Videos from The Virtual Linguistics Campus on old and middle English (excellent)
While this video is predominantly from a linguistics perspective, it is still fascinating to see and hear how Old English was pronounced and see how letters - especially vowels - have shifted over time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2fd22bXooI
Middle English: Historical overview
This E-Lecture discusses the period of Middle English (1100 to 1500) with its main phases: from its decline after the Norman conquest to its re-birth in the 13th and its eventual triumph in the 15th century. This E-Lecture, while linguistically oriented, focuses on the main sociocultural and historical events as well as the main literary achievements of that time. It is meant as a general overview of the most important facts and figures of the Middle English era. (I was particularly fascinated by the impact of the black plague on the resurrection of English.)
Middle English: The Sound Systems
The main focus of this E-Lecture is the discussion and exemplification of the sound system of Middle English, the period from 1100 to 1500 AD. This includes the listing and discussion of the major sound shifts that mark the transition between OE and ME as well as the exemplification of an excerpt from MA literature.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GFmtn3OZsQ
Early Modern English: Historical overview
This E-Lecture introduces the main cultural and political events that shaped the Early Modern English period. Furthermore, it discusses the central parameters according to which this period of English can be defined.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bciUXRAUpHk
Two examples of spoken Shakespeare using the Early Modern English pronunciations
https://oer-vlc.de/mod/page/view.php?id=3840&forceview=1
The Great Vowel Shift
https://oer-vlc.de/pluginfile.php/8480/mod_page/content/6/gvs_animation.gif
This E-Lecture discusses the central principles and stages of the Great Vowel Shift, the chain shift that has influenced the English language until the present day. Using the potential of the ActivBoard, Jürgen Handke, discusses each individual stage of the GVS in detail, produces examples where necessary and includes phonological and more general explanations for this influential sound shift.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyhZ8NQOZeo