Electronic Resources

This page provides a list of key electronic resources for the study of the medieval period. The subscription databases listed here are licensed by the Library of Congress and available for use onsite. Depending on the database, the content may include citations to book chapters, articles, and books or furnish full-text articles directly. The external websites tab provides links to freely available internet resources.

Subscription Databases
External Websites

These subscription resources are marked with a padlock which means that they are only available on-site at the Library of Congress. If you are unable to visit the Library, you may be able to access these resources through your local public or academic library.

Année philologique External This link opens in a new window
L'Année philologique contains citations and abstracts covering all aspects of Greco-Roman antiquity. Covers ancient Greek and Latin language and linguistics, Greek and Roman history, literature, philosophy, art, archaeology, religion, mythology, music, science, early Christian texts, numismatics, papyrology, and epigraphy from the second millenium BC through the early middle ages (c 500-800 AD). Material comes from over 1500 periodicals, plus essay collections and conference proceedings representing thirty-two years (1969-2000) of L'Année Philologique (volumes 40 to 71). Updated annually.
Bibliographie de Civilisation MédiévaleExternal This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive bibliography of monographs worldwide currently containing 40,000 titles. Drawn from the Cahiers de Civilisation Médiévale and initially focused on the Central Middle Ages but gradual expansion to the Early and Late Middle Ages is planned. Compiled by the Centre d'Etudes Supérieures de Civilisation Médiévale at the Université de Poitiers.
International Directory of Medievalists External This link opens in a new window
Contains the names and addresses of specialists from over 70 different countries with their fields of study. It was compiled with the collaboration of the work undertaken by the F??d??ration Internationale des Instituts d'Etudes M??di??vales (F.I.D.E.M.) under the auspices of UNESCO.
International Medieval Bibliography External This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive bibliography of over 300,000 articles, all of which are fully classified by date, subject and location. Also includes miscellany volumes (conference proceedings, essay collections or Festschriften) worldwide.
JSTOR External This link opens in a new window
JSTOR is a highly selective digital library of academic content in many disciplines. The Library of Congress's subscriptions to JSTOR provide access to thousands of scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. JSTOR works with a diverse group of nearly 1,200 publishers from more than 57 countries to preserve and make their content digitally available.

Also provided is access to JSTOR Daily, which offers a fresh way for people to understand and contextualize their world. JSTOR Daily writers provide insight, commentary, and analysis of ideas, research, and current events, tapping into the rich scholarship on JSTOR. In addition to weekly feature articles, the magazine publishes daily blog posts that provide the backstory to complex issues of the day in a variety of subject areas, interviews with and profiles of scholars and their work, and much more.
MLA International Bibliography External This link opens in a new window
MLA International Bibliography offers a detailed bibliography of journal articles, books and dissertations on literature, language, linguistics, and folklore, including film studies. Produced by the Modern Language Association, the electronic version of the bibliography dates back to the 1920s and contains over 1.8 million citations from more than 4,400 journals & series and 1,000 book publishers. The indexed materials coverage is international, and includes almost 60 titles from J-STORs language and literature collection as well as links to full text. See also the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature.
The simultaneous user limit for this resource may result in temporary delays.
Oxford Bibliographies External This link opens in a new window
Oxford Bibliographies Online (OBO) is a tool designed to help busy researchers find reliable sources of information quickly by directing them to exactly the right chapter, book, website, archive, or data set they need for their research. OBO is a library of disciplined-based subject modules. In each subject module, leading scholars have produced a literary guide to the most important and significant sources in an area of study they know best. The guides feature a selective list of bibliographic citations supported by direct recommendations about which sources to consult. Each topic has a unique editorial commentary to show how the cited sources are interrelated. The citations promote discoverability as they link out to the sources via your library collection or through Google books and more. Bibliographies are currently available in the following areas:
- American Literature
- Anthropology
- Architecture, Planning, and Preservation
- Atlantic History
- Biblical Studies
- British and Irish Literature
- Buddhism
- Classics
- Islamic Studies
- Jewish Studies<
- Medieval Studies
- Music
- Philosophy
- Political Science
- Psychology
- Renaissance and Reformation
- Urban Studies
- Victorian Literature

Below are some websites that serve as good places to begin for learning about the medieval period. These websites contain primary sources in Latin and in English translation, bibliographies, and other source materials.

Abréviations paléographiques External
Provides a basic overview of medieval French manuscript abbreviations.
British Library Digitised Manuscripts External
The British Library Digitised Manuscripts contains digitized manuscripts from many different periods of British history including the middle ages, renaissance, manuscripts from British colonies, music manuscripts, and even Thai and Malay manuscripts. Users can search by year, manuscript name, author, and provenance. Use the date range slider to limit your search to the medieval period.
Dictionnaire des abréviations françaises External
Searchable online list derived from the Manuel de paléographie latine et française by Maurice Prou.
Incunabula Short Title Catalogue (ISTC): the International Database of 15th-century European Printing External
The ISTC is the international database of 15th-century European printing created by the British Library with contributions from institutions worldwide. You can perform a simple search using different kinds of keywords or find items by browsing author, title, dates, and other headings. The database records nearly every item printed from movable type before 1501, but not material printed entirely from woodblocks or engraved plates. 30,518 editions are listed as of August 2016, including some 16th-century items previously assigned incorrectly to the 15th century.
Internet Medieval Sourcebook External
This website serves as a sourcebook of links and resources assessed by the Fordham University Medieval Studies department.
The Latin Library (Medieval section) External
The Latin Library contains the major works of major Latin authors. What is unique about this site is that it contains texts from authors of all time periods beginning in antiquity up to the nineteenth century. There is a substantial medieval Latin section which contains the works of dozens of authors. All texts are unannotated. There are no footnotes to resources or supplementary glosses.
Online Medieval Sources Bibliography External
The Online Medieval Sources Bibliography provides detailed information about modern editions - both in print and online - of medieval primary sources. The goal of this resource is to help users find the sources and editions that are most suited to their needs.
Perseus Digital Library External
The Perseus Digital Library, developed and maintained by Tufts University’s classics department originally contained only Ancient Greek texts but has expanded in recent years to include Latin and Arabic texts. Texts are interactive, meaning that all words are clickable and link to a new window which displays grammatical information on the word clicked such as declension, verb conjugation, definition, noun gender, and mood. This feature makes the Perseus Digital Library an incredibly useful resource for those studying Greek and Latin texts. While the majority of the Greek and Latin texts are from antiquity, some medieval and Byzantine authors are represented.
Project Gutenberg External
Digital Library containing works in the public domain. Some of the items are editions of primary texts from the middle ages whose copyright protection has expired.
UK National Archives Palaeography External
Online tutorial acquainting viewers with medieval Latin scripts and abbreviations.

Medieval Studies: A Resource Guide

Electronic Resources