When you tell a story you can use all the three tenses together. Have a look: “It was late in the evening and the wind was howling outside. Tom was reading a book in his living room while his cat was sleeping on the couch. Suddenly he heard someone knocking at the door. “Who’s there?” …
In medieval times, the English language was enriched by a large number of words coming from Old Norse, the language of the Vikings, and French, after the Norman conquest of 1066. Words such as sky, skull, berserk, bull, cake, egg, fog, guest, kid, knife, knot, lad, mistake, plough, race, reindeer, saga, skin, skirt, wing, window, …
From the beginnings to the Norman Conquest (500 BC – 1066 AD).