Online Resources
Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence
(Photograph: Andrew Stephenson)
Abbey Library of St. Gall, Switzerland
Free access to high resolution digital images and over 57,500 facsimile pages, 144 complete manuscripts (including 14 new musical manuscripts), manuscript descriptions and many search options; accessible in German, French, English and Italian on the Codices Electronici Sangallenses (CESG) - Virtual Library website.
Aphrodisias in Late Antiquity Online
The publication is announced of Aphrodisias in Late Antiquity, revised second edition. Details of how to cite the material will be found on the home page. There is also a very full Help page, if you have problems - for example, with the Greek.
ArchiveGrid
ArchiveGrid enables searches through historical documents, personal papers and family histories held in archives around the world. Thousands of libraries, museums, and archives have contributed nearly a million collection descriptions to ArchiveGrid. Researchers searching ArchiveGrid can learn about the many items in each of these collections, contact archives to arrange a visit to examine materials and order copies.
Australian Classical Reception Studies Network (ACRSN)
One of the most exciting new areas of research in Classics is the field of Reception Studies - the study of the impact that the classical world has made on subsequent cultures and the history of ideas. The area is a diverse one involving scholars whose work is centred in such fields as art history, neo-Latin literature, film and media studies, theatre history, and the history of science and medicine. To help facilitate the work of Australian scholars in this area, an Australian Classical Reception Studies Network (ACRSN) has been established. The network is based on the model of the UK's CRSN and will provide a forum for discussion and point of reference for scholars working in the field.
The Avalon Project at Yale Law School
Documents in law, history and diplomacy
Bavarian State Library
Bavarian State Library website
Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana
The Biblioteca medicea laurenziana is the Medicean library. It contains a very large number of high-quality digital facsimiles of medieval manuscripts, including the oldest Virgil, the earliest surviving Decameron (copied from the author's copy) and the 16th century Florentine Codex (of interest for all readers of The Tempest, travel literature, marvels texts and the New World).
Bodleian Library
British History Online
British History Online is the digital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles. Created by the Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust, it aims to support academic and personal users around the world in their learning, teaching and research.
British History Online website
British Library Digitised Images
The British Library has released 1 million images onto Flickr Commons (view the album) for "anyone to use, remix, and repurpose". The images shared by the British Library come from 17th, 18th and 19th century books.
British Library - eBook Treasures
The British Library's eBook Treasures series allows users to explore some of the British Library's most treasured manuscripts in detail, together with text, video and audio interpretation. Developed with Armadillo Systems, eBook Treasures are viewable in full-screen high-definition, with realistic page-turning capabilities and, once downloaded, can be read offline. They can be read on the iPad, iPhone (3GS and 4) and iPod Touch (3rd and 4th generations). Additionally the series is now available as a Windows 8 app. It can be found in the Windows Store, under Books and Reference.
For more information about the series, including a full list of published titles visit the website.
British Library Illuminated MSS Collection
British Library Illuminated MSS Collection Digital Images Now in Public Domain
The British Library in London has declared the digital images in its Illuminated Manuscripts collection to be public domain.
The Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts content is now available for download and reuse. Although still technically in copyright in the UK (and a number of other common law territories) the images are being made available under a Public Domain Mark which indicates that there are no copyright restrictions on reproduction, adaptation, republication or sharing of the content available from the site.
Most of the illuminated manuscripts in the Harley and Sloane collections already have images uploaded into the digital collections. (The only major BL collection of illuminated MSS not yet digitised is the Cotton collection.) Note that the emphasis here is on the illuminations; most MSS have not been digitised in full, though you can check the separate collection, BL Digitised Manuscripts to see if they have what you're looking for. (There is a good selection of Harley MSS in this latter collection.)
British Library - Master List of Digitised Manuscripts
The British Library has released a master list of all of the manuscripts from their Medieval and Earlier Manuscripts collections that have been uploaded, including hyperlinks to the digitised versions.
Download an Excel version of the file
For more information about this master list, visit the British Library's medieval manuscripts blog
Cambridge Journals Online
From 22 January til 5 March, all Cambridge Journals content published in 2012 will be available for free on CJO. All you have to do is register.
For full details visit the Cambridge Core website
Christine de Pizan and the Book of the Queen: Manuscript Online
The British Library have uploaded of Christine de Pizan’s Book of the Queen (Harley MS 4431) to their Digitised Manuscripts website.
Christine de Pizan is widely regarded as one of Europe’s earliest female professional authors. The largest extant collection of her writing can be found in Harley MS 4431.
Full details can be found at the British Library's Medieval manuscripts blog
Codex Sinaiticus
The Codex Sinaiticus Project is an international collaboration to reunite the entire manuscript in digital form and make it accessible to a global audience for the first time. Drawing on the expertise of leading scholars, conservators and curators, the Project gives everyone the opportunity to connect directly with this famous manuscript.
