Resources for medieval research

COMPREHENSIVE SITES

Medieval Digital Resources. A curated database of peer-reviewed digital materials for the study of the Middle Ages. Some of the links found here may also be listed below. From the Medieval Academy of America. Link to the database by subject headings.
Stefan's Florilegium. For the past 28 years, THLord Stefan li Rous of Ansteorra has compiled “bits of useful information from various newsgroups, mail lists, facebook groups, and articles” whose authors have given him permission to publish on his site. If you are researching any topic in the medieval world, this is an excellent resource.
Regia Anglorum. Authentic re-creators of the history of the Anglo-Saxon, Viking, Welsh and Norman people from AD950-1066. They have an extensive library of resources.
Internet Medieval Sourcebook. A comprehensive collection of sources of information concerning the middle ages. Hosted by Fordham University.
Rosalie’s Medieval Woman. A collection of articles on all things medieval as it pertains to women.
Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index. Journal articles, book reviews, and essays in books about women, sexuality, and gender during the Middle Ages.
Tha Engliscan Gesithas. A comprehensive focus on Anglo-Saxon England.
The Labyrinth. A comprehensive collection of online resources for medieval studies.
Online Medieval Sources Bibliography. An annotated bibliography of printed and online primary sources for the Middle Ages. Created by the Center for Medieval Studies, Fordham University.
Menestrel: Medievalists on the Web. French/English site.
Medieval Chronicles. A comprehensive but fairly basic overview of most aspects of medieval life and society.
All Things Medieval. A blog by Ruth A. Johnston, who also wrote a textbook of the same name.
The library of Elizabeth Chadwick. She writes medieval historical fiction that is well-researched. This is a list of her sources.
Blog by Thijs Porck, Scholar of Old English, Early Medieval England and Tolkien, and author of Old Age in Early Medieval England: A Cultural History. His blog covers a wide variety of topics, some of which are included in the categories below. The entire blog is well worth perusing.
Medieval and Renaissance Material Culture. This covers everything material from beehives to, well, everything. SCA-based.
Arts and Sciences of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. An SCA website. Covers many topics. Not all links are still active.
Heavenfield. A blog by Michelle Ziegler covering various topics, including agriculture, history, biography, and medicine.
Medieval Studies Research Blog from the University of Notre Dame.


AGRICULTURE

Wyrtig. Historical gardening.
YouTube: Medieval Living: A Lord’s Hunt. Hunting and poaching in royal forests.
Book: The Medieval Horse and Its Equipment
Book: Horse Breeding in the Medieval World
Article: English Horse-bread, 1590-1800 by William Rubel.
Article: The role of demesnes in the trade of agricultural horses in late medieval England.
The International Museum of the Horse. Link to their library and archives.
Article: The Stirrup and its Effect on Chinese Military History
Article: Sheep-Rearing in Medieval France.
Article: Early English beekeeping: the evidence from local records up to the end of the Norman period.
Forests and Chases of England and Wales c. 1000
Blog Post: Medieval Fishing

ARCHITECTURE

Wattle and Daub construction
Book: Building in England, Down to 1540: A Documentary History.
Parts of a Castle: Garderobes
Toilets in a Medieval Castle
The Oldest Toilet in the UK

ARMS AND ARMOUR

Book: The Archaeology of Weapons: Arms and Armour from Prehistory to the Age of Chivalry.
YouTube: Arrows vs Armour
The Oakeshott Institute. Founded by R. Ewart Oakeshott, author, historian, and expert on medieval arms and armour.
Mediaeval Sword Resource Site. Excellent source for all things related to the medieval sword. Includes a library and extensive bibliography.
Guide to Becoming a Scholar of Swords and Swordplay. Blog post with pertinent links to sources of information on swords, armor, and swordplay.
myArmoury.com. Discussion forum for historical arms.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND PAPERMAKING

Cats and medieval manuscripts
Book: A New Introduction to Bibliography by Philip Gaskell
Book: Papermaking: The History and Technique of an Ancient Craft by Dard Hunter

CARTOGRAPHY

Anglo-Saxon Maps
Maps of England, c500 - c1000
Maps of the Carolingian Empire
Historic atlases of Europe. Organized by century.

