Research Guides: Religion: Christianity in medieval & modern Europe

Middle Ages

Vatican Manuscripts on Byzantine-Catholic Relations
Microfilm 10553
7 reels
Printed guide: none
The Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Vatican Library) collection of Greek manuscripts include letters that were written between the Greek and Latin churches. The communications continued after the “mutual estrangement” or excommunication of 1054.

Venetian manuscripts on Byzantine-Catholic relations [microform]
Microfilm 10528
6 reels
Printed guide: none
The National Library of Venice (Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana) collection consists of 6 manuscripts written in Greek. These are communications between the Latin and Greek churches that occurred during the period of attempted reconciliation between the 2nd Council of Lyons in 1274 and the 1439 Council of Ferrara-Florence.

Mediaeval & Renaissance manuscripts at Trinity College, Dublin
Available through interlibrary loan from the Center for Research Libraries.
"This microfilm set of manuscripts includes Section I: Roman Inquisition and Section II: Secular studies." 95 reels.

Church authority and power in medieval and early modern Britain [microform]: the episcopal registers, 1215-1650
Microfilm 02786
64 reels
Printed guide: shelved at end of microforms guides
This collection consists of diocesan registers from the north of England. The reels contain four centuries of documentary evidence of the changing role of the Church in society. The registers include the ecclesiastical, legal, social and financial business transactions that were under the purview of the Archbishop. Individual matters range from the flow of money in the church to building new places of worship, dispensations, appointments and granting licenses.

[Manuscripts of the 8th to 15th centuries microform] [Hereford Cathedral Library]
5010.453
Printed guide: Firestone Microforms Z6621.H54
This collection reproduces a number of medieval manuscripts from the Hereford Cathedral Library. Includes Bibles, commentaries, sermons, and other religious and secular texts.

Westminster Cathedral. Archives, Series A [microform]
RECAP 05789.595
49 reels
Printed guide: none
This collection consists of the archived documents of the Archbishop of Westminster, and covers 1501-1792. Included are diaries, account books, registers and manuscripts of work.

Bullarum, diplomatum et privilegiorum sanctorum romanorum pontificum taurinensis editio ....
1552.696.24
9 reels
Printed guide: none
This collection of papal bulls was originally published in the 19th century, and covers 440-1740.

Ecclesiastical, court and land records in the Manchester Cathedral archives British Online Archives "Manchester Cathedral is one of only a handful of Anglican cathedrals that hold their own archives on site. Dating from 1361 to the present day, its archives cover the parish functions of both the Cathedral and its predecessor, the Collegiate Church, founded in 1421, as well as of the capitular workings of the church... materials chosen for publication include highlights from across the major collections." See also http://www.britishonlinearchives.co.uk/9781851172115.php

Reformation

Flugschriften des frühen 16. Jahrhunderts [microform]
Microfiche 793
1956 fiches
Printed guide: Firestone Microforms DD176.A2F55
The microfiche collection of about five thousand pamphlets in German or Latin originally published 1501-1530. "They are primarily concerned with the early Reformation movement and its propaganda, with the Peasants' War, the threat presented by the expansion of the Turks and with the various conflicts among the Western European countries." This collection, held in Zug, Switzerland, is written in German and in Latin.

Early Printed Bibles
Available at Princeton Theological Seminary.
"This edition of Bibles and Bible translations from the sixteenth century is quantitatively as comprehensive as possible. It contains all significant editions of Holy Scripture or of the Old Testament and New Testament in the original language, i.e., editions of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint, and the Vulgate both in the transmitted versions and in the forms which humanists and reformers revised or published in new editions .... also contains all major translations in the modern languages of Europe." About 3,500 microfiche.

Records of the Church of England during the Commonwealth period (1643-61) [microform]
Microfilm 05462
36 reels
Printed guide: Firestone Microforms BX5077.R42.
The original documents of this collection from the Church of England are primarily administrative records from the Lambeth Palace Library the Archbishops of Canterbury in London, England. Written in both Latin and English.

Papers of the York Court of High Commission, c.1560-1641 [microform]
Microfilm 09160
14 reels
Printed guide: Firestone Microforms Oversize BX5154 .E534q
The Court of High Commission heard ecclesiastical cases that had not been, or could not be, successfully addressed at a lower level. Cases include complaints about nonconformity, sexual conduct, and abuse of office by ministers. See http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/news/05090101.html

Correspondence [microform]. William King (Archbishop of Dublin)
1473.176.521
5 reels
Printed guide: none
King was Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin in the early 18th century, and an important intellectual, religious and political figure. His correspondence covers 1699 to 1729. See http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/15605.