Digitised Medieval Manuscripts Maps
Digitized Medieval Manuscripts Maps (DMMmaps) is a “roadmap” to thousands of digitised medieval books.
"There is something genuinely thrilling in browsing the maps, clicking on a semi-unknown digitised library, looking at a random manuscript, and suddenly discovering a miniature, a detail, and illumination that no one has looked at for years and sharing it with your followers. We want to make to make as many people as possible experience this thrill; and that’s why we created the DMMmaps. These maps were designed to help scholars and enthusiasts explore and discover digitized medieval manuscripts made available all over the world."
Early Church Fathers
For information see the Early Church Fathers website.
Early English Texts From 1473-1700 Online
More than 25,000 early English texts from 1473-1700 have been released online to members of the public as part of a collaborative initiative led by the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries and the University of Michigan Library.
This corpus of electronic texts has been created and released by the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership (EEBO-TCP), an international collaboration among universities, funders and ProQuest, an information company central to global research. Previously, the texts were only available to users at academic libraries involved in the partnership but the data was released into the public domain on 1 January. More information....
English Medieval Legal Documents AD 600-1535: A Compilation of Published Sources
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 expected 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. For further information, e-mail Hazel D. Lord, Senior Law Librarian at the Asa V. Call Law Library of the University of Southern California School of Law: hlord@law.usc.edu .
Euro Languages Net
Euro Languages Net is a Socrates/Lingua 1 program, launched in 2001 and financed by the European Commission. Euro Languages Net is designed to create an Internet resource of 23 less-widely used European languages for the general public. The site provides information about the languages and the countries in which they are spoken; it also contains information about language learning and teaching resources, as well as new language learning possibilities and language providers. Readers are also invited to participate in an online Lingua forum to discuss best practices and experiences in teaching/learning European languages. The project's main objective is to raise awareness of the advantages of learning European languages in terms of social interaction and multicultural education. A similar range of online language tools can be found at the European Commission's Multiculturalism website.
Foundation for Medieval Genealogy
The Foundation for Medieval Genealogy (FMG) was established in 2001 by a group of British genealogists and historians with a special interest in the medieval period. The FMG has defined medieval, for the purpose of its activities, as before 1500 AD. The Foundation is principally interested in links that can be established to modern genealogy (16th to 21st centuries). Geographically the scope is mainly European,
Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog
Getty Trust Open Content Program
The Getty Trust has made available, without charge, all available digital images to which the Getty holds the rights or that are in the public domain to be used for any purpose. No permission is required.
Icelandic Online
Icelandic Online, a self-instruction online course in Icelandic as a foreign language, is primarily intended for university students and others with an interest in Icelandic language and culture, in Iceland and abroad. Icelandic Online I and Icelandic Online II are continuous courses, based on visual interactive material. The courses include a grammar and vocabulary database, adapted to the study material and the students' needs. The beginners' course Icelandic Online I and the advanced course Icelandic Online II are open to all, free of charge.
JSTOR
Free JSTOR Access - Register and Read
Online digital library JSTOR is offering free access to its catalogue of journals, papers and books.
The Register and Read program will allow individuals to register for the service, but members will only be able to read three items every two weeks. Users won't be able to see JSTOR's whole library either: free accounts will only have access to 1,200 journals from 700 publishers. In exchanges for free access, users will have to enter their personal details at signup that will be shared with JSTOR along with its partners, giving them insight as to who’s reading specific material. More information...
Sign up to JSTOR Register and Read
Labyrinth Resources for Medieval Studies
Manchester Medieval Sources Online
Manchester University Press is proud to announce the Manchester Medieval Sources Online. Providing easy access to digital history sources, Manchester Medieval Sources Online brings essential texts from the Manchester Medieval Sources series to students and academics all over the world. The platform developed with and hosted by our technology partners Metapress, incorporates the following new features
- Content available via a re-designed and fully searchable online platform COUNTER compliant usage statistics
- CROSSREF compliant content
- RSS feeds and regular new content updates
- Available for outright purchase or as a subscription
The boasts a wealth of content including:
The world of El Cid: chronicles of the Spanish reconquest * Ottonian Germany: The chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg * The lives of Thomas Becket * The English manor c. 1200-c. 1500 * Popular protest in late-medieval Europe: Italy, France and Flanders * Joan of Arc: La pucelle * Saints and cities in medieval Italy * Eleventh-century Germany: The Swabian Chronicles * History and politics in late Carolingian and Ottonian Europe: The Chronicle of Regino of Prüm and Adalbert of Magdeburg * Crime, law and society in the later * Middle Ages * Monasticism in late-medieval England, c.1300-1535 * Friars’ tales: Sermon Exempla from the British Isles * The Papal reform of the eleventh century: Lives of Pope Leo IX and Pope Gregory VII
Manchester Medieval Sources Online is available to institutions as a one off purchase or as annual subscription. For further information on costs please contact Simon Bell, Director of Sales and Marketing (simon.bell@manchester.ac.uk).
