Internet Medieval Sourcebook

Full Text Sources

Editor: Paul Halsall



The Internet Medieval Sourcebook is located at the

Fordham University Center for Medieval Studies.

Guide to Contents

The structure of this section of the Sourcebook is as follows. You can browse through the entire list, or jump directly to the part that interests you by selecting the underlined links.

Main Page

will take you back to Sourcebook main page.

will take you back to Sourcebook main page. Selected Sources will take you to the index of selected and excerpted medieval sources.

Saints' Lives will take you to the page on hagiography. Note - full text saints' lives are not listed in this "Full Text Sources" page.

Medieval Legal History will take you to the page on the history of law page.

Search the Sourcebook will enable searches of the full texts of all the source texts at Fordham, at ORB, or selected ancient, late antique, and medieval text databases.

Full Text Sources for Medieval History

Note: It may also be worth checking out the slightly mistitled Early Church Documents page of the ECOLE Project. It contains a purely alphabetical listing of historical texts (many of them here) up until circa 1300. It is especially good for varied links to various works of each of the Church Fathers.

CHURCH COUNCILS

For texts in the Ante-Nicene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers series, see below



NOTE: The texts at this site here are public domain English translations from the Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers series for the first Seven ecumenical councils and from H.J. Schroeder, Disciplinary Decrees of the General Councils, (St. Louis: B. Herder, 1937) [US Copyright expired - confirmed by TAN books, current owner of B. Herder's list]. These are not necessarily the best available sources for the various council texts, although they are quite serviceable, and the notes in the NPNF series are very useful. More recent editions and translations should be consulted for serious academic publication purposes. I have prepared a Guide to Documentary Sources for Catholic Teaching which lists, in some detail, what I take to be the current standard editions.

See also Ecumenical Councils - a useful, if denominationally partisan, article from the Catholic Encyclopedia.

There are also online etexts of council decrees from Norman Tanner, ed., Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, (London: Sheed and Ward; Washington. D.C: Georgetown University Press. 1990).

I have made these off-site links (at http://www.ewtn.com) available, but note that there is no indication that copy permission has been obtained. EWTN is a very conservative Catholic web site, but it does have a lot of files [over 9000].





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FATHERS

The first six items are links to more extended collections and indexes.

WEB Writings of Church Fathers/Doctors/Saints (index at American University)

Writings of Church Fathers/Doctors/Saints (index at American University) WEB Guide to Early Church Documents (index with brief descriptions; from ICLnet)

Guide to Early Church Documents (index with brief descriptions; from ICLnet) WEB EWTN. [At EWTN]. EWTN is a conservative Catholic web site, but it has a huge file library of over 9000 items, with good search facilities. Many are useless files from modern journals, but there are also very extensive selections from the fathers and medieval writers.

EWTN. [At EWTN]. EWTN is a conservative Catholic web site, but it has a huge file library of over 9000 items, with good search facilities. Many are useless files from modern journals, but there are also very extensive selections from the fathers and medieval writers. WEB FATHERS OF THE CHURCH [At New Advent] New Advent has taken the entire Father so the Church series, as at the Wheaton College site, and broken the files down to the size of individual works.

The following works by various fathers are in rough chronological order. Most are off site links to documents or indexes.

ANTE-NICENE FATHERS

POST NICENE: NON-GREEK/NON LATIN FATHERS

Tatian: The Diatessaron, [At New Advent].

A combination of the four Gospels into one account. It was the dominant text used in some parts of the Eastern Church for many centuries.

A combination of the four Gospels into one account. It was the dominant text used in some parts of the Eastern Church for many centuries. Ephraim of Syria: The Pearl [At CCEL]. See also Catholic Encyclopedia: Syriac Hymnody

The Book of Enoch, [At Sacred Texts]

POST NICENE: GREEK FATHERS

POST NICENE: LATIN FATHERS





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LATE ANTIQUITY





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BYZANTIUM



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ISLAM

Religious Texts

Literary and Historiographical Texts





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MONASTICISM

Rule of St. Augustine [c.400] See also Catholic Encyclopedia: Rule of St. Augustine

Rule of St. Benedict- and Latin Version.

Byzantine Monastic Foundation Documents [At DO]

A Complete Translation of the Surviving Founder's Typika and Testaments. Edited by John Thomas and Angela Constantinides Hero with the assistance of Giles Constable.

The texts are all in PDF form [for which you need the free Acrobat reader, downloadable from the index page]. Although it is possible to read these within the browser with Acrobat as a plugin, that often seems to destabilize a system. I recommend downloading the files onto a hard disk, and then opening them with Acrobat running independantly of the Browser.





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HISTORIOGRAPHY





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MODERN HISTORIOGRAPHY





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LITERARY TEXTS

Latin

Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim (c.930/40-c.1002): The Plays of Roswitha,

Including Full texts of Gallicanus and Dulcitius

French

Italian

See under Renaissance Texts below for texts by Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarch.

