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Bibliotheca Legum: A Database on Carolingian Secular Law Texts

The Bibliotheca legum regni Francorum manuscripta aspires to do so with a focus on the legal knowledge that was disseminated in the Frankish Kingdom. The website presents descriptions of manuscripts which contain the so-called leges or barbarian law-codes. At present, 327 short descriptions are available. In addition to that, the database also provides contextualizing informations and tries – for example by means of a comprehensive bibliography – to represent the current state of research as complete as possible. External resources like online catalogues and digital images are also included.

[website is in German with an option to display in English]

 

Bibliothèque virtuelle des manuscrits médiévaux (BVMM)

The BVMM is a French-language resource that serves as a clearing house for images and data on medieval manuscripts held in institutions in Europe. Institutions range from municipal libraries and religious houses up to major research and university libraries across continental Europe. Images can sometimes be from microfilm, black and white, or in full color.

Carolingian Canon Law

The Carolingian Canon Law project is a searchable, electronic rendition of works of canon law used by Carolingian readers. This project maps the extent of variation in “standard” legal texts known to Carolingian readers, and identifies particular points of variation. In addition to clarifying the textual history of medieval canon law, the project will provide historical and bibliographic annotation of several hundred canons used by jurists before, during, and after the Carolingian period. We invite all scholars of medieval canon law to contribute translations, annotations, transcriptions, and comments. All such contributions are publicly credited. To contribute, please register for an account.

Consistory: Testimony in the Late Medieval London Consistory Court

The Consistory Project aims to create a database and digital editions of all surviving records from the pre-1500 documents of the London Consistory Court. The court handled clerical cases on a wide variety of topics like debt, marriage, sin, and other issues. Cases were adjudicated by a clerical magistrate and the records were written in Latin. The project allows one to search by name, date, and place. Each record presents a case in both Latin and English translation with links to other records if they are present. As of 2020, the project has created records for over 125 of the 1100 extant records.

Decretum Gratiani

The Decretum Gratiani project sets as its goal the creation of an edition of Gratian’s Decretum. Though it is unclear whether the final edition will be digital or on paper, the project as of 2020 provides a PDF of a draft of the text with caveats for its use. There is also a list of manuscript sigla of the Decretum that link to outside repositories. However, many of the links in this list and elsewhere on the site are broken.

Durham Priory Library Recreated

From the creators: The purpose of the project is to collect all information relating to the books of Durham Priory, manuscript and printed work inherited, given, bought or created by the monks of the Benedictine priory of Durham, its predecessors and cells.

As of 2020, the project has made available catalog descriptions and IIIF-compliant images of over 150 of the manuscripts associated with Durham Cathedral. Currently items are not searchable but are arranged by shelfmark. The project is regularly updated as has an active blog associated with it.

Early English Laws Online

Early English Laws Online has as its goal the publication in print and translation of all English legal codes up to Magna Carta in 1215. Currently, the project has digitized and indexed a number of legal texts from the period in Latin, Old French, and Old English. One can search by text name, abbreviation, category, or by the king under whose reign the laws were written. Likewise, one can view catalog data and links to other repositories containing manuscripts of the legal codes. A few of these manuscripts have images that can be viewed in the site’s manuscript viewer.

The project also contains a bibliography on English law, a glossary, contextual essays, and links to other related projects.

Fragmentarium: Digital Research Laboratory for Medieval Manuscript Fragments

Fragmentarium’s primary objective is to develop a digital library specialized for medieval manuscript fragment research. Although based on the many years of experience of e-codices — Virtual Manuscript Library of Switzerland, the Fragmentarium Digital Library has an international orientation. First and foremost it is conceived as a social platform for libraries, scholars and students to do scholarly work on fragments. It conforms to the latest standards set by digital libraries and will set new standards, especially in the area of interoperability.

