This marked a period of great change for the entire British Isles and with English sovereignty over Wales, the use of the Welsh language was banned and its official status removed.
The first British Law enacted in Ireland which specifically banned the use of the Irish language was Article III of The Statute of Kilkenny from 1367 which made it illegal for English colonists in Ireland to speak the Irish language and for the native Irish to speak their language when interacting with them.
Old English originated from a Germanic tribal and linguistic continuum along the Frisian North Sea coast, whose languages gradually evolved into the Anglic languages in the British Isles, and into the Frisian languages and Low German/Low Saxon on the continent.
In 1536, Henry VIII decided to pass the Act of Union, prohibiting the use of Welsh in public administration and the legal system. You can imagine Owain Glyndŵr, who had instigated a revolt at the start of the 15th century, turning in his grave against the ruling.
Decline of French as first language in England
Throughout the late 11th and 12th centuries, the Norman nobility had ruled over both England and Normandy. However, in 1204, Normandy was lost to France and so the aristocracy began to associate more with an English identity.
Answer and Explanation: Henry IV (1367-1413), who ruled from 1399 to 1413, was the first Plantagenet king to learn a modern version of English as a native language. Earlier monarchs had spoken Old English, but after the Norman Conquest of 1066, French became the recognized language of the English court.
French (specifically Old French) was the mother tongue of every English king from William the Conqueror (1066–1087) until Henry IV (1399–1413). Henry IV was the first to take the oath in (Middle) English, and his son, Henry V (1413–1422), was the first to write in English.
“But crucially, this was the age when modern Britain was born, and established independence from mainland Europe.” Wilson said although Queen Elizabeth was a Welsh speaker, her reign led to the spread of the English language around the globe.
This marked a period of great change for the entire British Isles and with English sovereignty over Wales, the use of the Welsh language was banned and its official status removed.
Most religious scholars and historians agree with Pope Francis that the historical Jesus principally spoke a Galilean dialect of Aramaic. Through trade, invasions and conquest, the Aramaic language had spread far afield by the 7th century B.C., and would become the lingua franca in much of the Middle East.
Across multiple sources, Mandarin Chinese is the number one language listed as the most challenging to learn. The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center puts Mandarin in Category IV, which is the list of the most difficult languages to learn for English speakers.
The Statutes of Iona in 1609-10 and 1616 outlawed the Gaelic learned orders, and sought to eradicate Gaelic, the so-called 'Irish' language so that the 'vulgar English tongue' might be universally planted.
It was outlawed by the crown in 1616, and suppressed further after the Jacobite rebellion of 1745. Less than 100 years ago children were beaten into speaking English at school. Now Gaelic is concentrated in a few areas. Almost 68% of Western Isles residents are fluent in Gaelic, but only 0.8% of people in Strathclyde.
Decline of Scottish Gaelic
A large part of this would be to do with the final loss of the Jacobites in 1746 which was damaging to Gaelic, with this the British Government banned everything related to Highland culture. This included Scottish Gaelic and was what would begin to lead it to near extinction.
The French ancestry of Queen Elizabeth II
It is known that Elizabeth II is descended, through her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria, from the Orange-Nassau, Stuart, Lancaster and Plantagenet families. But the Queen of England also has French blood running through her veins.
Still, there are thousands of French citizens who have titles and can trace their lineage back to the French Royal Family and nobility.
One of the most widely spoken European languages in the British Royal Family is French. Queen Elizabeth II was close to fluent and, in her role as a diplomat, she delivered speeches and addresses in the language throughout her 70-year reign.
English Is Widely Used in Academia
For people to adapt to certain situations, learning English has become a necessity. This could also be the reason why English has become the world's lingua franca since it is already widely used in various countries around the globe.
The fourteenth century saw a decline in Law French, hence the Pleading in English Act, which marked the beginning of modern Legal English. Some 50 years later, English became the language of official government in the form of Chancery Standard during the reign of Henry V (1413 to 1422).
French was the official language of England after the Norman Conquest of 1066 by William the Conqueror of France until 1362, when it was replaced by English.
After the Norman Conquest, French became a major language of administration, education, literature and law in England (and, to some extent, elsewhere in Britain).
The end of Old English
The conventional dividing date of approximately 1150 between Old English and Middle English reflects (very roughly) the period when these changes in grammar and vocabulary begin to become noticeable in most of the surviving texts (which are not very numerous from this transitional period).
Great Britain in French
In French, Great-Britain is la Grande-Bretagne.