Language timeline By Kenzme 400 BCE Start of old english Period: 400 to 1150 Old English 700 Beowulf's writing 793 Viking raids begin in England 878 Tready of Wedmore establishment of Danelaw 1066 Norman Conquest of England 1150 Start of Middle English period Period: 1150 to 1500 Middle English Period: 1348 to 1350 Black Death in England 1387 Chaucer's Canterbury Tales 1450 The Great Vowel Shift begins 1476 Printing press introduced to England By William Caxton 1500 Start of Modern English Period: 1500 to 2000 Modern English 1604 First English dictionary published 1623 Shakespeare's First Folio 1755 Samuel Johnsons's dictionary