History of the English Language

Caesar invades Britain

60BC

Claudias- an emperor who pushed the British invasion farther north

40AD

Hadrians Wall

122AD

Rome leaves, no Roman culture is left behind

400AD

Vortigern (celtic warlord) asks for help from Hengist and Horsa (jutes)

430AD

Anglos, Saxons, Frisans: Invite themselves to Britain

450AD

Vowel Shift- mouse/mice, blood/bleed

500s

sk-sh

600s

Caedmon's Hymn

650s-680s

Norse/Danes come

680s

Venerable Bede- "Ecclesiatical History of the English People", King Arthur

700s

Beowulf

700-1000

Dane law: Alfred the Great

878

Anglo-Saxon chronicle (history book)

880s--\>1270s

Old English

450AD--\>1066AD

Middle English

1066--\>1470

Norman Conquest: William the Conqueror, William the First- First King of Britain

1066

Oxford university- all taught in Latin

1096

Last entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

1154

Cambridge university

1231

Hundred Year's War

1337-1453

Black Death- Plague

1250s

Canterbury Tales- Chaucer

1380s

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight- story about a knight at King Arthur's Round Table

late 1300s

Wycliffe bible- English bible, influential

1384

Early Modern English

1470-1700

Sir Thomas Malory- Le Morte D'Arthur- The death of Arthur

1471

William Caxton- the printing press

1476

Great Vowel Shift: mite--\>meet--\>mate

1400s-1700s

Shakespeare, King James I, King James Bible (Latin Bible, poetry)

1600s

Modern English

1700-Present

Samuel Johnson- First English Dictionary

1750s

Oxford English Dictionary

1850s--\>1920s