Earlier Englishes

Synod of Whitby: the English church aligns with Rome

Irish vs catholic church: Irish Church organized somewhat differently from Roman church ( Irish failed to keep up with changes emanting from Rome)
Two branches with no ? major discrepancies ,for England their differences resolved (amicably in favour of Rome,)

Fixation of Christianity and Latin Alphabet, attempt at overcoming paganism. More contact with the continent.

year in which Viking raids commence, first Viking attack

New wave of Germanic invasion (=Vikings), the English still fighting among themselves

Old Norse (their language) huge infleunce on English, changed pronoun system /preposition (e.g. “she”. Personal pronouns). Destruction of monasteries.  , 

King Alfred the Great (r. 871-899) defeats Vikings at Battle of Edington/Eþandune 

Revival of intellectual life, Latin texts translated into English.
Vikings / English got separated / England is not conquered completely, leads to establishment of Danelaw.

Establishment of Danelaw

Permanent viking settlers in Britain, divided from British by Danelaw(=Danes forced to stay in their territory,). Leads to trade and language exchange. Many Norse influences on Old English. 

Norman Invasion/conquest led by William the Conqueror

William from Normandy defeated English.

French influence , English again undermined ( befor by Latin now French), official languages = french,latin
OE loses official status and support, new language: Anglo-Norman(=the variety of French spoken and written in England from 1066.), which is used alongside Latin for various official and public purposes (e.g. writing about the law and legal and urban records; historiography; theological and philosophical speculation...)., Still, England = essentially trilingual
International geo politics: England = Channel kingdom, even more infleunce from europe,
Unofficial statring point of middle english

New royal family( imported nobles)

second wave of Viking attacks begins

Permanent settlements: conquerors rather than invaders (Leads to Scandinavian kings in England)

Accession of Henry II draws England into a vast international kingdom

Increasingly international kingdom( almost whole of France, draws England into a vast international kingdom, within which it will play a key role. )

England drawn perhaps further than ever before into the orbit of the Continent.
Court attracted intellectuals, development of literature, also among the people

Moves into Ireland (1169)

King John I (1199-1216) loses Normandy to King Philip II of France, spelling the end of the Channel Kingdom

Channel kingdom over, (imported french)nobles having properties on both sides(England/Normandy had to decide for one side,, loss of many nobles in england, decreased status of french/ loss of French as a native language amongst the noblemen was the result. England grew to be more patriotic, a sense of union developed.
English gradually recuperates some of its official functions
England’s literary culture is essentially tri- lingual.

First cases of bubonic plague and the ensuing worker shortages

major shift in the relationship of French and English,rise of english ,french diminished, French remained official language of England until second half of fourteenth century, BUT then Black Death guaranteed the resurgence of English as an official language (the other event being the Hundred Years War);

1/3 of population died, huge devastation of monastic people (who were experts on French and Latin)--> loss of teachers/expertise

social turmoil, labor shortages higher wages can be asked ( as a shortage occurs), in a better negotiating position, escape to town (where they could earn more),, ( rise of status of laborers, leading to rise of English (as they were mostly English speakers). ruling classes had to respect lower classes as they needed them --> increase in the prestige of English ( only language of lower class)

Death of Chaucer

One of the first writers to write in English; Literature in English, Chaucer figure of crucial importance( only writes in English, English language poet,) He leaves behind a vast amount of English verse and becomes a model to be followed by others (also dictionary writers, e.g. Hoccleve)..precededant father of english writing)

Many authors present themselves as Chaucer’s inheritors. English in literature used more often.

English defeat at the Battle of Castillon marks the end of the Hundred Years War

Calls to mind the closeness of the relationship of English and French but also highlights the loss of most English possessions on continental Europe: Until the end of the Hundred Years War England had colonies in France. This led to trade and travel between England and France, which meant French was important and relevant for English people. The cutting of these ties made French basically redundant.

William Caxton establishes first English printing press at Westminster

Printing contributes to the distinction between the Middle English and the Early Modern English period: It freezes spelling, makes books available at a much lower price, also outside of monastic circle. Lower classes gain access to books; as they are not able to read Latin nor French demand for English texts rises and leads to translations of many classics (from Greek and Latin, leading to many loanwords). Makes the London dialect the standard dialect.

