''Leeds Studies in English'' was an annual academic journal dedicated to the study of medieval English, Old Norse-Icelandic, and

Anglo-Norman Anglo-Norman may refer to: *Anglo-Normans, the medieval ruling class in England following the Norman conquest of 1066 *Anglo-Norman language **Anglo-Norman literature *Anglo-Norman England, or Norman England, the period in English history from 1066 ...

language and literature. It was published by the School of English at the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

. In 2020, it was announced that ''Leeds Studies in English'' would merge with the '' Bulletin of International Medieval Research'' to become '' Leeds Medieval Studies'', based in the Leeds Institute for Medieval Studies.

Editorial policy

According to the journal's website in the decade before its transformation into ''Leeds Medieval Studies'',

''Leeds Studies in English'' is an international, refereed journal based in the School of English, University of Leeds. ''Leeds Studies in English'' publishes articles on Old and Middle English literature, Old Icelandic language and literature, and the historical study of the English language. After a two-year embargo, past copies are made available free access.

Authors were encouraged to make their work available open-access at any stage of the publication process. Recent volumes also include work on

medievalism Medievalism is a system of belief and practice inspired by the Middle Ages of Europe, or by devotion to elements of that period, which have been expressed in areas such as architecture, literature, music, art, philosophy, scholarship, and variou ...

, and

historical linguistics Historical linguistics, also termed diachronic linguistics, is the scientific study of language change over time. Principal concerns of historical linguistics include: # to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages # ...

, alongside editions and translations of medieval and early modern texts.

History

The journal was begun as ''Leeds Studies in English & Kindred Languages'' by

Bruce Dickins Bruce Dickins, FBA (26 October 1889 – 4 January 1978), a graduate of Magdalene College, Cambridge, was Professor of English Language at the University of Leeds from 1931 to 1946 (where he succeeded E. V. Gordon), teaching medieval English and Ol ...

Alan S. C. Ross Alan Strode Campbell Ross (1 February 1907 – 23 September 1980) was a British academic specialising in linguistics. He is best remembered as the ultimate source and inspiration for author Nancy Mitford's "U and non-U" forms of behaviour and lan ...

and

R. M. Wilson Richard Michael Wilson (23 November 1945) is a mathematician and a professor emeritus at the California Institute of Technology. Wilson and his PhD supervisor Dijen K. Ray-Chaudhuri, solved Kirkman's schoolgirl problem in 1968. Wilson is known ...

, who were then all in the Department of English Language at the University of Leeds. It was initially intended to showcase the work of staff and postgraduate students in the department. The first volume emerged in 1932, and further volumes emerged annually until 1938, at which point volumes 7 and 8 were both delayed by the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. During 1945-46, as the war ended, the editors all took new posts, respectively at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

and

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, whereupon 'any chance of refloating ''Leeds Studies in English'' with the old crew vanished'. A. C. Cawley and

Harold Orton Harold Orton (23 October 1898 – 7 March 1975) was a British dialectologist and professor of English Language and Medieval Literature at the University of Leeds. Early life Orton was born in Byers Green, County Durham, on 23 October 1898 and w ...

saw volumes 7 and 8 through the press as a single volume in 1952 and hoped to publish more, but this did not eventuate. However, a new series was launched in 1967, initially under the editorship of A. C. Cawley (who had left Leeds in 1959 but returned in 1965) and R. C. Alston (appointed in 1964), a year after the foundation at Leeds University of the journal ''

Northern History ''Northern History'' is an academic journal of the history of the northern counties of England. It was first published in 1966 under the auspices of the School of History, University of Leeds. It is indexed by Scopus. The journal's founding editor ...

'' and Alston's foundation of the Scolar Press,Stephen Green,
Robin Alston Obituary: Scholar Behind The Bibliography of the English Language
, ''The Guardian'' (2 October 2011). and in the same year as the founding of the ''

International Medieval Bibliography The International Medieval Bibliography (IMB) is a multidisciplinary bibliographic database covering Europe, North Africa and the Middle East for the entire period from AD 300 to 1500. It aims to provide a comprehensive, current bibliography of a ...

'' and the

Institute for Medieval Studies The Institute for Medieval Studies (IMS) at the University of Leeds, founded in 1967, is a leading research and teaching institute in the field of medieval studies. It is home to the International Medieval Bibliography and the International Mediev ...

