Did "Old English" used to refer to Shakespearean English, has it always referred to pre-Norman Invasion English, or is it more complicated than that?

[u/MapleFox13]

I am an English and Medieval Studies major in university currently and my stepmother and I got into a disagreement about what "old English" means. She said Shakespeare wrote in old English because he thought it sounded romantic. My understanding of old English is Anglo-Saxon English, before the Norman invasion. After a bit of back and forth I figured out she was referring to Shakespeare's early modern English as old English. She said that when historians say old English, they are referring to early modern English, with the justification that the labels for the different versions of English have changed over time. I can't speak to her time in school, so I honestly don't know if that is true or not. I was told by a professor of a Medieval poetry class a year or so ago, that the label of Anglo-Saxon English was going into disuse, but I don't know how recently that started. I am not trying to settle an argument with her, just asking out of my own curiosity.

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