Act of Supremacy establishes Henry VIII as head of Church of England

Establishes Henry VIII as Head of the Church of England and divides the catholic church and the English church (after its reformation); partial removal from continental Latin Church. As a consequence, Latin loses much of its prestige in written debate and discourse. Instead, English is used increasingly in church services and the bible is (later) translated into English. Interest in older English texts arises; birth of English antiquarianism.

Book of Common Prayer

Provided the English with material to conduct their religious lives in English rather than Latin; includes translations of many common Latin prayers, furthering the use of English in church

John Hart’s Orthography, which advocated for an increase in the number of letters in the alphabet

The first real phonological scheme. This included the introduction of five new consonant sounds (symbols/letters) as well as dots as indication for vowel length and quality. It s goal was the simplification of the English spelling system. .( Brings pronunciation and spelling closer Printed in its own proposed reformed spelling, thus not very popular. But, people were drawn to the idea of a spelling and pronunciation reform as a consequence, the success of all of which was negligible) 

William Bullokar publishes the first grammar of English, his Bref Grammar

First published grammar of the English language. It was still heavily dependent on Latin terminology as well as the structure of Latin textbooks (e.g. the cases) but it led to the publishing of other books of this kind.

First alphabetically arranged English-to English dictionary, Robert Cawdry’s Table Alphabeticall

The first alphabetically arranged and monolingual English dictionary to be published. It contained about 2500 rare or borrowed headwords with English definitions. Many more dictionaries followed. This dictionary addressed a female readership (who wanted to read the bible)!

King James Bible published

The first major English translation of the Bible that was authorized (by King James). The use of English in church was raised as the bible was officially used in church. This bible is still used today and it is praised for its relatively simple language. It is the culmination of the reformation of the English church. Had major influences on other literary genres.

First English colony established at St. Kitts

Led to English being a major colonial power, marking the starting point of English being spread throughout the world(English as a international language) and different forms/dialects of English being developed (American English, Canadian English…), basically a “split” in the community of English speakers.

Joseph Aicken's English grammer for children

Pedagogic in intent, educational, intended for children. Written in English only, also uses images to teach letters. Scientific study of English filtering down into the classroom and working its way into the everyday lives of English people.

a person who inhabited what is now England during the period 400-1100. Can be used adjectivally: Anglo-Saxon England, Anglo-Saxon English.

a book written by hand on paper or parchment (also: codex

is a manuscript in which more than one text is bound; a text which accompanies another text in a compilation is called a co-text

a leaf or leaves of parchment or paper of which the two sides are the recto (r.1 recto= page 1) (front) and the verso (v.1 verso= page2) (back).

the change in the form of a word to show e.g. case, gender, number, person. In OE, inflection is usually accomplished by the addition of a suffix, or word-ending.

(OE dem. pron. is inflected for case, grammatical gender, and number.) e. .g. stan (Nom. Singular) – stanes (Gen. Singular) , ‘s

an ending of a word that is attached to show inflection (e.g. plural -s}


the form of a noun, pronoun, or adjective defining its relationship with other words in a sentence, typically by means of inflection, as in the book’s cover, where ’s signals the genitive (possessive) case

a means of classifying nouns, often with little correspondence to the biological sex of the objects referred to.

a grammatical distinction of quantity, typically between between “one” (singular) and “more than one” (plural). Old English also has the 'dual'.

s a class of nouns or adjectives sharing the same inflections

OE nouns fall into one of several declensions, within which they are inflected for case and number

Some patterns:

- –um is the universal marker of the dative plural.

- General Masculine and General Neuter run parallel.

- Some endings can have more than one meaning, e.g. –e and –a.

verb that forms its tenses by changing its root vowel (Ablaut).

e.g Sing, sang , sung

the systematic alteration of a root vowel in order to indicate the meaning or grammatical function of a word.

verb that forms its past tense by add a suffix (e.g. -de) to the stem.

e.g. fremman: ic fremme (present), ic fremmede (past) e.g. want, wanted, wanted

the events that have happened to the speakers of a language leading to changes in the language, e.g. invasion.

the changes that occur within a language itself that cannot be attributed to external forces.

rune system used by Anglo-Saxons for writing before wholesale adoption of Latin alphabet.

style of writing developed under Irish influence, flourished 600-850, after Christianization. Preserves some runic characters (þ, ð, not shown here):

– Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum [Ecclesiastical History of the English People] (c. 731).

– Translated into Old English by opening of 900s (àweek 5)

stand alone, Their ending has to do more ''work" to show the function of the adjective.