Welcome to the Edmund Spenser Home Page, the home of Edmund Spenser studies on the Internet. This set of pages is devoted to supporting the reading, study, and dicussion of the words of Edmund Spenser. It aims to serve the needs of the scholar, of the student, and of the interested passer-by, offering resources and links of various level of specialization.

These pages are under constant revision. If you have any comments or criticisms while reading them, please contact the editor. All thoughts will be gratefully received. For a summary of what's new on the site, click here

The front page gives a full account of the contents of the site. The biography, texts, and certain of the links are aimed at those new to or relatively unfamiliar with Spenser and his works. The bibliography is essentially a student's tool, though the 'what's new' section might help even senior scholars keep track of relevant publications in Spenser studies. Many of the links will be useful to those studying and researching Spenser's works and Renaissance English literature more broadly, while the Sidney-Spenser Discussion List is a very useful resource for those who consider Sidney or Spenser studies a primary interest.

The Spenser Home Page is very fortunate to host the pages of the Spenser Society, an international scholarly organization dedicated to the fostering of Spenser studies. The Society publishes the Spenser Newsletter, containing conference and publication news, which it is hoped will shortly also be available here. The Society also sponsors, coordinates, and contributes to a number of activities annually, including sessions at MLA and Kalamazoo. The Spenser Home Page is also fortunate to host the pages of the journal Spenser Studies, an annual scholarly journal dedicated to the study of Spenser's poetry and of English Renaissance verse more generally.

Ackowledgments

The Edmund Spenser Home Page was originally conceived by Richard Bear, who ran the site tirelessly from the University of Oregon for over five years. He is responsible not only for developing a home for Spenser studies on the web, but for spurring many others to action in the early days of Renaissance internet development. His Renascence Editions were among the earliest online Renaissance English literary texts, and the ambitious project is still growing. Richard was also the founding listowner and moderator of Spenser-L, now known as the Spenser Discussion List.

The Edmund Spenser Home Page is currently based at the Faculty of English at the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. I would like to thank the Members and Staff of the Faculty for their generous accommodation of the site.

A number of people have provided particular assistance and helpful comments during the development of this site, including Richard Bear, Anne Lake Prescott, William Oram, Gavin Alexander, Raphael Lyne, Colin Burrow, Amelia Sandy, John Watkins, Terry Krier, and Patrick Cheney. It may not be as good as it might be, but it's much better than it would have been; for that, my thanks.

I hope you will enjoy browsing and using the pages contained in this site. Please do feel free to write with any criticisms, suggestions, opinions, or other thoughts.

Andrew Zurcher, site editor
Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge

• Added census of Spenser editions to bibliography
• Added and integrated pages on the Spenserian Stanza Prize
• Updated Spenser Society pages
• Rebuilt front page

2 November 2001

• Rewrote International Spenser Society pages
• Added new pages for The Spenser Review
• Updated main page
• Updated Discussion List page to reflect ehe amalgamation of Sidney-l and the Spenser Discussion List (henceforth the Sidney-Spenser Discussion List)

8 April 2000

• Added search facility and site map

20 March 2000

• Added Spenser Studies pages
• Altered and updated main page
• Updated Welcome page

15 February 2000

• Added style sheets
• Updated biography

2 February 2000

• Transferred site from University of Oregon
• Redesigned general site presentation
• Rewrote Links page
• Rewrote Biography and Chronology
• Created links page for Online Spenser texts
• Rewrote Spenser Society page
• Rewrote Spenser Discussion List page (formerly Spenser-L)

• Redesign, extend Spenser Society page(s)
• Refurbish Spenser bibliography (add 'what's new' section, list online resources, generally update)
• Extend Links page (please send suggestions)

...for they vse Comonly to sende vpp & downe to knowe newes and if anie meete with an other his seconde wourde what newes, In soe muche that hereof is toulde a pretye ieste of a Frenchman whoe havinge bene sometyme in Ireland where he marked theare greate inquiery for newes, and metinge afterwardes in Fraunce an Irishman whoe he knewe in Ireland firste saluted him and afterwardes thus merrilie, Sir I praye yowe (quoth he) tell me of Curtesye, haue ye herde yet anie thinge of the newes, that ye soe muche inquirid for in your Cuntrye...

Edmund Spenser, A vewe of the present state of Irelande