The research collections in the subject field of medieval history are extraordinarily rich within the Bodleian Library and the University of Oxford. Altogether they amount to the most extensive of their kind for any university or higher education establishment in the British Isles, and constitute one of the world’s finest collections in this subject area.

The Western Manuscripts section of the Bodleian Library holds the second largest collection in Britain, with items ranging in date from papyri of the 3 rd century B.C. to correspondence and papers of the present. However, one of its particular strengths are medieval manuscripts, especially chronicles, saints’ lives and muniments. Furthermore, several Oxford colleges, such as Christ Church, have deposited their medieval muniments in the Bodleian Library.

Among the great donations (Laud, Selden, Rawlinson, Tanner, Barlow, Douce, Savile, etc.) can be found the ‘Peterborough Chronicle’, important manuscripts of Irish medieval chronicles (e.g. Annals of Innisfallen, Annals of Ulster), the oldest surviving manuscript of the Old English version of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History and an early manuscript of Higden’s Polychronicon. Also present are large numbers of medieval monastic deeds and rolls, and medieval astronomical and mathematical texts. Manuscripts of continental provenance contribute substantially to Oxford’s rich archival collections on medieval history. For instance, among the principal collections for the study of medieval German is the Junius Collection, which includes several important manuscripts from German and Austrian monastic libraries.

For further details, see Bodleian Library’s Department of Special Collections and Western Manuscripts and its online catalogue of Western Manuscripts.

Also held in the Library are more than 6,700 incunabula representing approximately 5,600 different editions, the second largest collection of incunabula in the British Isles, after that of the British Library in London .

The collections of modern printed books and periodicals about medieval history are particularly strong in publications from the British Isles, largely thanks to the Legal Deposit regulations. However, the Bodleian Library also actively purchases titles relating to medieval history of Europe and has significant holdings in all the major Western European languages. Special attention is also paid to individual topics, such as ecclesiastical history, the crusades, Byzantine history, palaeography and diplomatics.

Electronic resources

Oxford University Library Services (OULS) provides access to a growing collection of electronic resources via its resource discovery tool OxLIP+. These range from online databases and CD-ROMs to electronic journals. In addition to subscriptions to major bibliographical databases, such as Historical Abstracts, Royal Historical Society Bibliography, Dictionary of National Biography, Cambridge Histories Online, Oxford Reference Online, Blackwell Reference Online, etc. and electronic journals, other major electronic subscriptions relevant to medieval history include:

• Domesday Explorer
• International Medieval Bibliography
• Lexikon des Mitteralters
• The English Reports 1220-1865
• Fontes Anglo-Saxonici
• History of Parliament 1386-1820
• Iter – Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance
• MedievalSources online
• Medieval Travel Writing
• Middle English Compendium
• Monumenta Germaniae Historica
• Parliament Rolls of Medieval England (PROME)
• Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire
• Regesta Imperii
• Ut per litteras apostolicas – Papal Letters
• Utrecht Psalter

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