Digital Reference Sources

Abbreviationes
Abbreviationes 2.3 offers researchers a quick solution to finding common abbreviations in medieval Latin manuscripts, reference works, and other documents. The search screen lets you define whether the abbreviation you are looking for is used at the beginning or end of a term or contained within it.

Bibliography of the History and Archaeology of Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages
This bibliography covers the history and archaeology of medieval East Central and Eastern Europe from about AD 500 to the aftermath of the Mongol invasion of 1241. It contains over 65,000 bibliographical records covering a wide range of materials, including books, articles, chapters from edited volumes, theses and dissertations, as well as regional bibliographies. Entries are full-text searchable, with filters for browsing functionality. It is updated annually.

Bibliotheca scriptorum Latinorum medii aevi digitalis
Provides access to the standard works of Medieval Latin prosopography in page-image/facsimile format. Additional titles are continously added.

Brill's Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages
This is an English translation of the second edition (2013) of the well-known German-language Enzyklopädie des Mittelalters. The encyclopedia is dedicated to all aspects of medieval life, organized in eight sections: Society; Faith and Knowledge; Literature; Fine Arts and Music; Economy; Technology; Living Environment and Conditions; and Historical Events and Regions.

Digital Atlas of Roman and Medieval Civilizations
DARMC offers a series of maps and geodatabases bearing on multiple aspects of Roman and medieval civilization. The site allows users to generate original maps based on maps of Roman military installations, roads, shrines, mines, and villas; study the rise and fall of medieval kingdoms; and follow the geographic development of the medieval church.

The Documentary Archaeology of Late Medieval Europe (DALME)
Based in Harvard’s Department of History, the DALME Project transcribes and publishes archival documents that identify household objects, tools, equipment, commodities, and other elements of material culture.

Encyclopaedia of Medieval Dress and Textiles of the British Isles c. 450-1450
This unique work brings together hundreds of articles examining the materials, techniques and styles of secular, ecclesiastical, and military dress, as well as considering the concept of fashion in the Middle Ages. Articles make thorough use of written evidence, both literary and documentary – such as poetry, epic, riddles, wills, inventories, and wardrobe accounts. Broader subjects covered include cross-dressing; the use and significance of gemstones; horse equipment and textiles; religious morality and political philosophy relating to dress; the trade of textiles; and the use of medieval dress and textiles in the present day. 

Encyclopaedia of Medieval Pilgrimage
This interdisciplinary reference work gives wide coverage of the role of travel in medieval religious life. Dealing with the period 300-1500 A.D., it offers basic data on a broad range of European pilgrimage, from local sites to the main routes to Rome, Jerusalem and Santiago. Written and material sources relating to pilgrimage are used to illustrate aspects of medieval society, from brewing, book production and the trade in relics, to the development of the towns, art, architecture and literature which pilgrimage engendered.

Encyclopaedia of the Medieval Chronicle
In more than 2500 entries, this reference work brings together the latest research on chronicles produced in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East over a period of twelve centuries. The articles describe individual anonymous chronicles as well as the historical oeuvre of particular chroniclers, covering works written in Latin, English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Norse, Irish, Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, Syriac, Church Slavonic and other languages. The encyclopaedia includes a comprehensive manuscript index

Europa Sacra
A database offering complete coverage of Church prelates, information on all 1300 medieval bishoprics, archdioceses and patriarchates and prosopographical information on 18,507 bishops, archbishops and patriarchs. Its main sources are: C. Eubel, Hierarchia catholica medii aevi... ab anno 1198 [1st and 2nd edns. Münster, 1898ff] and P.B. Gams, Series episcoporum ecclesiae catholicae [Regensburg, 1873-86].

Geschichtsquellen des deutschen Mittelalters
Historical Sources of the German Middle Ages is a bio-bibliographical reference work on the narrative historical sources of the medieval German Empire, covering the period from the time of Charlemagne to Emperor Maximilian I (approx. 750 to 1519). The directory, based on the Latin Repertorium Fontium Historiae Medii Aevi, comprises more than 5,500 works in Latin and German, including the Carmina Burana and the Weltchronik by Otto von Freising. It provides information about the handwritten tradition, the editions, facsimiles, and translations, as well as other research literature.

Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture
This Encyclopedia covers all aspects of art and architecture from Medieval Western Europe, from the 6th century to the early 16th century, in more than 2,030 articles, each of which is followed by a bibliography to support further research. These include a mixture of shorter, more factual articles and larger, multi-section articles tracing the development of the arts in major regions. There are articles on all subject areas in Medieval art including biographies of major artists, architects and patrons; countries, cities, and sites; cultures and styles (Anglo-Saxon art, Carolingian art, Coptic art, Early Christian art, Romanesque, Gothic, Insular art, Lombard art, Merovingian art, Ottonian art, and Viking art); ivories, books and illuminated manuscripts, metalwork, architecture, painting, tapestries, sculpture, mosaics, reliquaries, and more.

In Principio
In Principio features over 1 million incipits, covering Latin literature from its origins to the Renaissance. It is an inevitable research tool for those scholars and libraries interested in the writers, texts and manuscripts of Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Users have the option of directly entering search terms in one or more fields, searching terms from a browselist, checking "hits" before displaying results, and exporting records.

International Directory of Medievalists
The International Directory of Medievalists Online is the continuation of the printed editions. It will contain the names and addresses of specialists from over 70 different countries with for the majority their fields of study.

Iter: Gateway to the Renaissance
Iter, meaning a journey or a path in Latin, was created for the advancement of learning in the study and teaching of the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400-1700) through the development of online resources, including (among others): Iter Italicum, P.O. Kristeller's listing of uncataloged, or incompletely cataloged, humanistic manuscripts of the Renaissance, in Italian and other libraries around the world; the Iter Bibliography of more than 1 million records for articles, essays, books and reviews; and a growing list of related databases and web sites. The gateway also provides online access to the following journals: Early Theatre (volume 4, 2001-), Renaissance and Reformation (volume 24, no. 1, 2000-), Renaissance Quarterly (volume 53, no. 1, 2000), and Aestimatio: Critical Reviews in the History of Science (2004-).

Lexikon des Mittelalters
The Lexikon des Mittelalters is the standard encyclopaedia for the European Middle Ages, containing over 36,700 signed articles by 3000 authors. Coverage extends from 300 to 1500 AD/CE for the whole of Europe and parts of the Middle East and North Africa. A multilingual interface (English, French and German) allows users to search by headwords, subjects, keywords, etc. Search results may be printed or saved to disk.

The New Cambridge Medieval History

Online Medieval Sources Bibliography
A searchable bibliography of texts from private letters, wills, and household accounts to literary works, philosophical treatises, chronicles, court proceedings, church records, and a host of other documents written in the Middle Ages and now available in printed or online editions and translations.

Oxford Bibliographies Online
Select the Medieval Studies module for a selective list of bibliographic citations, supported by direct recommendations about which sources to consult. The citations link out to the sources via Harvard's library collection or through Google books, and more.

The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages

Regnum Francorum Online
"This is a website about visualizing early medieval Europe on maps." The site includes a historical geographic database covering the Frankish kingdom from 300 to 900 CE. Locations on the maps are linked to historical source documents and other data.