Welcome to METS, the Middle English Texts Series.
METS is a diverse, ever-growing collection of edited medieval texts. Our editions represent the medieval literary traditions and cultures that flourished in what is modern-day Britain and Ireland. It is committed to publishing affordable print and open access digital editions that are accessible to all.
We are currently in the soft launch phase of this website, and are continuing to make adjustments to improve user experience. We welcome your feedback; please report any issues and let us know what you'd like to see in future phases.
If you'd like to continue using the legacy METS site, it will be available until the end of 2024.
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.
METS Editions
Confessio Amantis, Volumes 1-3
Ancrene Wisse
The Cloud of Unknowing
King Arthur's Death: The Middle English Stanzaic Morte Arthur and Alliterative Morte Arthure
Pearl
The Book of Margery Kempe
Guillaume de Machaut: The Complete Poetry and Music, Volume 1: The Debate Poems
Of Knyghthode and Bataile
Robin Hood and Other Outlaw Tales
The Destruction of Jerusalem, or Titus and Vespasian
The Shewings of Julian of Norwich
The Digby Mary Magdalene Play
Three Middle English Charlemagne Romances
The Owl and the Nightingale and the English Poems of Oxford, Jesus College, MS 29 (II)
Four Romances of England: King Horn, Havelok the Dane, Bevis of Hampton, Athelston
John Lydgate's Dance of Death and Related Works
Two Middle English Prayer Cycles: Holkham Prayers and Meditations and Simon Appulby, The Fruyte of Redempcyon
The Middle English Breton Lays
William Caxton's Paris and Vienne and Blanchardyn and Eglantine
The Complete Harley 2253 Manuscript, Volumes 1-3
Sir Gawain: Eleven Romances and Tales
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.
Publish with METS
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.
