Periods of the english language

Indo-European family of languages.
The closest undoubted living relatives of English are Scots and Frisian. Frisian is a language spoken by approximately half a million people in the Dutch province of Friesland, in nearby areas of Germany, and on a few islands in the North Sea.

three main periods:
Old English (450-1100 AD)
Middle English (1100-circa 1500 AD)
Modern English (since 1500)

Britain developed into what we now call Old English.
Old English did not sound or look like English today. Native English speakers now would have great difficulty understanding Old English.
But, about half of the most commonly used words in Modern English have Old English roots. For example, the words be, strong, water derive from Old English.

invaded and
conquered England. The new conquerors brought with them a kind of French
and French words were added. This language called Middle English.
It was the language of great poet Chaucer(1340-1400), but it would
still be difficult for native English speakers to understand today.

distinct change in
pronunciation started, with vowels
being pronounced shorter and shorter.
From the 16th century the British had contact with
many peoples from around the world.
This meant that many new words and phrases
entered the language. Spelling and grammar became
fixed, and dialect of London became the standard.
In 1604 the first English dictionary was published.

English is vocabulary.
Late Modern English has many more words,
arising from two principal factors:
firstly, the Industrial Revolution and technology
created a need for new words;
secondly, the British Empire at its height covered
one quarter of the earth’s surface and the English
language adopted foreign words from many countries.

by St. Augustine, missionary from Rome. Irish missionaries also spread Celtic form of Christianity to mainland Britain.
600-800 Rise of three great kingdoms politically unifying large areas: Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex. Supremacy passes from one kingdom to another in that order
700s Texts in English emerge and become numerous. Many are religious texts but there is also one great work of literature that was written down in this period: Beowulf. The content shows the story to be much older than its written version; it takes place when the pre-Christian Germanic peoples were still in Scandinavia. It was apparently written down by monks and preserved in the monasteries. It shows many signs of Christian influence, possibly introduced by its writer (a monk?) during this period.
793 First serious Viking incursions. Lindisfarne monastery sacked.
800 Charlemagne, king of the Franks, crowned Holy Roman Emperor; height of Frankish power in Europe. Wessex kings aspire to similar glory; want to unite all England, and if possible the rest of mainland Britain, under one crown (theirs).

permanent encampments on English soil. Slay kings of Northumbria and East Anglia, subjugate king of Mercia. Storm York (Anglo-Saxon Eoforwic) and set up a Viking kingdom (Jorvik). Wessex stands alone as the last Anglo-Saxon kingdom in Britain.
871 Vikings move against Wessex. In six pitched battles, the English hold their own, but fail to repel attackers decisively. In the last battle, the English king is mortally wounded. His young brother, Alfred, who had distinguished himself during the battles, is crowned king.
871-876 Alfred builds a navy. The kings of Denmark and Norway have come to view England as ripe for the plucking and begin to prepare an attack.
876 Three Danish kings attack Wessex. Alfred prevails, only to be attacked again a few months later. His cause looks hopeless.
878 Decisive battle at Edington; Alfred and a large contingent of desperate Anglo-Saxons make a last stand (they know what awaits them if they fail). Alfred leads the Anglo-Saxons to decisive victory; blockades a large Viking camp nearby, starving them into submission; and exacts homage from the kings of Denmark and an oath that the Danes will leave Wessex forever.
Under Alfred's terms of victory, England is partitioned into a part governed by the Anglo-Saxons (under the house of Wessex) and a part governed by the Scandinavians (some of whom become underlords of Alfred), divided by Watling Street. 15 years of peace follow; Alfred reigns over peaceful and prosperous kingdom. For this, he is later dubbed "Alfred the Great".

the Vikings, and even conquers Scotland and Wales, heretofore ruled by Celts. Continues Alfred's mission of making improvements in government, education, defense, and other social institutions.
10th century Danes and English continue to mix peacefully, and ultimately become indistinguishable. Many Scandinavian loanwords enter the language; English even borrows pronouns like they, them, their.
978 Aethelred "the Unready" becomes king at 11 years of age.
991 Aethelred has proved to be a weak king, who does not repel minor Viking attacks. Vikings experiment with a major incursion at Maldon in Essex. After losing battle, Aethelred bribes them to depart with 10,000 pounds of silver. Mistake. Sveinn, king of Denmark, takes note.
994-1014 After 20 years of continuous battles and bribings, and incompetent and cowardly military leadership and governance, the English capitulate to king Sveinn of Denmark (later also of Norway). Sveinn sets up a Norse court at the new capital of Viking England, Jorvik (a city which survives as York, capital of the English county of Yorkshire). Aethelred flees to Normandy, across the channel.
1014 Sveinn's young son Cnut (or Canute) crowned king of England. Cnut decides to follow in Alfred's footsteps, aiming for a peaceful and prosperous kingdom. Encourages Anglo-Saxon culture and literature. Even marries Aethelred's widow Emma, brought over from Normandy.
.

