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Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English period.
The world's largest searchable database of Middle English lexicon and usage for the period 1100-1500. An invaluable resource for lexicographers, language scholars, and all scholars in medieval studies. Image: The Ellesmer Manuscript of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, c. 1400-1405.
The term Middle English literature refers to the literature written in the form of the English language known as Middle English, from the late 12th century until the 1470s.
The Middle English Dictionary is a dictionary of Middle English published by the University of Michigan. It comprises roughly 15,000 pages with a comprehensive analysis of lexicon and usage for the period 1175–1500, based on the analysis of over three million quotations from primary sources.
Go to the Middle English Dictionary Bibliography A description of the authors, works, manuscripts, and editions cited in the Dictionary, the Bibliography also defines the abbreviated forms under which those works are referred to, and provides cross-references to major reference sites to allow further study.
In terms of ‘external’ history, Middle English is framed at its beginning by the after-effects of the Norman Conquest of 1066, and at its end by the arrival in Britain of printing (in 1476) and by the important social and cultural impacts of the English Reformation (from the 1530s onwards) and of the ideas of the continental Renaissance.
