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Internet Medieval Sourcebook

Full Text Sources

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.
  • 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].

  1. Council of Nicaea I : 325 A.D., with Catholic Encyclopedia article 
  2. Council of Constantinople I : 381 A.D.  
  3. Council of Ephesus : 431 A.D.  
  4. Council of Chalcedon : 451 A.D.  
  5. Council of Constantinople II : 553 AD  
  6. Council of Constantinople III : 680-681 A.D.  
  7. Council of Nicaea II : 787 A.D. ,  - with Catholic Encylopedia article 
    Cf. Nicea II 753 (Iconcolast Synod)
  8. Council of Constantinople IV : 869-870 A.D. 
  9. Lateran Council I : 1123 A.D. 
  10. Lateran Council II : 1139 A.D. 
  11. Lateran Council III : 1179 A.D. 
  12. Lateran Council IV : 1215 A.D. 
  13. Council of Lyons 1 : 1245 A.D. 
  14. Council of Lyons 2 : 1274 A.D. 
  15. Council of Vienne : 1311-12 A.D. 
  16. Council of Constance 1414-18 A.D.  
  17. Council of Basel-Ferrara-Florence : 1431-1435 A.D.  See also Catholic Encyclopedia: Council of Basel
  18. Lateran Council V : 1512-17 A.D.  See also Catholic Encyclopedia: Fifth Lateran Council
  19. Council of Trent : 1545-63 A.D. [at Hanover College - this is public domain]. Also a Zipped version [At EWTN]
  20. Vatican Council I : 1869 AD  
  21. Vatican Council 2: Index [Text version - at RCNET]
    Vatican Council 2: Index [HTML versions - at EWTN]



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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)
  • WEB 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.
  • 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

POST NICENE: GREEK FATHERS

POST NICENE: LATIN FATHERS



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LATE ANTIQUITY 



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BYZANTIUM 

  • See Greek Fathers above
  • Cosmas Indicopleustes: Christian Topography 
  • Procopius of Caesarea: Secret History 
  • Liutprand of Cremona: Report on Mission to Constantinople, 963 
  • Corpus Cyrillo-Methodianum Helsingiense, An Electronic Corpus of Old Church Slavonic Texts, [At Helsinki.fi]
  • Armenian/Georgian Historical Resources Site, various full text translations by Robert Bedrosian.
    • P'awstos Buzandac'i'. History of the Armenians, 5th century, full text, trans. Robert Bedrosian, [At Arm. Hist. Resources]
    • Ghazar P'arbec'i'. History of the Armenians, 5th century, full text, trans. Robert Bedrosian, At [Arm. Hist. Resources]
    • Sebeos: History, 7th century, full text, trans. Robert Bedrosian, [At Arm. Hist. Resources] [this is the first of a series of files].
    • John Mamikonean: History of Taron, 10th century, full text, trans. Robert Bedrosian, [At Arm. Hist. Resources] [this is the first of a series of files].
    • Aristakes Lastivertc'i': History, 11th-century, full text, trans. Robert Bedrosian, [At Arm. Hist. Resources]
    • The Georgian Chronicle, 12-13th century, full text, trans. Robert Bedrosian, [At Arm. Hist. Resources][this is the first of a series of files].
    • Kirakos Gandzakets'i': History of the Armenians, 13th-century, full text, trans. Robert Bedrosian, [At Arm. Hist. Resources] [this is the first of a series of files].
    • T'ovma Metsobets'i': History of Tamerlane and His Successors , full text, trans. Robert Bedrosian, [At Arm. Hist. Resources] [this is the first of a series of files].
  • Michael Psellus (1018-after 1078): Chronographia, full text.
    The history of the Roman Empire 976-1078 by one of the liveliest writers of the middle ages.
  • Anna Comnena (1093-after 1148): The Alexiad. full text
    The account of her father, the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I, by Princess Anna Comnena is perhaps the most important historical work by a woman writer written before the modern period.
  • 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.
  • Byzantine Commonwealth
    • Daniel (1106-1107): The Pilgrimage of the Russian Abbot Daniel in the Holy Land, 1106-1107 A.D., annotated by Sir C. W.Wislon (London, 1895) [At Traveling to Jerusalem/U Sth Colorado]
    • Bar Sauma (c. 1278-1313):  The Monk of Kublai Khan, Emperor of China; or The History of the Life and Travels of Rabban Sawma, Envoy and Plenipotentiary of the Mongol Khans to the Kings of Europe and Markos who as Yahbh-Allaha III Became Patriarch of the Nestorian Church. Translated by E.A. Wallis Budge,   London: The Religious Track Society, 1928.  [At Traveling to Jerusalem/U Sth Colorado]


