Resources for Middle English Literature

Broad-Focus Sites

• The Labyrinth: An indispensable source for medieval studies on the web. Certainly the most extensive collection of resources currently available.  (Georgetown U.)
• ORB: Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies: A valuable and well-organized reference site, with a growing array of resources.  
• Internet Medieval Sourcebook: A useful and wide-ranging collection of resources. Covers a wide range of areas in European and British medieval studies.  (Fordham U.)
• Netserf: Very useful and extensive collection of links to resources for medieval studies.
• Middle English Compendium:  An excellent collection of scholarly resources.  Includes an online version of the Middle English Dictionary and a growing Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse.  (U. of Michigan)
• Argos: A limited-area search engine for the study of the ancient and medieval worlds. Selective (sites are peer-reviewed) and very useful.
• Voice of the Shuttle: A general humanities site rather than one which is primarily medieval in its focus. Perhaps the most valuable site on the web for locating texts in the humanities. (UC/Santa Barbara)
• Literary Resources on the Net-Medieval: A portal page. A selective (and very good) guide to other resource pages on the Internet. See also the general Literary Resources page.  (Jack Lynch)

Back to top

Online Books

• Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse:  A very important online collection of Middle English texts.  Currently includes about sixty works, some of which are impossible to obtain elsewhere on the web.  Part of the Middle English Compendium.  (U. of Michigan)
• TEAMS Middle English Texts:  A very extensive collection of Middle English works; focuses on works which are difficult to obtain elsewhere.  Includes some bibliographies for individual works.  (U. of Rochester)
• Luminarium: Middle English Literature: Valuable and elegantly designed site. Excellent collection of links to major Middle English texts, as well as to online articles, graphics, audio clips, etc. Take a look at the main Luminarium site as well, for Renaissance and 17th Century resources.
• Online Medieval and Classical Library: Useful online collection of ancient and medieval texts.  Much of the collection is in literatures other than English.  (UC/Berkeley)
• Wessex Parallel Web Texts:  An interesting site, which provides texts of shorter Middle English poems (particularly the "Harley Lyrics"), along with a few translations and some very useful background material.  (U. of Southampton) 

Back to top

History/Chronology

Note:  This section lists only a handful of sites which are, for one reason or another, of particular interest for the syllabus and content of this course.  The best resources for general historical background are listed in the "General Sites" section above, particularly The Labyrinth, ORB: Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies, Internet Medieval Sourcebook, and Netserf.

• History: Medieval Britain: A rich collection of narrative histories, including general coverage of Britain as well as more focused treatments of individual towns (such as London and Canterbury). Also includes timelines, biographies, graphics, etc. (Britannia)
• TimeRef.org:  A very large collection of timelines on medieval subjects.  Extensively cross-referenced, and includes historical background, images, maps, etc.  Worth exploring. .
• Notes on Fourteenth-Century History: Very short and clearly organized outline of some major 14th century background (Hundred Years' War, Black Death, Papal Schism, English monarchy), as well as Chaucer's political career. Part of Michael Hanly's Chaucer Scriptorium.  (Washington State U.)
• The Pestilence Tyme: A narrative account of the Black Death, which decimated Europe in the middle of the fourteenth century. A part of the Gode Cookery web site.  
• A Chronology for the Development of English to 1400:  By popular demand (well, one person asked for it). A listing of dates and events relevant to the history of the language. From my "English 430: Chaucer" web page.  (Edgewood C.)
• History of Canterbury: A very compressed narrative history of the town of Canterbury, from pre-Roman times to the present.

 Back to top

People, Culture and Customs

• Dominion and Domination of the Gentle Sex: The Lives of Medieval Women: Subtitled "The City of Women," after a work by Christine de Pisan. Collects material from the growing body of research on the often poorly documented roles of women in medieval society.
• Matrix:  "A scholarly resource for the study of women's religious communities from 400 to 1600 C.E."  Includes an extensive database of basic statistical information on women's religious communities in Europe, as well as brief biographies of individual women, bibliographic information, scholarly articles, graphics, a glossary of terms, etc. (Boston C.)
• Pilgrims Passing To and Fro:  Interesting and accessible background on medieval Canterbury pilgrims and pilgrimages.  A part of the Gode Cookery web site.  
• The History of Fashion and Dress:  Late Medieval Europe & The Early Italian Renaissance:  Traces the development of upper-class dress. A theater course web page.  (U. of Alaska/Fairbanks)
• The Costumer's Manifesto: Medieval European Costume Links:  A very rich resource on all aspects of medieval dress.  Includes links to everything from armor to wedding apparel, from work clothes to high fashion. Not a specifically scholarly collection, but very useful. Part of the more general Costume History page at The Costumer's Manifesto.
• The Costume Page: A page of links to a diverse collection of sites on costumes from all eras. Not a conventional scholarly resource, but fun to explore.
• GodeCookery.com:  Central home page for a rich and fascinating collection of sites on medieval foods and recipes, as well as related matters.  Includes A Chaucerian Cookery, with recipes and instructions for preparing your own Chaucerian feast.
• Medieval and Anglo-Saxon Recipes:  Recipes from The British Museum Cookbook.  Recipes include "Crustade of Chicken and Pigeon," "Fenkel in Soppes," and other delicacies.  (Carnegie-Mellon U.)
• Medieval/Renaissance Brewing Homepage:  A resource page for medieval preparation of mead, ales, spiced wines and other drinks.  (Greg Lindahl)
• The Construction and History of Medieval Timber-Framed Houses:  A layperson's introduction to timber-framed (or half-timbered) buildings in England and Wales.  Covers an extensive historical period and helps give a sense of living conditions and household environments in the Middle Ages.
• ORB: Medieval English Urban History: Historical material, maps, and primary documents concerning selected English towns during the Middle Ages. Also includes an extensive collection of links to other materials on medieval urban history. Part of ORB: Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies.

