Medieval History
This page is intended to help Yr 8 students at Riverside Girls find a useful primary source for their assessment task. Before you choose a source, make sure you have:
Extension: Is the perspective shown in the sources biased? What generalisations can you find?
- analysed the secondary sources you were given - Where are they from? Who created them? When? Why?
- worked out what areas of everyday life are included in the sources - what is the creator's perspective on these areas of life?
- chosen one area of everyday life you'd like to focus on in your task
Extension: Is the perspective shown in the sources biased? What generalisations can you find?
At Riverside Girls, books about Medieval History are found at 940.1.
Ms Carmyn also has lots of books about medieval history in her personal collection - if you ask her nicely you may use these resources in the library, but they cannot be borrowed or taken out of the library.
Ms Carmyn also has lots of books about medieval history in her personal collection - if you ask her nicely you may use these resources in the library, but they cannot be borrowed or taken out of the library.
Collections of Primary Sources
Source books are collections of Primary sources (usually written sources from diaries, letters, laws and other documents). These collections are useful if you already knows what area of history you want to look into. They can give you a wonderful insight into the thoughts, feelings and ideas of people in the past.
Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies [http://www.the-orb.net/library.html]
Internet Medieval Sourcebook [http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/sbook.asp]
Georgetown University's The Labyrinth [http://web.archive.org/web/20061022222335/http://labyrinth.georgetown.edu/]
The Orb [http://web.archive.org/web/20060920202232/http://www.the-orb.net/encyclo.html]
Museums and galleries house collections of artifacts (tableware, jewelry, fabrics, shoes, books, artworks etc) which are always primary sources. Artefacts don't always tell you about how people thought in the past, so you will need to compare your ideas to primary and secondary sources to check that you interpretation correct. Many museums help by providing useful comments about the artefacts. Art galleries are not usually so helpful, but drawings and paintings can tell you alot about how people lived, especially the scenes from daily life drawn in the margins of medieval manuscripts.
If you don't know what area of everyday life you want to study for this assignment, browse the artefacts until one grabs your attention.
Museum of London - Medieval Museum [http://archive.museumoflondon.org.uk/medieval/Themes/] Great for browsing!
British Museum [http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/cultures/europe/medieval_europe.aspx]
British Library [http://www.bl.uk/the-middle-ages] Great for browsing!
British Museum's Manuscript collection [http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/searchSimple.asp] The search function isn't perfect but you can look for words like "hunting" or "Lancelot" (for courtly love) and scroll down till you find good illustrations
Metropolitan Museum of Art [http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search?ft=medieval&s=date&rpp=60&pg=4]
Some museums can be explored in a virtual tour.
Medieval Museum, Waterford, Ireland [http://www.waterfordtreasures.com/medieval-museum/the-experience/virtual-tour] (check dates and do some background research to put the artefacts into context).
Copyright-free images to use in your presentation can be found here [http://web.archive.org/web/20061004034856/http://www.netserf.org/Art/Clip_Art/] . Please don't randomly steal images form google as most of these images are still under copyright. Just because you can view them online, does not mean the copyright holder has given you permission to reproduce them.
Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies [http://www.the-orb.net/library.html]
Internet Medieval Sourcebook [http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/sbook.asp]
Georgetown University's The Labyrinth [http://web.archive.org/web/20061022222335/http://labyrinth.georgetown.edu/]
The Orb [http://web.archive.org/web/20060920202232/http://www.the-orb.net/encyclo.html]
Museums and galleries house collections of artifacts (tableware, jewelry, fabrics, shoes, books, artworks etc) which are always primary sources. Artefacts don't always tell you about how people thought in the past, so you will need to compare your ideas to primary and secondary sources to check that you interpretation correct. Many museums help by providing useful comments about the artefacts. Art galleries are not usually so helpful, but drawings and paintings can tell you alot about how people lived, especially the scenes from daily life drawn in the margins of medieval manuscripts.
If you don't know what area of everyday life you want to study for this assignment, browse the artefacts until one grabs your attention.
Museum of London - Medieval Museum [http://archive.museumoflondon.org.uk/medieval/Themes/] Great for browsing!
British Museum [http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/cultures/europe/medieval_europe.aspx]
British Library [http://www.bl.uk/the-middle-ages] Great for browsing!
British Museum's Manuscript collection [http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/searchSimple.asp] The search function isn't perfect but you can look for words like "hunting" or "Lancelot" (for courtly love) and scroll down till you find good illustrations
Metropolitan Museum of Art [http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search?ft=medieval&s=date&rpp=60&pg=4]
Some museums can be explored in a virtual tour.
