QuickSearch and Other Databases; Recommendations for library acquisition
- QuickSearchQuickSearch is the search box that appears on the library home page and elsewhere on library pages. It subsumes our catalog and many other databases for books, newspapers, and journals. Hence your searches can access a great variety of material, but you may want to use the filters for material type, subject, date published, etc. Also be aware that many history indexes, like Historical Abstracts, MLA, and IMB, are not included.
The RUL website's database list compiles medieval studies databases here.
Selected Reference Titles
Brill's Medieval Reference Library
Four medieval studies reference books in one place:
- Encyclopedia of Medieval Pilgrimage (2009)
- Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle (2010, with 2016 update)
- Encyclopaedia of Medieval Dress and Textiles of the British Isles c. 450-1450 (2012, with 2016 update)
- Brill's Encyclopaedia of the Middle Ages (2016)
Handbook of Medieval Studies. Albrecht Classen, ed., 2010
3 volumes, Alex Reference D116.H37 2010 and online
Handbook of Medieval Culture Albrecht Classen, ed. 2015
General Historical Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
New Catholic encyclopedia (New York : Thomson, Gale, 2002-).
Camden Reference BX841.N44 2002 v.1-15, also online
Lexikon des Mittelalters / [hrsg. von Robert Auty ... et al.]. (München: Artemis-Verlag, [1977]- ).
Alex Reference D101.5.L49 Bd.1-10.
Dictionary of the Middle Ages / Joseph R. Strayer, editor in chief. (New York : Scribner, c1982- ).
Art, Camden, Dana, Carr Reference D114.D5 1982 v1-13
Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages / edited by Andre Vauchez; in conjunction with Barrie Dobson and Michael Lapidge; English translation by Adrian Walford. (Chicago : Fitzroy Dearborn, 2000.)
Alex, Camden Reference D114.E53 2000
Routledge Encyclopedias of the Middle Ages
This series provides concise encyclopedic treatments of specific regions and themes within Medieval Europe. By theme:
Medieval archaeology : an encyclopedia / Pam J. Crabtree. (New York: Garland Pub., 2001).
Alex, Camden Reference D125.M42 2001
Medieval Jewish civilization : an encyclopedia / Norman Roth. (New York: Routledge, 2002).
Alex, Camden Reference DS124.M386 2002
Medieval science, technology, and medicine : an encyclopedia / editors, Thomas F. Glick, Steven J. Livesey, Faith Wallis.
(New York : Routledge, 2005).
Alex Reference Q124.97.M43 2005
Trade, travel, and exploration in the Middle Ages : an encyclopedia / John Block Friedman et al.
(New York : Garland Pub., 2000)..
Alex Stacks, Camden Reference HF1001.T7 2000
Women and gender in medieval Europe: An encyclopedia / Margaret Schaus, editor.
(New York : Routledge, 2006).
Alex Reference HQ1147.E85W66 2006 and online
Language Dictionaries and Encyclopedias, Medieval Latin
Mediae Latinitatis lexicon minus / J.F. Niermeyer & C. van de Kieft; revised by J.W.J. Burgers. (Leiden; Boston : Brill, 2002).
Alex Reference PA2890.N54 2002 v.1-2
Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi : praesertim ad res ecclesiasticas investigandas pertinens, ed. Albert Blaise. (Turnholti : Brepols, 1975).
Alex Reference, Stacks PA2893.F7B6
Novum glossarium mediae Latinitatis, ab anno DCCC usque ad annum MCC, ed. F. Blatt, Y. Lefèvre, et al. (Hafniae, E. Munksgaard, 1957- ).
Alex Stacks PA2893.N6 v L-V. Permachino-Pingo
A serial publication, this dictionary provides translations in French of terms common from 800 to 1200.
Orbis Latinus; Lexikon lateinischer geographischer Namen des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit, ed. Benedict Graesse (Braunschweig, Klinkhardt & Biermann [c1972]).
Alex Reference G107.G8 1972 v.1-3
The one volume edition is also online.
Atlas
Atlas of medieval Europe / edited by David Ditchburn, Simon MacLean and Angus MacKay. 2nd ed. (London; New York : Routledge, 2007. )
Alex Reference G1791.M2 2007
Chronologies
The New Cambridge medieval history / edited by Rosamond McKitterick. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995-).
