Guide to Online Primary Sources: Medieval

Digital documents relevant to the fields of law, history, economics, politics, diplomacy and government from ancient times to the 21st century.

Medieval World section includes articles about domestic life, economic life, intellectual life, material life, political life, recreational life and religious life. Includes an historical overview as well as primary sources.

Primary (and secondary) sources on medieval and renaissance military history. Includes the Crusades, Hundred Years' War, Anglo-Norman Warfare, and the Vikings and Norse. [Note: temporarily unavailable March 2012, but links to an archived site]

A major collection of scanned texts relating to empire studies, divided into 5 sections: Cultural Contacts 1492-1969; Empire Writing/the Literature of Empire; The Visible Empire; Religion; and Race, class, imperialism and colonialism 1607-2007.

A "collaborative database on the published sources of English medieval legal documents." Links to online sources are provided when available.

"Epistolæ is a collection of letters to and from women in the Middle Ages, from the 4th to the 13th century. The letters, written in Latin, are linked to the names of the women involved, with English translations and, where available, biographical sketches of the women and some description of the subject matter or the historic context of the letter."

Subset of the larger EuroDocs site, focusing on the medieval period.

Presents a selection of primary source texts illustrative of various aspects of medieval urban life. Texts are grouped under four headings: community, economy, government and lifecycle.

Canonical information, apostolic fathers, texts, creeds and canons, and other miscelleaneous texts related to the development of the early Christian church.

Small collection of letters of Crusaders.

This is the place to start. Huge collections of well-organized primary texts, divided into: Ancient History, East Asian History, Global History, History of Science, Indian History, Jewish History, Medieval History, and Women's History

Archive of primary texts relating to all major world religions and many other spiritual practices, including all major scriptures.

Here you can learn about Islamic medicine and science during the Middle Ages and the important role it played in the history of Europe.

Online primary resources relating to written and early printed culture in Britain during the period 1000 to 1500. Includes literary manuscripts, historical documents and early printed books which are located on websites owned by libraries, archives, universities and publishers.

A collection of some of the most important literary works of Classical and Medieval civilization. Browse by author/title/genre/language.

This is a work in progress from the University of Texas at Austin. When complete, the database will provide full digital access to 215 manuscripts dating from the 11th to 17th centuries. As of May 2010, 27 of these are viewable. The database offers searching and browsing capabilities.

"The documents translated in this book were employed in administering a religious discipline to our forefathers during their transition from paganism to Christianity and from barbarism to civilization."

Translated texts of the Pontificate of Gregory VII; the Crusades; the Norman Kingdom of Sicily; and the Chronicle of St. Clement, Casauria. From the University of Leeds.

Documents dealing with all aspects of commerce in the Mediterranean.

Excellent site dedicated to the study of women's religious communities from 400 to 1600CE. Includes a separate section of primary sources, which can be browsed by title/author/community/region/century. Search function also available.

Includes translations of medieval documents, as well as many links to full-text or excerpted primary sources.

(Note: site appears unavailable; link goes to archived site.) Primary source documents on issues relating to the interaction of religion and politics, categorized by era from ancient times to the present.

Historical texts and maps that "explore cultural interaction across Eurasia from the beginning of the Common Era (A. D.) to the Seventeenth Century."

Collection of medieval literature.

An account of Polo's travels to Asia in the late 13th century.

Presents translated documents that illustrate the history of the university during the 12th-17th centuries.

Presents texts by, for or about medieval women. Book chapters include: marriage; love, sex and friendship; motherhood and work; women and Christianity; women and power; education and knowledge; women and the arts.

Collection of manuscripts, books and visual resources. Use date limits on left side to focus on a specific time period.