Medieval Museum, Waterford, Ireland [http://www.waterfordtreasures.com/medieval-museum/the-experience/virtual-tour] (check dates and do some background research to put the artefacts into context).
Copyright-free images to use in your presentation can be found here [http://web.archive.org/web/20061004034856/http://www.netserf.org/Art/Clip_Art/] . Please don't randomly steal images form google as most of these images are still under copyright. Just because you can view them online, does not mean the copyright holder has given you permission to reproduce them.
Sources about Everyday Life
This list of easy sites about medieval life is mostly secondary sources. These are useful if you want a quick overview about medieval life, but may not be useful for your assessment. In general, a primary source will make you think more about the past, which usually gets you a better mark in assignments.
Middle Ages for Kids [http://www.kathimitchell.com/middleages.htm]http://web.archive.org/web/20060903181510/http://www.godecookery.com/mtales/mtales08.htm
Medieval life.net [http://web.archive.org/web/20070312131518/http://www.medieval-life.net/education.htm]
Gode Cookery [http://web.archive.org/web/20060903181510/http://www.godecookery.com/mtales/mtales08.htm] has some excellent secondary sources about everyday life, along with primary source illustrations.
Middle Ages for Kids [http://www.kathimitchell.com/middleages.htm]http://web.archive.org/web/20060903181510/http://www.godecookery.com/mtales/mtales08.htm
Medieval life.net [http://web.archive.org/web/20070312131518/http://www.medieval-life.net/education.htm]
Gode Cookery [http://web.archive.org/web/20060903181510/http://www.godecookery.com/mtales/mtales08.htm] has some excellent secondary sources about everyday life, along with primary source illustrations.
Crafts, Guilds and other Jobs
You can visit a virtual medieval village at Wychamstow [http://www.regia.org/research/village/village.htm] and find out about all the different jobs that made a village run well.
Professor Gerhardt Rempel [http://web.archive.org/web/20051211162553/http://mars.acnet.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/wc1/lectures/24guilds.html] has a good but very academic introduction to the function of medieval guilds in town economies.
Professor Gerhardt Rempel [http://web.archive.org/web/20051211162553/http://mars.acnet.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/wc1/lectures/24guilds.html] has a good but very academic introduction to the function of medieval guilds in town economies.
Education
Entertainment
Medieval Games
Some medieval games are still played today. Have a look at
Lewis Chess Set at the National Museum of Scotland [http://www.nms.ac.uk/explore/collections-stories/scottish-history-and-archaeology/lewis-chessmen/]
I have two books on medieval games at home. Let me know if I need to bring them in.
Music
Have a look at the links on the Medieval Day Organisation page [http://aghslibraryhome.weebly.com/medieval-day-organisation.html] (sorry Riverside students, that was for Auburn) under Music and Dance (scroll down for it). I do have original sources for music and dance instructions, so let me know if you're interested and I'll bring them in.
For detailed resources on medieval music go to links form The Orb [http://web.archive.org/web/20060809163334/http://the-orb.net/encyclop/culture/music/musindex.html].
You can see some genuine medieval instruments at
Citole at British Museum [http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_mla/c/citole.aspx]
Drinking, Brewing and Taverns
Two useful (and reliable) secondary sources are available at Gode Cookery [http://web.archive.org/web/20060901205515/http://www.godecookery.com/mtales/mtales13.htm]
Hunting and Falconry (hunting with birds of prey)
Hunting was an important pastime for Nobles (and High Churchmen!). There are many illustration of hunting on medieval manuscripts (see museums above).
Falconry was the training of birds of prey like eagles and falcons to hunt animals. Shawn E. Carrol [http://web.archive.org/web/20071217051125/http://www.r3.org/life/articles/falconry.html] has written an excellent article which links different birds of prey allowed for hunting with medieval social structure - for instance only a King was al;lowed to hunt with aa Gryfalcon, but common people could train small birds like sparrowhawks.
Some medieval games are still played today. Have a look at
Lewis Chess Set at the National Museum of Scotland [http://www.nms.ac.uk/explore/collections-stories/scottish-history-and-archaeology/lewis-chessmen/]
I have two books on medieval games at home. Let me know if I need to bring them in.
Music
Have a look at the links on the Medieval Day Organisation page [http://aghslibraryhome.weebly.com/medieval-day-organisation.html] (sorry Riverside students, that was for Auburn) under Music and Dance (scroll down for it). I do have original sources for music and dance instructions, so let me know if you're interested and I'll bring them in.
For detailed resources on medieval music go to links form The Orb [http://web.archive.org/web/20060809163334/http://the-orb.net/encyclop/culture/music/musindex.html].
