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John M. Kelly Library Research Guides

Medieval Studies

This guide lists the key brief sources--both online and in print--for students of the Middle Ages.

Manuscripts, Books, & Reading

Medieval Manuscript Collections.
By Harriet Sonne de Torrens.
University of Toronto Mississauga.
Hazel McCallion Academic Learning Centre, 2025.
Medieval & Byzantine Studies
By Catherine Mardikes.
Joseph Regenstein Library.
University of Chicago, 2025.
Medieval and Renaissance Studies: A Guide to Research in Medieval and Renaissance Studies.
New York University Libraries, 2025.
Cambridge Companion to Medieval British Manuscripts.
Edited by Orietta Da Rold and Elaine Treharne.
Cambridge UP, 2020.
Medieval Manuscripts for Mass and Office: A Guide to Their Organization and Terminology.
By Andrew Hughes.
University of Toronto Press, 2017.
Cambridge History of the Book in Britain.
Edited by Richard Gameson.
Cambridge UP, 2012.

Browse by volume:

Volume 1: 400-1100
Volume 2: 1100-1400
Volume 3: 1400-1557
The Medieval Manuscript Book: Cultural Approaches.
Edited by Michael Johnston and Michael Van Dussen.
Cambridge UP, 2015.

Print Copy Available at the Kelly Library.
Books Will Speak Plain: A Handbook for Identifying and Describing Historical Bindings.
By Julia Miller.
Legacy Press, 2010.
Scribal Correction and Literary Craft: English manuscripts 1375-1510.
By Daniel Wakelin.
Cambridge UP, 2014.

Print Copies Available at the UofT Libraries.

Manuscripts & Books

Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts: Twelve Journeys into the Medieval World.
By Christopher de Hamel.
Penguin, 2017.
Perceptions of Medieval Manuscripts: The Phenomenal Book.
By Elaine Treharne.
Oxford UP, 2021.
Touching Parchment. Volume 1, Officials and Their Books: How Medieval Users Rubbed, Handled, and Kissed Their Manuscripts.
By Kathryn M. Rudy.
Open Book Publishers, 2023.
Scraped, Stroked, and Bound: Materially Engaged Readings of Medieval Manuscripts.
Edited by Jonathan Wilcox.
Brepols, 2013.
Medieval English Manuscripts and Literary Forms.
By Jessica Brantley.
University of Pennsylvania Press, 2022.
Holy Digital Grail: A Medieval Book on the Internet.
By Michelle R. Warren.
Stanford UP, 2022.
Medieval Multilingual Manuscripts: Case Studies from Ireland to Japan.
Edited by Michael Clarke and Máire Ní Mhaonaigh.
De Gruyter, 2022.
Using Manuscript Books As A Source For Medieval Culture.
By Mark Faulkner.
AM Research Skills, 2021.
Medieval Manuscripts in the Digital Age.
Edited by Benjamin Albritton, Georgia Henley, and Elaine Treharne.
Routledge, 2021.
The Medieval Manuscript Book: Cultural Approaches.
Edited by Michael Johnston and Michael Van Dussen.
Cambridge UP, 2015.
Repurposing Literary Romance Texts in Medieval Manuscripts: Beyond the Author.
By Stefano Resconi.
Routledge, 2025.
History in Flames: The Destruction and Survival of Medieval Manuscripts.
By Robert Bartlett.
Cambridge UP, 2024.
Medieval Twitter.
By Alicia Spencer-Hall.
ARC Humanities Press, 2024.
Manuscripts and Medieval Song: Inscription, Performance, Context.
Edited by Helen Deeming and Elizabeth Eva Leach.
Cambridge UP, 2015.
Scribal Cultures in Late Medieval England: Essays in Honour of Linne R. Mooney.
Edited by Margaret Connolly, Holly James-Maddocks, and Derek Pearsall.
York Medieval Press, 2022.
Immaterial Texts in Late Medieval England: Making English Literary Manuscripts, 1400-1500.
By Daniel Wakelin.
Cambridge UP, 2022.
Medieval English Manuscripts and Literary Forms.
By Jessica Brantley.
University of Pennsylvania Press, 2022.

