The MEG-C project has been a long-term one, involving the work, help and goodwill of a large number of people. The following is an attempt to list our roles in compiling the corpus and the main debts we owe.
The MEG-C Corpus is published on the University of Stavanger website. The main compilers of this long-term project were Merja Stenroos, Martti Mäkinen, Simon Horobin and Jeremy Smith. The Stavanger project team, which was involved in getting version 2011.1 ready, consisted of Nedelina V. Naydenova, Merja Stenroos, Jacob Thaisen and Kjetil V. Thengs.
The Corpus work was started by Jeremy Smith as part of the Middle English Grammar Project at the University of Glasgow in 1998, with Simon Horobin and Merja Stenroos as co-workers. The project was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Board in the period 1998-2002; the funding included a full-time research fellowship, which was held by Simon Horobin.
Merja Stenroos was a co-worker on the project since 1998, and has been leading a project team at Stavanger since 2006. During the period 2006-2010, the project was funded by the Norwegian Research Council. The funding included a three-year full-time postdoctoral fellowship, which was held by Martti Mäkinen.
In addition to the main compilers, a large number of people have taken part in producing MEG-C, whether working as research assistants or as part of their own research projects.
The following people have taken part in transcribing and proofreading the texts for MEG-C:
BW Beata Wojtalik
CJ Christina Jerez Delgado
CO Cerwyss O’Hare
EL Eleanor Lawson
HS Hildegunn Støle
JJS Jeremy J. Smith
JRT Jacob Thaisen
JY Judith Youngson
KVT Kjetil Vikhamar Thengs
MML Mari Munthe Landsnes
MSM Martti Mäkinen
MRS Merja Stenroos
NVN Nedelina Vasileva Naydenova
SNS Silje Nising Sandvold
SH Simon Horobin
VJ Vibeke Jensen
Martti Mäkinen was responsible for the creation of the original Corpus website and for the updating and maintenance of the previous versions of the Corpus. The revision for 2011.1 was carried out by Jacob Thaisen.
The Readable version (.pdf and .html format) was produced from the Base files by Martti Mäkinen and Jacob Thaisen.
The Concordancer version was produced from the Base files by Merja Stenroos.
The main compilers of the Catalogue are Merja Stenroos and Kjetil V. Thengs. The classification of legal documents was carried out by Nedelina V. Naydenova, and the classification of scripts was carried out by Jacob Thaisen and Merja Stenroos.
We are very grateful to the Norwegian Research Council for funding the project in the period 2006-2010 and making possible the publication of the Corpus.
The University of Stavanger has contributed to the project through the funding of smaller subprojects under a scheme for ‘Research initiated by women’ in 2008 and 2009, as well as through funding for the Programme Area for North Sea Language History, of which the project forms a part. We are grateful to the Department of Cultural Studies and Languages, University of Stavanger, for providing us with research facilities.
Much of the Eastern material was transcribed in Glasgow during the period 1998-2002, with funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Board. The Department of English Language, University of Glasgow, has also supported the transcription of both Eastern and Southwestern texts.
We would like to thank the Special Collections Department, Edinburgh University Library, for allowing us access to their Middle English microfilm collection and providing much valuable assistance. Without this, the project could not have been carried out. We would also like to thank Margaret Laing and Keith Williamson of the Institute for Historical Dialectology, Department of English Language, University of Edinburgh, for their generous help and cooperation since the beginning of the project. We are also grateful to the Institute for hosting Martti Mäkinen during a five-month stay in the Spring 2007.
We are grateful to the staff of the following repositories for assistance and access to materials:
Bodleian Library, Oxford
British Library, London
Brynmor Jones Library, University of Hull
Cumbria Record Office: Carlisle, Kendal and Whitehaven offices
Derbyshire Record Office, Matlock
Herefordshire Record Office, Hereford
Humberside County Record Office, Beverley
Hunterian Library, University of Glasgow
John Rylands Library, University of Manchester
Lincoln Cathedral Library
North Yorkshire County Record Office, Northallerton
Northumberland Record Office, Bosforth
Princeton University Library
Public Record Office, London
Royal Library, Stockholm
Trinity College Library, Dublin
Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge
Yorkshire Archaeological Society, Leeds
We are also grateful to Mrs Hornyold-Strickland for allowing the team access to the medieval documents held at Sizergh Castle.
Finally, the project team has received much good advice and encouragement from colleagues over the years: we are truly thankful to all, and we are grateful for any corrections or further suggestions that you might like to contribute!