This section provides a subject guide to the hundreds of articles, theses, books and videos listed on our website dealing with the Middle Ages and medieval society. To make it easier for readers and researchers to find medieval resources, we have developed a subject guide that will detail the general topic and geographical tags for each article, book or video. Originally, these terms were a modified version of the International Medieval Bibliography, but as we received suggestions from our readers, we have expanded our topics.
Administration: Articles on all levels of government (central and local), including the administration of towns, territories, lordships; machinery of government, including exchequers, chanceries, courts of justice, types and methods of taxation (but for papal taxes and church dues, such as tithes SEE Ecclesiastical).
Africa: Articles for the countries Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Sudan, Ethiopia and other parts of Africa
Al-Andalus: Articles dealing with the Islamic conquest of Iberia, and the successive Islamic states in that area
Americas: Canada, the United States and other parts of North and South America
Anglo-Saxon: Articles related to the Anglo-Saxon period of English history
Archaeology: Articles dealing with archaeological methodology and techniques, theory, environmental archaeology, surveys of the archaeology of a region or county: articles analysing the dating, style, function, typology etc. of particular finds, such as ceramics, skeletons, grave-goods etc.; and reports and studies on excavations of sites, including fieldwork.
Architecture: Articles on the architectural style or features found in a wide range of buildings, both secular and religious, or on building construction and techniques generally; surveys of aspects of the architecture of a particular district or region.
Archives and Sources: Articles that study modern-day archival collections (including photographic collections); catalogues or surveys of such collections; exhibitions, conservation and restoration of such collections. For articles on medieval collections of documents, such as exchequer rolls, or books in medieval libraries SEE Charters & Diplomatics and Manuscripts respectively.
Art History: Articles on periodisation and movements, themes, symbols or iconography in various art forms, methodology, analysis of style, sources in general, patronage, contemporary criticism etc; surveys of various aspects of the art of a particular district or region; articles on the design and production of artefacts such as textiles, tapestries, embroidery, metalwork, ivory-carving, enamels, jewellery, mosaics, pavements, tiles, reliquaries, stained glass etc.; articles on paintings (including icons, altar-pieces and wall-paintings), illumination of manuscripts, book illustration, drawings and figurative representations; studies of individual painters or workshops; articles on figure-sculpture in the round or in relief, produced by carving, moulding or casting, including statues, effigies; non-figural artefacts such as crosses or capitals; individual artists and workshops.
Baltic: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
Black Death: Articles related to the Black Death plague of the mid-14th century, and further outbreaks of plague during the Later Medieval period.
Bosnia: Bosnia
Bulgaria: Bulgaria
Byzantium: Articles that dealt with the Byzantine Empire or located within its territory
Canon Law: Conciliar or synodal decrees; canonists, decretals, canonical treatises and collections.
Carolingian: Articles related to Charlemagne, his heirs, and the Carolingian empire
Caucauses: Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia
Charters and Diplomatics: Studies or editions of charters and other documents, both individual examples and in theoretical terms, also sigillography (sphragistics) and the activity of notaries.
Chaucer: Articles related to life and writings of Geoffrey Chaucer\
China: China
Croatia: Croatia
Crusades: Crusades and related military expeditions to the Holy Land and the Eastern Mediterranean, as well as the Baltic Crusades and minor crusades (e.g. Albigensian, Children’s Crusade).
Cyprus: Cyprus
Czech: Czech Republic
Daily Life: Costume, food and eating habits, games, recreations, sport, hunting, mentalities, material culture etc.
Demography: Studies of population, such as birth rates, demographic aspects of plague and disease.
Drama: Articles on all forms of drama, including liturgical drama, mystery plays, passion plays and morality plays; acting and staging of drama.
Ecclesiastical History: Articles on the institutional secular church – church administration and structure at all levels (parish, deanery, diocese, province); ecclesiastical politics; the papacy and cardinals; tithes and other church dues; councils and synods; the regulation of heresy, pilgrimage, preaching or the sacraments; schisms. For religious orders, SEE Monasticism.
