Medieval History: Electronic Primary Sources
Resources for researching history from 400 to 1500.
Primary Sources in Library Databases
The databases and websites listed on this page are good sources for primary sources from the Middle Ages. Make sure also to consult the next tab on primary sources in books.
At right: Portrait of 13th century landowner, circa 1240, from the UK National Archives via Flickr.
- ArtStorThe ARTstor Digital Library, a non-profit resource, consists of images in art, architecture, the humanities, and social sciences.
- Digital ScriptoriumArchives images of medieval and renaissance manuscripts that unites resources from many institutions into an international tool for teaching and scholarly research.
- Medieval Travel WritingFeatures digitized medieval manuscripts of important European travel writing from the later Medieval period, focusing on travels from Europe to the Holy Land, India, and China. Includes travel maps.
Primary Sources on the Web
These digital libraries and websites contain excellent collections of digitized and scribed materials.
At right: a page from a 13th century Abbreviatio (abridgement) of Domesday Book, from the UK National Archives via Flickr.
- The Avalon Project : Documents in Law, History and DiplomacyThe Avalon Project mounts digital documents relevant to the fields of Law, History, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy and Government.
- Ruprecht-Karl-Universität Heidelberg--Digital CollectionsDigitized manuscripts, charters, incunabula, local histories of the Palatinate, university documents, etc. from the University's collections.
- Manuscripta MediaevaliaManuscripta Mediaevalia provides at present access to to more than 75,000 manuscripts from medieval Europe, mostly held in German libraries. The website is in German.
- Mittelalterliche Handschriften in österreichischen BibliothekenA web portal to medieval manuscript collections held in Austrian libraries. In German.
- Digital BodleianThe digital collections of the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford
- Oxford Digital LibraryGeneral access point to all digital collections at Oxford University.
- Early Manuscripts at Oxford UniversityDigital facsimiles of complete manuscripts held at Oxford University and not just limited to the Bodleian holdings.
- British Library--Digitised ManuscriptsThe 'Digitised Manuscripts' section of The British Library website provides access to fully digitised manuscripts held at the Library and their descriptions.
- Danish Royal Library--E-manuscript collectionThe Royal Library in Copenhagen publishes selected parts of its collections on the Internet. Since 1997 the Manuscript Department has published complete digital facsimile editions of manuscripts.
- e-codices: Virtuelle Handschriftenbibliothek der SchweizSwiss virtual manuscript library.
- Flickr CommonsOffers public domain photographs and other photographs from national and international libraries, museums, archives, and cultural institutions.
- Le manuscrit medieval - The Medieval ManuscriptThis blog is dedicated to the great manuscript scholar Léopold Delisle (1826-1910), and to François Duine, clericus dolensis (1870-1924), and (almost exclusively!) to medieval manuscripts, up to and including their relationships with early printing.