-
600 BCE
The celts
The first languages we know about in the British Isles are the Celtic ones like Welsh and Scottish Gaelic. -
55 BCE
The Romans
Romans spoke Latin -
450
the Anglo-Saxons
They were the first people to speak English, and their language is also often called Anglo-Saxon or Old English. -
800
The Vikings
From about 800 the Vikings started to invade Britain.
The Vikings came from countries like Denmark and
Norway and spoke a language which later developed
into Norwegian and Danish -
1066
The Normans
In 1066 Normans invaded England from Normandy in France.
They spoke an earlier version of French and this became the high status language in England. -
1476
The printing press
Books have been written in English since the 9th century, but it was with the introduction of the printing press by Thomas Caxton in 1476 that publishing really took off. -
1564
William Shakespeare
He deserves a mention here since many words in English are first found in his plays. It could be that he invented words or that he took words that were only used in spoken English and put them in print.