December 28, 2004

Reference Books Helpful for Medieval Research Projects

You can find basic information in the relevant national encyclopedias and biographical dictionaries. Note the following works found in the TTU Reference Room (unless otherwise indicated):

L’Annee philologique.  64- vols.  Paris:  Les belles lettres, 1924-.  This is the basic serial bibliography for classical studies, produced in annual volumes.  A CD-ROM version for years 1976-87, “The Database of Classical Bibliography,” is also available in UL Reference.  There is an on-line, current version of The Database of Classical Bibliography, to which individuals can subscribe at a reasonable annual rate.

The Annotated Index of Medieval Women. Edited by Anne Nichols and Marty Williams. New York: Marcus Wiener Pub., 1992.

Bibliotheca Sanctorum.  Rome: Istituto Giovanni XXIII della Pontificia Università Lateranense, 1960-1970. 12 vols. and index.  Contains more than 20,000 articles in Italian on saints and other celebrated holy persons, listed alphabetically with BHL refs, editions, and bibliography.  The articles vary wildly in quality and sophistication.  Readers unfamiliar with Italian name forms should use the index, which cross-references the names used in other major Western languages.    Vol. 14 (Rome:  Città Nuova Editrice, 1987) is an appendix which remedies some omissions but which is largely devoted to current canonization processes. 

The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity.  Edited by Ken Parry, David J. Melling, Dimitri Brady, Sidney H. Griffith, and John F. Healey.  Oxford:  Blackwell Publishers, 1999.

Broughton, Bradford B. Dictionary of Medieval Knighthood and Chivalry: Concepts and Terms. New York: Greenwood Press, 1988. [Stacks]

Bunson, Matthew. Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages. New York: Facts on File, 1995.

The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: The Encyclopedia Press, Inc., c1913. [stacks] This first American Catholic Encyclopedia has not been fully replaced, in part because the New Catholic Encyclopedia, New York: McGraw-Hill [1967-74][reference], prepared after the Second Vatican Council by an editorial staff at the Catholic University of America, tended to reduce its coverage of medieval devotions and practices. The whole text of the original version is also available in an easy to consult on-line version completed on May 1 of 2000 ( http://newadvent.org/cathen/ ). A third edition is in progress.

Dictionary of the Middle Ages. 13 vols. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1982-89. Perhaps the best starting place for discovering what a topic is and whether there might be sufficient material in English for a monolingual student to write a research paper. To get full value from this reference, look up your subject in the index volume (vol. 13).

Dizionario degli Instituti di perfezione. Edited by Guerrino Pelliccia and Giancarlo Rocca.  10 vols.  Rome:  Edizioni Paoline, 1973-2003..  This is the most complete encyclopedia of religious orders and associated topics.

The Encyclopedia of Christianity. Edited by Erwin Fahlbusch, Jan Milic Lochman, and John Mbiti. 1- vols. Brill / Eerdmans, 1998-. Emphasizes Christianity in a global and ecumenical context.

Encyclopedia of Monasticism. Edited by William M. Johnston. 2 vols. Chicago / London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2000. Treats Eastern as well as Western Monasticism. Somewhat capricious in its coverage and article selection.

Lexikon des Mittelalters. 6- vols. Munich: Artemis Verlag, 1977-. The German equivalent of the Dictionary of the Middle Ages, with much more comprehensive bibliography (at least for items written in German) but very heavily weighted toward German subjects.

Medieval Archaeology: An Encyclopedia. Edited by Pam J. Crabtree. New York / London: Garland Publishing, Inc. 2001.

Medieval France: An Encyclopedia. Edited by William W. Kibler and Grover A. Zinn. Garland Reference Library of the Humanities 932. New York: Garland Pub., 1995.

Medieval Germany: An Encyclopedia. Edited by John M. Jeep. New York: Garland Pub., 2001.

Medieval Jewish Civilization. Edited by Norman Roth.  New York: Routledge, 2003.

Medieval Warfare:  A Bibliographical Guide.  Edited by Everett U. Crosby. New York: Garland Pub., 2001.

Medioevo Latino. 24- vols.   Spoleto :  Centro italiano di studi sull'alto Medioevo,  1980-.  This annual bibliography, beginning with the year 1978, reviews what has been published each year (including journal articles) concerning medieval literature and culture.  Although the framing language is Italian, many of the titles and annotations are written in English, and the Italian indexing is comprehensible to some extent to anyone who knows one or more Romance languages.  For authors ("Autori"), the largest subdivision, the alphabetized names usually correspond closely to their Latin and English counterparts.  An index of author names makes it a useful source for tracing periodical publications.

The New Arthurian Encyclopedia. Edited by Norris J. Lacy et al. Garland Reference Library of the Humanities 931. New York : Garland Pub., 1991.

The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Edited by Alexander P. Kazhdan. 3 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. THE authoritative reference for things Byzantine.

The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Third edition. Edited by F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone. London: Oxford University Press, 1997. For matters ecclesiastical, the first place to start. Always insightful. Limited but solid bibliographical references.

The Oxford Dictionary of Popes.  Edited by J. N. D. Kelly.  Oxford: University of Oxford Press, 1986. 

The Oxford Dictionary of Saints. Edited by David Hugh Farmer. 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. [1979 and 1987 versions are shelved in the Stacks.]

Paetow, Louis J. A Guide to the Study of Medieval History. 1931, reprinted Millwood, New York: Kraus Reprint, 1980. Paetow taught medieval history at the University of California at Berkeley during the first third of the twentieth century. His topical medieval studies bibliography got longer and longer and ultimately became this book. Gray Cowan Boyce. Literature of Medieval History, 1930-1975. 5 vols. Millwood, New York: Kraus International Publications, 1981, updates Paetow to 1975. These volumes treat not only monographic studies but also major short and offer an excellent way to survey the pre-1975 journal literature.

The Papacy: An Encyclopedia. Edited by Philippe Lavillain. 3 vols. New York: Routledge, 2002.

Revue d'histoire ecclėsiastique: Bibliographie.  Since 1900 the last half of each number of the journal Revue d'histoire ecclėsiastique has provided the most comprehensive bibliography for ecclesiastical history (including journal articles).  Although the ancient format is a little clunky and the framing language is French, with practice you can master its use for particular purposes.  The index of authors at the close of each annual volume is accessible even to those who do not read French and offers a good way to track the publications of particular authors. [Stacks; unfortunately, the TTU run begins in 1979.]

Sterns, Indrikis. The Greater Medieval Historians: An Interpretation and a Bibliography. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1980. [Stacks] A quick introduction to the strengths, weaknesses, editions, and translations of major medieval historical writers.