1. EXTERNAL HISTORY OF LANGUAGES IN BRITAIN
I.e. history of English in relation to other languages spoken in what is now the UK, and the non-linguistic historical and cultural events that impinged on the language… Some key dates.

2. The Prehistoric period
BC BRITAIN BECOMES AN ISLAND
PROTO-INDOEUROPEAN ANCESTOR OF ENGLISH SPOKEN NEAR THE BLACK SEA
NEOLITHIC FARMERS ARRIVE IN BRITAIN
2000 STONEHENGE BUILT BY BRONZE AGE PEOPLE

3. The Celtic period
BC IRON AGE CELTS IN EUROPE AND BRITAIN. GOEDELIC, BRYTHONIC
CELTS SACK ROME
55 JULIUS CAESAR INVADES BRITAIN… AND LEAVES

4. The Roman period AD 43 CLAUDIUS CONQUERS ENGLAND. LATIN
61 BOADICEA REBELS AGAINST THE ROMANS, SACKS COLCHESTER
GERMANIC PEOPLES INVADE ROMAN EMPIRE
ROMANS LEAVE BRITAIN (410 GOTHS SACK ROME)

5. The Anglo-Saxon period
410+ CELTIC MONASTERIES (St PATRICK 5th Cent.); ‘THE DARK AGES’
449+ ANGLES, SAXONS, JUTES SETTLE IN BRITAIN. SAXON KINGDOMS OF WESSEX, MERCIA etc. OE 
597 ST AUGUSTINE BRINGS CHRISTIANITY… AND LATIN (again)
700 FIRST OE TEXTS (1000 BEOWULF)

6. The Viking period 878 ALFRED GRANTS DANELAW TO VIKINGS. ON
ROLLO/HROLF COLONISES NORMANDY
991 BATTLE OF MALDON
1011 DANES SACK CANTERBURY
1016 CNUT KING OF ENGLAND

7. The Norman French period
1066 NORMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND. FRENCH, ME
1204 NORMANDY LOST BY ENGLISH KINGS
1277 EDWARD I CONQUERS GWYNEDD

8. The Norman English period
1362 STATUTE OF PLEADING
CHAUCER'S CANTERBURY TALES
1400 HENRY IV FIRST ENGLISH SPEAKING KING, CHANCERY ENGLISH
1476 PRINTING INVENTED. CAXTON

9. The Tudor consolidation period
15OO+ RENAISSANCE - GREEK AND LATIN (again) AMERICA. ENE
1525 TYNDALE TRANSLATES NEW TESTAMENT INTO ENGLISH
1588         BISHOP MORGAN - BIBLE INTO WELSH. SPANISH ARMADA
SHAKESPEARE BORN

10. The Imperial expansion period
1600 EAST INDIA COMPANY FOUNDED; MONARCHY IS RESTORED; BRITISH EMPIRE. NNE, MANY LANGUAGES
1755         DR JOHNSON COMPLETES HIS DICTIONARY INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
1770+ AUSTRALIA, AFRICA EXPLORED

11. The Imperial fragmentation period
1776 US DECLARES INDEPENDENCE
1828 WEBSTER’S DICTIONARY
1863 CAMBRIDGE OVERSEAS EXAMINATIONS
1947 INDIA AND PAKISTAN BECOME INDEPENDENT

12. The Modern international period
c1955 LATIN NO LONGER REQUIRED AT OXBRIDGE
1962          CATHOLIC MASS IN ENGLISH NOT LATIN
1967 WELSH LANGUAGE ACT
2007 ENGLISH SPOKEN BY 1.8 BILLION PEOPLE