''Oxford Medieval Texts'' (OMT), published by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, is a series of critical editions and

translations Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

primary sources In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was created at the time under ...

written during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. Focusing on works written in

medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. It was also the administrative language in the former Western Roman Empire, Roman Provinces of Mauretania, Numidi ...

, it provides authoritative and accessible editions for medieval history,

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

, and intellectual life. Its equivalent for the ancient world is Oxford Classical Texts.

Scope and purpose

The series focuses on works written between

late antiquity Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown (historian), Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodiza ...

and the end of the Middle Ages, including Latin and vernacular texts from

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...

. Its objective is to make authoritative versions of important texts accessible to both specialists and general readers. Each volume situates texts within their historical, cultural, and intellectual context, providing tools for a nuanced understanding of medieval thought and society.

History

The Oxford Medieval Texts series emerged from earlier British scholarly endeavours aimed at publishing critical editions of medieval sources. It began as the Medieval Texts series, published between 1953 and 1965 by Thomas Nelson, often known as Nelson’s Medieval Texts. The Oxford series took on the Nelson titles and format. The Nelson series was a continuation of the editorial ethos established by the monumental Rolls Series. This collection, initiated under the direction of the British Master of the Rolls, aimed to publish authoritative editions of medieval British historical sources. Medieval Texts refined the Rolls Series model by producing more accessible editions that incorporate facing-page translations and introductory materials to contextualize the works, combined with a more rigorous approach to

textual criticism Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts (mss) or of printed books. Such texts may rang ...

. Oxford University Press relaunched the series as Oxford Medieval Texts in 1967.

Format

A typical volume in the series includes: * An introduction covering the author, context, manuscript tradition, and editorial principles * A Latin text based on a critical comparison of manuscript sources * A facing-page English translation in modern prose style * A

critical apparatus A critical apparatus () in textual criticism of primary source material, is an organized system of notations to represent, in a single text, the complex history of that text in a concise form useful to diligent readers and scholars. The apparatu ...

using selective notation to track significant variants * Extensive explanatory and historical notes * Concordances with previous editions, where appropriate * Full bibliography and indices of manuscripts, biblical citations, classical and medieval sources, and general subjects Oxford University Press makes the full series available in print and digitally through Oxford Scholarly Editions Online.

References

{{reflist Book series Clarendon Press books

Scope and purpose

History

Format

See also

References