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Period: 400 to 1150
Old English
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595
King Ethelbert is baptized
Ethelbert, the King of Kent, is baptized. He is the first English king to convert to Christianity. -
597
St. Augustine arrives in Britian
Augustine was the prior of a monastery in Rome when Pope Gregory the Great chose him in 595 to lead a mission, usually known as the Gregorian mission, to Britain to Christianize King Æthelberht. -
Jan 1, 600
Suspected date of Beowulf's writing
Beowulf The style of Beowulf is plain-spoken and inventive. The poem’s language is richly physical, with a particular emphasis on bodies and their fragility -
673
Birth of the Venerable Bede
The monk who composed (in Latin) The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, a key source of information about Anglo Saxon settlement. -
793
Viking raids in Britain
The Viking raids and subsequent settlements define the period known as the Viking Age in Britain which had profound consequences on the development of the culture and language. -
1066
Norman Invasion
The 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and men from other provinces of the Kingdom of France, all led by the Duke of Normandy later styled William the Conqueror. William's claim to the English throne derived from his familial relationship with the childless Anglo-Saxon. -
1150
Earliest surviving texts of Middle English
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Period: 1150 to 1450
Middle English
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1209
Cambridge is created
The University of Cambridge is formed by scholars from Oxford. -
1215
King John signs the Magna Carta
a critical document in the long historical process leading to the rule of constitutional law in the English-speaking world. -
1362
English in England
The Statute of Pleading makes English the official language in England. Parliament is opened with its first speech delivered in English. -
1387
Chaucer Canterbury Tales
A collection of 24 stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. -
Period: 1450 to
Early Modern English
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1492
Discovery of America
Christopher is credited with discovering the Americas in 1492 Americans get a day off work on October 10 to celebrate Columbus Day. -
Pamphlet for Grammar
The first grammar of English—William Bullokar's Pamphlet for Grammar—is published. -
English Newspaper
Weekly News, the first English newspaper, is published in London. -
Publication
The First Folio is the first collected edition of William Shakespeare's plays, collated and published in 1623, seven years after his death. -
Period: to
Modern English
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English Dictionary
Samuel Johnson publishes his two-volume Dictionary of the English Language. -
The American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution which occurred in colonial North America between 1765 and 1783. -
English Spelling
Noah Webster publishes his American Spelling Book. -
Invention of printing press
A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium, thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the cloth, paper or other medium was brushed or rubbed repeatedly to achieve the transfer of ink, and accelerated the process.
