Monday, May 08, 2006

On-line source material for the Chivalry Seminar

I am still putting together material for my Chivalry Seminar (HIST 4505, Topics in Medieval History). Here are some collections of source material available on line, some of which will be used in that course, starting in September.

First, courtesy of De Re Militari, a scholarly association for those interested in medieval warfare, there is an extensive collection of Primary Sources on Warfare in the Middle Ages. Wow! Someone just directed me to this today, and I'm astonished by how much there is.
It is supplemented by a List of Primary Sources from External Websites, which also looks very, very big.

Not listed on either of those sites are some collections that I have put together. One of them is Tales from Froissart, which makes available excerpts from the late 14th century chronicler of chivalry, Jean Froissart. He was quite a famous man in the 19th century and had a lot of influence on Walter Scott, perhaps the most important modern interpreter of chivalry. Froissart was also prominent in his own time -- read some of his stories and see why.

I also have two sites on what I call "formal deeds of arms," as practiced in the 14th century. Deeds of Arms collects descriptions from the chronicles of the time; Deeds of Arms -- From the Archives collects archival documents that shed some light on such chivalric demonstrations.

The illustration above is, by the way, from William Morris, the artist, designer, utopian and great Victorian fan of all things medieval.

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