Visitation returns from the dioceses of Canterbury and London, 17th-19th centuries [microform]
Microfilm 05453
44 reels
Printed guide: Firestone Microforms BX5107.C2V57
This collection consists of records from episcopal visitations from 1716-1815. The visitations were routine inquiries into the state of each parish, and document religious and secular life at the parish level.

French Protestant archives [microform]
Microfilm 06310
38 reels
Printed guide: shelved at end of microforms guides
This collection consists of records of the French Protestant Church in London, and cover 1560-1889. There are church records of meetings, divorces, deaths, marriages, information on the school and a register of members. Also available at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Radical reformation microfiche project. Anabaptist, Mennonite & Spiritualist Reformation
Section 1 is available through interlibrary loan from the Center for Research Libraries. The entire collection is available at Princeton Theological Seminary.
"The first part covers such topics as Anabaptism in the Low Countries and related spiritualistic movements including writings from movement representatives as well as editions of the Bible, hymn books and literature produced by martyrs. The second part concerns sources of the Radical Reformation in the German speaking regions, with the sources of Anabaptism and Spiritualism constituting the core."

Lutheran reformation: sources 1500-1650. Section 1. Germany.
Available through interlibrary loan from the Center for Research Libraries. The entire collection is also available at Princeton Theological Seminary.
"A collection of source material documenting the Lutheran Reformation in Germany, during the period 1500-1600."

Irenical Theology: Heidelberg 1583-1622
Available at Princeton Theological Seminary.
Collection of works by Heidelberg theologians from the sixteenth and early seventeenth century. 596 microfiche.

The Italian Reformation
Available at Princeton Theological Seminary.
Selective collection of material on the reformation in Italy. 428 microfiche.

Catholic reformation, including French diocesan catechisms, 1615-1900, on microfiche
Available in part through interlibrary loan from the Center for Research Libraries. Also available at Princeton Theological Seminary.
"This set includes fiche of original printed sources, many from the Bibliotheque des Fontaines of the Society of Jesus in Chantilly, France. The Center holds the sections on theology, philosophy, controversies, biographies and foreign missions. It does not hold the French diocesan catechisms." These are available at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Reformed Protestantism: Sources of the 16th and 17th Centuries
Available through interlibrary loan from the Center for Research Libraries. Also available at Princeton Theological Seminary.
"The Reformed Protestantism Sources Project is divided into five major sections which contain a combination of published and unpublished material. Both Latin and vernacular editions have been filmed, and for important theologians several editions of the same work are included." The set is organized geographically. 9,948 microfiches

Netherlands Reformed Church Archives
Available at Princeton Theological Seminary.
"Minutes, correspondence, books, lists, registers, manuscripts, psalm books, articles, accounts, and documents (dating from approximately 1560 to 1810) relating to the activities of the Netherlands Reformed Church, and, more generally, the history of the Reformation in the Netherlands and abroad. Collection also contains the minutes and deliberations of the Provincial Synods, and correspondence on the relations of the Reformed Church with churches in the Dutch East Indies, Ceylon, Pennsylvania, France, Germany, the Baltic countries, etc." 3,136 microfiche.

Modern Europe

S.P.C.K. early 18th century archives [microform]
Microfilm 01612
27 reels
Printed guide: none
Material documenting the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, an Anglican missionary agency founded in the late 17th century.

World War II Era Records of the World Council of Churches.
Available at Princeton Theological Seminary.
"Collection of documents from a section of the World Council of Churches Archives, dealing with Germany and fifteen other countries during the period 1932-1957. Documents include: newspapers, press clippings, press releases, telegrams, correspondence, minutes, manuscripts and personal notes. The bulk of the material relates to Germany and covers the issues and events of the war as well as the beginning years of the World Council of Churches." 799 microfiche

Die Kirchenkampf : the Gutteridge-Micklam collections
Available through interlibrary loan from the Center for Research Libraries.
"This set includes political and theological documents from 1930-1969 from the German Evangelic Church. Books, periodicals, reports, correspondence, memoranda, etc., relate the church's struggle against the Nazis' attempt to establish a state church." 515 fiche.

Methodist Episcopal Church Archives: Missionary Activities Archives Unbound "This collection comprises materials relating to Methodist Episcopal Missionary activities in Italy. This product comprises selections from the following microfilm collections: The Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church Annual Reports, 1819 - 1906 (all 11 reels); The Board of Foreign Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church Annual Reports, 1906 - 1916 (all 10 reels); Methodist Episcopal Church Missionary Correspondence, 1846 - 1912 (reels 9 and 11 only); and Methodist Episcopal Church Missionary Correspondence, 1915 - 1940 (reels 213 -222 only)."

Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist periodicals British Online Archives "This resource from the special collections of the Oxford Brookes University brings together the main periodicals of the Wesleyan movement, beginning with the minutes of its earliest conference in 1744 and The Arminian magazine in 1778, and continuing through to the twentieth century."