Reading

Bestsellers and Masterpieces: The Changing Medieval Canon.
Edited by Heather Blurton and Dwight F. Reynolds.
Manchester UP, 2022.
Author, Reader, Book: Medieval Authorship in Theory and Practice.
Edited by Stephen Partridge and Erik Kwakkel.
University of Toronto Press, 2018.
Scribes, Scripts and Readers: Studies in the Communication, Presentation, and Dissemination of Medieval Texts.
By M. B. Parkes.
Hambledon Press, 1991.
Medieval Texts and Contemporary Readers.
Edited by Laurie A. Finke and Martin B. Shichtman.
Cornell UP, 2019.
Textual Situations: Three Medieval Manuscripts and Their Readers.
By Andrew Taylor.
University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015.
The Middle English Book: Scribes and Readers, 1350-1500.
By Michael Johnston.
Oxford UP, 2023.
Reading Families: Women's Literate Practice in Late Medieval England.
By Rebecca L. Krug.
Cornell UP, 2018.
Making the Bible French : The Bible Historiale and the Medieval Lay Reader.
By Jeanette Patterson.
University of Toronto Press, 2022.
The Roman de Toute Chevalerie: Reading Alexander Romance in Late Medieval England.
By Charles Russell Stone.
University of Toronto Press, 2019.
Patronage, Production, and Transmission of Texts in Medieval and Early Modern Jewish Cultures.
Edited by Esperanza Alfonso and Jonathan Decter.
Brepols, 2014.
Late Medieval and Early Modern Libraries: Knowledge Repositories, Guardians of Tradition and Catalysts of Change.
Edited by Outi Merisalo, Nataša Golob, and Leonardo Magionami.
Brepols, 2023.

Illumination

"Manuscripts and Illuminations, 1169-1603". In A New History of Ireland Volume 2: Medieval Ireland 1169-1534, edited by Art Cosgrove, 780-815.
By Francoise Henry and Genevieve Marsh-Micheli..
Oxford University Press, 2008.
Illuminating the Word in the Early Middle Ages.
By Lawrence Nees.
Cambridge UP, 2023.
Illuminating Metalwork: Metal, Object, and Image in Medieval Manuscripts.
Edited by Joseph Salvatore Ackley and Shannon L. Wearing.
De Gruyter, 2021.
Shades of Meaning: Shadows in Medieval Manuscript Illumination.
By Dominique DeLuca.
Brill, 2025.
Illuminated Manuscripts.
By Richard Hayman.
Shire Publications, 2017.

Kelly Library 2nd Floor: ND2920 .H39 2017
Vernacular Manuscript Culture 1000-1500.
Edited by Erik Kwakkel.
Leiden University Press, 2018.

Digitized Manuscripts

Annals of Ulster.
Bodleian Library, Oxford. 15th Century.
The Black Hours.
Morgan Library & Museum, New York. 15th Century.
Book of Armagh.
Trinity College, Dublin. 9th Century.
Book of Kells.
Trinity College, Dublin. 9th Century.
Book of Leinster.
Trinity College, Dublin. 12th Century.
Christine de Pizan - Arsenal 2681.
Digital Library of Medieval Manuscripts.
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, France. 15th Century.
Crusader Bible.
Morgan Library & Museum, New York.
Paris, France, 13th Century.
Lindisfarne Gospels.
British Museum, London. 8th Century.

Manuscript Databases

Literature

Prologues to Ancient and Medieval History: A Reader.
Edited by Justin Lake.
University of Toronto Press, 2020.

Illuminated Manuscripts.
By Catherine E. Karkov.
Oxford Bibliographies - Medieval Studies
Oxford UP, 2010.
Libraries in England and Wales.
By David Bell.
Oxford Bibliographies - Medieval Studies
Oxford UP, 2016.
Insular Manuscript Illumination.
By Carol A. Farr.
Oxford Bibliographies - Medieval Studies
Oxford UP, 2019.
Byzantine Manuscript Illumination.
By Jeffrey C. Anderson.
Oxford Bibliographies - Medieval Studies
Oxford UP, 2017.
Anglo-Saxon Manuscript Illumination.
By Catherine E. Karkov.
Oxford Bibliographies - Medieval Studies
Oxford UP, 2015.
Book of Kells.
By Carol A. Farr.
Oxford Bibliographies - Medieval Studies
Oxford UP, 2014.
Ottonian Manuscript Illumination.
By Joshua O'Driscoll.
Oxford Bibliographies - Medieval Studies
Oxford UP, 2019.
Libraries in Medieval Hungary.
By Elod Nemerkenyi.
Oxford Bibliographies - Medieval Studies
Oxford UP, 2010.
Lindisfarne Gospels.
By Carol A. Farr and Michelle P. Brown.
Oxford Bibliographies - Medieval Studies
Oxford UP, 2013.
Carolingian Manuscript Illumination.
By Eric Ramírez-Weaver.
Oxford Bibliographies - Medieval Studies
Oxford UP, 2012.
Book of Durrow.
By Rachel Moss.
Oxford Bibliographies - Medieval Studies
Oxford UP, 2023.
Medieval Manuscripts.
By Mark Faulkner.
Oxford Bibliographies - British and Irish Literature.
Oxford UP, 2019.

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