General Resources
Broad-Focus Sites
These are sites which provide access to a wide variety of general resources
for medieval studies, primarily in literature and the humanities.
- 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,
although not especially strong on Middle English..
- Netserf: Very useful and extensive
collection of links to resources for medieval studies.
- Argos: A limited-area search
engine for the study of the ancient and medieval worlds. Selective (sites
are peer-reviewed) and very useful. (Evansville U.) [Currently
unavialble]
- History of the English
Language Website: A useful collection of links for the
development of the language, from Old English to modern English.
(Virginia Tech)
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On-line Books
This is a small and fairly selective sampling of the sites which provide
texts free for
download.
Specialized Collections
- Luminarium:
Valuable and elegantly designed site. Excellent collection of links to
major early English texts, as well as to online articles, graphics, audio
clips, etc. Covers Middle English through eighteenth century works.
- Online Medieval and
Classical Library: Useful online collection of ancient and medieval
texts. Covers a variety of European literatures. (UC/Berkeley)
- 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)
General Collections
- Literary Resources on the Net: Not a books page, but a selective (and very good) guide to other books pages on the Internet. (Jack Lynch)
- The Online Books Page: The best single source for free online books of all kinds. A clearinghouse rather than a separate collection; includes books drawn from a wide variety of other online collections. (U. of Penn.)
- University of
Toronto English Library: A valuable collection of
"selections" from a wide variety of authors. Especially strong
on poetry. See also the U. of Toronto's Representative
Poetry Online.
- Project Bartleby: A good but limited collection of "classic" books (named after Herman Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener"); "classic" is stretched a bit to include writers like Agatha Christie. (Columbia Univ.)
- Electronic Text Center: A good collection of literary texts. Includes texts in English and at least a dozen other languages. Not all texts are accessible to the general public, but it is still a very worthwhile resource. (Univ. of Virginia)
- Project Gutenberg: One of the original online books projects. Includes "classics" (like Homer and Shakespeare), as well as more popular texts (like Jules Verne and Edgar Rice Burroughs) and a miscellany of other texts (on sometimes rather odd subjects).
- SparkNotes: For those who
want a little help with reading a difficult or unfamiliar work. Includes
background, character sketches, plot summaries, etc. on a variety of works.
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On-line Journals
There is a growing number of scholarly journals which are fully online or
have significant online components. The following list includes a sampling
of those
which provide free public access to full-text articles or abstracts, and which
are concerned at least in part with medieval or early modern literary studies.
- Early Modern Literary
Studies: An online journal concerned with medieval and
early modern literature. Full-text articles are publicly available
online. (Sheffield Hallam U.)
- The Heroic
Age: A Journal of Early Medieval Northwestern Europe:
An online journal which "focuses on North-western Europe during the
early medieval period (from the late 4th
through 11th
centuries). We seek to foster dialogue
between all scholars of this period across
ethnic and disciplinary boundaries,
including—but not limited to—history,
archaeology, and literature pertaining to the
period." Full-text articles are
publicly available online.
- Renaissance Forum:
"an interdisciplinary refereed journal" ... which "specializes in early-modern English literary
and historical scholarship and in the critical methodologies of these fields."
Full-text articles are publicly available online. (U. of Hull)
- Early Modern Culture:
"An Electronic Seminar" which presents "works-in-progress by major scholars in early modern studies, along with a set of responses
from readers--some junior, some senior--working on similar topics."
Current full-text articles and responses are publicly available online;
there appears to be no archive of past articles. (Carnegie Mellon
U.)
- 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 generous selection of preprints of
articles are publicly available. (U. of Florida)
- The Sixteenth Century Journal:
Includes articles on continental and British sixteenth-century
studies. Abstracts of articles (1995-2000) are publicly available
online.
- Review of English
Studies: General-topic journal in English studies, with
significant coverage of medieval and early modern literature.
Abstracts of articles (1925-2006) are publicly available online.
- Early Theater:
Focuses on "research in medieval or early modern drama and theatre history"
in the British Isles, with additional attention to "related materials either in Europe, or in parts of the world where English or European
travelers, traders, and colonizers observed performances by other peoples."
Abstracts of articles are publicly available online;
full text available only through subscription. (Records of Early English Drama)
- Arthuriana: An online
journal on Arthurian studies. Abstracts of articles are publicly
available online; full-text articles require paid subscription. (SMU)
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Bibliographies
These are bibliographies which cover more general subject areas. More
specialized bibliographies, such as those on Chaucer or Beowulf or on
Anglo-Saxon studies, are listed in the appropriate sections of this website (see
the navigation frame at left).
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Background Resources
Although these sites are not concerned directly with British literature at
all, they provide useful background and reference material for understanding
medieval and early modern 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.)
- Greek Mythology Link:
Very extensive site covering Greek gods and goddesses, heroes, myths and
legends. Useful for understanding mythological references and
materials in medieval and early modern literature. (Brown 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)
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