Medieval Studies

The Middle Ages are generally defined as a period of European and Mediterranean history covering, roughly, the thousand years between 500 and 1500 C.E., although the term has been applied also to other parts of the world for roughly the same period. The Medieval Studies Program at Brown is an interdisciplinary undergraduate program with faculty participation from many departments.  The Program also aims to support activities for graduate students who work on the medieval period in these various departments. 

This guide aims to provide an entry into various resources that Brown has to offer in medieval studies, as well as links to other resources that may be available.   If your research has a particular disciplinary focus, it may also be helpful to consult the guide for that discipline (e.g., History of Art & Architecture, Religious Studies, Philosophy, Music, Classics (for Latin or Greek), the various vernacular literatures, etc.) 

This guide is primarily organized around the types of resources you might use in the course of your research: reference sources, secondary sources, and primary sources. There is also a "Special Topics" section containing additional research material.

• Reference sources - These sources provide important background and contextual information on your subject. Reference sources include bibliographies, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and handbooks. A reference source usually provides an overview of a topic without arguing for a specific perspective on the topic. You can use this type of source to help narrow your research topic, find data to support your thesis, and identify keywords and main ideas to use as search terms.
• Secondary sources - These sources provide in-depth information on a topic while also arguing for a specific perspective on the topic. Secondary sources include scholarly articles, books, and podcasts. Secondary sources are useful for in-depth analysis of your topic and for learning about scholarly perspectives on your topic.
• Primary sources - These sources provide the raw data for your topic. Primary sources may include artwork, correspondence, diaries, interviews, literary texts, material artifacts, newspapers, speeches, statistics, and videos. Primary sources are useful for providing evidence on your topic.