Project Grant RQ30678626

The University of Tennessee received a $294,640 Project Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) under the Promotion of the Humanities Research program (CFDA 45.161), awarded June 1, 2026, with a completion date of May 31, 2029. The grant supports the production of a new critical edition of John Lydgate's shorter works, to be published by the Early English Text Society in cooperation with Oxford University Press. Lydgate, the most significant Middle English poet of the fifteenth century, achieved widespread recognition through his brief lyrics and instructional poems that were disseminated throughout fifteenth and sixteenth-century England, introducing a broad English reading public to humanistic learning.

The critical edition will make Lydgate's shorter literary works—which remain important to scholars of Middle English, medieval religion, history, and comparative European literatures—available in annotated, edited form to both academic and general audiences. The project addresses a scholarly gap, as Lydgate's reputation historically rested on these shorter works rather than his longer compositions, yet they have not been comprehensively edited in modern critical form. The deliverable represents a foundational scholarly resource that advances knowledge of late medieval English literature and culture while preserving and making accessible important historical literary materials.