Back to top

Music

• Early Music FAQ:  A good basic introduction to early music forms, periods, composers, etc.  (Associated with the rec.music.early discussion list/newsgroup)
• Gregorian Chant
  • Gregorian Chant:  Main page for the Gregorian Association in England.  Includes historical background, an overview of Gregorian modes, etc.
  • Gregorian Schola:  Web page for a Gregorian chant organization in Arkansas.  Includes some basic background, as well as a very valuable page of links to other resources.  Check out their Chant sounds on the web if you want to sample the sound of Gregorian chant.  (St. Joseph Catholic Church, Fayetteville, Arkansas)
  • Chant:  Part of a monastery web page.  Offers 21 sound files from Gregorian chant, including part of a version of the Alma Redemptoris [cf. Chaucer's "Prioress' Tale"].  (Monastery of Christ in the Desert)
• Ars subtilior. Music of the late Medieval period:  Good site for medieval music, including MIDI files, links, etc. (Gary Rich)
• Music of the Fourteenth Century: Includes MIDI files of music from fourteenth century composers. (VMI)
• The Internet Renaissance Band:  A nice selection of medieval and Renaissance MIDI files.  (Curtis Clark, California State U./Pomona)
• Classical Music Archives:  Early Music:  An extensive collection of MIDI files from "composers born before the XVIIth century."  Part of the Classical Music Archives.  (Pierre Schwab)
• Classical Net--Early Music Links:  Excellent collection of links to sites having to do with all aspects of early music.

Back to top

Arts and Architecture

• Art of the Middle Ages:  A portal site, with links to a rich array of resources on medieval art, architecture, manuscript illumination, etc.  (Sweetbriar C.)
• A Digital Archive of Architecture:  A rich source for architectural images.  Includes sections on Gothic churches, medieval fortifications, etc. (Boston C.)
• Images of Medieval Art and Architecture:  A very rich site for images of architecture from the Middle Ages.  Includes images and maps from Britain and France, as well as a glossary of terms used in medieval art and architecture.  (U. of Pittsburgh)
• Castles, Abbeys, and Medieval Buildings:  A non-academic site exhibiting photographs of English medieval architecture.  Includes a fair amount of historical background material. (Michael W. Cook)
• Amiens Cathedral Project:  A graphic-rich web site on the Gothic cathedral at Amiens (France).  Includes interior and exterior photographs, computer-generated images, discussion, and more.  (Columbia U.)
• Maulbronn Monastery:  Overview of the 850-year-old former Cistercian Monastery in Baden-Württemberg (Germany).  The monastery structures combine Romanesque and Gothic elements.  The web site includes graphics, as well as some historical material.
• The Age of King Charles V:  A very rich site, displaying "1,000 Illuminations from the Department of Manuscripts" at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France.  Includes useful background material as well. (Bibliotheque Nationale)
• Bodleian Library:  Western Manuscripts to c. 1500:  A very image-rich site, with about a thousand images from the Bodleian's manuscript collection, including digital facsimiles of complete manuscripts.  (Oxford U.)
• DScriptorium:  A good site for manuscript images.  Includes on-site images, as well as links to other manuscript sites.  (Brigham Young U.)
• Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry:  The most famous example of a "book of hours," a form of medieval devotional guide.  The Tres Riches Heures is certainly one of the most beautiful examples of medieval manuscript illumination.  This site has a generous selection of images, along with commentary and background.  (WebMuseum)
• The Aberdeen Bestiary:  A beautifully designed site, presenting page images of the Aberdeen Bestiary, with commentary "from an art historical perspective" on the illumination and craftsmanship of the manuscript.  (Aberdeen U.)