The web application contains a series of tools:

  • A cataloging tool that enables libraries, collectors, researchers and students to gather and describe fragments via a CMS.
  • A tool for curated and social tags, facets and keywords, allowing efficient research through comparison and cross-checking.
  • A tool to link and assemble fragments offers the possibility to arrange cuttings, fragments of leaves, and individual leaves in any order.

Global Medieval Sourcebook

“The Global Medieval Sourcebook (GMS) is an open access teaching and research tool. It offers a flexible online display for the parallel viewing of medieval texts in their original language and in new English translations, complemented by new introductory materials.

The GMS spans one thousand years (600-1600) of literary production around the world. It contains short texts of broad interdisciplinary interest in a variety of genres, almost all of which have not previously been translated into English.”

Old English Newsletter Bibliography Database

Compiled by Roy Liuzza at the University of Tennessee, the OEN Bibliography Database is a searchable catalog of the annual Old English Newsletter bibliography, published annually from 1973 to 2009. Once users have registered for a free account, they can search the newsletters’ over 23,000 entries for topics related to the study of Old English. Each entry includes publication information for articles, books, and digital projects. Users may also search by topic, date, or subject. The database is no longer updated, but is a useful resource for scholars and students of early English history, literature, and cultures.

ONP: Dictionary of Old Norse Prose

The Dictionary of Old Norse Prose (ONP) is an online dictionary containing over 50,000 words derived from texts of Old Norse prose. Published by the University of Copenhagen, the project is ongoing as of 2020 with new words added regularly. The dictionary is searchable in a number of ways: by headword, text, manuscript, type of word, and numerous others. ONP makes it corpus data freely downloadable and has added information like the genre of text from which the word derives or whether it used in poetry or legal texts as well. Users can also view the words contained in particular texts or manuscripts and download that data for research purposes. When available, the ONP links to images of manuscripts and freely available editions of texts. Dictionary entries contain a list of sources in which the word appears in addition to its grammatical qualities.

Additionally, the project includes an expansive bibliography and has an active social media presence that offers a word-of-the-day feature.

Recovering the Earliest English Language in Scotland: Evidence from place-names

Recovering the Earliest English Language in Scotland is a project that aims to uncover Old English place names in southern Scotland. Old English is the predecessor to both Middle English and Scots, and the project relies upon place names to provide evidence of the early Northumbrian dialect of the language. As of 2020, the database includes a list of over 500 place names in southern Scotland derived from Old English. Users can view the list of places alphabetically, by map, or through advanced searching for keywords and other salient qualities. Places can be displays on a map and frequently include a description of the place-name in addition to bibliography where available.

Users can download all project data through its API, and all data is made available under a Creative Commons license. One can also find a glossary of early place terms in addition to links to other projects with similar goals.

Regesta Imperii

The REGESTA IMPERII (RI) records all documented and historiographically documented activities of Roman-German kings and emperors from the Carolingians to Maximilian I (about 751-1519) and the popes of the early and early Middle Ages in the form of German-speaking regesta. The website is a portal for the Commission on the regesta imperii, including links to the RI Opac (bibliographical search engine), electronic publications (work in progress editions and data collections), and the searchable RI database (chronological entries relating to imperial history from the Carolingian to the fifteenth century, based on the 80+ published volumes).

Repertorium Geschichtsquellen des deutschen Mittelalters

The Repertorium is a free German-language reference work for the history of the German Middle Ages from about 750-1500. It provides a large catalog of authors and works who discuss the history of the region that is today German. Entries frequently provide links to digitized manuscripts and texts on external websites when available. There are also a number of tags to sort entries, including by lists of saints and places in addition to a search function. An English version of the site can be accessed here: https://geschichtsquellen.de/start?s=en

Teaching Medieval Slavery and Captivity

“This website provides pedagogical resources for teachers who want to address the global history of slavery and captivity during the medieval period, broadly defined.”

The includes: “historical sources (texts, images, and audio files) that can be assigned as readings or used for in-class activities” and “a selected bibliography of scholarly works to help teachers present slavery and captivity in an appropriate, historically and culturally specific context.”