-
Period: 450 to 1150
Old English
The period of Old English begins -
597
Conversion of England
The arrival of St. Augustine in 597 and the subsequent conversion of England to Latin Christianity -
793
The Northumbrian
In the 8th century, the Northumbrian speech group led in literature and culture, but that leadership was destroyed by the Viking invaders, who sacked Lindisfarne, an island near the Northumbrian mainland, in 793. -
Period: Jan 1, 801 to Dec 31, 887
Wessex
In the 9th century, as a result of the Norwegian invasions, cultural leadership passed from Northumbria to Wessex. -
865
Vikings
They landed in strength in 865. -
Period: 870 to 900
King Alfred´s
During King Alfred’s reign, in the last three decades of the 9th century, Winchester became the chief centre of learning. -
Period: 1150 to 1500
Middle English
The period of Middle English begins -
Period: 1154 to 1189
Empire of Henry II
The extension south to the Pyrenees of the Angevin empire of Henry II -
Period: Jan 1, 1201 to Dec 31, 1300
Changes
nāme, mēte, nōse, wēke, and dōre in the 13th and 14th centuries. -
1204
King Jhon
King John lost Normandy in 1204. -
1362
Statue of Pleading
He was in his early 20s when the Statute of Pleading was passed -
1400
Death of Chaucer
The death of Chaucer at the close of the century marked the beginning of the period of transition from Middle English to the Early Modern English stage. -
Period: 1500 to
Modern English
The period of Modern English begins -
1525
Translation
Lord Berners completed his translation of Jean Froissart’s Chronicle, and William Tyndale translated the New Testament. -
1550
Shakespeare
Throughout his career, Shakespeare invented thousands of words. He combined or distorted Latin, French, and other roots to create new words. These words were familiar enough to the audience that, with contextual clues, they could understand their meaning -
Francias Bacon
Francis Bacon published De dignitate et augmentis scientiarum (On the Dignity and Advancement of Learning, an expansion of his earlier Advancement of Learning) in Latin -
Return Monarchy
The return of the monarchy (celebrated in John Dryden’s poem Astraea Redux) in 1660. -
Southern English
The vowel had disappeared after a vowel in the syllabic coda in Southern English.