New: Brill’s Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages

Posted on 14 October 2016 by iholowaty

Oxford medievalists, you will be delighted to know that you now have online access to Brill’s Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages. Access is via Databases A-Z and soon also via SOLO.

This authoritative reference work covers medieval European history, culture, religious and intellectual life, and technology, 400-1500 AD. It is an English translation of the 2013 update of the well-known German-language Enzyklopädie des Mittelalters, which was originally published by Primus Verlag / Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft in 2008.

Transnational and interdisciplinary in approach, topics cover current art and architecture, medicine, and law, archaeology, ecclesiastical history, and languages and literature. They focus not on event history but on the comparative study of wider processes and problems.

Articles are thematically organised and supported by extensive bibliographies. The themes are:

1. Society
2. Faith and Knowledge
3. Literature
4. Fine Arts and Music
5. Economy
6. Technology
7. Living Environments and Conditions
8. Constitutive Historical Events and Regions

There are alphabetical indices of authors and of contributors.

Also of interest:

Brill’s Medieval Reference Library (Oxford users only)
more news of medieval resources in Oxford

New OA journal: Medieval Worlds, 1 (2015)-

Posted on 13 September 2016 by iholowaty

Medieval Worlds (ISSN: 2412-3196) is an Open Access double‐blind peer reviewed journal covering interdisciplinary and transcultural studies of the Middle Ages. It is published semi-annually the Austrian Academy of Science (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (ÖAW)) and is licensed under the Creative‐Commons‐Attribution NonCommercial‐NoDerivs 4.0 Unported (CC BY‐NC‐ND 4.0).

The journal “encourages and links comparative research between different regions and fields and promotes methodological innovation in transdisciplinary studies. Focusing on the Middle Ages (c. 400 ‐ 1500 CE, but can be extended whenever thematically fruitful or appropriate) medieval worlds takes a global approach to studying history in a comparative setting.

Building upon studies of transcultural relations and processes of cultural hybridization between cultures, both of which have seen dynamic developments in recent years, the main approach chosen by medieval worlds is comparative. Taking such a comparative approach will not only allow researchers to highlight the global interaction within, or hybrid nature of particular cultural spheres, but also shed new light on more specific fields of interest. Moreover, medieval worlds will encourage a critical debate between the disciplines concerning approaches and methods, and thus will help to enrich the methodological frameworks of comparative history.” From http://www.medievalworlds.net/medieval_worlds, accessed 13 Sept 2016.

This journal will be soon added to SOLO and OU eJournals.

New: e-access to Mediaeval Studies (Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies) 1939-2006

Posted on 23 May 2016 by iholowaty

Oxford medievalists now have electronic access to the backfile issues of another key medieval journal, Mediaeval Studies (Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, ISSN 0076-5872).

The backfiles include vol. 1 (1939) upto and including vol. 68 (2006). There doesn’t appear to be any option to subscribe to current or post-2006 content electronically. Details of the printed post-2006 issues can be found in SOLO.

Mediaeval Studies is published annually and covers research in the Middle Ages very widely, largely published in English and French. > Read more about this journal.

Indexes

Some useful searchable indexes in PDF are available from the Mediaeval Studies website at http://www.pims.ca/publications/journal-mediaeval-studies. They are:

Volumes 1–76 (1939–2014)

Articles listed by author and title (including notices in memoriam)
Texts edited (indexed by author/title and by incipit)

Volumes 51–69 (1989–2007)

ejournal updates: Journal of Transcultural Medieval Studies, London Journal, Mediaevalia, Midland History, Peritia, Viator

Posted on 19 April 2016 by iholowaty

Oxford historians now have access to a new journal and to the backfiles of a number of other important academic journals. Medievalists and English local historians are benefitting most this time. Enjoy!

New ejournal: Journal of Transcultural Medieval Studies

de Gruyter
ISSN 2198-0357
v. 1, 2014 – current

“The new Journal of Transcultural Medieval Studies will provide a forum for scholarship of pre-modern times. It publishes comparative studies, which systematically reflect the entanglement and the interconnection of European, African, Asian and American cultures. The Journal will pursue an interdisciplinary approach. It also intends to foster methodological reflections on transculturality in the broad sense.