Spanish/Portuguese

Celtic

The Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel, c 1100 full text

German

The Nibelungenlied c. 1200 [At OMACL]

Nordic

English

WEB Arthurian texts, for those not collected here, see the Camelot Project, and especially the Camelot Project Author Menu for beautifully presented, introduced, and annotated texts of:

Arthurian texts, for those not collected here, see the Camelot Project, and especially the Camelot Project Author Menu for beautifully presented, introduced, and annotated texts of: The Alliterative Morte Arthure



Annales Cambriae (Annals of Wales), Arthurian References in (c. 960-980)



The Avowyng of Arthur



The Awntyrs off Arthur



The Carle of Carlisle



Culwch and Olwen (translated by Lady Charlotte Guest as Kilhwch and Olwen)



The Greene Knight



The Jeaste of Sir Gawain



King Arthur and King Cornwall



The Knightly Tale of Gologras and Gawain



Lancelot of the Laik



The Marriage of Sir Gawain



Sir Gawain and the Carle of Carlisle



Sir Perceval of Galles



Sir Tristrem



Stanzaic Morte Arthur



The Turke and Sir Gawain ((c) TEAMS)



The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle



A selection of post medieval Arthurian literature [Tennyson, Emerson, Swinbourne and so on.]

WEB The Robin Hood Text Archive [At Rochester]

With both medieval and post-medieval texts. Robin Hood and the Monk, after 1450, [At Sacred Texts]

The earliest Robin Hood Ballad.

The Robin Hood Text Archive [At Rochester] With both medieval and post-medieval texts.

ANGLO-SAXON

Codex Junius 11 [At OMACL] - Anglo-Saxon poems

Apollonius of Tyre Version in Old English and translation into modern English

Beowulf (in Old English), Klaeber edition

Beowulf, 8th century, trans Francis Gummere

Beowulf, trans Francis Gummere [At Adelaide]

Beowulf, c. 1100 [At Lone Star] modern verse translation by Davidn Breeden.

Beowulf is the oldest surviving epic in English literature, and it survives in only one manuscript. This copy survived both the wholesale destruction of religious artifacts during the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII and a disastrous fire which destroyed the library of Sir Robert Bruce Cotton (1571-1631). The poem still bears the scars of the fire, visible at the upper left corner of the manuscript.

MIDDLE ENGLISH





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MEDIEVAL THOUGHT





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MEDIEVAL SPIRITUAL WRITING





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GOVERNMENTAL, ADMINISTRATIVE AND LEGAL DOCUMENTS





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RENAISSANCE TEXTS





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REFORMATION TEXTS





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CATHOLIC REFORMATION TEXTS





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WEB The Early Church Fathers

Note The Medieval Sourcebook aims to present classroom sized texts. But a major resource for many scholars are the translations in the Early Church Fathers Series. The entire 38 volume set is now available on line. Some of it is nicely marked up, other texts are available only in large lumps of text. The Christian Classics Ethereal Library at Wheaton College is to site with the texts. The Library has made the texts available in both text, zipped, and, where possible, HTML form. The following information and links have been lifted directly from the Ethereal Library site

The Early Church Fathers is a 38-volume collection of writings from the first 800 years of the Church. This collection is divided into three series, the Ante-Nicene, Nicene, and Post-Nicene Fathers.

These files have the majority of the text printed in the actual books -- however, some portions have been excluded, such as the prefaces written by the editors, footnotes, indices, etc. In fact, Volume IX of the Ante-Nicene Series was omitted because it consists entirely of index information. --Adapted from the introduction to the Electronic Bible Society CD-ROM Volume 1.

These volumes are in the process of being converted to multi-file HTML webs. The volumes that have not yet been converted are available as large text files of 1.5 to 3.5 MB each. Because of this and because the text paragraphs are not wrapped, you will probably have to download them to your system and read them with a word processor. A windows-based word processor is preferable because some special characters from the Windows character set are used. Some of the volumes that have been converted to HTML webs can be downloaded as a single zip file via FTP -- look for a file called html-web.zip.

You will soon be able to get the Early Church Fathers commercially on a CD-ROM from Logos Research, in a much improved form. Look for major improvements here, as well, in the next couple of years.

These files are also available, usefully, in plain text form, split up into the various works, and with many typos eliminated at EWTN. EWTN is a conservative Catholic web site and has removed, as "too Protestant" all the notes and introductory matter from the files. In some cases this may have been justified, in other cases good scholarship was discarded because it offended against some modern standard of orthodoxy. Although EWTN has stuck on a claim to copyright to the "electronic form" of these texts, they are in fact all public domain in the US.

Ante-Nicene Fathers to A.D. 325

Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, editors.



Volume I -- The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus: Clement, Mathetes, Polycarp, Ignatius, Barnabas, Papias, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus.



Volume II -- Fathers of the Second Century: Hermas, Tatian, Theophilus, Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria.



Volume III -- Latin Christianity: Its Founder Tertullian: I. Apologetic, II. Anti-Marcion, III. Ethical.



