Editing Middle English (section)

===Transition to Early Modern English===
The Chancery Standard of written English emerged {{circa|1430}} in official documents that, since the [[Norman Conquest]], had normally been written in French.<ref name="Wright"/> Like Chaucer's work, this new standard was based on the East Midlands-influenced speech of London. Clerks using this standard were usually familiar with [[French language|French]] and [[Latin]], influencing the forms they chose. The Chancery Standard, which was adopted slowly, was used in England by bureaucrats for most official purposes, excluding those of the Church and legalities, which used Latin and [[Law French]]  respectively.

The Chancery Standard's influence on later forms of written English is disputed, but it did undoubtedly provide the core around which [[Early Modern English]] formed.{{Citation needed|date=June 2018}} Early Modern English emerged with the help of [[William Caxton]]'s printing press, developed during the 1470s. The press stabilized English through a push towards standardization, led by Chancery Standard enthusiast and writer [[Richard Pynson]].<ref name="ReferenceA">cf. 'Sawles Warde' (The protection ''of the soul'')</ref> [[Early Modern English]] began in the 1540s after the printing and wide distribution of the [[English Bible]] and [[Book of Common Prayer|Prayer Book]], which made the new standard of English publicly recognisable and lasted until about 1650.