Research Guides: *English: Medieval and Early Modern British Literary and Cultural Studies (through 1660)

Key Resources

Bibliography and Book History

Literary Print Culture This link opens in a new window
Sourced from the archive of The Worshipful Company of Stationers & Newspaper Makers, located at Stationers Hall in the City of London, Literary Print Culture: The Stationers Company Archive, 15542007, allows access to a vast and unique collection of primary source documents. The collection is widely regarded as one of the most important primary sources for studying the history of the book as well as publishing history, the history of copyright and the workings of an early London Livery Company. Explore the variety of documents to uncover the story of the role the Stationers Company played in the history of the book trade.
Abbreviation: amlpc
Vendor: Adam Matthew Digital Ltd
Coverage: 1554–2007
Subjects: History, Literature
Type: Government Publications, Historical / Primary Sources, Images

Secondary Sources

Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index This link opens in a new window
Indexes journal articles, book reviews, and essays about women, sexuality and gender in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, from 450 C.E. to 1500 C.E. Updated frequently.
Abbreviation: mwgi
Vendor: University of Iowa Libraries
Coverage: 450 C.E. to 1500 C.E.
Subjects: History, Literature, Women's and Gender Studies
Type: Indexes / Catalogs, Open Access
International Medieval Bibliography This link opens in a new window
The IMB, long available in print and CD-ROM, is the most comprehensive index for Medieval Studies. The online database comprises over 300,000 records. All subjects relating to the Middle Ages are included, within the date range 300–1500 AD. Geographical areas covered are Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. There is free text searching within the records and searching by authors, titles, publication sources, years of publication, ISBN/ISSN, languages, subjects, place names, persons, families, texts, repositories, and centuries treated. A browse function within each field displays the available terms.
The online-only Bibliographie de Civilisation Mdivale (BCM) is a bibliography of books that can be searched together with or separately from the IMB. There is also an International Directory of Medievalists available alongside IMB. In addition the Brepolis Medieval Encyclopedias provide online access to 1) Europa Sacra, a directory based on two earlier works, 2) a major German-language print encyclopedia, Lexikon des Mittelalters (or LexMA), and 3) an online-only supplement, International Encyclopaedia for the Middle Ages. Citations in the IMB and BCM link to articles in the encyclopedias, which in turn link to citations in the IMB and BCM.

Abbreviation: imb
Vendor: Brepols Publishers
Coverage: 300–1500
Subjects: Art History, History, Literature, Religion, Russian & Eastern European Studies
Type: Indexes / Catalogs
Iter bibliography This link opens in a new window
Iter bibliography addresses many aspects of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, such as archaeology, art, history, literature, music, philosophy, religion, and science, covering the years 400–1700. It provides citations for books, journals, and essays.
Abbreviation: iter
Vendor: Iter, University of Toronto Libraries
Coverage: 1784–Current
Subjects: History, Literature, Religion, Women's and Gender Studies
Type: Indexes / Catalogs

Chaucer Review
Studies of the text, sources & analogues, language, style, structure, & themes of Chaucers poetry. Also articles on medieval literature, philosophy, theology, & mythography relevant to a study of the poet.
Early Theatre
Welcomes research in medieval or early modern drama & theatre history, rooted in the records & documents of England, Scotland, Ireland & Wales.
Exemplaria
A journal of theory in medieval & renaissance studies.
Hortulus: The Online Graduate Journal of Medieval Studies
Features articles devoted to the literatures, cultures, and ideas of the medieval world.
Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies
Covers all areas of cultural studies from the late-fifteenth through the late-nineteenth centuries.
Journal of Early Modern Studies
Focuses on all aspects of early modern European culture.
Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies
Medieval Feminist Forum
Promotes interdisciplinary scholarship on women and gender from Late Antiquity (ca. 500 CE) to ca. 1500 CE.
Medium Aevum
Articles, notes, shorter notices, review articles and reviews on all aspects of medieval languages and literatures published for members of the Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature.
Modern Philology
Articles, review articles, notes and documents and book reviews devoted to research in medieval and modern literature.
Parergon
Peer-reviewed coverage of all aspects of medieval and early modern studies.
Postmedieval: A Journal of Medieval Cultural Studies
Renaissance Quarterly
Publishes essays, reviews and lists of recently published books on all aspects of Renaissance studies for members of the Renaissance Society of America.
Renaissance Studies
Covers all aspects of Renaissance history and culture. It contains multi-disciplinary papers on the history, art, architecture, religion, literature and language of any European country or any country influenced by Europe during the Renaissance.
Shakespeare Studies
An international volume of essays, studies and reviews dealing with the cultural history of early modern England and the place of Shakespeare's production in it.

Early English Books Online (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Contains over 125,000 titles listed in Pollard & Redgrave's Short-Title Catalogue (1475–1640), Wing's Short-Title Catalogue (1641–1700), and the Thomason Tracts (1640–1661).
Tutorials:
ProQuest EEBO LibGuide

Abbreviation: eebo
Vendor: ProQuest
Coverage: 1475–1661
Subjects: History, Literature
Type: E-Book Collections, Historical / Primary Sources
Early European Books This link opens in a new window
Early European Books provides scholars with new ways of accessing and exploring all works printed in Europe before 1701, drawing together a diverse array of printed sources, regardless of language, as well as works published further afield. Developed and produced in close collaboration with scholars, rare book librarians, bibliographers, and other experts from the library world, this resource offers full-color, high-resolution facsimile images of some of the world's most significant collections of early printed books in Europe.
Note: FSU has access to collections 1-10.