You can see some genuine medieval instruments at
Citole at British Museum [http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_mla/c/citole.aspx]
Drinking, Brewing and Taverns
Two useful (and reliable) secondary sources are available at Gode Cookery [http://web.archive.org/web/20060901205515/http://www.godecookery.com/mtales/mtales13.htm]
Hunting and Falconry (hunting with birds of prey)
Hunting was an important pastime for Nobles (and High Churchmen!). There are many illustration of hunting on medieval manuscripts (see museums above).
Falconry was the training of birds of prey like eagles and falcons to hunt animals. Shawn E. Carrol [http://web.archive.org/web/20071217051125/http://www.r3.org/life/articles/falconry.html] has written an excellent article which links different birds of prey allowed for hunting with medieval social structure - for instance only a King was al;lowed to hunt with aa Gryfalcon, but common people could train small birds like sparrowhawks.
Fashion
If you want to research medieval fashion, talk to the librarian, who makes medieval clothes in her free time!
Some of the most expensive clothing (called vestments) was worn by church leaders. Have a look at the Cloth-of-Gold exhibition
[http://www.waterfordtreasures.com/medieval-museum/whats-inside/cloth-of-gold-vestments] in Waterford's Medieval Museum
Some of the most expensive clothing (called vestments) was worn by church leaders. Have a look at the Cloth-of-Gold exhibition
[http://www.waterfordtreasures.com/medieval-museum/whats-inside/cloth-of-gold-vestments] in Waterford's Medieval Museum
Food
Some useful overviews about food in the Middle Ages include:
Cookit [http://cookit.e2bn.org/historycookbook/27-315-normans-medieval-Food-facts.html]
Cities of Light [http://www.islamicspain.tv/Arts-and-Science/The-Culture-of-Al-Andalus/Cuisine.htm]
Gode Cookery [http://web.archive.org/web/20060822012509/http://www.godecookery.com/mtales/mtales14.htm]
It is a myth that medieval food was boring or that it was highly spiced to cover the taste of rotten meat. People who have no refrigeration become very good at preserving food (by drying, pickling etc) so they don't starve over winter when the world is largely frozen or in spring when food is still growing. In addition to comments about food in social records, there are also many cookbooks from medieval and renaissance times which show that (upper class) people ate a wide variety of foods cooked in many interesting ways. You will notice that they are very different from modern recipes because they assume that the cooks know things like how much of an ingredient or special technique for making products like almond milk. Some of these cookbooks have been translated at the following sites:
Book of Cooking in Mahgreb and Andalus in the Era of Almohads [http://italophiles.com/andalusian_cookbook.pdf] Moorish Spain, 1200s.
Le Mangier de Paris [http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Menagier/Menagier.html] France, 1300s
A Form of Cury [http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/foc/] England, 1390
Cook Book of Master Eberhard [http://home.earthlink.net/~al-tabbakhah/GermanCookbooks/MeisterEberhard.html] Germany, 1400s.
Kitchen Book (Veneziano) [http://helewyse.medievalcookery.com/libro.html] Italy, c. 1400.
Um tratdo da cozinha portuguesa do seculo XV [http://www.sca.org.au/cooks/Pages/articles/Faerisa/portuguese15thC.html] Portugal, 1500s
Old Recipes from the Bavarian Inn River Valley [http://home.earthlink.net/~al-tabbakhah/GermanCookbooks/Inntal.html] Germany, 1500s.
Gent Cantle [http://www.coquinaria.nl/kooktekst/KA15Gent01.htm] Netherlands, 1560
Coge Bog [http://forest.gen.nz/Medieval/articles/cooking/1616.html] Denmark, 1616.
Mayor's wine Vault [http://www.waterfordtreasures.com/medieval-museum/whats-inside/mayors-wine-vault]
Cookit [http://cookit.e2bn.org/historycookbook/27-315-normans-medieval-Food-facts.html]
Cities of Light [http://www.islamicspain.tv/Arts-and-Science/The-Culture-of-Al-Andalus/Cuisine.htm]
Gode Cookery [http://web.archive.org/web/20060822012509/http://www.godecookery.com/mtales/mtales14.htm]
It is a myth that medieval food was boring or that it was highly spiced to cover the taste of rotten meat. People who have no refrigeration become very good at preserving food (by drying, pickling etc) so they don't starve over winter when the world is largely frozen or in spring when food is still growing. In addition to comments about food in social records, there are also many cookbooks from medieval and renaissance times which show that (upper class) people ate a wide variety of foods cooked in many interesting ways. You will notice that they are very different from modern recipes because they assume that the cooks know things like how much of an ingredient or special technique for making products like almond milk. Some of these cookbooks have been translated at the following sites:
Book of Cooking in Mahgreb and Andalus in the Era of Almohads [http://italophiles.com/andalusian_cookbook.pdf] Moorish Spain, 1200s.
