Middle English Texts Series

FAIN: RQ-50194-06

University of Rochester (Rochester, NY 14627-0001)
Russell A. Peck (Project Director: November 2005 to September 2010)

Preparation of multiple volumes of a series of editions of important Middle English texts. (24 Months)

The University of Rochester, the Consortium for the Teaching of the Middle Ages (TEAMS), and Medieval Institute Publications of Western Michigan University, have been collaborating over the past fifteen years in the preparation and publication of scholarly editions of Middle English and Early-Modern English texts that are suitable for classroom and individual use by students of Medieval Literature at all ages of study - from beginners to the most advanced scholars. With the assistance of three grants from the NEH, we have thus far published fifty-two volumes, which remain in print indefinitely, and all of which are available online with free access to individual users. The impact of the Series has, thus far, been monumental in opening up possibilities in the depiction of medieval literature and culture within the classroom, with specificities previously unimaginable. The range of texts in print and online cuts across traditional disciplinary boundaries between departments of literature, history, religion, politics, and art. What had originally been conceived of as a series of pedagogical texts aimed toward an undergraduate audience has become, especially in the last half-dozen years, a respected resource for authoritative critical editions. With an additional twenty volumes on the immediate horizon, and twenty-five others in the works, each a potentially significant contribution to the canon, we are applying for continued NEH support. The texts are prepared at the University of Rochester, where an expert editorial staff monitors with care the several stages of the production of each volume.