Early Modern English I — the 15th century

Abstract

You will have seen that the 14th-century texts in chapters 12 and 13 are relatively easy to read without much help from a glossary — at least it is usually possible to make out the sense of late ME writing in the East Midland and London dialects.The following 15th century is for us, looking back, a period of transition to present-day English, and we talk of the Early Modern English period (EMnE), from about 1450, in the development of the language.