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ISLAM 

Religious Texts

  • Qu'ran, Part I, and Part II, translated by E.H. Palmer, Full text [At Sacred Texts]
  • The Holy Qur'an, trans. M.H. Shakir,  Full text [At CMU]
  • The Qu'ran, trans.  Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din Al-Hilali, [At The Noble Qu'ran]. This is an English translation endorsed by the Saudi government. Includes Arabic commentary by Ibn Katheer, Tabari, and Qurtubi. See also Catholic Encyclopedia: KORAN
  • The Qu'ran, translated Maulvi Sher Ali, Full Text [At Al Islam]
  • The Qu'ran in Arabic script with audio recitation, Full Text,  [At IslamiCity]
  • The Quran: Three Versions Side By Side [At USC-MSA]
    Contains Yusuf Ali, Pickthall and Shakir's versions side by side for each sura.
  • See also the Sunnah and Hadith page with links to texts of various Hadith Collections.
  • Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (1058-1111 CE): Munkidh min al-Dalal (Confessions, or  Deliverance from Error), c. 1100 CE

Literary and Historiographical Texts

  • Al Hariri of Basrah (446-516 A.H./1054-1122 CE): Maqamat, (The Assemblies), c. 1100 CE, 12 of the 50 "assemblies".
  • The 1001 Nights- Burton Translation 
  • Omar Khayyam (d. 1123 CE): The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (first edition), trans. by Edward FitzGerald (page images [At Virginia]
  • Omar Khayyam: The Rubiayat, c. 1120 CE, trans. Edward Fitgerald.
  • Omar Khayyam (d. 1123 CE): The Rubaiyat, c. 1120
    This is not the famous translation by Edward Fitgerald, but a more complete version by   E. H. Whinfield.
  • Sa'di (1184-1292 CE): Gulistan, 1258 CE, Full text, in short sections. [At MIT]
  • Sa'di (1184-1292 CE): Gulistan, 1258 CE, Full text of Persian prose/poetry text with significant homoerotic content
  • Sa'di (1184-1292): The Gulistan, c. 1256 CE. another translation.
  • Sa'di (1184-1292 CE): The Bustan
  • Sheikh Nefzaoui: The Perfumed Garden, 11th century CE/c. A.H 925, translated by Sir Richard Burton , in chapter files, full text, [At Bibliomania]
    A guide to sex by a Tunisian writer of the 16th century. Does not discuss male homosexuality, but does discuss Lesbianism (in chap. 20).
  • Alpamysh, a Central Asian, Turkic epic, [At ukc.ac.uk] and here [At Kansas]
    Full text of H.B. Paksoy, ALPAMYSH Central Asian Identity under Russian Rule (Hartford, Connecticut: AACAR, 1989), including translation
  • Nasir-i-Khusraw (1046-1052): Book of Travels (Safarnama) [At Traveling to Jerusalem/U Sth Colorado]



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MONASTICISM 



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HISTORIOGRAPHY



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MODERN HISTORIOGRAPHY



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LITERARY TEXTS 

Latin

French

Italian

Spanish/Portuguese

Celtic

German

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:
    • 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.

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.

Contents

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