Middle English is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English period. Scholarly opinion varies, but Oxford University Press specifies the period when Middle English was spoken as being from 1100 to 1500. This stage of the development of the English language roughly followed the High to the Late Middle Ages.
A page from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales
English is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, whose speakers, called Anglophones, originated in early medieval England. The namesake of the language is the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the island of Great Britain.
The opening of Beowulf, an Old English epic poem handwritten in half-uncial script between 975 AD and 1025 AD: Hƿæt ƿē Gārde/na ingēar dagum þēod cyninga / þrym ge frunon... ("Listen! We of the Spear-Danes from days of yore have heard of the glory of the folk-kings...")
The University of Oxford in Oxford, the world's oldest English-speaking university and world's second-oldest university, founded in 1096
The University of Cambridge in Cambridge, the world's second-oldest English-speaking university and world's third-oldest university, founded in 1209
