It was this basic stock, onto which was grafted a wealth of contributions from numerous other sources, that in the end produced what many people today believe to be the richest of the world's languages. In the 14th century English finally came into it's own in England. Between 1350 and 1380 it became the medium of instruction in the schools and the language of the courts of Jaw. King Henry IV, who ascended the throne in 1399, was the first English king since the Norman Conquest whose mother tongue was English. By the close of the 14th century the dialect of London had emerged as the literary standard and Geoffrey Chaucer had written his immortal Canterbury Tales .
All great languages have humble beginnings.