Mission

The Middle English Text Series was established in 1990 with the goal of providing authoritative and accessible editions of the widest possible range of literary production from the Insular Middle Ages to the widest possible readership. This dedication to access, accuracy, and representation underscores every aspect of our work, from the texts we publish to the design of our website. 

From the outset, the Series has focused on publishing editions of medieval writings that, despite their importance and influence, were not easily accessible: typically these texts were only available in hard-to-find, highly technical specialist editions too expensive for most students and many scholars. METS strives to broaden the range of medieval texts available and ensure their accessibility and accuracy so that they can be relied upon by novices and experts alike. Since its inception, METS has been dedicated to the fullest range of access through affordable print and open-access digital editions.We are proud to have introduced new generations of readers to the vibrant, multilingual, and transnational literatures and cultures of the medieval Britain and Ireland and their neighbors from the twelfth to sixteenth centuries. 

In 1988, a collective of like-minded scholars in the field of medieval English literature took action to lower the barriers to entry that exist for students accessing medieval texts. This collective, then called the Consortium for Teaching the Middle Ages and now known as the Teaching Association for Medieval Studies (TEAMS), established its inaugural Editorial Board that year with Professor Russell Peck as chair. One of the Consortium’s first actions was to approve the formation of a publication series of medieval English texts. With this decision, the Middle English Texts Series was born. In consultation with nearly 250 scholars, METS began commissioning editions, with the initial goal of publishing twenty-five scholarly and teaching texts. METS issued its first volume in 1990, with support from the University of Rochester's English Graduate Program, the School of Arts and Sciences, the newly established Rossell Hope Robbins Library, and the Medieval Institute of Western Michigan University, the home of Medieval Institute Publications (MIP). MIP thereafter accepted responsibility for about a dozen commissioned volumes. By the mid-1990s, Alan Lupack, Associate Editor of METS, had created a website for the Robbins Library’s digital projects, and this site became the platform for hosting the Series’ digital editions. In 1995, with hopes of dramatically increasing the project’s scope and productivity, METS successfully applied for a Scholarly Editions grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. From 1995 on, the Series has received nearly continuous support from the Endowment. Through this sponsorship, METS effectively tripled its rate of publication, publishing its one hundredth volume in 2023. Alongside the ongoing production of new editions, leadership and staff launched an initiative in 2019 to assess and revise all production workflows, processes, documentation, and our digital interface. As part of this work to ensure ongoing sustainability, the Series officially became a publication of the Rossell Hope Robbins Library in 2020. In 2024, the position of Executive Director was created to oversee all production work, coordinate editorial processes, and supervise the production staff.

These achievements have been made possible through the support of the Series’ many faculty and student staff members, organizational boards, institutional partnerships, and financial sponsors. The Series owes a profound debt of gratitude to its institutional home, the University of Rochester, and particularly the Rossell Hope Robbins Library, part of the River Campus Libraries system. River Campus Libraries is fundamental in the support of METS' day-to-day work, as well as instrumental in the Series' digital redesign, generously funding the work to design and build our new site in partnership with Cast Iron Coding. River Campus Libraries also funds the site's ongoing maintenance and the support of its digital infrastructure. The University of Rochester’s Department of English has been important to the success of METS since its foundation, as the home of most of the Series' faculty and graduate student staff. The English Department also provides administrative support. Medieval Institute Publications has been steadfast in supporting the Series’ print publication efforts, including publishing, marketing, and distributing the Series’ print editions, and partnering with METS in our ongoing work to improve the series.

The Middle English Texts Series’ mission is to create affordable editions of medieval texts acceptable to the most demanding expert, yet approachable and even enticing to new readers of Middle English. To balance these equally important priorities, METS has adopted a “best text” approach, basing each edition on the text of judiciously selected base manuscripts. This editorial practice presents smooth, modern reading experiences informed by the explanatory notes and scholarship of earlier editions, and supplements presented texts with variant readings from other surviving versions.

The Series’ commitment to providing both scholarly excellence and learning support is also reflected in the expert assistance each edition offers. METS editions strike a balance between ensuring ease of reading and preserving the essence of their source material: Middle English texts are presented in a lightly modernized version of their original language (regularized spelling, expanded abbreviations, modern punctuation and word division, and substitutions for special characters like the yogh and thorn), while texts in other languages are presented alongside facing-page modern English translations. METS editions emphasize translating for accuracy in meaning over reproducing the source text’s meter, rhyme, and other poetic features. 

Each edition provides readers with extensive glosses for challenging Middle English words and phrases, notes on thematic and interpretive possibilities, and substantial explanatory notes. All editions also include general introductions that set the edited text within its own time, place, traditions, and larger literary context. Each of these reader-focused, editorial elements relies on comprehensive, current bibliographies of pertinent scholarship and criticism.

The scope of the Middle English Texts Series includes all forms of literary production significant to medieval Britain and Ireland’s literary and cultural development between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries. After receiving a proposal, the Editorial Board reviews proposed editions to decide whether they meet the Series’ scope and rigorous standards for excellence. Editions are selected for publication based on their potential to contribute to the field of medieval literary studies, fill a gap in availability or student-friendly access to important texts, provide a window into a unique manuscript or variant of a text, and expand the Series’ coverage of significant literary traditions. Submitted manuscripts undergo blind peer review before final acceptance. Once manuscripts are accepted, METS staff and members of the Editorial and Advisory Boards provide multiple rounds of feedback prior to publication. METS editions are typeset in InDesign by the staff based out of the Robbins Library and then sent to MIP for printing.