Encompassing the years roughly from the sixth century - fifteenth century, A.D., the medieval period (or "Middle Ages") is typically described as a distinct historical period ranging from the fall of the Roman Empire to the birth of the Renaissance in Europe. The resources listed in this guide will help you to locate materials relevant to the study of the Middle Ages. For related information, see also the Guide to Chaucer, and the Guide to the Middle English Compendium.
To Find Books
Use the MERLIN Library Catalog and the MOBIUS Union Catalog to find resources relevant to your research. Relevant works can be found using subject headings (Library of Congress) such as:
Materials relevant to the study of specific aspects of medieval society and culture may also be found using subject headings such as:
- Art, Medieval
- English Literature - Middle English, 1100-1500 - History and Criticism
- England - Civilization - 1066-1485
- France - History - Medieval Period, 987-1515
- French Language - to 1500
Finally, materials relevant to the study of the work of a specific author or of a literary or artistic genre may be found using subject headings such as:
To find the location of a book in Miller Nichols Library, see the Location Guide.
To Find Articles
Remote (off-campus) access to databases is available only to UMKC students, faculty, and staff. All other users must access online resources within the Libraries. Begin searching by selecting a database. After selection you will be prompted to provide a UMKC Single Sign-On user name and password OR a 9-digit UMKC ID number followed by the letter k (example: 0123456789k) and last name, as needed.
- Feminae:
Medieval Women and Gender Index (1994 - )
Freely available over the World Wide Web. This guide to "journal articles, book reviews, and essays in books about women, sexuality, and gender during the Middle Ages" indexes over 300 scholarly journals for relevant materials, and currently includes over 3,000 records. (www.haverford.edu/library/reference/mschaus/mfi/mfi.html) - Historical Abstracts (EBSCOhost) 1954 - present.
Save to del.icio.us
Selected full text 1954 - present.Indexes and abstracts articles on the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada). Link to History Abstracts user's guide. - JSTOR 1838 - present. Save to del.icio.us
Full text. Coverage varies by title.Contains fully searchable scanned articles from selected journals in a broad range of disciplines, including African-American studies, art, ecology, economics, education, history, law, literature, music, general science, sociology, and statistics. (To see a complete list of discipines and journal titles, link to the JSTOR browse list.) Covers the full run of journals from the first issue of volume one; however, the most recent three to five years of journals are not generally available. - Project MUSE (Premium Collection) Save to del.icio.us
Full text 1993 - present.
New Additional journals are now available with the upgrade to Project MUSE Premium Collection. Supplies full-text articles from scholarly journals in literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, and gender studies.For example: Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies; Journal of Women's History; Journal of World History.
Articles relevant to particular aspects of medieval culture may also be found by using databases that cover the literature of specific fields. Examples:
Medieval Art:
- Art Full Text (Wilson) 1984 - present. Save to del.icio.us
Selected full text 1997 - present.Contains citations and abstracts of articles from peer-selected art journals. Full-text is available from selected journals. The print version, Art Index, is available in Miller Nichols Library Reference at Ref Z5937.A78.
Medieval Language and Literature:
- MLA International Bibliography (Chadwyck-Healey) 1884 - present. Save to del.icio.usAn index to scholarship in literature, linguistics, film, folklore, and cultural
studies. The print version of this bibliography is available in the Miller Nichols
Library and
covers 1921 - 1999. The location and call number are Reference Index Wall Z7006
.M64. See the MLA
Directory of Periodicals for a list of periodicals indexed.
University Libraries Photocopying and Printing Services
Selected Journals
This list includes journals available in the University Libraries (check the MERLIN Library Catalog for holdings and location information). To identify additional related journals, search MERLIN by subject or keyword.
Print Journals Available at Miller Nichols Library:
(links to electronic versions, if available, are found on the MERLIN record site)
- Mediaeval Studies (1939- )
- Medium Aevum (1973- )
- Le Moyen Âge (1995- )
- Renaissance Quarterly (1967- ); Also available via JSTOR
- Speculum (1926- ); Also available via JSTOR
- Studies in the Renaissance; Also available via JSTOR
- The Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies (also available via Project Muse)
Electronic Journals on the Web:
- The Medieval Review
(www.hti.umich.edu/b/bmr/tmr.html) - The Internet Medieval Sourcebook
(www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.html) - The Online Medieval and Classical Library
(sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/) - The Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies
(www.the-orb.net/) - Essays in Medieval Studies
(www.luc.edu/publications/medieval/) - The Middle English Compendium
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 an associated network of electronic resources. A user's guide is available at http://library.umkc.edu/instruction/guides/mec.htm.
