Welcome to the Course

Welcome to 'Medieval Primary Sources—Genre, Rhetoric and Transmission'! On this website you will find detailed guidance as to the issues and materials that will be covered in the seminars and links to online facsimiles/images of the manuscripts which we will be discussing in class—and much more. The site has been conceived, not just as a guide to the course, but also as a repository of useful information and resources that will take you forward as you undertake your own research in medieval history. For general matters concerning postgraduate studies, you should refer to the History Department's Handbook for the MA in History.

Paul Antony Hayward (Course Convenor).

Contents

Introductory Matter

  1. Rationale and Learning Outcomes
  2. Teaching and Learning
  3. Recommended Textbooks
  4. Assessment

Seminar Index

  1. Introduction—General Principles
  2. Charters, Cartularies and Other Administrative Records
  3. Letters and Letter Collections
  4. Annals and Chronicles—Origins and Early Development
  5. Rhetorical Histories
  6. Later Medieval Chronicles and Histories
  7. Hagiography
  8. The Medieval Miscellany
  9. Liturgical Books
  10. Poetry and Song

Electronic Resources

  1. Technical Stuff / Online Palaeography Training
  2. Search Engines and Overarching Databases
  3. Online Collections of Manuscripts
  4. Virtual Libraries—that is, Medieval Libraries Reconstructed on the Web—and Other Projects
  5. Online Facsimiles of Individual Manuscripts

General Reading

  1. Important Catalogues and Finding-Aids
  2. Guides to the Principles of Medieval Palaeography
  3. Collections of Material in Facsimile
  4. Abbreviations, Dates, Editing, and Similar Complexities
  5. Codicology and Book History
  6. Libraries, Book Collectors and Marks of Ownership