Manuscripts online - European/British - Medieval History - LibGuides at Kwantlen Polytechnic University

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Codices illustres : the world's most famous illuminated manuscripts 400 to 1600

This sumptuous oversize volume (10.5x13") provides the general reader with a pleasant and thorough introduction to the world of illuminated manuscripts. In the lengthy introduction the authors (both are art historians in Germany) discuss manufacture, style, and the cultural history of western manuscripts, plus a history of non- European (mainly Islamic) manuscripts. The catalog that follows gives the manuscripts' vital statistics, including size, number of folios, provenance, and facsimile, followed by a description and history.

Manuscripts

Meta-sites:

Digitized Medieval Manuscripts App
Links to over 400 libraries worldwide that offer digitized manuscripts online. Organized by country.

Individual collections:

Digital Bodleian

This amazing collection from Oxford University's Bodleian library features a wide variety of rare books in electronic format. Of particular interest to medieval scholars are these collections: Medieval and Renaissance Manuscript Illumination, Early Printing in Europe (pre-1500 books), and Early Manuscripts at Oxford.

British Library - Virtual Books

Contains many beautiful examples of medieval manuscripts. See, for example, The Bedford Hours, Glimpses of Medieval Life (the Luttrell Psalter), Outstanding 15th Century Churchbook (the Sherborne Missal), and Pinnacle of Anglo-Saxon Art (the Lindisfarne Gospels).

Oxford University - Early Manuscripts

Digitized manuscripts from various Oxford colleges. Click on the MS number to open.

Epistolae: Medieval Women's Letters

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.

EuroDocs: History of Medieval and Renaissance Europe

Primary documents

The Index of Christian Art

From Princeton University, this site is comprised of works of art produced throughout the “Long Middle Ages,” from early apostolic times until the sixteenth century. The collection’s emphasis is on the art of western Europe and Byzantium, Coptic Egypt, Lebanon, Ethiopia, Syria, Armenia, and the Near East.

Leeds University Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts Digital Resource

This site is particularly useful in that it allows comparison between various schools of manuscript illustration - French, German, Dutch, Italian, and English. Click "Contents" for a menu.

Free Library of Philadelphia Digital Collections

This digital manuscript collection includes two different sorts of objects: complete manuscript books, or “codices,” and separate leaves and cuttings—fragments separated from their original contexts. Basic information is given about the object pictured: when and where it was made, and what its imagery depicts

J. Paul Getty Museum

The museum's collection of medieval manuscripts can be searched by artist, title, medium, culture, and/or keyword.

The James Catalogue of Western Manuscripts

Contains over 400 digitized manuscripts from the collection of Trinity College, Cambridge University. Included are many beautiful psalters, books of hours, and missals.

Vatican Libraries

Founded in 1475 by Pope Nicholas V, the Vatican Library is one of the oldest libraries in the world. It hosts over one million boxes and thousands of manuscripts and codices. Since 2010, the Digital Vatican Library has embarked on a digitization project of selected items - which may include manuscripts, incunabula, inventories, graphic materials, and coins, Visitors may search this collection through a series of online catalogues or browse the collection via seven digital collections

Illuminated Lab shows how manuscripts are analyzed, as well as giving an overview of artists' materials and techniques.

Beginners' Latin: official documents written in England between the years 1086 and 1733 were usually written in a specialized form of Latin. This site leads learners through the basics: no previous knowledge of the language is required.

British Library Glossary: From "acanthus" to "zoomorphic", this illustrated dictionary of terms is a useful tool in the study of manuscripts.

InScribe: This free online course in paleography provides the necessary training required by non-specialists to allow them to explore and interact with medieval manuscripts and documents

The Franciscan Archive: documents regarding any of the Orders founded by St. Francis
The Vatican Library Digitized Collection: some 2000 manuscripts and incunabula associated with the Catholic Church.

For those of us whose Latin is a little shaky, here are some sites that provide medieval documents in English:

Florilegium Urbanum
A series of documents from the 13th-15th centuries illustrating various aspects of medieval urban life. Click on the tabs at the top for essays, backgrounders, and documents on medieval community, economy, government, and lifecycle.
Hanover Historical Texts
Check the Medieval Europe section of this site for Crusader letters.

Here are a few manuscript scholars to follow on #MedievalTwitter:

The British Library Medieval Manuscripts
Damien Kempf
History professor at the University of Liverpool
Emily Steiner
Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania

KPU Library

Medieval History

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Manuscripts