Alex Reference, McDonnell D117.N48 1995 v.1-7
Medieval narrative sources : a chronological guide / compiled by János M. Bak with the assistance of Heinz Quirin and Paul Hollingsworth. (New York : Garland Pub., 1987).
Alexander Stacks Z6203.B33 1987
Finding articles
Indexes
International Medieval Bibliography or IMB. [Rutgers Restricted]
The most comprehensive and international index for medieval studies with records for journals and articles in collected studies from 1967 onward. The Bibliographie de civilisation médiévale is also accessible here.
Index of Medieval Art [Rutgers Restricted]
An iconographic index of Christian themes in early Christian and Medieval art. Identifies medium, location, style, building or object, sequence, and subject term and links to many images.
L'Année Philologique [Rutgers Restricted]
The primary database for classical studies and Ancient Greece and Rome with coverage since 1969. Some medieval coverage too.
Bibliographie der deutschen Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft (BDSL). [Rutgers Restricted]
This index covers the full range of German language and literary studies; for medieval German language and literature studies published since 1985 it is superior to the IMB.
MLA International Bibliography
The MLA International Bibliography indexes critical scholarship on literature, language, linguistics, folklore, and film in journal articles, series, monographs, dissertations, bibliographies, proceedings and other materials. Coverage includes literature from all over the world--Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South America. Coverage begins in 1926 but is less complete for the later years than the BDSL.
Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index.
This freely available database provides citations to articles on this subject in journals and many essay collections published since 1990, including publications in French, German, Spanish, and Italian.
Historical Abstracts. [Rutgers Restricted]
Covers all continents, except North America, beginning in 1450 with occasional entries for earlier periods. Indexes articles written since 1955 in more than fifty languages.
Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages & Renaissance. [Rutgers Restricted]
The Iter Bibliography indexes journals published from 1842 onward covering the European Middle Ages and Renaissance, 400-1700, but most indexing begins only in 1996. Overlaps IMB, but includes many encyclopedia and book entries missed by IMB. The site also includes a scholars' directory, the Iter Italicum finding list of humanist manuscripts, and the Baptisteria Sacra database.
Print Index
Medioevo Latino: Bolletino bibliografico della cultura europea dal secolo VI al XIII. Spoleto: Centro italiano di studi sull'alto Medioevo, 1980- .
Alex Reference Z5579.5.M48 v.1- 1980-
Annual bibliography of medieval Latin authors and texts and related aspects of medieval culture with abstracts mostly in Italian. It is most useful for source- or manuscript-focused research.
Bibliographies (Mainly for Finding Books)
Bibliographies
Oxford Bibliographies Online: Medieval Studies Module
Guide to the sources of medieval history / by R. C. van Caenegem, with the collaboration of F. L. Ganshof. Amsterdam; New York : North-Holland Pub. Co.; New York, 1978.
Alex and Dana Reference D117.C2213
Typologie des sources du Moyen Age occidentale (Turnhout : Brepols, 1972 -)
Alex Stacks Z6203.T95 [various fascicles]
A series of monographs on the written and non-written sources for medieval history, by "type".
A guide to the study of medieval history, by Louis John Paetow. Rev. ed. (New York, F. S. Crofts, 1931). xvii p., 2 l., 3-643 p.
Alex Stacks, Douglass, LSM Reference Z6203.P126G2; reprint Robeson Reference Z6203.P19 1959
The standard historical bibliography organized by period and country.
Literature of medieval history, 1930-1975 : a supplement to Louis John Paetow's A guide to the study of medieval history / compiled and edited by Gray Cowan Boyce (Millwood, N.Y. : Kraus International Publications, c1981).
Alex, Dana Reference Z6203.P25 1980 Suppl. v1-5
Less evaluative than Paetow's work.
Repertorium fontium historiae Medii Aevi; primum ab Augusto Potthast digestum, nunc cura collegii historicorum e pluribus nationibus emendatum et auctum / August Potthast. (Romae: Istituto storico italiano per il Medio Evo, 1962-).
Alex Reference Z6203.R46 v.1-11 pt. 1/2 [ongoing]
