A guide to medieval resources

Thanks to Mary Garrison for compiling this information. Links are included to library
catalogue/online resources where available.

Compendia of Authors and Sources >>

Guide to the Sources of Medieval History, with the collaboration of F. L. Ganshof , by R. C. van
Caenegem (Amsterdam 1978) [Q40.1 CAE]

Clavis patrum latinorum, ed. E. Dekkers, 3rd edn (Steenbrugge, 1995) [A 89 DEK]
A Handlist of the Latin Writers of Great Britain and Ireland before 1540, ed. R. Sharpe
(Turnhout, 1997) [MQ 200.16 SHA]

A Bibliography of Celtic-Latin literature, 400-1200, ed. M. Lapidge and R. Sharpe (Dublin,

1985) [MQ 200.16 LAP]

Sources for the Early History of Ireland: Ecclesiastical , J. F. Kenney (1966; various reprints
available) [Q 41.51 KEN]

Tusculum Lexikon. French translation: Dictionnaire des auteurs grecs et latins de l'antiquit et
du moyen ge, ed. W. Buchwald, A. Hohlweg, O. Prinz; trans. and revised by J. Berger and J.
Billen [MR 60 BUC]
Best brief biographies and list of works for 'German' Medieval Latin authors (includes Belgian,
Frankish, Swiss, some Anglo-Saxon writers): Die Deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters:
Verfasserlexikon, ed. K. Ruh, et al. [MG 40.3 STA]

Quellenkunde der deutschen Geschichte, F. Dahlmann, G. Waitz, et al. (many editions; again,
'German' is broadly construed) [Q 43.0016 DAH]

Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters, M. Manitius (3 vols, Munich, 1911-31)
Still indispensable. [Wormald, KM: MQ 200.9 MAN]

Histoire de la littrature latine du moyen ge, vols. I/1, I/2, II, F. Brunhlzl (1975-1992; French
translation and bibliographical supplements, H. Rochais and P. Bouhot, Turnhout, 1990-1996)
[MQ 200.9 BRU]
To find the appropriate edition of a source: Tusculum Lexikon, Clavis Patrum or Fontes AngloSaxonici website.

Multivolume source collections >>

Patrologia Latina PL
Monumenta Germaniae Historica
Rolls Series
Corpus Christianorum series latina and Continuatio medieualis

Annual Bibliographies >>

For publications on medieval Latin writers:
Medioevo latino (Spoleto, 1980) [Q journals] now superseded by electronic Mirabile.
Other annual bibliographies: International Medieval Bibliography, Anglo-Saxon

England [Q journals and available electronically]; and for discussions of individual

manuscripts, use the indices of Scriptorium [not in York]

The classical tradition >>

Texts and Transmissions: A Survey of the Latin Classics, ed. L. D. Reynolds (Oxford, 1983) [MQ
7 REY]

L'tude des auteurs classiques latins aux XIe et XIIe sicles, 3 vols. Munk Olsen, B. (Paris
1982-89) [MQ 7 MUN]

Latin Fathers and the Classics, Hagendahl, H. (Studia Graeca et Latina Gothoburgensia, vi.)
(Stockhol, 1958) [A 89.9 JER/H]

Place-names >>
Orbis latinus; Lexikon lateinischer geographischer Namen des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit
(rev'd edn. by H. and S.-C. Plechl (3 vols., Braunschweig,1971) [online]

Medieval Religious Houses: England and Wales, (1953; rev'd, 1971), D. Knowles and N. Hadcock
[C 71.0942 KNO]

Guides to Specific Categories of Sources >>

Typologie des sources du moyen ge occidental : fascicles devoted to various types of
sources (e.g. coins, letters, seals, inscriptions, laments, autobiographies, chronicles, charters,
law, martyrologies, genealogies; length and quality of fascicles varies, but an essential starting
point [Q 40.1 TYP]

Toronto Medieval Bibliographies (available for paleography, ed. L. Boyle [Q 07.3 BOY]; liturgy,
ed. R. A. Pfaff [Minster C 64.0016 PFA]; medieval rhetoric, ed. J. J. Murphy [Minster MQ 205
MUR]; monasticism, ed. G. Constable [C 71.069 CON]; and many other topics)

Medieval Latin : an introduction and bibliographical guide, ed. Mantello & Rigg [MZB 150.2
MAN]

Translations >>
Bibliography of English Translations from Medieval Sources , A. Evans and C. Farrar (New York,
1946) [M 39.02 BIB]

Bibliography of English Translations from Medieval Sources 1943-1967, M. A. H. Ferguson

(London 1974) [M 39.02 BIB]

Reference books (a small selection) >>

Dictionnaire d'archologie chrtienne et de liturgie , ed. F. Cabrol and H. Leclercq (excellent
scholarly entries) [L 4.9482 CAB]

