Finding primary sources - HIS 400 - S07 Privilege and Power: Elites in Premodern Europe [Fall 2020]

The source-driven junior paper

Often, the best work arises from close engagement with a primary source. As you read, you'll think of questions or begin to shape an argument. The hard part is to find a primary source that addresses the broad general area of interest. Here are some strategies for finding primary sources:

Check the footnotes, endnotes and bibliography of a good academic book on your topic.
Use the word sources as a keyword when searching the Main Catalog.
Consult the subject guides at http://libguides.princeton.edu
Consult the Bibliography of English translations from medieval sources.
Search the finding aids for collections in Special Collections.

Some ideas

Early English Books Online This link opens in a new window
Contains page images of virtually every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America and works in English printed elsewhere from 1473–1700. Based upon the Pollard and Redgrave Short Title Catalogue (1475-1640) and the Wing Short-Title Catalogue (1641-1700).
Early European Books This link opens in a new window
Traces the history of printing in Europe from its origins through to the close of the 17th century, offering full-color, high-resolution facsimile images of rare and hard-to-access printed sources.
Loeb Classical Library This link opens in a new window
Online access to all of the in print volumes of this major series of Greek and Latin texts with facing translations.
Medieval family life: the Paston, Cely, Plumpton, Stonor and Armburgh papers This link opens in a new window
Contains full-color images of the original medieval manuscripts that comprise the Paston, Cely, Plumpton, Stonor, and Armburgh family letter collections, along with full-text searchable transcripts from printed editions. Also includes family trees, chronology, a map, and a glossary.
Medieval Travel Writing This link opens in a new window
Digital edition of manuscripts of some of the most important works of European travel writing from the later medieval period.
British History Online This link opens in a new window
Digital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles.

Internet Medieval Sourcebook
Toronto medieval texts and translations
I Tatti Renaissance library
Epistolae: Medieval Women's Letters
Epistolae is a collection of medieval Latin letters to and from women. The letters collected here date from the 4th to the 13th centuries, and they are presented in their original Latin as well as in English translation.

Medieval British and European History

Medieval & early modern Britain (to 1800)
Medieval and early modern Europe
History of women, gender & sexuality
British Parliamentary Papers
Finding British government documents at Princeton
Legal research for historians: Great Britain