. The editors broadened the scope of the journal to invite contributions from scholars internationally. Although they shortened the title to ''Leeds Studies in English'', they affirmed the journal's multilingual scope. A book review section was launched in 1990.Joyce Hill, 'Editorial Note', ''Leeds Studies in English'', 21 (1990), vii. From 1967 to 1977 the journal was printed by Alston's company Scolar Press, and from 1977 to 1987 the journal was printed from copy-ready type-written text at the University's own printing service. From 1986, Elizabeth Williams, Joyce Hill and Pam Armitage oversaw a transition to word-processed text, with the new format being finalised in 1991. 1986 saw the introduction of the journal's logo, 'based on a panel from the Anglo-Saxon cross in

Otley Parish Church All Saints' Church in Otley, West Yorkshire, England is an active Anglican parish church in the archdeaconry of Leeds and the Diocese of Leeds. History The church is of Norman origin with alterations from the 14th to the 18th centuries. There ...

, West Yorkshire'. With the fortieth issue (for 2009, published in 2010), under the editorship of

Alaric Hall Alaric Hall (born 1979) is a British philologist who is an associate professor of English and director of the Institute for Medieval Studies at the University of Leeds. He has, since 2009, been the editor of the academic journal '' Leeds Studies ...

, the journal began online free-access publication alongside print publication, with a two-year embargo, on the grounds that ‘''LSE'' has always been published by scholars, for scholars; its purpose is to disseminate high-quality research as widely as possible’. All past issues were digitised and made available via Leeds University Library. It also transitioned to typesetting in

LaTeX Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latexes are found in nature, but synthetic latexes are common as well. In nature, latex is found as a milky fluid found in 10% of all flowering plants (angiosperms ...

. Print distribution, which had previously been undertaken within Leeds's School of English, was handed over in the same year to Abramis Academic Publishing.

Editors

Guest editors included

Derek Pearsall Derek Albert Pearsall (1931–2021) was a prominent medievalist and Chaucerian who wrote and published widely on Chaucer, Langland, Gower, manuscript studies, and medieval history and culture. He was the co-director, Emeritus, Centre for Mediev ...

(1983); Marie Collins, Joceyln Price and Andrew Hamer (1985);

Thorlac Turville-Petre Thorlac Francis Samuel Turville-Petre (born 6 January 1944) is an English philologist who is Professor Emeritus and former head of the School of English at the University of Nottingham. He specializes in the study of Middle English literature. ...

and

Margaret Gelling Margaret Joy Gelling, (''née'' Midgley; 29 November 1924 – 24 April 2009) was an English toponymist, known for her extensive studies of English place-names. She served as President of the English Place-Name Society from 1986 to 1998, and Vi ...

(1987); Geraldine Barnes, Sonya Jensen, Lee Jobling and David Lawton (1989);

Clive Upton Clive Upton (born 30 September 1946) is an English linguist specializing in dialectology and sociolinguistics. He is also an authority on the pronunciation of English. He has been Emeritus Professor of Modern English Language at the University o ...

and Katie Wales (1999); Sarah Carpenter, Pamela King and Peter Meredith (2001); Mary Swan (2006); Janet Burton, William Marx, and Veronica O'Mara (2010); Carole Biggam (2013); and Hannah Bailey, Karl Kinsella, and Daniel Thomas (2017). Some special issues were ''

Festschriften In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

'', honouring

(1968, 1999), Arthur C. Cawley (1980-81), Elizabeth Salter (1983), J. E. Cross (1985), Kenneth Cameron (1987), H. Leslie Rogers (1989),

Peter Meredith Peter Meredith (born Ross-on-Wye 1933) was, prior to retirement, a lecturer in medieval and early modern English language and literature. He was editor of the journal '' Leeds Studies in English'' from around 1978 to 1981 and chaired its editorial b ...

(1998), Meg Twycross (2001),

Joyce Hill Joyce Elaine Westerman (née Hill; December 29, 1925 – January 18, 2021) was a catcher who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 150 lb., she batted left-handed and threw right-handed. B ...

(2006), and Oliver Pickering (2010).

Leeds Texts and Monographs

''Leeds Studies in English'' exists in parallel to a series of monograph publications on the same themes as the journal: originally Leeds School of English Language Texts and Monographs (eight volumes, 1935-40), then Leeds Texts and Monographs (new series, seventeen volumes, 1966-2009), and Leeds Texts and Monographs Facsimiles (publishing facsimiles of medieval English drama, eight volumes, 1973-84).Leeds Texts and Monographs
.

External links

Free-access archive at Institute for Medieval Studies websiteFree-access archive at Leeds University LibraryFree-access archive at archive.org
(whole issues)
Hard copies
via the printer and distributor (2009 onwards)

References

{{Reflist Linguistics journals