Middle English Text Series (original) (raw)
Welcome to METS, the Middle English Texts Series.
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Recent Edition
William Caxton, Paris and Vienne and Blanchardyn and Eglantine
Paris and Vienne, published in 1485,and Blanchardyn and Eglantine, published in 1489, are unique among the romances printed for English audiences by William Caxton, the printer responsible for many of the earliest print versions of major canonical works in England. The only independent tales of adventure that Caxton did not draw from the epic cycles of England, France, Greece, and Rome, these romances enjoyed widespread popularity throughout medieval Europe in multiple languages and in both verse and prose prior to Caxton’s translations. Presenting lively characters, distinctive treatments of familiar plots, and differing but complementary accounts of chivalry and courtly love, these romances were both edifying and entertaining for medieval English audiences; as two of the first knightly romances ever printed in England, they also provide important witnesses to the development of English prose style, the evolution of the romance genre, and late medieval precursors to the novel.
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METS Editions
Our editions maintain the linguistic integrity of the original works within modern reading conventions.
Coming Soon
The English Apocalypse: A Fourteenth Century Bible Translation in Transition: The Plimpton Manuscript
Before translators at the University of Oxford began producing the first Wycliffite Bibles in the 1380s, few complete books of the Bible had ever been translated into Middle English. One notable exception is the English Apocalypse, a Middle English version of the Book of Revelation translated between 1340 and 1360 from an Anglo-Norman Apocalypse dated to the early fourteenth century. The English Apocalypse survives in eighteen extant manuscripts and often appears alongside Wycliffite material, attesting to its popularity with Wycliffite translators. In the case of this edition’s chosen base manuscript, it almost completely replaces the Middle English translation of the Book of Revelation from the Latin Vulgate Bible, the source text for most Wycliffite Bibles of the period. Expanding upon earlier work on this important textual tradition, this edition of the English Apocalypse offers a unique glimpse into English Bible translation and production at a historic moment of transition.
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Help shape the field of medieval studies through publishing with METS. Find the information you need about the entire editorial process, from initial proposal to print and digital publication.
