Simplify the following text for a Grade 11 native English-speaking person.
Original: Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century .
Simplified: Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from around 1000 to 1300 .