What are Primary Sources?
An image from the "Domesday Book," a survey of English land and landholdings commissioned by William I in 1086
Primary Sources are original sources: they were created by someone who participated in or observed an event. They include diaries, letters, newspapers, government documents, photographs, and other manuscripts.
Resources for finding and accessing primary sources are below:
Primary Source Collections
- Internet Medieval History SourcebookThe starting point for medieval European research.
- English Historical Documents This link opens in a new windowEnglish Historical Documents Online is a comprehensive collection of documents on British history covering the years 500 to 1914
- British History Online: Premium Collection"a digital library containing core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles. Included are: the Parliament Rolls of Medieval England (Edward I to Henry VII), all the volumes of the Calendar of State Papers, Domestic 1537-1714, the Calendars of State Papers for Scotland and Ireland, plus the Calendar of Close Rolls. Note that State Papers Online covers only the Tudor Period: 1509-1603."
- EuroDocsKey works of European history, organized by country.
- Europeana"Multi-lingual online collection of millions of digitized items from European museums, libraries, archives and multi-media collections."
- Hanover Historical Texts CollectionGreek and medieval texts, including the works of ancient Church writers and Crusader letters.
- Labyrinthprimary and secondary texts on the medieval period, you can limit to primary texts.
- Avalon Projecttreaties, charters, constitutions, and other documents from ancient times to the present.
- Eyewitness to the Middle Agesfirsthand accounts of the Crusades, Vikings, Monasteries.
- Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance This link opens in a new windowseveral medieval and Renaissance collections.
- Biblical, Jewish, and Early Christianity via Google Book Searchlinks to the texts of many early Saints, most of the famous sets Patrologina Latina (collected works of the Latin Fathers) and Patrologina Graeca (collected works of the Greek Fathers).
- Christian Classics Ethereal Library"digital library of hundreds of classic Christian books selected for edification and education."
- Regesta Imperii"literature search in more than 1 million tracks to the Middle Ages...full text of more than 150,000 online calendar entries from the Carolingians to Maximilian I."
Personal Texts and Books
If you are searching for texts written by a specific medieval figure, you can often find their texts on the internet since their works are usually not copyrighted. Type in the name of the person Google along with a word like texts, writings, or works.
You can find the famous Scholasticism philosopher's writings at:
Some other great resources that you can use to find a vast amount of eBooks from the Later Middle Ages are:
- Early European Books This link opens in a new windowEarly European Books is a multidisciplinary collection of materials published in Europe or in European languages, c. 1455-1700.
- HathiTrust Digital Library This link opens in a new window
HathiTrust is a partnership of research institutions committed to digital preservation of the cultural record. The Digital Library provides access to public domain and some in-copyright content from a variety of sources, including Google, the Internet Archive, Microsoft, and in-house partner institution initiatives. Materials are available to the extent permitted by copyright law.
You can also find books that can be used as primary sources at:
- WorldCat FirstSearch This link opens in a new windowUse WorldCat to find books from libraries around the world.
- ScoutUse Scout to find books, eBooks, scholarly journal articles, magazine articles, newspapers, and more.
- Libraries' Cataloggives the call numbers and locations of books in Gorgas and most of the other University Libraries. Select "Advanced Search" for the most effective searches.
Women in Medieval Religion
University of Houston has a great site with links to primary sources about women and medieval religion.
Epistolae offers medieval women's letters!
Images
- The Index of Medieval Art"descriptions and photographs of Christian art from early apostolic times to AD 1550. Although the focus is on art of the western world, the database includes examples from Coptic Egypt, Lebanon, Ethiopia, Syria, Armenia, and the Near East."