Back to top

Language and Pronunciation

• Language and Linguistics (Harvard Chaucer Page): The best online guide to the pronunciation and grammar of Chaucerian Middle English. Includes audio examples, historical background, etc.
• Basic Chaucer Glossary: Edwin Duncan's concise lexicon for Chaucer's language. Useful for quickly finding particular words, both in Chaucer and in other Middle English texts. (Towson U.)
• Luminarium: Audio excerpts from the Canterbury Tales: Links to audio clips of readings from the General Prologue, the Wife of Bath's Prologue, etc. Audio files are in a number of different formats.

Back to top

Glossaries/Terminology

• NetSERF's Hypertext Medieval Glossary:  Presented as "the largest general medieval glossary on the Internet," with "over 1,400 terms defined, covering all aspects of medieval life and spanning the medieval world."  (Catholic U.)
• ORB Guide to Medieval Terms: A useful glossary of terms covering a number of aspects of the Middle Ages in Europe and in England.  Part of the Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies.
• Matrix: Vocabularium:  A glossary of terms useful for understanding monastic and other medieval religious institutions.
• Glossary for Medieval Art and Architecture:  Glossary of art and architectural terms from the Middle Ages, with emphasis on architecture.  Part of Images of Medieval Art and Architecture.  (U. of Pittsburgh)

Back to top

Bibliographies

• University of Kansas Index of Medieval Studies Bibliographies:  Includes dozens of specialized bibliographies.  A gopher index (with filenames but no descriptive titles), and so a bit cumbersome to use.  Worth exploring for the useful material it contains. Doesn't seem to go beyond 1991.
• Women Writers of the Middle Ages:  Extensive bibliography from the Robbins Library at the University of Rochester.  Includes well-known writers like St. Catherine of Siena, Christine de Pisan and Hildegard of Bingen, as well as a host of less well-known figures.  Seems to go up to 1996.  (U. of Rochester)
• Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index:  Extensive index covering "journal articles, book reviews, and essays in books about women, sexuality, and gender during the Middle Ages." Indexing began in 1996 and runs through 2001; indexing is not complete, but the collection is already extremely useful. Areas covered include history, religion, art, literature, etc.  (Haverford C.)
• Medieval Studies / Cultural Studies: Basic Reading List:  Short bibliography from the Georgetown U./Labyrinth online conference on "Cultural Frictions: Medieval Cultural Studies in Post-Modern Contexts."  Useful reading for anyone interested in cultural studies/postmodern approaches to medieval studies.  Full texts of at least some of the conference papers are also available on the Labyrinth's Cultural Frictions conference page.  (Georgetown U.)
• Medieval English Drama:  A somewhat less extensive bibliography from the Robbins Library; still very useful.  (U. of Rochester)
• ORB Bibliographies:  Later Medieval England:  A "suggested reading list" for medieval historical studies.  Not literary in its focus, but useful for background.

Back to top

Online Journals

• The Medieval Review:  Reviews of recent books in medieval studies.  All reviews are publicly available online, in a searchable archive.  Published since 1993 (formerly The Bryn Mawr Medieval Review).  (Western Michigan U.)
• Exemplaria: A Journal of Theory in Medieval and Renaissance Studies:  Full-text articles of past issues not available online, but a few preprints ("webprints") of articles are publicly available.  (U. of Florida)
• Essays in Medieval Studies:  Proceedings of the Illinois Medieval Association.  Full-text articles are publicly available online through Vol 17 (2000).  (Loyola U./Chicago)
• Arthuriana:  An online journal on Arthurian studies.  Abstracts of articles are publicly available online; full-text articles require paid subscription.  (SMU)

Back to top

Non-Medieval Background Resources and Texts

• The Perseus Project:  An impressively rich resource for the study of Greek and Roman literature, history, arts and culture.  Includes maps, a powerful search engine, archaeological site plans, access to museum collections and other resources.  Useful for exploring the rich classical background of medieval and early modern literature.  (Tufts U.)
• Encyclopedia Mythica:  Shorter articles on Greek, Roman, and other mythologies.  Very useful as a quick reference for mythological references in medieval and early modern literature.
• Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy:  Useful online reference work including relatively short articles on philosophical concepts, overviews of major philosophers, etc.  Useful for philosophical references in medieval and early modern literature.  (U. Tenn./Martin)
• Internet Classics Archive:  The best online collection of classical Greek and Latin texts.  Useful for exploring the rich classical background of medieval and early modern literature.  (M.I.T.)
• Christian Classics Ethereal Library:  A very impressive collection of Christian theological and devotional texts.  Includes complete sets of the Church Fathers, etc.  Useful for exploring the religious background and references of early modern literature.  (Wheaton)