The History Of The English Language

the celts

600 BCE

Long ago, Celtic tribes, called Britons, lived on this fertile island. Unfortunately, the Celts lived many tribes without one united army. This made them somewhat defenseless to larger armies. This made their island vulnerable to attack.

The history to the romans

55 BCE

Romans spoke Latin. The Romans called the island Britannia, named after the Britons they found living there. The Romans built roads, walls, cities, and castles. Actually, they forced the Britons to do most of the construction work, and to farm the land and dig in the mines, laboring for the Roman empire. The Britons and Romans lived peacefully together most of the time. However, a few famous Celtic leaders battled the Romans, including Queen Boudicca (also spelled BoArthur.

The norman french

1 CE

Still another invasion occurred in 1066. William the Conqueror was a French nobleman from Normandy, France. He led his Norman soldiers to defeat the English at the Battle of Hastings, in 1066. William the Conqueror was crowned King of England. For 300 years his followers, the Norman French, ruled England. They built great castles and cathedrals. For 300 years, every English king spoke French. All the English landowners were ordered to speak French, too.

The printing prees

1 CE

Early Modern English began soon after Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in Germany in 1436. With the printing press came books, instead of scrolls and manuscripts written by hand. William Caxton set up a printing press in London in 1476. The press brought greater consistency to the English language. Spelling rules emerged. Before the press there were at least 12 ways to spell the word egg, depending on the dialect. After the press, spelling was more consistent.

The renaissance

1 CE

At about the same time as the invention of the printing press, a great Renaissance began in Italy and swept across Europe, reaching England by 1500. The Renaissance was a kind of rebirth, a time of fresh new thinking, a bright, hope-filled period. Renaissance thinkers included Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Sir Isaac Newton, Galileo, and many more. Artists, musicians, mathematicians, and scientists created marvelous sculptures, paintings, symphonies, calculations, formulas, and inventions.

Middle English(The cantenbury tales book)

1 CE

There were no more invasions of England. English became more important than French.
A number of books were published in Middle English.
The most famous is a book of stories called
The Canterbury Tales (1400) by Geoffrey Chaucer.

Williams Shakespeare

1 CE

There are many important authors in Modern English, but one of the most famous writers is William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616).

THE ANGLO-SAXON

450

The civilized Celts still lived in tribes without a united army and their island was still green and fertile. The neighbors still wanted The Germanic invaders were the Angles and the Saxons (called Anglo-Saxons) and the Jutes. These barbaric Germanic pirates took control of Britannia, terribly harming the British Celts, burning their homes and villages and killing or enslaving them.

The Vikings

800