Each issue of the Journal of Transcultural Medieval Studies will comprise three sections: 1) Articles, either miscellaneous or in thematic panels, 2) Reviews of recent publications in the field, committed to detailed and constructive criticism, 3) News, offering an up-to-date forum for the most recent activities in transcultural research (institutions, projects, networks, conferences, workshops).

Papers are selected in a double-blind peer review process and accepted for publication by an international Advisory Board.” from http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/jtms (accessed 18 April 2016)

Complete e-access:

The London Journal: A Review of Metropolitan Society Past and Present (Routledge, ISSN 0305-8034): v. 1 (1), 1975 – current

Midland History (Routledge, ISSN 0047-729X). v. 1 (1), 1971 – current

Peritia (Brepols, ISSN 0332-1592). v. 1, 1982 – current

Viator: Medieval and Renaissance Studies (Brepols, ISSN 0083-5897). v. 1, 1971- current

Now partially available online:

Mediaevalia (State University of New York Press, ISSN 0361-946X): v. 32, 2011 – current

You might also be interested in…

… more news on history ejournals.

New: Early Church Texts

Posted on 23 February 2016 by iholowaty

I am pleased to report that Oxford historians now have access to Early Church Texts.

Early-Church-Texts-screenshot

Early Church Texts contains a growing number of original language Greek and Latin texts relating to the Early Church (from the first to the fifth century), including Creeds and Church Councils. The texts have online dictionary links, English translations, a search facility and notes.

It serves also as an encyclopaedia on the first five centuries of church history including information about Christian writers, bishops, emperors, controversies and Church Councils. Around 1,000 people and topics are covered.

Early Church Texts is now accessible via SOLO and Databases A-Z.

New: Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources (DMLBS)

Posted on 2 November 2015 by iholowaty

I’m pleased to report that following a successful trial, the Classics Librarian has taken out a subscription for the online Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources. It is accessible via SOLO and Databases A-Z.

The Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources (DMLBS), the first fascicle of which appeared in 1975 and the 17th and last in 2013, is “the most comprehensive dictionary of Medieval Latin to have been produced and the first ever to focus on British Medieval Latin”. Covering a particularly long period stretching from Gildas (fl. 540) to William Camden (1600), it is “wholly based on original research”, that is to say on the close reading of thousands of Medieval Latin texts. This has been carried out specifically for the purpose of recording their distinctive lexical characteristics, and, as far as possible, using the best available sources, whether original manuscripts or modern critical editions. It is also based on systematic searches within computer databases, including the Library of Latin Texts (LLT-A and LLT-B), where many of the texts can be found that make up the sources for the DMLBS.

Trial until 21 Nov: Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources (DMLBS)

Posted on 22 October 2015 by iholowaty

I’m glad to announce that Oxford readers have a month’s trial of the online Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources. It will run for a month and is accessible via Databases A-Z.

Please send feedback to Charlotte Goodall, as this will help her to decide whether to take up the subscription in the long-term.

Trial until 12 Nov: Dictionary of Renaissance Latin from Prose Sources / Lexique de la prose latine de la Renaissance Online

Posted on 13 October 2015 by iholowaty

The Classics Librarian, Charlotte Goodall, has set up a month-long trial of Dictionary of Renaissance Latin from Prose Sources (Lexique de la prose latine de la Renaissance Online) which is also accessible via SOLO and Databases A-Z.

An online version of the first dictionary of Renaissance Latin, based on its second revised print edition. It records the vocabulary of over 230 Latin prose authors from different regional backgrounds who wrote between c. 1300 and c. 1600, and gives translations in French and English in approximately 11,000 entries. A standard tool not only for latinists and neo-latinists, but also for historians, philosophers, theologians, historians of law, and intellectual historians working in the fields of Humanism, the Renaissance, the Reformation and Counter-Reformation.