Manuscripts Online: Written Culture 1000 to 1500
Manuscripts Online enables you to search a diverse body of online primary resources relating to written and early printed culture in Britain during the period 1000 to 1500. The resources include literary manuscripts, historical documents and early printed books which are located on websites owned by libraries, archives, universities and publishers.
Medieval Manuscript Facsimiles
A list of some 250 facsimiles of medieval manuscripts held in Special Collections and Rare Books in the Baillieu Library, The University of Melbourne.
Medieval Manuscripts in Dutch Collections on the Web
All medieval manuscripts in the Netherlands are available on the Medieval Manuscripts in Dutch Collections (MMDC) website. The website provides a portal to a database with short, uniform descriptions and photographs of all medieval manuscripts in the Netherlands, about 6,000 items in all.
Medieval Snapshot
Medieval manuscripts provide a fascinating snapshot of the cultural and intellectual life of this period. Until now, information about these manuscripts and the related knowledge and expertise was dispersed, but MMDC brings all of this material together. MMDC has been set up by the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, the university libraries of Leiden, Amsterdam, Utrecht and Groningen and the Atheneumbibliotheek Deventer and it is partly financed by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).
One Website For All Manuscripts
MMDC is focussed on creating possibilities for progressive research based on medieval manuscripts, by building a database with uniform descriptions, digital images and links to facsimile editions and subject-specific web sites. This way, all the disseminated information about medieval manuscripts in the Netherlands has been brought together and made available through one database. To benefit international use, all information is published in English.
Virtual Platform
The web site also contains more information on medieval books in the Netherlands. This web site will function as a virtual platform for researchers and students in palaeography, art history, philology and other fields. Visitors will find an overview of all Dutch institutions with medieval books, along with information on the history of the collections, contact information and procedures of requesting manuscripts. The web site also contains digital versions of several key out-of-print books about medieval manuscripts and an illustrated overview of medieval script.
For questions contact Saskia van Bergen, project coordinator Parchment to Portal, Phone: 070-3140430, Email: saskia.vanbergen@kb.nl.
Medieval Memoria Online (MeMO)
Medieval Memoria Online (MeMO) is an extensive database containing images, inscriptions, epitaphs, altarpieces, tomb monuments, stained glass and archival sources.
This valuable resource is the result of a multi-year project headed by art historian Truus van Bueren at the University of Utrecht. The research team has catalogued material for the area corresponding to what is today the Netherlands for the time up to 1580.
Medieval Sourcebook
Medievalism in Australian Cultural Memory
The Medievalism in Australian Cultural Memory project provides the first long-range analysis of Australian cultural responses to the medieval period and the first comparative study of Australia's relationship with international medievalism. It examines how Australians have used references to the medieval past, both favourable and hostile, to articulate our complex relations to European tradition and our aspirations to a distinctive national culture.
The database aims to facilitate research by providing access to an abundance of digital resources in a user-friendly environment. The materials on the database have been organised into four major categories which cover a variety of original approaches to medievalism's impact on the development of Australian cultural identity. In particular, the digital repository aims to enhance public understandings of our British and European heritage in the context of contemporary debates about republicanism, the monarchy and ethnic and cultural diversity.
Medievalists.net
Mélanges de l'École Française de Rome. Moyen Âge - Open Access Version Now Online
The open access version of the medieval journal published by the French School in Rome, Mélanges de l’École française de Rome. Moyen Âge is now available online.
The Melbourne Manuscript Resource Unit
The Melbourne Manuscript Resource Unit is located at the Academic Centre, St Mary's and Newman Colleges, The University of Melbourne. Its objective is to support teaching and research in Medieval and Renaissance (Early Modern) Manuscript Studies.
The associated Research Cluster for Manuscript Studies consists of senior scholars, middle and early career researchers and postgraduate students with related interests in the field of Manuscript Studies. It is interdisciplinary in scope, with an emphasis on the following areas: the relationship of text, decoration and illustration in the hand-made book; the function of particular manuscript genres; and the interaction between social and patronal contexts and manuscript production.
The Cluster is committed to the fostering of research in Manuscript Studies in Australia and New Zealand and to the strengthening of international links in this field, especially with respect to research on Australasian manuscript collections and the provision of collaborative research opportunities for scholars and curators based in Australia and New Zealand.
