Source Collections
Although
the primary sources used by medieval historians may be found in editions of
individual texts (which are relatively easy to search for in library
catalogues), much of the medieval literary heritage is published in giant source
collections. There are many reasons
why. First of all, medieval texts were all originally handwritten, produced
before the age of the printing press, so that once printing became practical
there was a huge backlog of material already in existence and publishing texts
in batches was the natural solution. Some of the first
source collections resulted from the polemics of the religious reformations of
the sixteenth century, when Catholic scholars felt compelled to get massive
amounts of historical material into good editions; new Catholic source
collections also appeared in the nineteenth century as the Church rallied
against the hostile forces of "modernism."
In the nineteenth century, post-Napoleanic nationalism inspired would-be
nations such as Germany and Italy to try to reclaim their national heritages by
getting "their" historical documents into print.
As the scholars of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica affirm in their
motto "The holy love of the Fatherland inspires us (Sanctus amor patriae dat
animam)." Even France, which
considered the crusader states to have been an early instance of the French
civilizing mission, managed to get into this game by collecting crusader
materials. England, blest with some
of the very best surviving medieval government records, began to systematically
publish various categories of national and even county records.
Medieval
research formerly involved getting physical access to these multivolume source
collections. Texas Tech University Library, although relatively new, acquired
them in various forms. Now many
source collections are in the process of becoming electronically available,
often in proprietary databases, and here the TTU Library has not made
much progress in acquiring expensive subscriptions. Fortunately many free access
versions are now appearing online.
Among the
commonly used collections are
Acta Sanctorum. 67 vols. Antwerp and
elsewhere: Société des bollandistes, 1643-1941. The world's oldest
on-going scholarly research project. These volumes attempt to provide a
universal scholarly treatment of at least the earliest lives of saints.
Available at TTU on microfilm.
ProQuest has an Acta Sanctorum database, produced by Chadwick
Healley, that allows searches.
Documenta Catholica Omnium
has a free access, non-searchable, slow loading,
pdf edition (lacking the 1941 volume which may still be under copyright
perotection)
Acta Sanctorum Ordinis Sancti Benedicti (A.D. 500-1100). 9 vols. Ed. Luc d’Achery and Jean Mabillon. Paris: Louis Billaine, 1668- 1701. 2nd ed. is Venice: Sebastian Colet & Joseph Bettinelli, 1733-40. Vols. 1-2 and 3(1) of the Venice edition are rpt. in Matascone: Fratres Protat, 1935. The ASOSB editions of Benedictine hagiographical texts are organized century by century, so that they have been used for chronological studies of Benedictine saints. Not TTU. The volumes are accessible online in pdf form through the Bibliothèque nationale's Gallica: Bibliothèque numerique. Vols. I. II, and V are available in pdf files on Documenta Catholica Omnium.
Ancient Christian Writers: The Works of the Fathers in Translation,
66- vols. New York: Newman Press, 1961-.
Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, edited by Lodovico Antonio Muratori. 25 vols. in 28. MIlan: Typographgia Societatis Palatinae, 1728-51. Starting in 1900 the Istituto Italiano per il Medio Evo began to re-edit various texts from Muratori, retaining his book and chapter designations. TTU has a few isolated hard-copy volumes of the "New Muratori." The original is available at Hathi Trust Digital Library.
Corpus Christianorum Series Latina.
175+ vols. Turnhout: Brepols, 1953-. Or Continuatio
Medievalis, 270+ vols., 1966-. Both series come with many fiche
concordances. Now the CETEDOC database makes them and other materials
searchable. Its ambition is to provide a universal portal to ancient and
medieval Christian texts. For an overview of the whole cluster of related
patristic and medieval editions and studies, see
BREPOLiS. TTU has these series in hard copy. The University of
Texas has this available in electronic form on its own library work stations for
a limited number of users.
Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum [CSEL].
95+ vols. Vienna: Akademie der Wissenschaften, etc., 1866-.writings
of Christian Latin authors covering the period from late antiquity to the early
Middle Ages, i. e. from the late second century to Bede the Venerable who died
in 735. The volumes published thus far contain more than one third of all
the writings that fit these parameters. TTU owns hardcopies.
Dumbarton Oaks Hagiography Database of the 8th to 10th century. Translations of lives of Byzantine saints whose deaths dates fall between 700 and 999, catalogued by BHG numbers and linked to the available editions of Greek texts. The new free on-line edition grew out of a 1991-98 series of floppy disks, a project co-directed by Alexander Kazhdan and Mary-Alice Talbot, and sponsored by the Dumbarton Oaks Institute and the Andrew W, Mellon Foundation. The new free on-line version, includes a list of the saints, noting some omisisons (pp. 7-10 and 16-18) and a bibliographical introduction to this hagiography (p. 111).
Early Church Fathers: Additional Texts, translations assembled and formatted by Roger Pearse. These are out-of-copyright English translations of patristic works that were omitted from the original 38 volume collection of the Ante-Nicene, Nicen, and Post Nicene Fathers (see above and below)..
English Historical Documents. 13+ vols.
Edited by David C. Douglas et al.. New York: Oxford University Press,
1953-. Medieval texts are in vols. 1 and 2 in the second edition.
The Fathers of the Church. 120+
vols. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1947-.
The Fathers of the Church: Medieval
Continuation. 15+ vols. Washington, DC: Catholic
University of America Press, 1989-.
Library of the Palestinian Pilgrim's Text Society.
12 vols. 1887-97, reprinted New York: AMS Press, Inc., 1971.
Migne, Jacques-Paul. Patrologiae
Cursus Completus: Latina, 221 vols.; Graeca-Latina,
158 vols.; and Graeca Latine Tantum, 81 vols. The
Patrologia Latina has a confused publication history. It contains the
works of the Latin Church fathers from 200 to 1216 (with a few additional
attached items). Available at Tech on microform. Available in a
propreitary
electronically searchable version from
Chadwyck Healey.
Monumenta Germaniae Historica [MGH].
A society founded in 1819, following the Napoleanic wars, dedicated to the
publication of critical editions of the most important texts for the medieval
history of Germany (broadly defined). Publishing from Hannover and
elsewhere: Hahn and other presses, from 1826-, it has produced several
hundred volumes of editions, in a variety of series based upon historical genre.
MGH Scriptores in folio. 38+ vols. (1826-) is the original MGH
series, containing a huge collection of medieval chronicles and other narrative
historical works.
Rerum Britannicarum Medii Aevi Scriptores or
Chronicles and Memorials or Great Britain and Ireland during the Middle Ages
[also known as the Rolls Series]. 97 vols. London: Public
Record Office, 1857-91. TTU owns most but not all of these volumes in hard
copy; there is also a microfilm run that covers the missing volumes.
A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene
Fathers. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. 14 vols.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1985-89; 2nd Series. 14 vols.
Ibid., 1890-99. Availkable at TTU in hardcopy; available in multiple sites
online. See The Ante-Nicene Fathers (listed above).