The Hundred Year War against France (1337 1453)
had the effect of branding French as
the language of the enemy and the status of English rose as a consequence. The Black
Death of 1349 1350
killed about a third of the English population (which was around 4
million at that time), including a disproportionate number of the Latinspeaking
clergy. After
the plague, the Englishspeaking
labouring and merchant classes grew in economic and
social importance and, within the short period of a decade, the linguistic division between
the nobility and the commoners was largely over. The Statute of Pleading, which made
English the official language of the courts and Parliament (although, paradoxically, it was
written in French), was adopted in 1362, and in that same year Edward III became the first
king to address Parliament in English, a crucial psychological turning point. By 1385,
English had become the language of instruction in schools.