlement
Anglo Saxon tribes migration to British Islands -
450
Earliest Old English Inscriptions
About 400 Anglo-Saxon texts survive from this era, including many beautiful poems, telling tales of wild battles and heroic journeys. -
780
Vikings Raids of Britains begin
Between c. 780–814 the British Isles were beset by raids, targeted by bands of Vikings, who radiated out from Denmark and Norway. Their raids began with coastal settlements in Wessex, Mercia, Northumbria and the Gaelic Irish kingdoms. -
800
Beowulf
Old English epic poem “Beowulf” composed -
871
“The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle” is begun
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles are a collection of historical records recounting the history of the Anglo-Saxons. They were mostly written in the 9th century, during the reign of King Alfred the Great. -
1086
The "Domesday Book"
The "Domesday Book" was commissioned in December 1085 by order of William The Conqueror. William needed to raise taxes to pay for his army and so a survey was set in motion to assess the wealth and and assets of his subjects throughout the land. -
1189
“The Owl and the Nightingale”
The Owl and the Nightingale is one of the earliest substantial texts to be written in Middle English and it is also one of the most charming. The poem describes a debate between two birds overheard by a narrator. -
1200
Medieval Period, “Morality plays”
Dominican and Franciscan monks developed the morality play
in the 13th century by adding actors and theatrical
elements to their sermons.
They hoped the (mainly illiterate) masses could more easily
learn the basics of Christianity through dramatic spoken word. -
1200
Epic “Brut”, Lawamon
Lawamon, early Middle English poet, creates the romance-chronicle the Brut, one of the most notable English poems of the 12th century. It is the first work in English to treat of the “matter of Britain” and the legends surrounding Arthur and the knights of the Round Table. -
1370
William Langland writes “Piers Plowman”
IntroThere are several manuscript versions of The Vision of Piers Plowman, giving three recognised texts dating from 1367 to 1386, varying enormously in length. The poem concerns a quest for truth through faith, featuring personifications of Conscience, Reward, Thought, Wit, Study, and Imagination -
1370
Chaucer begins “The Canterbury Tales”
Geoffrey Chaucer, known as the father of English Literature and thought to be influenced from Boccaccio, close to the end of the 14th century wrote The Canterbury Tales. His masterpiece is recognised as more than a book of tales, a collection of stories representing a group of thirty people from all classes and the 14th century life they loiter in. -
1370
Sir Gawayne and the Grene Knight
The anonymous poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is considered one of the masterpieces of Middle English literature. It was composed in the West Midlands region of Britain at the end of the 14th century, but was copied out at the beginning of the 15th. The poem only survives in this single manuscript at the British Library. -
1455
The Wars of Roses
The series of dynastic civil wars whose violence and civil strife preceded the strong government of the Tudors -
1495
The Renaissance
The English Renaissance was a cultural and artistic movement in England dating from the late 15th century to the early 17th century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that is usually regarded as beginning in Italy in the late 14th century. -
1539
“The Great Bible” published
The Great Bible of 1539 was the first authorized edition of the Bible in English, authorized by King Henry VIII of England to be read aloud in the church services of the Church of England.. From 1538, every parish in England was required by law to purchase a copy of an English Bible and place it in ‘some convenient place’ for all to see and read. To meet this demand, the Great Bible, so called because of its size, was put into production. -
William Shakespeare writes his first plays
We don't know exactly when Shakespeare started writing plays, but they were probably being performed in London by 1592, and he's likely to have written his final plays just a couple of years before his death in 1616. -
Robert Cawdrey publishes “A table Alphabetical”.
It was the first English Dictionary. Although the work is important in being the first collection of its kind, it was never deemed a particularly useful work. At only 120 pages, it listed 2,543 words along with very brief (often single-word) definitions. In most cases, it was little more than a list of synonyms. -
“The Dictionary of English Language” by Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson the biographer, essayist, critic, poet, prose writer, parliamentary writer, dramatist and conversationalist, has been an extraordinary lexicographer too. He published his two- volume Dictionary on 15 April 1755, “The Dictionary of the English Language”. -
George Washington defeats Cornwallis at Yorktown
Surrender at Yorktown. On October 19, 1781, British General Charles Cornwallis surrendered his army of some 8,000 men to General George Washington at Yorktown, giving up any chance of winning the Revolutionary War. -
The first publication of “The Times” newspaper in London.
Founded by John Walter on January 1, 1785, as The Daily Universal Register, the newspaper began as a 2 1/2-penny broadsheet whose main function was to publicize a system of typography in which Walter was then interested. It became The Times on January 1, 1788, publishing commercial news and notices, along with some scandal. -
“The American Spelling book” by Noah Webster
Noah Webster (1758-1843), best known for his compilation of the American English dictionary, was also famous in his day for The American Spelling Book. This book, first published in 1783, was a very popular textbook for young children in the nineteenth century. -
Mary Shelley Frankenstein
Shelley started writing the story when she was 18, and the first edition of the novel was published anonymously in London on 1 January 1818, when she was 20. Her name first appeared on the second edition, published in 1823 -
Oxford English dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary was originally published in fascicles between 1884 and 1928. A one-volume supplement was published in 1933.
