Medieval Studies

Edited by Frank N. Magill. Routledge, 1998.
Each volume of the Dictionary of World Biography contains 250 entries on the lives of the individuals who shaped their times and left their mark on world history. This is not a who's who. Instead, each entry provides an in-depth essay on the life and career of the individual concerned. Essays commence with a quick reference section that provides basic facts on the individual's life and achievements. The extended biography places the life and works of the individual within an historical context, and the summary at the end of each essay provides a synopsis of the individual's place in history. All entries conclude with a fully annotated bibliography.

Edited by Richard K. Emmerson. New York: Routledge, 2006.
Those seeking an introduction to mediaeval movers and shakers will find this encyclopedia helpful. Nearly 600 biographical articles on such people as Dante, Thomas Aquinas, Henry I of Saxony, Margrethe I, and Jean de Mandeville come minted with cross-references and bibliographies arranged into primary and secondary source lists. Alphabetical and thematic tables of contents, along with an index, make the book easy to use.
[Print copies available in the UofT Catalogue.]

Compiled by Berend Wispelwey.
K. G. Saur, 2011.

By Judson Knight. Detroit: UXL, 2001.
[Victoria University E.J. Pratt Library Reference Area – CT114 .K65 2001]
Biographies of fifty famous people in the Middle Ages, such as Marco Polo, William the Conqueror, St. Patrick, El Cid, and Saladin.

By John Fines. London: Anthony Blond, 1970.
Available online through the Internet Archive with free registration.
[St. Michael’s 2nd Floor – D115 .F5 1970]
[Print copies available through the UofT Catalogue.]
Lengthy articles with brief bibliographies on 100 medieval persons (largely English).

By Anne Echols and Marty Williams. New York: Markus Wiener, 1992.
Available online through the Internet Archive with free registration.
[St. Michael’s 2nd Floor – CT3220 .A56 1992]
[Print copies available through the UofT Catalogue.]
Brief biographies of some 1,500 women who lived between 800 and 1500. Includes women engaged in a variety of activities from some thirty countries and from different social classes.

By Thomas J. Heffernan.
Oxford UP, 2023.

By Franz Posset.
Brill, 2005.

Edited by Alexander Callander Murray.
Brill, 2016.

Edited by Will Hasty and James Hardin.
Detroit : Gale Research, 1995.

Edited by James Hardin and Will Hasty.
Detroit : Gale Research, 1994.

By Anna Silvas.
Brepols, 1998.

By Richard Sharpe. Belgium: Brepols, 1997.
[Robarts Library Stacks – Z6605 .L3 S53 1997]
[Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies Library (Reference Only) – Z6605 .L3 S5 1997]

Edited by Steven D. Carter.
Gale Research, 1998.

Edited by Deborah M. Sinnreich-Levi.
Gale, 1999.

Edited by Helen Damico with Donald Fennema and Karmen Lenz.
Routledge, 2013.

Edited by Helen Damico and Joseph B. Zavadil.
Routledge, 2014.

Edited by Willem P. Gerritsen and Anthony G. van Melle. Rochester, N.Y.: Boydell, 1998.
[St. Michael’s 1st Floor Reference Area – PN682 .C5 V3513 1998]
Articles on ninety characters from mediaeval tales. Each entry gives an outline of the story, how it spread through Europe, its modern retellings and appearances in art, and a selective bibliography.

By Ulysse Chevalier. New York: Kraus Reprint, 1960. 2 volumes.
[E.J. Pratt Library Reference Material – Z6203 .C52 1960]
The most complete listing of persons living in the Middle Ages with very brief identifications. Includes bibliographical references. Although in French, the book is reasonably accessible to the English-only student.

Edited by Jeremiah Hackett. Detroit: Gale Research, c1992.
[For print version locations see UofT Catalogue]
Biographies, each several pages long, of roughly 40 prominent medieval philosophers.