Additional material is included in the online dictionary: Introduction, explanation of abbreviations and signs used in the dictionary and bibliography (in html format); Latin authors and texts of the Renaissance used in the dictionary, recapulative appendices of words of non-Latin origin, diminutives, and words classified by certain endings, as well as the original article by René Hoven, ‘Essai sur le vocabulaire néo-latin de Thomas More’ (in French only) are available in PDF format.

Features

Search entry in Latin with auto-suggest once two letters have been input.
Full text search options in Latin, as well as in French and English.
Word wheel gives neighboring entries and quick browsing options
Search terms are highlighted in the entry.
Definitions are given in French and in English.
Source references and abbreviations are expandable upon mouse hover (indicated by underlining).
Etymological information is given.
Clickable cross-references to other entries.

Please send any feedback to charlotte.goodall@bodleian.ox.ac.uk by 12 November 2015.

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Sept 2015 update

Posted on 24 September 2015 by iholowaty

New biographies for religious men and women during medieval and Reformation periods and individuals active during the First World War.

The latest update to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography—published on Thursday 17 September 2015—adds biographies of 112 men and women active between the thirteenth and the early twenty-first century.

The new update includes a special focus on men and women active during the First World War—in combat and on the home front—with a particular interest in the events of 1915. New additions include the physicians Louisa Garrett Anderson and Flora Murray who opened the Endell Street Military Hospital, London, in May 1915; it remains the only British army hospital staffed and run by women. Military inventions from 1915 include the bowl-shaped Brodie helmet (named after its designer John Brodie) which went into production 100 years ago this month. By the end of the war, seven million of these helmets had been produced. Other war-time lives include the boy soldier Horace Iles (1900-1916) who was killed at the Somme; his biography is now part of school education programmes run by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

September’s update also concludes a 3-year research project to extend the Oxford DNB’s coverage of the medieval religious—the abbots, abbesses, priors, and prioresses who led England’s religious houses until the Reformation. The project has added 56 first-time biographies. To mark the project’s completion, Professor Claire Cross of York University considers these Lives of the Religious for what they can tell us about medieval monasticism, and how those in office in the 1520s and 1530s responded to the Reformation.

Dr Philip Carter, Publication Editor, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

New ejournal: The Medieval Low Countries, 1, 2014-

Posted on 20 May 2015 by iholowaty

I’m pleased to announce that Oxford users now have access to the ejournal The Medieval Low Countries: An Annual Review [ISSN: 2295-3493], issue 1, 2014 onwards.

Published by Brepols Publishers, The Medieval Low Countries is a peer-reviewed journal featuring scholarly articles on the Low Countries (les Pays-Bas) from c 400 AD to c 1500. During this time, the area of roughly modern-day Belgium and The Netherlands was an important political, economic, cultural and religious hub in medieval Europe.

The journal is published annually and its scholarly articles cover a wide range of disciplines (history, law, religion, art, architecture, literature, etc.). The topics are often interdisciplinary and usually in either French or English. Book reviews are also published.

If you want to keep up-to-date with this journal, just sign up to a New Issue Alerting.

Table of contents for issue 1 (2014):

Jean-Francois Nieus et Steven Vanderputten, ‘Diplôme princier, matrice de faux, acte modèle. Le règlement d’avouerie du comte Baudoin V pour Saint-Bertin (1042) et ses réappropriations sous l’abbatiat réformateur de Lambert (1095-1123)’.
Aart Noordzij, ‘The wars of the lord of Bronkhorst: Territory, lordship and the proliferation of violence in fourteenth-century Guelders’.
Rombert Stapel and Jenine de Vries, ‘Leydis, Pauli, and Berchen revisited. Collective history writing in the Low Countries in the late fifteenth century’.
Tom Gaens, ‘Acquiring religious perfection outside a vow. The Carthusian institution of the donati in late-medieval reformist communities and the Modern Devotion’.
Mario Damen, ‘Patricians, knights, or nobles? Historiography and social status in late-medieval Antwerp’.
Hans Mol, ‘The Cistercian model? The application of the grange system by the various religious orders in the Frisian coastal area, 1150-1400’.
Book reviews

Other recently subscribed to ejournals for medievalists:

Bodleian History Faculty Library at Oxford

A Bodleian Libraries blog

Tag Archives: medieval history