Restoring the dynamic, multilingual context of Middle English
The TOMES anthology focuses on literature in Middle English: an early version of English spoken during the medieval period, roughly between 1066 and 1500 (predating Shakespeare's era). The field of Middle English studies increasingly recognizes and explores the dynamic, multilingual contexts in which Middle English circulated, and this anthology aims to represent those contexts. While focused on Middle English, it also includes works that circulated in medieval England that contained French, Latin, and Hebrew in order to illustrate some of the multilingual environments in which English was read during the medieval period.
Training students; free access to online anthology
The texts in the anthology were transcribed, edited, and translated by BA and MA English and French students at Leiden University under the direction and guidance of Dr. Krista Milne. Students received training in codicology, paleography, and transcription and produced new editions by transcribing directly from digitized manuscripts. This process was designed to give students skills in web writing, textual editing, and collaboration. All material was developed with support of the project leader and verified through a three-step review process, which included editing by the project assistants and project lead.
Project deliverables and implementation
The anthology texts were created and marked up in TEI-compliant XML to produce a dynamic web anthology (https://openmedieval.leidenuniv.nl/). The anthology, which is open access, contains editions with different difficulty levels, ready-made anthologies (available under "Themes"), and blog posts. The editions in TOMES are designed by and for students (and others), meaning the material is created with learners in mind. All material in the online anthology can be used, downloaded, and shared free of charge.
Student-centered anthology
The open-access anthology produced for this project was adopted in two of the project lead’s courses. Since the textbook is student-centered and student-developed, the texts, introductions, and translation aids are designed with learners in mind, and students have reported appreciating this aspect of the textbook.
To assist others in embarking upon similar educational projects, the blueprint for how the project was undertaken has been shared through multiple venues, including two conference presentations and a blog post on a popular blog about teaching medieval studies. In this way, the project has aimed to support educational innovation beyond the anthology itself.
| Opleiding(en) en aantal studenten waarbij de innovatie is toegepast: | 130 students |
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| Ontwikkelperiode: | 2020-2022 |
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| Opzet projectteam: | 3 research assistants, 1 student assistant |
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| Totale budget: | EUR 50.000 |
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Producten en presentaties over dit project
Comenius Teaching Fellowship 2019. Raadpleeg hiervoor nko.nl.
