Medieval dissertation preparation : a handlist

· International Medieval Bibliography (IMB) http://www.brepolis.net/ (Access via MetaLib)

excellent bibliographical tool, but only covers publications since 1967

· ITER bibliography http://www.itergateway.org/ (Access via MetaLib)

· Bibliography of British and Irish History http://apps.brepolis.net/bbih/search.cfm (Access via MetaLib)

· The National Archives (TNA formerly PRO) on-line catalogue and other record-related links: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

· Medieval (500-1582) calendar calculator, an invaluable tool for calculating the meanings of dates (or use C.Cheney, Handbook of Dates): http://www.wallandbinkley.com/mcc/mcc_main.html

· Oxford Dictionary of National Biography http://www.oxforddnb.com/ (Access via MetaLib) biographical entries with bibliographical references of many British historical figures (well over 6000 persons listed as active in the period 400 to 1530)

· Manual of Writings in Middle English, ed. J.B. Severs (11 volumes) catalogues Middle English texts by genre and provides summaries of content and guides to manuscripts etc.

examples of the sort of items that can be found on the web:

· Bede’s Life of St Cuthbert: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/bede-cuthbert.html

· Bracton’s De Legibus: http://hlsl5.law.harvard.edu/bracton/

· various Early English Text Society publications available at Compendium of Middle English (via MetaLib) Middle English Compendium (includes Middle English Dictionary, a bibliography of Middle English prose and verse, and a Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse)

· TEAMS http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/tmsmenu.htm scholarly editions and translations of a large number of Middle English texts

Do remember Google Books: http://books.google.com/ which allows access to complete texts of much out of copyright material in a searchable form. It also permits lots of searches as for named individuals that take you to a whole range of references even if you are not allowed access to the actual text.

Another resource that hosts a variety of out of copyright texts (and some that are not out of copyright but have been reproduced legally such as Records of Early English Drama) is Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/details/texts

Other MetaLib databases (*Also available as hard copy):

Acta Sanctorum; Library of Latin Texts*; Patrilogia Latina*, Monumenta Germaniae Historica*

There are some useful collections of sources on specific themes with introduction, e.g.:

· J. Nelson, ed., The Annals of St-Bertin

· E. van Houts, ed., The Normans in Europe

· R. Horrox, ed., The Black Death [includes medical treatises]

· P.J.P. Goldberg, ed., Women in England c 1275-1525 [includes church court material]

· C.J. Given-Wilson, ed., Chronicles of the Revolution 1397-1400

· J. Ward, ed., Women of the Nobility and Gentry

· C. Taylor, ed. Joan of Arc: La Pucelle

Most of the above are currently available at: http://www.medievalsources.co.uk, but you will need to use a networked PC

· British History Online at: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/

Includes some Victoria County Histories (see below); London Letter Books and Plea and Memoranda Rolls (see below); Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae; some legal records – this is an excellent and ever growing site

· Virtual Norfolk at: http://virtualnorfolk.uea.ac.uk/

Includes Norwich heresy trials (Lollards), numbers of wills, some material about festivities etc.

· There is much valuable legal source material published in the volumes of the Selden Society. This is invariably in the form of text and facing page translation. Mostly royal courts, but also includes church (including defamation), manorial, and borough courts. Note also Year Books (notes on trials).

· For local history topics the various volumes of the Victoria History of the Counties of England are often very useful, not least as guides to primary sources [QUARTO Q 42 VIC] – most of these are posted on the British History Online website

· If you are following up particular members of the English aristocracy, then consult G.E.Cokayne, The Complete Peerage (some of these volumes on Internet Archive)

some (primarily later) medieval English sources:

· chronicles: Rolls Series [Q 42.02] [Latin, often with marginal annotations in English]

· A. Gransden, Historical Writings in England, 2 vols. [introduction to chronicles, chroniclers etc.]

· R.B. Dobson, ed., The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 [good collection of sources, extracts etc.]

· C. Given-Wilson, Chronicles: The Writing of Medieval England [excellent introduction to the source]

· central government records:

· Calendars of Close Rolls, Patent Rolls, Charter Rolls, Inquisitions Post Mortem [Q 42 BRI]

There is a searchable electronic version of the Calendars of Patent Rolls at: http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/patentrolls/

The Calendars of Fine rolls have been put up in electronic form on the British History Online website

· Statutes of the Realm [QUARTO Q 42 BRI]

· Rolls of Parliament available as an electronic searchable database – go to MetaLib

Ancient Petitions – detailed summaries now available on The National Archives (TNA, series code SC 8). (You can also access the original documents on-line and even print out copies without additional charge.):

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/browse-refine.asp?CatID=25&searchType=browserefine&pagenumber=1&query=*&queryType=1

· peace session records:

There is a lot of published material (see Texts and Calendars) including Lincoln Record Society 30, 49, 56, 65

· poll tax returns:

British Academy, Records of Social and Economic History, new ser., 27, 29, 37 – a very substantial resource

The Yorkshire (W.R. and Howdenshire) 1379 returns are published electronically (and hence searchable) by GENUKI at: http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/Misc/SubsidyRolls/YKS/SubsidyRolls1379Index.html

· Church court materials:

N.Adams and C.Donahue,eds. Select cases from the ecclesiastical courts of the province of Canterbury, c. 1200-1301, Selden Society, 96

R.H. Helmholz, Select cases on Defamation to 1600, Selden Society, 101

S.McSheffrey, Love and Marriage in Late Medieval London

Shannon McSheffrey has began to build a website of transcriptions and translations of the London court material from the later fifteenth century: http://digitalhistory.concordia.ca/consistory/

· borough records:

There are good series for London (e.g. Letter Books, Plea and Memoranda Rolls and London Record Society), Bristol (Little Red Book, various volumes in Bristol Record Society), Oxford (Oxford Historical Society), Coventry (leet book: Early English Text Society, 134-5), also for Norwich, York, Beverley, King's Lynn etc. (Because these are often old editions, much is available on Internet Archive)

There is an excellent series of extracts from the Nottingham borough courts with Latin transcriptions and facing pages translations edited by W.H. Stevenson as Records of the Borough of Nottingham. The Minster Library holds these, but most are available on Internet Archive

First volume of an edition of Colchester court rolls (1310-52) is available on Internet Archive

· manor court records:

Relatively few manor court records have been translated, but these are a couple of examples

Wakefield (Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record ser. and volumes at Q 42.74 WAK)

Walsham le Willows [C14] (Suffolk Records Society)

· wills: Early English Text Society 78 [English]

There are numerous editions of wills, but few are in English (and translations often turn out to be abridged)

Surtees Society – various volumes of Testamenta Eboracensis [mostly Latin] (also on Internet Archive)

London Hustings Court wills (ed. R.R. Sharpe) are available as a calendar (English précis) (also on Internet Archive)

· guilds: Early English Text Society, 40 [this is devotional guild material – most craft guild material that survives is recorded in borough records (see above)

Finally remember that you don’t have a lot of time to research a dissertation. It is often best to be led by the sources. Find some accessible source material that you would find interesting to work with and then frame the questions, not the other way around. A clickable electronic version of this handlist is at: http://www.york.ac.uk/teaching/history/pjpg/Medievaldiss.htm