Economics – General: Articles on macroeconomic issues, e.g. money supply, inflation, productivity, recession; weights and measures; economic analysis of concepts such as feudalism; economic analysis of a particular district or region.
Economics – Rural: Articles on economic activity in the countryside; agriculture, pastoralism, wine-growing; land tenure and estate managenment.
Economics – Trade: Articles on merchants, their activities; trade treaties and laws; international trade; trade-routes and shipping; local trade and finance related to trade.
Economics – Urban: Articles on economic production in towns or cities and the related structures, such as markets. Urban industries and crafts may include textile-production, butchers, shoemakers. Economic activities of guilds.
Education: Articles on universities, episcopal and monastic schools; grammar schools and lay education; students, masters, textbooks and curricula.
Egypt: Egypt
England: England, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands
Environmental: Articles related to the medieval environment, pollution, and climate change
Epigraphy: All articles on inscriptions, including graffiti, runes and ogham, as well as papyrology.
Finland: Finland
Folk Studies: Articles on traditional customs and beliefs; pre-Christian religions and mythology; paganism and superstition; divination, charms and witchcraft; popular culture and festivals. SEE Science for alchemy and astrology.
France: France (including Corsica) and the predominantly French-speaking cantons of Switzerland
Genealogy and Prosopography: Studies of individual families or dynasties; biographies; prosopographical analysis of specific social or kinship groups.
Germany: Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein and the predominantly German-speaking cantons of Switzerland
Geography: Articles on settlement studies, deserted settlements, landscape history, topography, land-use and town-planning; travel, exploration and cartography; studies of charter- and parish-boundaries
Hagiography: Articles on saints and sanctity, includy the canonisation process; miracles, cults and relics; Vitae and other records of saints’ lives.
Hebrew and Jewish Studies: Articles on all aspects of Jewish life, including the Jewish faith, conversion to and from Judaism, antijudaism and the Hebrew and Yiddish languages and literature.
Heraldry: Articles on coats of arms, armorials, liveries, flags and banners; the activities of heralds.
Historiography: Articles on medieval chronicles, annals and other historiographical texts and their authors; historical method and thought of modern scholars.
Hundred Years’ War: Articles related to the Hundred Years’ War fought between England and France during the 14th and 15th centuries
Hungary: Hungary
Iceland: Iceland
India: Indian subcontinent
Ireland: Ireland and Northern Ireland
Islam: Islamic beliefs and organized religion, including Quranic studies, the life and teachings of Muhammad, Sufism , conversion to Islam.
Italy: Italy (including Sardinia and Sicily), Malta and the Swiss canton of Ticino
Japan: Japan
Language: Articles on grammar, syntax, lexicology, lexicography, morphology, etymology, phonology and sociolinguistics of medieval languages and texts.
Law: Articles on secular law, including customary and Roman law; specific laws and legal practices. For courts of law SEE Administration.
Learning: Articles on humanism and the transmission of the learning of classical Antiquity also on revivals and renaissances of classical culture.
Literature: Articles on literary theory, discussion of genres studies of prose works of imaginative literature (or belles-lettres), studies of verse works of imaginative literature, epic, lyric (including songs and ballads).
Liturgy: Articles on liturgical rites, texts and services; vestments; hymns, sequences, antiphons and chants; prayers, liturgical calendars.
Local History: Articles studying the history of a particular place, district or region, especially when these draw on subject-matter which takes in different topic categories
Low Countries: Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands
Mamluks: Articles related to the Mamluk State that emreged in Syria and Egypt from 1250 to 1517
Manuscripts and Palaeography: Articles on codicology, scriptoria, scribes, scripts; book production and trade; medieval libraries, catalogues and booklists; literacy; antiquarian collectors and their collections. Articles on individual manuscripts will be classified under the section relevant to the work itself.
Maritime Studies: Articles on navigation, ships and shipbuilding, maritime law, piracy, sea transport.
