CHRONOLOGY

ENGLISH LITERATURE: SOCIAL AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

[Julius Caesar invades Great Britain, 55 B.C. Rome, A.D. 395. Roman Empire divided, 395.

Constantine establishes Christianity in Roman legions leave England, Rome sacked, 410. Angles, Saxons, Jutes begin invasion of and settlement in Great Britain about 450; movement complete about 600. Christianity introduced about 597. THE MIDDLE AGES (Fall of Rome, 476, to Fall of Constantinople, 1453): Continental Europe subject to vast changes in government and institutions. The age of Feudalism and Chivalry. Church fosters and spreads learning, preserves, it throughout barbarian invasions. England, geographically favored, comparatively undisturbed.]