TIMELINE: The Old English Period (500-1100)

The conquest of the Celtic population in Britain by speakers of West Germanic dialects (primarily Angles, Saxons, and Jutes) eventually determined many of the essential characteristics of the English language. (The Celtic influence on English survives for the most part only in place names--London, Dover, Avon, York.) Over time the dialects of the various invaders merged, giving rise to what we now call "Old English."

OLD ENGLISH TIMELINE

Later 6th century	Ethelbert, the King of Kent, is baptized. He is the first English king to convert to Christianity.
7th century	Rise of the Saxon kingdom of Wessex; the Saxon kingdom of Essex and Middlesex; the Angle kingdoms of Mercia, East Anglia, and Northumbria. St. Augustine and Irish missionaries converted Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, introducing new religious words borrowed from Latin and Greek. Latin speakers began referring to the country as Anglia and later as Englaland.
673	Birth of the Venerable Bede, the monk who composed (in Latin) The Ecclesiastical History of the English People (c.731), a key source of information about Anglo-Saxon settlement.
700	Approximate date of the earliest manuscript records of Old English.
Late 8th century	Scandinavians began to settle in Britain and Ireland; Danes settled in parts of Ireland.
Early 9th century	Egbert of Wessex incorporates Cornwall into his kingdom and is recognized as overlord of the seven kingdoms of the Angles and Saxons (the Heltarchy): England began to emerge.
Mid 9th century	Danes raid England, occupy Northumbria, and establish a kingdom at York. Danish began to influence English.
Late 9th century	King Alfred of Wessex (Alfred the Great) leaded the Anglo-Saxons to victory over the Vikings, translated Latin works into English and established the writing of prose in English. He used the English language to foster a sense of national identity. English was divided into a kingdom ruled by the Anglo-Saxons (under Alfred) and another ruled by the Scandinavians. Danelaw.
10th century	English and Danes mixed fairly peacefully, and many Scandinavians (or Old Norse) loanwords entered the language, including such common words as sister, wish, skin and die.
1000	Approximate date of the only surviving manuscript of the Old English epic poem Beowulf, composed by an anonymous poet between 8th and early 11th centuries.
Early 11th century	Danes attacked England, and the English king escaped to Normandy. The battle of Maldon became the subject of one of the few surviving poems in Old English. The Danish king ruled over England and encouraged the growth of Anglo-Saxon culture and literature.
1066	The Norman invasion: King Harold was killed at the Battle of Hastings, and William of Normandy was crowned King of England. Over succeeding decades, Norman French became the language of the court and the upper classes; English remained the language of the majority, but it was no longer a written language. Latin was used in churches and schools.