die without issue, the kingdom passes back to the house of Wessex. The new king is Edward, son of Aethelred and Emma, who had been raised in exile in Normandy. Edward is a pious, monkish man called "The Confessor".
Edward has strong partiality for his birthplace, Normandy, a duchy populated by the descendents of Romanized Vikings. Especially fond of young Duke William of Normandy. Edward is dominated by his Anglo-Saxon earls, especially powerful earl Godwin. Godwin's son, Harold Godwinson, becomes de facto ruler as Edward takes less and less interest in governing.
1066 January. Edward dies childless, apparently recommending Harold Godwinson as successor. Harold duly chosen by Wessex earls, as nearest of kin to the crown is only an infant. Mercian and Northumbrian earls are hesitant to go along with choice of Harold.
William of Normandy says that not only did Edward the Confessor name him as heir, but he also claims that Harold once promised to support him as successor to Edward. Harold denies it. William prepares to mount an invasion. Ready by summer, but the winds are unfavorable for sailing.
September. Harald Hardradi of Norway decides this is a good time to attack England. Harold Godwinson rushes north and crushes Hardradi's army at Stamford Bridge.
The winds change, and William puts to sea. Harold rushes back down to the south coast to try to repel William's attack. Mercians and Northumbrians are supposed to march down to help him, but never do. They don't realize what's in store for them.
October. Harold is defeated and killed at the battle of Hastings.
December. William of Normandy crowned king of England in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day.

peasants with a brutal hand; in Mercia and Northumberland, uses (literal) scorched earth policy, decimating population and laying waste the countryside. Anglo-Saxon earls and freemen deprived of property; many enslaved. William distributes property and titles to Normans (and some English) who supported him. Many of the English hereditary titles of nobility date from this period.
English becomes the language of the lower classes (peasants and slaves). Norman French becomes the language of the court and propertied classes. The legal system is redrawn along Norman lines and conducted in French. Churches, monasteries gradually filled with French-speaking functionaries, who use French for record-keeping. After a while, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is no longer kept up. Authors write literature in French, not English. For all practical purposes English is no longer a written language.
Bilingualism gradually becomes more common, especially among those who deal with both upper and lower classes. Growth of London as a commercial center draws many from the countryside who can fill this socially intermediate role.
1204 The English kings lose the duchy of Normandy to French kings. England is now the only home of the Norman English.
1205 First book in English appears since the conquest.

on the part of even noblemen that they are English, not French. Nobility begin to educate their children in English. French is taught to children as a foreign language rather than used as a medium of instruction.
1337 Start of the Hundred Years' War between England and France.
1362 English becomes official language of the law courts. More and more authors are writing in English.
ca. 1380 Chaucer writes the Canterbury tales in Middle English. the language shows French influence in thousands of French borrowings. The London dialect, for the first time, begins to be recognized as the "Standard", or variety of English taken as the norm, for all England. Other dialects are relegated to a less prestigious position, even those that earlier served as standards (e.g. the Wessex dialect of southwest England).
1474 William Caxton brings a printing press to England from Germany. Publishes the first printed book in England. Beginning of the long process of standardization of spelling.

gradually takes place. There is a large influx of Latin and Greek borrowings and neologisms.
1611 King James Bible published, which has influenced English speech and writing down to the present day.
1616 Shakespeare dies. Recognized even then as a genius of the English language. Wove native and borrowed words together in amazing and pleasing combinations.

numbers of essays, plays, poetry. The English novel emerges in 18th century.
1650 on The sciences develop: Astronomy, Physics, Natural History (which later splits into Geology and Biology), Medicine, beginnings of Chemistry. The fashion for borrowing Latin and Greek words, and coining new words with Latin and Greek morphemes, rages unabated. Elaborate syntax matches elaborate vocabulary (e.g. writings of Samuel Johnson).
The rise of English purists, e.g. Jonathan Swift, who decried the 'degeneration' of English and sought to 'purify' it and fix it forever in unchanging form.
17th-19th centuries British imperialism. Borrowings from languages around the world.
Development of American English. By 19th century, a standard variety of American English develops, based on the dialect of the Mid-Atlantic states.
Establishment of English in Australia, South Africa, India, and Singapore, among other British colonial outposts. Local varieties develop in these areas which later become native English regional standards, even where the population continues to speak the original languages of the localities (e.g., Indian English).
19th century Recognition (and acceptance) by linguistic scholars of the ever-changing nature of language. Discovery of the Indo-European language family. Late in century: Recognition that all languages are fundamentally the same in nature; no "primitive" or "advanced" languages.
19th-20th centuries Scientific and Industrial Revolutions. Development of technical vocabularies. Within a few centuries, English has gone from an island tongue to a world language, following the fortunes of those who speak it.