Understanding Medieval Primary Sources

Joel T. Rosenthal is Distinguished Professor Emeritus, State University of New York at Stony Brook. He has published on the social history of late medieval England, looking into such topics as old age, families, popular religion, children, and widows. He is the recent author of Margaret Paston’s Piety, (2010) and is the co-editor of Medieval Prosopography.

Introduction. Part 1: Generic Sources. 1. Royal and Secular Biography Ralph A. Griffiths 2. Vernacular Chronicles and Narrative Sources in Medieval England Lister M. Matheson 3. The Medieval Sermon: Text, Performance, and Insight Anne T. Thayer 4. Wills as Primary Sources Shona Kelly Wray and Roisin Cossar 5. Letters and Letter Collections Joel T. Rosenthal Part 2: Topical Sources. 6. Writing Military History from Narrative Sources: Norman Battlefield Tactics, ca. 1000 Bernard Bachrach 7. Historians and Inquisitors: Testimonies from the Early Inquisitions into Heretical Depravity Mark G. Pegg 8. Sources of Royal Rituals and King-Making Jinty Nelson 9. The Sources for Manorial and Rural History Philip Slavin 10. Sources for Medieval Maritime History Maryanne Kowaleski 11. The Sources of Urban History Caroline M. Barron 12. Sources for the Study of Public Health in the Medieval City Carole Rawcliffe 13. Women’s History: Sources and Issues Katherine L. French 14. Sources for Representative Institutions Hannes Kleineke Part 3.The Visual and the Material. 15. Images and Objects as Sources for Medieval History Sara Lipton 16. Archaeology and History (in the United Kingdom) David Hinton Further Reading. Index.