Volume IV -- Fathers of the Third Century: Tertullian, Minucius Felix, Commodianus, Origen.



Volume V -- Fathers of the Third Century: Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix: Baptism of Heretics, Anonymous Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian, Anonymous Treatise on Rebaptism.



Volume VI -- Fathers of the Third Century: Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Archelaus, Alexander of Lycopolis, Peter of Alexandria, Alexander of Alexandria, Methodius, Arnobius.



Volume VII -- Fathers of the Third and Fourth Centuries: Lactantius, Dionysius of Rome, Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, Constitutions of the Holy Apostles, The Homily Ascribed to Clement, Early Liturgies.



Volume VIII -- Fathers of the Third and Fourth Centuries: Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, Theodotus: Excerpts, Epistles Concerning Virginity, Pseudo-Clementine Literature, Apocrypha of the New Testament, Decretals Memoire of Edessa and Ancient Syriac Documentary remains of the Second and Third Centuries.



Volume IX -- Original supplement to the American Edition: Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron of Tatian, Apocalypse of Peter, Visio Pauli, Apocalypses of the Virgin and of Sedrach, Testament of Abraham, Acts of Xanthippe and Polyxena, Narrative of Zosimus, Apology of Aeristedes, Epistles of Clement (complete), Origen's Commentaries on John and Matthew (partial).

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I

Philip Schaff, editor



St. Augustine Volumes:

Volume I -- Prolegomena; Life and Works; Confessions; Letters



Volume II -- The City of God; Christian Doctrine



Volume III -- Doctrinal Treatises; Moral Treatises



Volume IV -- Anti-Manichaean and Anti-Donatist Writings



Volume V -- Anti-Pelagian Writings



Volume VI -- The Sermon on the Mount; Harmony of the Gospels; Homilies on the Gospels



Volume VII -- Homilies on the Gospel and the First Epistle of John; Soliloquies



Volume VIII -- Expositions on the Psalms

St. Chrysostom Volumes:

Volume IX -- Prolegomena; On the Priesthood; Ascetic Treatises; Select Homilies and Letters; Homilies on the Statues



Volume X -- Homilies on the Gospel of St. Matthew



Volume XI -- Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistle to the Romans



Volume XII -- Homilies on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians



Volume XIII -- Homilies on Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, and Philemon



Volume XIV -- Homilies on the Gospel of St. John and the Epistle to the Hebrews

NICENE AND POST-NICENE FATHERS, Series II

Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, editors



Volume I -- Eusebius; Church History; Life of Constantine the Great; Oration in Praise of Constantine



Volume II -- Socrates Scholasticus: Ecclesiastical History; Sozomenus: Ecclesiastical History



Volume III -- Theodoret: Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, Letters; Jerome and Gennadius: Illustrious Men; Rufinus and Jerome; Life of Rufinus; Apology vs. Rufinus



Volume IV -- Athanasius: Select Works and Letters



Volume V -- Gregory of Nyssa: Select Writings and Letters; Dogmatic Treatises



Volume VI -- St. Jerome: Letters and Select Works



Volume VII -- St. Cyril of Jerusalem: Catechetical Lectures; St. Gregory Nazianzen: Select Orations, Sermons, Letters; Dogmatic Treatises



Volume VIII -- St. Basil: Treatise De Spiritu Sancto; Nine Homilies of Hexaemeron



Volume IX -- St. Hilary of Poitiers: Select Works on the Trinity and Psalms; John of Damascus: Exposition of Faith



Volume X -- St. Ambrose: Principal Works, Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, etc.



Volume XI -- Sulpitius Severus: Extant Works; Vincent of Lerins: The Catholic Faith; John Cassian: Conferences On the Incarnation vs. Nestorius



Volume XII -- Leo the Great: Letters, Sermons; Gregory the Great: Pastoral Rule, etc.



Volume XIII -- Gregory the Great: Selected Epistles; Ephraim the Syrian: Hymns, Homilies; Aphrahat: Demonstrations



Volume XIV -- The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church; Canons and Decrees; Canons of Local Synods with Ecumenical Acceptance

NOTE: The date of inception of the Internet Medieval Sourcebook was 1/20/1996. Links to files at other site are indicated by [At <some indication of the site name or location>]. No indication means that the text file is local. WEB indicates a link to one of small number of high quality web sites which provide either more texts or an especially valuable overview.

The Internet Medieval Sourcebook is part of the Internet History Sourcebooks Project. The Internet History Sourcebooks Project is located at the History Department of Fordham University, New York. The Internet Medieval Sourcebook, and other medieval components of the project, are located at the Fordham University Center for Medieval Studies.The IHSP recognizes the contribution of Fordham University, the Fordham University History Department, and the Fordham Center for Medieval Studies in providing web space and server support for the project. The IHSP is a project independent of Fordham University. Although the IHSP seeks to follow all applicable copyright law, Fordham University is not the institutional owner, and is not liable as the result of any legal action.



© Site Concept and Design: Paul Halsall created 26 Jan 1996: latest revision 21 January 2020