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Medieval English Peasant: Web Sites

This is a guide to researching the medieval English peasant. Medieval West -- Reference Sources and Medieval West -- Additional Web Resources are more extensive research guides. Latest update 06-12-2023

Web Sites

ORB, Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies

Contains 1)ORB Encyclopedia, a chronological and geographical index of essays, bibliographies, images, documents, links and other resources, 2) ORB Textbook Library of full-length texts in medieval studies for classroom use, 3) ORB Reference Shelf of links to excerpts and full texts from primary and secondary sources in ORB or elsewhere on the internet, 4) Resources for Teaching, such as subject bibliographies, 5) external links to other web sites, 6) resources for non-specialists, 7) E-Texts, new transcriptions and/or translations of important medieval texts that have not previously been accessible in print or electronic format. There are also links to several other principal medieval studies web sites: Labyrinth, Internet Medieval Sourcebook, Netserf, Argos, and World Wide Web Virtual Library Medieval.

Internet Medieval Sourcebook

Extensive collection of medieval texts and excerpts for teaching and student research. Saints' lives, law material, secondary sources, medieval maps, texts in Spanish and French, links to other medieval web sites, a guide to medieval-themed films, and a guide to music from ancient times to Baroque, with recommended recordings.

Labyrinth: Resources for Medieval Studies

From Georgetown University. Links to: databases, full-texts of primary sources, images, bibliographies, catalogues, course materials, discussion lists, organizations, secondary books and articles, and videos. Use either keyword searches or a combination of subject category and type of material desired.

Netserf: the Internet Connection for Medieval Resources

A metasite of 1707 medieval-related links developed by Catholic University of America. Glossary of medieval terms. Simple and advanced searches. Topical arrangement. Sample topics: art, architecture, Arthuriana, civilizations, culture, drama, history, law, literature, music, people, philosophy, religions, science and technology, women. Research Center has links to libraries, museums, archives, bibliographies, organizations, and journals. Now part of Internet Public Library.

English Medieval Legal Documents A.D. 600-A.D. 1535

The goal of this project is to create a collaborative database on the published sources of English medieval legal documents, and to provide links to the growing number of online sources currently being developed. The guide has been created for the use of scholars and students of English medieval law, and it is our expectation that it will continue to grow and take off in new directions, based on the contributions of legal scholars, librarians, and information specialists throughout the world. If you are aware of new digitizing initiatives or new publications of medieval legal documents, or if you would like to add, edit, or comment on the present contents of this wiki, please feel free to do so. You may register by clicking on the link on the right of your screen.

EuroDocs: Primary Historical Documents from Western Europe

These links connect to Western European (mainly primary) historical documents that are transcribed, reproduced in facsimile, or translated. They shed light on key historical happenings within the respective countries (and within the broadest sense of political, economic, social, and cultural history). Covers medieval and Renaissance, Europe as a supranational region, as well as documents of individual countries. From Brigham Young University.

Get to Know Medieval Londoners

Get to Know Medieval Londoners aims to collect data on a large set of medieval property deeds from London, England. There are two types of data: 1) transcriptions; and 2) structured geographical and biographical data on the people and places that appear in the deeds. The original medieval documents are currently in an archive in London, inaccessible to the general public. However, their location is not the only reason they are inaccessible. The handwriting on the documents (called English Court Hand) is very difficult for all but trained scholars to read, not to mention that most are in Latin. By having volunteers transcribe and answer questions about the translated index cards, we are working towards making historical material more accessible. This is a crowd sourcing project, in which volunteers are transcribing property deeds and identifying dates, places, and people's names in them.  The information generated will  be uploaded to the Medieval Londoners Database (link below), part of a project from Fordham University's Center for Medieval Studies. This database is an open-access, searchable collection of individuals who lived in London between 1100 and 1520. 

Manorial Documents Register

The Manorial Documents Register (MDR) is the official index to English and Welsh manorial records, providing brief descriptions of documents and details of their locations in public and private hands. Manorial documents noted in the MDR are defined by the Manorial Documents Rules as court rolls, surveys, maps, terriers, documents and books of every description relating to the boundaries, franchises, wastes, customs or courts of a manor. Title deeds are not included in the MDR. 

Medieval and Renaissance Studies

This guide is a list of scholarly resources in Medieval, Renaissance, and Early Modern Studies. Intended primarily for librarians; it may be useful to scholars in this field.  It is curated and managed by members of the European Studies Section (ESS) of the Association of College & Research Libraries. Users are free to copy and edit content from this guide for their own purposes.

Medieval Disability Sourcebook: Western Europe

Medieval Disability Sourcebook: Western Europe examines medieval documents relating to impairments and disabilities. It is an open access book on DOAB and JSTOR.  MSU Libraries has the paper copy also, in Remote Storage HV 1552 .M43 2020.  The Society for the Study of Disability in the Middle Ages is behind the work and it has over 40 contributors. The book is divided by format – historical and medical documents, religious texts, poetry, prose, and images. Each entry includes an introduction to the document with an emphasis on the representation of the disabilities and the significance of religious, legal, and medical perceptions of the impairments. For further reading, a bibliography is provided. All documents are presented in modern English, often with the original text alongside the translation. A thematic table of content is available which provides a list of the primary sources arranged by disability or impairment including blindness, mental illness, leprosy, and (in)fertility and reproduction.

Medieval Londoners Database

MLD allows you to search for details about people who lived in London, Southwark or Westminster between c. 1100 and c. 1520, including their names, gender, occupations, craft memberships, citizenship status, civic office, and neighborhoods (ward, parish, and streets, if available), and other characteristics. 

Medieval Murder Map

Produced by Prof. Manuel Eisner, Violence Research Centre, University of Cambridge, this is an interactive map of 142 murders within the city of London in the first half of the 14th c.  Gives the story based on original records of inquests held by coroner before a jury of free men from the ward in which the murder occurred or from 3 neighboring wards.  Filter results by gender, location of crime, weapon used, and whether the crime happened in a public or private space.  Find contextualizing data the "historical background" link.

Online Medieval Sources Bibliography

Annotated database of printed and online sources for study of the Mieed Ages by Maryanne Kowaleski, Fordham University.

See also another M.S.U. Libraries' research guide called Medieval West--Additional Web Resources