Medicine: Articles on medical practitioners, including physicians, surgeons and dentists; health and disease, pharmacists, medical training, hospitals and hospices; medical treatises and handbooks. For herbal and other popular medicine SEE Daily Life or Folk Studies
Medievalism – Articles on how the Middle Ages is presented in modern culture. It includes films and novels with a medieval setting
Middle East: Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Kuwait, Oman, United Arab Emirates
Military History: Articles on military campaigns, battles, and sieges; theories and rules of war; strategy and tactics; recruitment and military service; castles and other defensive structures; weaponry and armour; tournaments and jousting.
Moldavia: Moldavia
Monasticism: Articles on all religious orders (male and female), including monks, canons, friars, nuns and military and hospitaller orders. For confraternities and lay religious organisations SEE Religious Life
Mongols: Articles related to Genghis Khan and the rise of the Mongol empire, including the Golden Horde, Ilkhanate, and Yuan Dynasty
Music: Articles on musical instruments, notation, musicians; musical works.
Near East: Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine
Norway: Norway
Numismatics: Articles on coins, coin-hoards, mints, moneyers; discussions of money-supply; forgery and debasement of coinage.
Onomastics: Articles on placenames and other topographical names; personal names (forenames and surnames); ethnic and tribal names.
Ottoman: Articles related to the Ottoman Empire
Philosophy: Articles on philosophers, philosophical movements and commentaries, the medieval discipline of logic or dialectic, and subjects such as epistemology and metaphysics.
Poland: Poland
Political Thought: Articles on political philosophy, medieval theories of kingship (including the genre of `advice for princes’) political order, constitutions etc. For royal or imperial elections and succession SEE Politics and Diplomacy
Politics and Diplomacy: Articles on relations between different states; parliaments and representative assemblies; the emergence of states, royal or imperial power, elections and successions.
Portugal: Portugal
Printing History: Articles on individual printers, workshops and publishing history of printed books; typography; paper, watermarks, woodcuts for printing.
Religious Life: Articles on spirituality and the practice of religion; hermits, recluses and anchorites; lay piety; mysticism and contemplation; devotional literature, pilgrimage, asceticism, lay movements such as béguines or confraternities, and the practices of heretical movements; religious activities of guilds.
Roman Empire: Articles related to the end of the Roman Empire and medieval perceptions of that period
Romania: Romania
Russia: Russian Federation, Belarus and Ukraine
Science: Articles on medieval scientific thought; mathematics, astronomy, alchemy, astrology, natural philosophy (such as zoology or botany).
Scotland: Scotland and the Orkney and Shetland Islands
Serbia: Serbia
Sermons and Preaching: Articles on vernacular and Latin sermons, homilies, preaching aids and handbooks, etc.
Social History: Articles on social and family structures, marriage and kinship patterns, social origins of popular movements, crime, law and order, sexuality etc; surveys of the society of a particular region or district.
Spain: Aragon, Castile and other Christian states in Spain
Sweden: Sweden
Syria: Syria
Teaching: Articles on teaching about the Middle Ages and Medieval Society to modern students and the general public. Includes use of multimedia materials, such as websites.
Technology: Articles on the techniques and technical aspects of mining and other industries, including weaving, metallurgy; energy and power etc.
Theology: Articles on Bible study and exegesis, speculative theology, vernacular translations and paraphrases from the Bible.
Turkey: Articles related to Turkey, but not falling into Byzantium or the Ottoman Empire
Vikings: Articles related to the activities of Norse peoples, such as attacks in Europe, and colonization in the British Isles and other areas
Wales: Wales
Women’s Studies: Studies of women; articles from a feminist perspective; misogyny and attitudes to women; women’s roles in the home, work and society.
* The geographical areas relate to modern, not medieval political boundaries, and so the modern location determines geographical field. For example, an article on eleventh-century bishops of Strasbourg would be classified under France, even though at the time Strasbourg was part of the German kingdom.