Proto- English. Before English Upto 410 A.D.Contents |
|
c.6000 BC | The English Channel separates Britain from continental Europe |
c.5000 BC | Proto-Indo-Europeans living in Eastern Europe and Central Asia |
c.1000 BC | Celtic live in today’s Spain, France, Germany, Austria, eastern Europe, and the British Isles. |
c.500 BC | Celts inhabit much of Europe, and beginning to colonize the British Isles |
55 BC | First Roman raids on Britain under Julius Caesar |
43 AD | Emperor Claudius occupies Britain. (Beginning of Roman rule of Britain). Roman colony of “Britannia” established |
410-436 | The collapse of the Roman Empire |
Old English 450 A.D. To 1100 A.D. |
|
c.450 | Anglo-Saxon settlement (Angles, Frisians, Saxons, Jutes) |
450-480 | Earliest Old English inscriptions |
597 | St. Augustine comes to Britain and Christian conversion of the Anglo-Saxons begins |
c.600 | Most of modern-day England now has Anglo-Saxon language |
c.660 | “Cædmon’s Hymn” composed in Old English |
731 | “The Ecclesiastical History of the English People” (in Latin) by The Venerable Bede |
792 | Beginning of Viking raids of Britain |
c.800 | Old English epic poem “Beowulf” composed |
865 | Danes attack and occupation of Northumbria |
871 | Alfred the Great becomes king of Wessex, encourages English prose and translation of Latin works |
871 | “The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle” begins |
878 | Britain division into Anglo-Saxon south and Danish north |
911 | Charles II of France grants Normandy to the Viking chief Hrolf the Ganger |
c.1000 | The oldest surviving manuscript of “Beowulf” |
Middle English 1100 – 1500 |
|
1066 | The Norman conquest: William the Conqueror |
1086 | “Domesday Book” compiled |
c.1100 | de facto capital of England is now London |
c.1150 | The oldest surviving manuscripts in Middle English |
1154 | Discontinuation of “The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle” |
1167 | Establishment of Oxford University |
c.1180 | Completion of The “Ormulum” text of the monk Orm |
1204 | King John loses the province of Normandy to France |
1209 | establishment of Cambridge University |
1349-50 | A third of the British population is killed by Black death |
1362 | Statute of Pleading – English replaces French as the language of law (although records are still kept in Latin) |
1362 | English Parliament uses English for the first time |
c.1370 | William Langland’s “Piers Plowman” |
1384 | John Wycliffe’s English translation of “The Bible” |
1385 | Latin is replaced by English as the main language in schools (exception of Oxford and Cambridge) |
c.1388 | Chaucer begins “The Canterbury Tales” |
1399 | Henry IV is the first English-speaking monarch since before the Conquest |
Early Modern English 1500 – 1800 |
|
c.1450 | Beginning of The Great Vowel Shift |
1476 | William Caxton – the first English printing press |
c.1500 | English Renaissance begins |
1526 | William Tyndale’s English translation of the New Testament of “The Bible” |
1539 | Publication of “The Great Bible” |
1549 | First version of “The Book of Common Prayer” |
c.1590 | Early plays by William Shakespeare |
1604 | First English dictionary, “A Table Alphabeticall” by Robert Cawdrey |
1607 | Jamestown becomes the first permanent English settlement in the New World |
1611 | Publication of King James – “The Bible” |
1616 | William Shakespeare dies |
1622 | Publication of the first English-language newspaper, the “Courante” or “Weekly News” |
1623 | The first bunch of Shakespeare’s works is published |
1702 | “The Daily Courant” – Publication of the first daily English-language newspaper |
1755 | Samuel Johnson’s “Dictionary of the English Language” |
Late Modern English 1800 onwards | |
1763 | Britain takes control of Canada from the French |
1777 | Death of Last native speaker of the Celtic Cornish language |
1782 | Cornwallis is defeated by George Washington at Yorktown and Britain leaves from its American colonies |
1788 | Establishment of British penal colony in Australia |
1788 | First publication of “The Times” newspaper in London |
1788 | Noah Webster – “The American Spelling Book” |
1795 | First English settlement at the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa |
1804 | Lewis and Clark document exploration of routes to American West |
1828 | Noah Webster – “The American Dictionary of the English Language” |
1834 | Slavery is abolished in the British Empire |
1840 | Establishment of British colony in new Zealand |
1865 | End of slavery in the United States after Civil War |
1922 | Foundation of British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) |
1928 | First edition of the “Oxford English Dictionary” is published |
1947 | India and Pakistan independence from Britain |
1954 | Sir Ernest Gowers’ “The Complete Plain Words” published |
1989 | Second edition of the “Oxford English Dictionary” is published |