CHURCH AND THEOLOGY

The Form of Confession: A later medieval genre for examining conscience. A dissertation by Michael E. Cornett.
Medieval Handbooks of Penance: A Translation of the Principal "Libri Poenitentiales" and Selections From Related Documents by John T. McNeill and Helena M. Gamer

FOOD AND COOKING

Medieval and Renaissance Food: Sources, Recipes, and Articles. This a subpage of the SCA Arts and Sciences homepage.
Glossary of Medieval & Renaissance Culinary Terms.
Medieval Cookery. Online cookery books of thirteen countries from the middle ages.
Gode Cookery. Online site for medieval recipes.
Foods of England Cookbooks. A list of English cookery books from 1390 onward.
How to Milk an Almond, Stuff an Egg, And Armor a Turnip: A Thousand Years of Recipes by David Friedman and Elizabeth Cook. More resources available at David’s website.
Two fifteenth-century cookery-books.
Le Viandier de Taillevent. At Project Gutenberg. But if you don’t read Middle French, I recommend this version instead.
Historical Culinary & Brewing Documents Online.
Medieval Culinary Texts (500-1500). Additional research under the Research Links dropdown menu.
Histoire de la cuisine. There is an English version of the page as well.
Medieval foods for modern allergies. Not necessarily for research purposes, but I love it.
How to Throw a Medieval Feast. The title says it all.
The Early English Bread Project. A study in medieval bread.
YouTube: Medieval Living: A Baker’s Shop. Concerning the life of a medieval baker.
Wheel of Cheese. Tweet from Richard Fitch, Historic Kitchens Manager at Hampton Court Palace, showing the varieties of cheese.
Medieval Autumn Cheese. A research article from Christopher Monk, with extra notes.
Cooking The Books. Historic Cookery at Hampton Court Palace. C16/Henry VIII focus.
Food by Region. A collection of files on food and recipes by medieval region, compiled by THLord Stefan li Rous.
Irish Culinary Manuscripts and Printed Books. Article from the Technological University Dublin.
Water as a beverage in the Middle Ages. Includes references to several sources that show that people often drank water in the Middle Ages.
Water in England. Book by Dorothy Hartley. Comprehensive, including drinking water.
Anglo-Saxon Food & Drink: Production, processing, distribution & consumption. Book by Ann Hagen.
Le Menagier de Paris. A fourteenth-century French book of cookery.

GENEALOGY

Cyndi’s List. A collection of links to medieval genealogy resources. Sources not vetted. Links may not be active.

HISTORY, ECONOMIC

Medieval Guilds.
Ebook (1918): Guilds in the Middle Ages.
Article: Business in the Middle Ages:What Was the Role of Guilds?
Medieval Occupations, a webpage compiled by Shawn Vincent.

HISTORY, POLITICAL & GOVERNMENT

Great People of the Medieval Era. Blog by Josue Wigornensis.
Anglo-Saxon History and Language. FB group (lots of good information here).
The Carolingian World. A project researching how people in the tenth and early eleventh centuries dealt with crisis and change in the political order.
Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians. A blog post from Thegns of Mercia.

LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

Book: Medieval Wordbook : More Than 4,000 Terms and Expressions From Medieval Culture
Book: A Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases
Book: Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing
Book: Arthurian Name Dictionary by Christopher Bruce. Also a website.
The Online Medieval & Classical Library. A collection of some of the most important literary works of Classical and Medieval civilization.
Libraries & Bibliographies. A collection of links to a wide array of medieval libraries, catalogues, and other sources around the world.
The Anglo-Saxon Narrative Poetry Project. Translations of extant Old English poetry. From Dr. Aaron Hostetter, professor of Old and Middle English at Rutgers.
Old English Homilarium. Translations of extant Old English homilies. From Dr. Aaron Hostetter, professor of Old and Middle English at Rutgers.
Book: Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, Obsolete Phrases, Proverbs, and Ancient Customs, from the Fourteenth Century. Multiple editions available online at archive.org
Readings in Early English. From the University of Glasgow. Readings in Old, Middle, and Early Modern English.
Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse. An excellent resource for various types of literature.
From Stage to Page - Medieval and Renaissance Drama. Via The Wayback Machine.
Anglo-Saxon and Old English vocabularies.
Middle English Dictionary.
Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse.
Old English Grammar Videos by Thijs Porck
Dictionary of Old English Corpus. A digital collection of one copy of every extant Old English text
An Anglo-Norman Dictionary.
Old English Wisdom compiled by A Clerk of Oxford. Proverbs, maxims, and other miniature bits of wisdom and advice from Old English poetry and prose.
Not by “bread” alone [Part I]. A discussion of the etymology of hlāf.
Dictionary of the British English Spelling System. From OpenBook Publishers.
Medieval Disability Glossary.

LEGAL

Book: Marriage in Medieval England: Law, Literature and Practice
Medieval Torture Devices. A listing and description of medieval torture devices.
The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals by E. P. Evans. Available at Project Gutenberg.
The Prosecution and Punishment of Animals and Lifeless Things in the Middle Ages and Modern Times. From the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.
Fifty earliest English wills in the Court of Probate, London : A. D. 1387-1439 : with a priest's of 1454.
Early English Laws. A project to publish all English laws up to the time of Magna Carta.
Women’s Rights in Anglo-Saxon England. They were greater than you might think.
Medieval Legal History from the Internet Medieval Sourcebook.
A Lexicon of Medieval Nordic Law. From OpenBook Publishers.

MEDICAL

Book: Medieval Herbal Remedies: The Old English Herbarium and Anglo-Saxon Medicine
Book: Leechcraft: Early English Charms, Plant-Lore and Healing
Book: The Trotula: An English Translation of the Medieval Compendium of Women's Medicine
Women’s Hygiene in Tudor England
The Lady in Red: Medieval Menstruation (additional scholarly links in comments)
To Bring on the Flowers: Medieval Women Menstruating.
Dental Treatment in Medieval England. An academic paper published in the British Dental Journal.
Dental treatment in Anglo-Saxon England. An academic paper published in the British Dental Journal.
Medical works of the fourteenth century : together with a list of plants recorded in contemporary writings, with their identifications.
Vocabulary of the Names of Plants. Intended for the use of a Medical Practitioner. Thirteenth century. In Latin, Anglo-Norman, and in English.
Early Medieval Magical Medicine: An Anglo-Saxon Trivia Quiz by Thijs Porck
Early medieval remedies for headaches. Blog post by Thijs Porck.
The role of insects in early medieval medicine.
The Plague. An index of posts on the plague by biologist Michelle Ziegler.
Creepy Crawlies in Early Medieval England: Anglo-Saxon Medicine and Minibeasts. Blog post by Thijs Porck.
Medieval Disability Sourcebook: Western Europe. Edited by Cameron Hunt McNabb.
After the Plague: Health and History in Medieval England.

MEDIEVAL LIFE

Winter in the Middle Ages. Very general overview of surviving winter.
A Medieval Peasants’ Winter. General overview of how peasants coped with winter in the middle ages.

MISCELLANEOUS

Medieval Castle. A Tumblr of beautiful medieval and medieval-themed photographs and images.
The Magna Carta Collection. From the British Library.
The Origin of Wedding Rings. From the Gemological Institute of America.
Meteorological Disasters in Medieval Britain (AD 1000‒1500). An open source book.

NAMES

Medieval Names Archive. Categorized by culture/country and subcategorized by time period.
Book: A Dictionary of English Surnames
Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources. Dedicated to documenting all given names recorded in European sources written between 500 and 1600.
Anglo-Saxon Nicknames. PhD research by An Oxford Historian.

