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Cassiodorus

Resources on the life and work of Cassiodorus, including full text of James J. O’Donnell’s Cassiodorus (UC-Berkeley, 1979), as well as Cassiodorus’ De animaInstitutiones books 1 and 2, and Variae. Also included are the Instituta of Junillus, Quaestor at Constantinople and Cassiodorus’ contemporary, and Jordanes’ Getica, an abridged version of Cassiodorus’ lost Gothic History.

* National History Day Selected Resource *

CORSAIR Online Collection Catalog (The Morgan Library & Museum)

Named after Pierpont Morgan’s yacht, CORSAIR is a single database providing unified access to over 250,000 records for medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, rare and reference books, literary and historical manuscripts, music scores, ancient seals and tablets, drawings, prints, and other art objects. Records continue to be added for the balance of the collection as well as for new acquisitions.

The depth of detail is unusual for an online catalog. Many records include summaries of the content of individual letters, lengthy notes about provenance, and detailed descriptions of bindings. Specialized indexes enable researchers to find all of the Morgan’s holdings associated with a given name, date, or place. For example, with a single search a scholar interested in Dickens can find records for manuscripts and letters in the author’s hand, early printed editions of his novels, original illustrations, photographs, and personal possessions such as Dickens’ ink pot and cigar case.

CORSAIR also serves as the gateway to one of the largest repositories of medieval images on the Internet, providing access to more than 57,000 digitized images from the Morgan’s collection of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts. Users may page through every illustrated leaf within a manuscript, or search for individual images by place or date of creation, artist’s name, illustration type, and subject. The images and descriptions may be accessed directly through CORSAIR, or by visiting Images from Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts.

Database of Byzantine Book Epigrams

The Database of Byzantine Book Epigrams is an ongoing project that seeks to compile all metrical poems in Byzantine manuscripts that self-reference the book in which they are found. The database currently has over 12,000 “occurrence” records that include the text of the epigrams and information on the manuscripts in which they are found. Occurrences are linked to “type” records that group identical or similar epigrams preserved in different manuscripts. There is a catalog searchable by occurrence, type, manuscripts, and people. There is also a substantial bibliography on Byzantine epigrams provided.

Digital Vatican Library (DVL)

DigiVatLib is a digital library service. It provides free access to the Vatican Library’s digitized collections: manuscripts, incunabula, archival materials and inventories as well as graphic materials, coins and medals, printed materials (special projects).

Epistolae: Medieval Women’s Letters

Epistolae is a collection of medieval Latin letters to and from women.  The letters collected here date from the 4th to the 13th centuries, and they are presented in their original Latin as well as in English translation.  The letters are organized by the name and biography of the women writers or recipients.  Biographical sketches of the women, descriptions of the subject matter of the letters, and the historical context of the correspondence are included where available.

Dr. Joan Ferrante, Professor Emerita of English and Comparative Literature of Columbia University, has with her colleagues collected and translated these letters mainly from printed sources.  She has worked with the Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning to develop this unique open online collection for teaching and research purposes.  New letters continue to be added to the collection.  Users are invited to participate by sending material or inquiries to jmf2@columbia.edu.  Contributions, fully acknowledged, will be added to the database after review for accuracy and style by members of the Epistolae board.

Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index

Searchable bibliography/index of articles in over 500 journals, book reviews, and essays in books about women, sexuality, and gender during the middle ages published from c.1990 onwards. Excludes books by a single author (e.g., monographs). Many items include  brief annotations. Some images also indexed. Provides links to other resources on medieval women and gender (including masculinity and homosexuality).

 

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.

Monumenta Musicae Byzantinae

Provides an index of volumes published in University of Copenhagen’s Monumenta Musicae Byzantinae series, dedicated to scholarship about Byzantine chant. Also includes extensive bibliography, an inventory of the microfilms and photos of manuscripts housed at the University for the study of Byzantine chant, and the standard abridged version of the Sticherarion (Byzantine notated chant book) downloadable in .pdf format.

Patrologia Graeca

A digitized version of Migne’s Patrologia Graeca, a collection of texts in Greek by church fathers, theologians, councils, and many others from late antiquity through the high Middle Ages, as well as other Greek medieval texts, in the original Greek with some translations into English, German, and French. The texts are indexed alphabetically by author and may be read online or downloaded in .pdf format.

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Prosopography of the Byzantine World

The Prosopography of the Byzantine World projects creates a chronological, prosopographical reading of sources (predominantly seals) from the Byzantine World in the period 1025-1180. The project presents a description of the source and where it is held and also allows for text-based searching of materials.

St. Catherine’s Monastery, Sinai

Offers a description and photos of St. Catherine’s Monastery on Mount Sinai, as well as images of some of its architecture, icons, mosaics, murals, engraving, metalwork, woodcarving, embroidery, and manuscripts, including the partial Codex Sinaiticus. Also includes a bibliography of publications by the Mount Sinai Foundation.

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.”

Labyrinth: Resources for Medieval Studies

A collection of digital resources for medieval studies organized by category, including Art, Armor, Crusades, Gender, Manuscripts, and many others. The site may be browsed by category or searched, and each link is accompanied by a brief description of its contents.

* National History Day Selected Resource *

Treasures of Heaven

Based on the Treasures of Heaven exhibit (2011) at the Cleveland Museum of Art, this website offers a multimedia exploration of medieval art, architecture, and the cult of saints including high resolution images, explanatory essays, video, and links to related primary and secondary sources. Additional support by the British Museum and the Walters Art Museum.

* National History Day Selected Resource *