Abbreviation: eebooks
Vendor: ProQuest
Subjects: Classics, History, Literature, Religion
Type: Historical / Primary Sources, Images
Eighteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window
Eighteenth Century Collections Online is based on The English Short Title Catalogue, a machine-readable union list of the holdings of the British Library, as well as those from more than 1,500 university, private and public libraries worldwide. This includes over 150,000 English-language titles and editions published between 1701–1800. This online collection is divided into seven subject areas: history and geography; social science and fine arts; medicine, science and technology; literature and language; religion and philosophy; law; and reference. Part II expands the collection with an emphasis on literature, social science, and religion.

FSU has access to parts one and two.
Abbreviation: 18thcen
Vendor: Gale
Coverage: 1701–1800
Subjects: History, Literature
Type: E-Book Collections, Historical / Primary Sources
Europeana This link opens in a new window
Europeana provides access to millions of books, music, artworks and more from European archives, libraries and museums with sophisticated search and filter tools.
Abbreviation: europeana
Vendor: European Union
Subjects: Archaeology, Art History, Cultural Heritage, Geography, History, Literature, Music
Type: Historical / Primary Sources, Images, Maps, Music Scores, Newspapers and Newswires, Open Access, Streaming Audio, Streaming Video
Library of Latin Texts A and B This link opens in a new window
Library of Latin Texts contains texts from the beginning of Latin literature (Livius Andronicus, 240 BC) through to the texts of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). It covers all the works from the classical period, the most important patristic works, a very extensive corpus of Medieval Latin literature as well as works of recentior latinitas.
Tutorials:
Manual (7 pages pdf)

Abbreviation: llt
Vendor: Brepols Publishers
Coverage: 240 BCE–1965
Subjects: Classics, History, Literature, Philosophy, Religion
Type: E-Book Collections, Historical / Primary Sources
New Oxford Shakespeare This link opens in a new window
The New Oxford Shakespeare presents an entirely new consideration of all of Shakespeare's works, edited from first principles from the base-texts themselves, and drawing on the latest textual and theatrical scholarship.
Abbreviation: shakes
Vendor: Oxford University Press
Subjects: Literature
Type: E-Book Collections
Parker Library, The This link opens in a new window
The Parker Library's holdings of Old English texts account for a substantial proportion of all extant manuscripts in Anglo-Saxon, including the earliest copy of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (c. 890), unique copies of Old English poems and other texts, and King Alfred's translation of Gregory the Great's Pastoral Care. The Parker Library also contains key Anglo-Norman and Middle English texts ranging from the Ancrene Wisse and the Brut Chronicle to one of the finest copies of Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde. Other subjects represented in the collection are theology, music, medieval travelogues and maps, apocalypses, bestiaries, royal ceremonies, historical chronicles and Bibles. The Parker Library holds a magnificent collection of English illuminated manuscripts, such as the Bury and Dover Bibles (c. 1135 and c. 1150) and the Chronica maiora by Matthew Paris (c. 1230–50). Scholars in a variety of disciplines—including historians of art, music, science, literature, politics and religion—find invaluable resources in the Library's collection.
Tutorials:
Hints and Tips (website)

Abbreviation: parkr
Vendor: Stanford University
Coverage: 890–2012
Subjects: History, Literature
Type: E-Book Collections, Historical / Primary Sources
Women Writers Online This link opens in a new window
Women Writers Online is a wide-ranging and richly diverse collection of women’s writing in English from the pre-Victorian period. It brings together more than 350 works that illuminate a broad cross-section of women’s literate culture between 1450 and 1850, including political, philosophical, and scientific writing as well as religious material, poetry, drama, fiction, and a huge variety of texts that challenge traditional genre categorization.
Abbreviation: wmwron
Vendor: Women Writers Project
Coverage: 1450–1850
Subjects: Literature, Women's and Gender Studies
Type: Historical / Primary Sources

Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources This link opens in a new window
The Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources (DMLBS), the first fascicle of which appeared in 1975 and the 17th and last in 2013, is “the most comprehensive dictionary of Medieval Latin to have been produced and the first ever to focus on British Medieval Latin”.
Tutorials:
Publisher PDF document about this database.

Abbreviation: dmlbs
Vendor: Brepols Publishers
Subjects: History, Linguistics, Literature
Type: Encyclopedias & Dictionaries, Historical / Primary Sources
Dictionary of Old English, The (DOE) This link opens in a new window
The Dictionary of Old English (DOE) defines the vocabulary of the first six centuries (600–1150 A.D.) of the English language, using today's most advanced technology. The DOE complements the Middle English Dictionary (which covers the period 1100–1500 A.D.) and the Oxford English Dictionary (which documents the development of the English language to the present), the three together providing a full description of the vocabulary of English. The Dictionary of Irish Biography, a collaborative project between Cambridge University Press and the Royal Irish Academy, is the most comprehensive and authoritative biographical dictionary yet published for Ireland. It contains 9,014 signed biographical articles which describe and assess the careers of subjects in all fields of endeavor, including politics, law, religion, literature, journalism, architecture, painting, music, the stage, science, medicine, engineering, entertainment and sport.
Abbreviation: doe
Vendor: University of Toronto
Subjects: English, Linguistics, Literature
Type: Encyclopedias & Dictionaries, Historical / Primary Sources
Middle English Compendium This link opens in a new window
Access to and interconnectivity between three major Middle English electronic resources: the Middle English Dictionary, a HyperBibliography based on the MED bibliographies, and an associated network of electronic resources.

Tutorial by Nicole Guenther Discenza (A medievalist in the English Department at the University of South Florida. This channel features videos I've made for my students and other parties interested in Old English, Middle English, and History of the English Language.)
Abbreviation: mideng
Vendor: University of Michigan Library
Subjects: Bibliography, English, History, Literature
Type: Encyclopedias & Dictionaries, Open Access