Historical background to its rise:

Old English was brought from the North of Europe & began as various vernaculars. The Celts were pushed to Scotland, Wales & Cornwall by the invading Anglo-Saxons or fusion took place with Anglo-Saxon. Interestingly enough internal evidence of the Celts appears throughout "England" for instance with some place names, combe (valley).

Though there is few surviving written evidence, scholars have observed that the transition from Old English to Middle English was gradual and brought about many changes:

For example pronunciation was very different. Though it is impossible to prove the sound of Anglo-Saxon, scholars have made an informed guess based on particular evidence and have assumed that Old English spelling was more phonetic than Middle English.

After defeating the Vikings at Ethandun in 878, King Alfred ordered translations from Latin into West Saxon, or Old English, as it is often called. This dialect became widely used and many works were translated into Old English from Latin.

Alfred’s promoting of English over Latin could be seen by some as a symbol of national consciousness and the first step to centralize the language, at least in writing.

In 1066 William Duke of Normandy defeated King Harold and became the King of England, bringing with him a French speaking dynasty. During this period, the Kings greatly expanded French writings for bureaucratic purposes. English became a minority written form until the fourteenth century and English spoken was fragmented throughout the country.

It was not till the fourteenth century, that the use of French began to decline &

English was becoming widely used in areas which were previously dominated by French. This change has often been described as an expression of English national identity. There were signs of hostility towards the French, albeit magnified, due to the start of the Hundred Years War in 1337, and patriotism played its hand in the promotion of English. I would imagine that after almost 300 years of French dominance in administration, state institutions and the royal court, and with the start of the war, the English people would have had a great need of unity, and a national language would have been an important and necessary element in strengthening the national identity & border.

So for the first time since the end of the Anglo-Saxon period that English was now being used in all areas of hierarchy, though Latin was still needed for many functions as English writing was underdeveloped & spoken was fragmented.

Of course these are only a few of the issues at this important time in history. But I thought it would make a good start for my English History series.