English language in Europe following the Norman Conquest in 1066, the Anglo-Norman language was the language of administration and few Kings of England spoke English. A large number of French words were assimilated into Old English, which lost most of its inflections, the result being Middle English. Around the year 1500, the Great Vowel Shift marked the transformation of Middle English into Modern English. The most famous surviving work from Old English is "Beowulf", and from Middle English is Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales". The rise of Modern English began around the fifteenth century, with Early Modern English reaching its literary pinnacle at the
Anglo-Saxon art of the cross and writing, and God the Father creating the world with a pair of compasses. All of these were later used across Europe. The earliest developed depiction of the "Last Judgement" in the West is also found on an Anglo-Saxon ivory, and a late Anglo-Saxon Gospel book may show the earliest example of Mary Magdalene at the foot of the cross in a "Crucifixion". Anglo-Saxon art Anglo-Saxon art covers art produced within the Anglo-Saxon period of English history, beginning with the Migration period style that the Anglo-Saxons brought with them from the continent in the 5th century, and