METRO Middle English Teaching Resources Online
Over the past several years, teachers of Middle English at Harvard have been working to develop a new electronic resource for Middle English language learning. Classroom time is always limited; we therefore developed a web-based program that students can use outside class to master some basic linguistic and analytical skills, in a variety of Middle English dialects. Now, through a collaborative effort between faculty members and graduate students in the Department of English, we are happy to announce the public release of METRO (Middle English Teaching Resources Online). This project was financed and developed under the auspices of Harvard's FAS Presidential Instructional Technology Fellows (PITF) program, with support from the Academic Technology Group, FAS Information Technology.
METRO is a virtual classroom designed to teach students how to read and analyse Middle English texts. Through a series of self-testing exercises, students are invited to explore the meter, grammar, syntax, diction and figural language used by a variety of Middle English poets. Currently, METRO features Chaucer, the Gawain-poet and the Wakefield Master, with plenty of room for expansion. The site also offers resources for graduate students seeking to learn the basics of manuscript editing.
METRO has already been used successfully in a number of Harvard English courses and it is completely free and available to the public.
Please feel free to contact khaigh@fas.harvard.edu with any feedback or suggestions. Also, be sure to encourage students to fill out the feedback forms available within each of the site's three "author stations." The input that we receive from student users will help us continue to develop and improve the site.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim Offer 474 Free Art Books Online
The Guggenheim had made 99 art catalogues available free online, while the Metropolitan Museum of Art offers 375 free art books and catalogues overall.
For more information visit their website.
Middle English Compendium
The Middle English Compendium has been designed to offer easy access to and interconnectivity between three major Middle English electronic resources: an electronic version of the Middle English Dictionary, a HyperBibliography of Middle English prose and verse, based on the MED bibliographies and a Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse, as well as links to an associated network of electronic resources.
Monasticon Hibernicum Project
Containing a searchable database of over 5,500 early Christian ecclesiastical settlements in Ireland from the 5th to 12th centuries this is a joint project with the National University of Ireland, Maynooth and is funded by the Irish Research Council.
Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research
The Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research was established in the summer of 2010 to present and promote research activity by senior scholars working in Byzantine Studies and related fields.
The Centre hosts and helps fund conferences, colloquia and special lectures, and also commissions and supports research projects by researchers working in Oxford and with close links with the University.
Oxford has long been one of the world's leading centres for Byzantine Studies, where many scholars of the highest calibre have made their careers, including Dimitri Obolensky, Cyril Mango, Elizabeth Jeffreys, James Howard-Johnston, Sebastian Brock, Nigel Wilson, Robert Thomson, Kallistos Ware and Averil Cameron.
On the Centre's website, you can find information about Lectures and Events in Oxford, current research projects, awards and grants, podcasts of recent lectures and latest news.
Oxford Centre for Late Antiquity
There is a centre in Oxford for Late Antique studies. It is the aptly named Oxford Centre for Late Antiquity (OCLA). It has a website which lists Oxford faculty, graduate students, research projects, seminars, courses, and individual lectures. The centre organizes together the work of some 67 faculty members attached to Oxford. The Centre is formally under the History faculty but its membership represent eight academic faculties at Oxford supporting the study of this period. OCLA is run by an interdisciplinary committee chaired by Bryan Ward-Perkins and currently consisting of Mark Edwards, Martin Goodman, Helena Hamerow, Neil McLynn and Chase Robinson.
The Schoenberg Database of Manuscripts
The Database is an online reference tool linking users to over 75,000 searchable entries of manuscripts written before 1600 and consisting of five or more leaves.
Trinity College Digitised MSS
Trinity College, Cambridge is digitising its medieval manuscripts and making them freely available on the Web. A few years ago, M.R. James’s catalogue of the manuscripts was put up on the Library's website, with some updates. This is now being used as the index tool for searching for digitised volumes. So far, about 150 of the thousand or so manuscripts have been copied, in a programme that is part-funded by the College's alumni.
The descriptions of those manuscripts that have been digitised are headed with access to the relevant images. Priority is being given to manuscripts that are most in demand. The Librarian (Professor David McKitterick) will be glad to receive suggestions for further manuscripts that might be treated early in the programme.
James Catalogue Of Western Manuscripts
Wellcome Library: High Resolution Images From Collection Available Free
The Wellcome Library in London has announced that over 100,000 high resolution images including manuscripts, paintings, etchings, early photography and advertisements are now freely available through Wellcome Images.
Drawn from our vast historical holdings, the images are being released under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licence. This means that they can be used for commercial or personal purposes, with an acknowledgement of the original source (Wellcome Library, London). All of the images from our historical collections can be used free of charge.
The images can be downloaded in high-resolution directly from the Wellcome Images we site for users to freely copy, distribute, edit, manipulate and build upon as you wish, for personal or commercial use. The images range from ancient medical manuscripts to etchings by artists such as Vincent Van Gogh and Francisco Goya.