SOCIO-CULTURAL

Waste Management and Attitudes Towards Cleanliness in Medieval Central Europe. From the Journal of Landscape Ecology.
Old age in Early Medieval England. Blog post by Thijs Porck.
Old Age and Poverty in the Middle Ages by Lucie Laumonier.
Burial Practices in Early Medieval Britain. Article by Michael Garcia.
People of Color in European Art History.
Black Central Europe. Archive of primary documents and sources including text, art, and visual media on the presence of people of black African ancestry living and working in Europe. AD 1000 - 1500 here.
Race and medieval studies: a partial bibliography. A PDF of over thirty pages of sources. The full version may be found here.
England’s Immigrants, 1330-1550: Resident Aliens in the Late Middle Ages. Extensive searchable archive with interactive maps.
Long-Distance Contacts. Posts and articles concerned with the evidence for long-distance trading, contacts and movement with and to Britain from the Bronze Age through to the medieval era. By Dr. Caitlin Green, FSA.
Global Medievalism. Includes discussion of medievalism in fantasy writing.


TECHNOLOGY

Medieval Technology Subject Index. Also includes a Timeline of technology inventions and use, with links to specific references (a general overview). Access via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
Toilets in a Medieval Castle.
The History of Sanitary Sewers: the Middle Ages.
Lighting in Medieval England. A blog post by author Elizabeth Chadwick.
Lighting in the Middle Ages. Overview and process from The Hooded Hare.
Early Medieval Dykes (400 to 850 AD). A thesis by Erik Grigg at the University of Manchester.

TEXTILES

Medieval Colours. A FB page about traditional, medieval dyeing. They also have a website.
The Lengberg Castle bra.
The Lengberg Finds: Remnants of a lost 15th century tailoring revolution.
The Bayeux Tapestry. Mia Hansson’s recreation of the Bayeux Tapestry. A FB group.
Footwear of the Middle Ages.
List of Medieval Textiles, Furs, and Leather Fabrics.
Medieval Fabrics.
Medieval Fabric and Its Uses. Part II here, with a discussion of dyeing.
Book: Historical Clothing From the Inside Out – A Handbook for Women’s Clothing in Northern Europe 1360-1415

TIME, CALENDARS, ALMANACS, RECORDKEEPING

Book: Bede: The Reckoning of Time.
YouTube: Medieval calendars, explained by the Getty
A Thousand Years of English Terms: a brief discussion of calendar terminology
YouTube: Medieval tally sticks for record keeping
Tally sticks: the National Archives and Goucher College
Time management and the candle clock. Blog post by Thijs Porck
When Time Flowed: The story of the Clepsydra by John S. McNown
Medieval Calendar calculator. This is pretty interesting.
The Anglo-Saxon Year. A series of blog posts by A Clerk of Oxford on the calendar and liturgical year.
Medieval Manorial Accounts. A FB post by Kent Archives, with links.
Almanacs, Astrology and the Origins of Weather Forecasting.
Medieval Meteorology. Blog post.
Medieval Meteorology in Context, resulting in the published book.

TRAVEL & TRANSPORTATION

Historical ships, shipbuilding, and replicas. From Nordic Underwater Archaeology.

WAR & WARFARE

Medieval Welsh Warriors and Warfare. From the Castles of Wales
Medieval Naval Warfare. A Twitter thread from Aristocratic Fury.
Plant Poisons in Medieval Warfare. Medical Bulletin of the US Army, Europe (1984). Download.
Were Poisoned Weapons ever used in Medieval Warfare? Research article with sources by Jean Chandler at HROARR.
A History of Biological Warfare from 300 B.C.E. to the Present. American Association of Respiratory Care. Archived on the Wayback Machine.
Early Medieval Arrowheads with Twisted Sockets Discovered in Poland – the Concepts of Purpose. Article by Michal Stapor