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MST341H1: The Middle Ages by the Numbers - Customized Resources

Richard Carter

Subject Librarian for Celtic & Medieval Studies

Richard Carter, Library Liaison for Celtic Studies

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richard.carter@utoronto.ca

MST341H1: The Middle Ages by the Numbers - Customized Resources



15th Century Medieval folding almanac. Image gratefully adapted with a CC license from the Wellcome Trust and Wikimedia.


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Brief Reference


Writing

Advice on Academic Writing - UofT Writing Centres

Citation

Chicago Manual of Style - Notes / Bibliography Style - Quick Guide

Chicago Manual of Style - Notes / Bibliography Style - Full Guide

Key Works

Wedell, Moritz. "Numbers." In Handbook of Medieval Culture. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2015.

Handbook of Medieval Culture

Up to date, and intended for both novices and specialists, this 4-volume set covers European history, society, religion, and culture between A.D. 500 to 1500. Articles number about 5,000. They range from brief to lengthy, include bibliographies, and often unearth material you can only find elsewhere with difficulty. Women and children, for example, get substantial attention. The set contains a thematic listing of entries, a general index, a list of medieval popes and antipopes, and an index of alternative place names.

Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages

Science, Religion and Society: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Controversy

Encyclopedia of Monasticism

The major English-language encyclopedia on Catholic topics, it contains some 17,000 articles, each with a bibliography emphasizing the primary sources. Unfortunately many of the articles in the 2003/online edition are reprints from the 1967 edition without any updating. Use this work to get an overview of a subject and to see how it can be divided into narrower topics for a paper.

The Crusades: An Encyclopedia

Oxford dictionary of the Christian Church

Key Figures in Medieval Europe: An Encyclopedia

Medieval Jewish Civilization: An Encyclopedia

The major English-language comprehensive history of the Middle Ages, this work is a completely new edition of the former standard work, The Cambridge Medieval History (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1911; St. Michael’s 2nd Floor – D117 .C3).

Specific Topics

Trade, Travel, and Exploration in the Middle Ages: An Encyclopedia

A Companion to Medieval Art: Romanesque and Gothic in Northern Europe

Medieval Archaeology: An Encyclopedia

Medieval Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Myths, Legends, Tales, Beliefs, and Customs

Countries

Medieval England: An Encyclopedia

In entries varying from 500-word descriptions to 3,000-word overviews, this encyclopedia aims at helping undergraduates and the general public in coming to grips with the political, social, religious, economic, intellectual, literary and artistic history of France between roughly 500 and 1500 A.D.. Various useful lists complement these entries: The Kings, Counts, Dukes; Popes; Architectural Terms; and Musical Terms.

This introduction to German and Dutch-speaking Europe focuses on the region’s major people, events, places, daily life, and accomplishments between roughly 500 and 1500 A.D. Alphabetical entries on such topics as patronage, diet and nutrition, and Segher Diengotgaf are made accessible through a list of entries by category (e.g. Music; Persons; Religion and Theology; Women, Gender and Families), as well as by the usual index at the back.

Viking invasions, language, mythology, saints, clothing, craftsmanship, architecture—these are some of the many topics covered in this encyclopedia. The entries, centred on such themes as lineage, manuscripts, persons and scholarship, focus on the period 500 to 1600 A.D., and come with cross-references and bibliographies. There are alphabetical and thematic tables of contents.

Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia

Volume 1: A-K
Volume 2: L-Z

Pick up this 2-volume set for an introduction to mediaeval Italian life and culture. With nearly 1,000 entries ranging from 500 to 10,000 words, and covering specific topics in the brief articles (e.g. Camerino, Duchy of) and general topics in the lengthy ones (e.g. Florence), this set includes 3 pages of maps, along with a reference list of Popes and Rulers in the appendix.

Research Guides

Research Guide to Medieval Studies - St. Mike's

Research Guide to Women in the Middle Ages - St. Mike's

Research Guide to Medieval Law - St. Mike's

UofT E-Resources for Medieval Studies

Global Medieval Studies - Georgetown University

Medieval and Renaissance Studies - New York University

Centre for Medieval Studies (CMS) - UofT

E-Bibliography


Primary Sources

Bede. The Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation. London: J.M. Dent, 1910.

DeVries, Kelly, and Michael Livingston, Eds. Medieval Warfare : A Reader. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2019.

Katz, Victor J., J. L. Berggren, Roi Wagner, Menso Folkerts, and Barnabas Hughes, Eds. Sourcebook in the Mathematics of Medieval Europe and North Africa. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016.

Romano, John. Medieval Travel and Travelers: A Reader. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2020.

Smail, Daniel Lord., and Kelly Gibson. Vengeance in Medieval Europe: A Reader. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009.

Secondary Sources

Cooper-Rompato, Christine F. Spiritual Calculations: Number and Numeracy in Late Medieval English Sermons. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780271092041.

Davis, R.H.C. A History of Medieval Europe from Constantine to Saint Louis. 3rd ed. Longman, 2005.

Hobart, Michael E. The Great Rift: Literacy, Numeracy, and the Religion-Science Divide. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2018.

Hopper, Vincent Foster. Medieval Number Symbolism: Its Sources, Meaning, and Influence on Thought and Expression. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1938.

Katz, Victor J., and Karen Hunger Parshall. Taming the Unknown: A History of Algebra from Antiquity to the Early Twentieth Century. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2014.

Madigan, Kevin. Medieval Christianity: A New History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2015.

Rosenwein, Barbara H. A Short History of the Middle Ages. Toronto, Ontario: University of Toronto Press, 2014.

Waley, Daniel Philip, and Peter Denley. Later Medieval Europe, 1250-1520. London: Routledge, 2013.

Article Databases

 

Search LibrarySearch

Known as LibrarySearch, this interdisciplinary database is UofT's largest--and your best bet when more focused databases let you down. It combs through more than 1,200 databases, journal packages, e-book collections, and other resources ranging from the sciences to the social sciences and humanities. At its best, LibrarySearch finds relevant results you won't find elsewhere; at its worst, however, LibrarySearch can overwhelm you will a mish-mash of results from different subject areas.

 

Everything Search

Advanced Search

Other Databases

International Medieval Bibliography (IMB)

Regesta Imperii

Ulrich's Periodical Directory

ITER: Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance

Over one million bibliographic citations to journal articles, essays in books, and book reviews in the field of religion. Covers all aspects of the major world religions and now includes all the content of the online Catholic Periodical and Literature Index.

The MLA is the major English literature database. It covers criticism related to literature, linguistics and folklore from 1921 to the present, and contains more than 1-million citations to journal articles, series, books, working papers and conference proceedings. Most of the materials indexed before 1963 are American.

Bibliography of the History of Art

Catalogue Search


 



Advanced Search

Tutorials


Chicago Notes-Bibliography Style - 17th Edition

Argument & Evidence: An Introduction




Developing a Research Question: From Topic to Thesis


Reading for Argument 1: Drag & Drop


Glossary

Read the first few paragraphs of a scholarly journal article identify the author's thesis statement, roadmap, evidence, justification, and literature review. Please review this brief glossary before starting.



Reading for Argument 2


Read excerpts of a scholarly journal article and get practice identifying a research question, a thesis statement, and concrete evidence.