| A brief chronology of English | ||
|---|---|---|
| 55 BC | Roman invasion of Britain by Julius Caesar. | Local inhabitants speak Celtish |
| AD 43 | Roman invasion and occupation. Beginning of Roman rule of Britain. | |
| 436 | Roman withdrawal from Britain complete. | |
| 449 | Settlement of Britain by Germanic invaders begins | |
| 450-480 | Earliest known Old English inscriptions. | Old English |
| 1066 | William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, invades and conquers England. | |
| c1150 | Earliest surviving manuscripts in Middle English. | Middle English |
| 1348 | English replaces Latin as the language of instruction in most schools. | |
| 1362 | English replaces French as the language of law. English is used in Parliament for the first time. | |
| c1388 | Chaucer starts writing The Canterbury Tales. | |
| c1400 | The Great Vowel Shift begins. | |
| 1476 | William Caxton establishes the first English printing press. | Early Modern English |
| 1564 | Shakespeare is born. | |
| 1604 | Table Alphabeticall, the first English dictionary, is published. | |
| 1607 | The first permanent English settlement in the New World (Jamestown) is established. | |
| 1616 | Shakespeare dies. | |
| 1623 | Shakespeare's First Folio is published | |
| 1702 | The first daily English-language newspaper, The Daily Courant, is published in London. | |
| 1755 | Samuel Johnson publishes his English dictionary. | |
| 1776 | Thomas Jefferson writes the American Declaration of Independence. | |
| 1782 | Britain abandons its colonies in what is later to become the USA. | |
| 1828 | Webster publishes his American English dictionary. | Late Modern English |
| 1922 | The British Broadcasting Corporation is founded. | |
| 1928 | The Oxford English Dictionary is published. | |