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Period: 400 to
The History of the English Language
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450
Earliest Old English Inscriptions
Old English Era
Attached is a key on how to read common Old-English runes -
597
St. Augustine arrives in Britain
Old English Era
(beginning of Christian conversion of the Anglo-Saxons)
In the late 6th century, St. Augustine was sent from Rome to Britain to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. -
725
Beowulf written
Old English Era
Quote from Beowulf as an example of Old English: “In off the moors, down through the mist beams, god-cursed Grendel came greedily loping.” -
792
Viking raids of Britain
Old English Era
Vikings invaded the British Isles in the late 700's -
1066
Norman Invasion
Middle English Era
The Duke of Normandy led an invasion of England in the 11th century -
1350
Black Death/Black Plague
Middle English Era
The Black Death was the deadliest pandemic in recorded human history, killing between 75-200 million people -
1362
English Used in Parliament for the First Time
Middle English Era -
1392
Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" written
Middle English Era
A quote by Geoffrey Chaucer in the Canterbury Tales as an example of Middle English" And gladly wolde he lerne, and gladly teche." (Geoffrey Chaucer) -
1440
Invention of the Printing Press
Middle English Era -
1450
The "Great Vowel Shift"
Middle English Era
1450 marked the beginning of the "great vowel shift", a series of changed to the pronunciation of words in the English language, including several specific dialects. -
1492
North America discovered
Middle English Era
Christopher Columbus discovered North America and its inhabitants in 1492 -
The First Authorized Version of The Bible is Printed
Modern English Era
Also known as the Modern King James version of The Bible. -
Death of William Shakespeare
Modern English Era
A popular quote from Shakespeare as an example of (Early) Modern English: “This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.”
-Hamlet, Act I, Scene III -
Shakespeare's first folio published
Modern English Era -
American Revolution
Modern English Era
A political revolution that occurred in North America around 1775
