Early Modern English I — the fifteenth century

Abstract

You should have found the fourteenth century texts in Chapter 7 relatively easy to read without the help of a glossary — it is usually possible to make out the sense of late ME writings in the East Midlands and London dialects because they are the origins of Standard English today. The following fifteenth century was a period of transition to present-day English, and we talk of the Early Modern English (EMnE) period, from about 1450, in the development of the language. The date is, of course, arbitrary, as the normal development of a language is gradual and continuous.