Lexikon des Mittelalters, R. Auty [Q 40.1 AUT]

Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages, ed. Vauchez, Dobson, Lapidge [Minster Bay 2 Q 40.1 ENC]
Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England, ed. Lapidge, Scragg, Blair [Q 42.01 LAP]
Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopedia, ed. Pulsiano, Wolf, Acker, Fry, Helle et al. (NY 1993)
[MD 53 PUL]

Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. F.L. Cross and E.A. Livingstone (3rd edition,
Oxford 1997) [C 30.03 OXF]

The Vulgate Bible >>

Biblia Sacra iuxta vulgatam versionem, ed. R. Gryson, B. Fischer et al.(Stuttgart, 1994; 5th corr.
ed. (2007). [C 20.47 FIS]
Online here: http://www.drbo.org/lvb/
Searchable text here:
http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/efts/ARTFL/public/bibles/vulgate.search.html

Biblia Sacra iuxta Vulgatam latinam versionem (Rome, 1926-1987). [Wormald Room, KM: Q
20.47 BIB]. Full listing of variants. Old Testament and Apocrypha. Use Wordsworth-White for
the NT

Nouum Testamentum latine, ed. John Wordsworth and Henry White (Oxford, 1911). [Minster:
Bay 1 C 20.47]. Standard critical of Vulgate New Testament, extensive variants
The Douay-Rheims English translation is the translation of the Vulgate [KM: C 20.52].

Online at http://www.drbo.org/
or: http://unbound.biola.edu/
Vulgate concordances

Novae Concordantiae Bibliorum Sacrorum. 5 vols. Fischer, ed. Stuttgart 1977. (Preface on
volume 1 explains policy on including certain manuscript variants, omitting words)

Dutripon [Minster: C 20.247 DUT]: each entry by order of occurrence in the Bible; or Peultier,
arranged by word forms, i.e. cases, person/tense forms of verbs.
The cheap and convenient 'Colunga Turrado' edition is not the Vulgate text which would have
been available to medieval readers, but the Clementine revision of 1592.

Pre-Vulgate texts >>

Bibliorum Sacrorum Latinae Versiones Antiquae, seu Vetus italica, P. Sabatier, (1743) [Special
collections, Mirfield: SC 29-4-4-9/11]

Vetus Latina: Die Reste der altlateinischen Bible, ed. B. Fischer et al. (Beuron, 1949-) [C
20.016 FRE]
http://www.vetuslatina.org/
If you resort to the web for the text of the Bible, check carefully to see what version you are
using. Note, too, that the Stuttgart Vulgate (and larger critical editions) have no punctuation.
The manuscripts were usually laid out per cola et commata.

Latin Dictionaries >>

A handy paperback is fine for translations, but insufficient for scholarship. Get to know Lewis
& Short [MZB 130.3 LEW], but also Du Cange [various eds available in library], Niermeyer [MZB
150.3 NIE], Blaise [MZB 154 BLA], the new Oxford Latin Dictionary [MZB 130.3 OXF], the
Thesaurus Linguae Latinae [MZB 130.3 THE], and any national dictionary relevant to your
sources, such as Latham's Revised Medieval Latin Word List with Supplement [MZB 150.3 MED]
for the British Isles. Learn to read dictionary entries. If you are investigating the history of a
word, concept, practice, institution or anything else which can be lexically traced, the
appropriate dictionary's entry can be of great value.
Lewis and Short online is excellent:
http://perseus.uchicago.edu/Reference/lewisandshort.html

Caveat scholar: this list of reference works is just a beginning. There are reference works
devoted to exempla, proverbs, incipits of verse and prose, Aristotle in Latin, Medieval magic
and science, dated and dateable manuscripts, the virtues and vices, names, time-reckoning,
charters, saints, church-dedications, coins, seals, roman roads, and so on, almost ad
infinitum.
There are medieval reference works too: bestiaries, glossaries, encyclopedias chief among
the last of these is Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae [available electronically] ...
Learning to use reference works well, especially at the start of a project, is always worthwhile.
Tubach, F.C. , Index Exemplorum: A Handbook of Medieval Religious Tales (Helsinki, 1969; rpt.
1981) Folklore Fellows Communications 204 [EE 8.21 TUB - library trying to acquire]
PL Indices
Two surprisingly useful omnium gatherums:

Medieval Latin: An Introduction and Bibliographical Guide , ed. F.A.C. Mantello and A.G. Rigg
(Washington 1996) [MZB 150.2 MAN] (Medieval latin is broadly construed: here you will find
short sections on subjects ranging from canon law and grammar to astronomy, astrology,
cartography, commerce, music, zoology, weapons and warfare, animal husbandry, textiles,
travel literature, hagiography, hymns, lyric, debates)

Identifier Sources et Citations , J. Berlioz et al. [Q 40.1 BER] , (L'Atelier du mdiviste 1,

Turnhout 1994)