Le Mangier de Paris [http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Menagier/Menagier.html] France, 1300s
A Form of Cury [http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/foc/] England, 1390
Cook Book of Master Eberhard [http://home.earthlink.net/~al-tabbakhah/GermanCookbooks/MeisterEberhard.html] Germany, 1400s.
Kitchen Book (Veneziano) [http://helewyse.medievalcookery.com/libro.html] Italy, c. 1400.
Um tratdo da cozinha portuguesa do seculo XV [http://www.sca.org.au/cooks/Pages/articles/Faerisa/portuguese15thC.html] Portugal, 1500s
Old Recipes from the Bavarian Inn River Valley [http://home.earthlink.net/~al-tabbakhah/GermanCookbooks/Inntal.html] Germany, 1500s.
Gent Cantle [http://www.coquinaria.nl/kooktekst/KA15Gent01.htm] Netherlands, 1560
Coge Bog [http://forest.gen.nz/Medieval/articles/cooking/1616.html] Denmark, 1616.
Mayor's wine Vault [http://www.waterfordtreasures.com/medieval-museum/whats-inside/mayors-wine-vault]
Housing
Marriage and Courtly Love
Courtly Love was an ideal that developed during the medieval period in France and become very popular throughout Europe in songs and poems for the noble classes. It involved a brave, chivalrous knight who undertook all sorts of adventures and sacrifices to impress a beautiful and pure noblewomen. This was usually unrequited love and if they ended up together, something would go very wrong - think of Lancelot and Guinevere in the King Arthur legends. This can be seen in many primary sources, including jewelry, paintings, songs and poems.
For detailed scholarly analysis of the King Arthur legends, go to the University of Rochester's Camelot Project [http://web.archive.org/web/20061015211049/http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/cphome.stm].
Marriage
Rings and brooches were exchanged at high-status engagements. Have a look at the Ring Brooch
[http://www.waterfordtreasures.com/medieval-museum/whats-inside/ring-brooch] what did the ring symbolise?
For detailed scholarly analysis of the King Arthur legends, go to the University of Rochester's Camelot Project [http://web.archive.org/web/20061015211049/http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/cphome.stm].
Marriage
Rings and brooches were exchanged at high-status engagements. Have a look at the Ring Brooch
[http://www.waterfordtreasures.com/medieval-museum/whats-inside/ring-brooch] what did the ring symbolise?
Medicine
Today we worry about pandemics like SARS, Bird Flu or Ebola; in the Middle Ages there was the Bubonic Plague (often called the Black Death). The Black Death killed off so much of the population of Europe that it revolutionised economics and social structures, including the role of peasants.
This page from Boise State University [http://web.archive.org/web/20061205023018/http://history.boisestate.edu/westciv/plague/]
gives a detailed analysis of it's impact.
Religion
Many people demonstrated their faith through making pilgrimages to sacred sites (eg Rome or Jerusalem) or places with important relics such as saints' bones (or other body parts!) or artefacts associated with Jesus.
Medieval Museum at Waterford now has a splinter of the true cross [http://www.waterfordtreasures.com/medieval-museum/whats-inside/the-relic-of-the-true-cross]. Scroll along the left-hand menu for other religious artefacts. Pay careful attention to how these artefacts survived durign the persecution of Catholics.
Life in a Monastery was extremely strict. Benedictine Monks made a vow of poverty and shared all their goods. This source shows what could happen if you broke the rules: Eyewitness to History [http://web.archive.org/web/20061009214328/http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/monastery.htm]
Social structure
A famous poem called Piers Ploughman tells of the troubles of a medieval peasant. There is alot of controversy about who wrote the poem and why (was it a social satire?), so if you're an extension student you should look into this. The Learning History Site [http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/medieval-england/the-poor-peasant/] has a short extract from the poem with questions to help you understand it. Schmoop has a section on Medieval Literature
[http://www.shmoop.com/medieval-english-literature/allegory-characteristic-piers-plowman-example.html] with more advanced analysis and the British Library [http://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item126920.html] has a slide show of the original illuminated manuscript.
Castles of Britain [http://web.archive.org/web/20061005022934/http://www.castles-of-britain.com/castle32.htm] has a list of jobs with definitions. It is interesting to think about what many of these jobs have evolved into in the C21st.
Trade
Women's roles
An excellent overview of women's roles and attitudes to women can be found at the British Library [http://www.bl.uk/the-middle-ages/articles/women-in-medieval-society] . It is based on illustrations from medieval manuscripts.