(ets.umdl.umich.edu/m/mec/index.html) - UMKC's Book of Gregorian Chant
A book of Gregorian chant from the Middle Ages containing over one hundred vellum pages of liturgical music and Latin texts dating from the 10th to the 16th centuries. A special feature of this Website is the addition of audio versions of three of the book's chants, sung directly from the original manuscript and available for listening at the site.
(library.umkc.edu/spec-col/chantbook/index.html)
Reference Sources: Encyclopedias, Handbooks, Directories, Statistics, Bibliographies
Reference sources are useful for locating background information, definitions, general descriptions, and basic facts. Use these books to help you select or focus your research topic.
All call numbers in this guide refer to the UMKC Miller Nichols Library, unless otherwise noted. Titles are linked to the corresponding MERLIN Library Catalog record.
Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
| Dictionary of Medieval Civilization | Ref CB351 .D24 |
| Dictionary of the Middle Ages (13 vols.) | Ref D114 .D5 |
| Garland Encyclopedias of the Middle Ages Ongoing series of reference works |
Ref DL30 .M43 Ref DC33.2 .M44 Ref DA129 .M43 |
| Medieval England: An Encyclopedia |
Ref DA129 .M43 |
| Medieval France: An Encyclopedia |
Ref DC33.2 .M44 |
| Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopedia |
Ref DL30 .M43 |
| The Middle Ages: A Concise Encyclopaedia | Ref CB351 .M565 |
History and Criticism
| The Cambridge Medieval History (8 vols.) | Ref D117 .C3 |
| Chronology of the Medieval World, 800 to 1491 | Ref D118 .S855 |
| Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism | Ref PN610 .C53 |
| Who's Who in the Middle Ages | Ref D115 .F5 |
Indexes
| An Annotated Index of Medieval Women |
Ref CT3220 .A56 |
Bibliographies
| A Guide to the Study of Medieval History |
Ref Z6203 .P25 |
|
International Medieval Bibliography (1967 - ) This guide to the literature of medieval studies indexes over 3,000 scholarly journals for relevant materials. It is the world's leading bibliography of Medieval Studies, and an essential tool for research and teaching on the European Middle Ages. Specific information and a user's guide are available at http://www.leeds.ac.uk/imi/imb/imb.htm. |
Ref Z6203 .I63 |
| Literature of Medieval History, 1930-1975: A Supplement to
Louis John Paetow's A Guide to the Study of Medieval History (5 vols.) |
Ref Z6203 .P25, Suppl. 1-5 |
Web Resources
- The
Labyrinth: Resources for Medieval Studies
Georgetown University
(www.georgetown.edu/labyrinth/labyrinth-home.html) - The WWW
Virtual Library - Medieval Europe
Michigan State University
(www.msu.edu/~georgem1/history/medieval.htm) - Medieval History:
Useful Links
Oxford University
(http://www.history.ox.ac.uk/links/medieval.htm) - WWW
Medieval Resources
University of Vermont
(ebbs.english.vt.edu/medieval/medieval.ebbs.html) - Literary
Resources – Medieval
Jack Lynch, Rutgers University
(andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Lit/medieval.html) - UMKC's Book of Gregorian
Chant
A book of Gregorian chant from the Middle Ages containing over one hundred vellum pages of liturgical music and Latin texts dating from the 10th to the 16th centuries. A special feature of this Website is the addition of audio versions of three of the book's chants, sung directly from the original manuscript and available for listening at the site.
(library.umkc.edu/spec-col/chantbook/index.html) - Yahoo!
Middle Ages
(dir.yahoo.com/Regional/Regions/Europe/Arts_and_Humanities/Humanities/History/By_Time_Period/Middle_Ages/)
Document Collections
- Medieval
and Renaissance Web
Association of College & Research Libraries
(www.library.jhu.edu/findit/subjects/medren/wess.html) - The Online Medieval and
Classical Library
(sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/)
Use search engines linked on the Internet Search Tools page to identify additional Web resources.
Professional Organizations and Conferences
- The American Academy of Research
Historians of Medieval Spain
(www.uca.edu/aarhms/) - Illinois Medieval
Association
(www.geocities.com/~seafarer1/ima.html) - International Society of Anglo-Saxonists
(www.english.fsu.edu/isas/) - New Chaucer Society
(artsci.wustl.edu/~chaucer/) - Texas Medieval
Association
(www.towson.edu/~duncan/tmahome.html)
For further assistance, please contact the
Miller Nichols Library Reference Desk at (816) 235-1534.
Revised and maintained by Diane Hunter
Created by Rob
Ray
