Medieval historians rely on primary and secondary sources to reconstruct the past. Primary sources, like manuscripts and artifacts, offer direct evidence from the Middle Ages. Secondary sources, such as scholarly books, interpret and analyze these materials to provide broader context and understanding.

Evaluating sources is crucial for accurate historical analysis. Primary sources have limitations, including bias and incomplete preservation. Secondary sources synthesize information but may reflect modern perspectives. Both types are essential for a comprehensive study of medieval history.

Primary vs Secondary Sources

Distinguishing Primary and Secondary Sources

• Primary sources provide direct or firsthand evidence about an event, object, person, or work of art from the time period under study
  • Created by witnesses or recorders who experienced the events or conditions being documented
• Secondary sources are one step removed from primary sources and often based on them
  • Accounts or interpretations of events created by someone without firsthand experience
  • Offer an analysis or restatement of primary sources
• Primary sources for medieval history include documents, artifacts, or other sources of information created during the Middle Ages (manuscripts, artworks, architecture)
• Secondary sources are later scholarly works that discuss, interpret or analyze medieval times based on primary sources (books, articles, reference works)

Strengths and Limitations of Primary Sources

• Provide direct insight into medieval thought, events and daily life
• Subject to biases, errors, and limitations
  • Reflect perspectives of literate elites, excluding illiterate and lower class viewpoints
  • Contain errors in transmission or survive only in fragments
  • Represent a narrow slice of society
  • Degradation over time
  • Require interpretation due to symbolism or artistic license
• Linguistic barriers of Latin or vernacular languages
• Restricted authorship, mostly by male clergy
• Limited survival and preservation of sources from the period

Primary Source Types

Manuscripts

• Handwritten documents from the medieval period
  • Religious texts, literary works, historical chronicles, legal documents, personal letters or diaries
• Notable examples include illuminated manuscripts
  • Book of Kells
  • Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry
• Provide direct insight into medieval thought and events
• May reflect biases of literate elites and contain errors in transmission

Artworks and Artifacts

• Objects created during the Middle Ages that provide insight into culture, religion and daily life
  • Paintings, sculptures, metalwork, textiles
• Key examples:
  • Bayeux Tapestry
  • Reliquaries
• Give visual and material evidence of medieval culture and practices
• Subject to artistic license, symbolism requiring interpretation, or degradation over time

Architecture and Archaeology

• Physical remains that supply evidence of the environment and living conditions in medieval societies
  • Castles, cathedrals, monasteries, burials, ruins
• Famous sites:
  • Notre-Dame de Paris
  • Tintagel Castle
• Provide durable remains of the medieval built environment and objects
• Costly and time-consuming to uncover, may be found incomplete
• Require expertise to date and interpret their use and meaning

Oral Traditions

• Songs, poems, legends and folktales passed down over generations
  • Offer a window into medieval culture, values and beliefs
• Notable examples:
  • Icelandic sagas
  • Song of Roland
• Capture popular culture and values of medieval societies
• Subject to embellishment or alteration in retelling, may blend fact and fiction
• Difficult to precisely date or attribute to an original author

Primary Source Evaluation

Authorship and Perspective

• Consider who created the source and their point of view
  • Most surviving sources authored by literate male elites like clergy
  • May exclude perspectives of women, lower classes, and non-Christians
• Assess potential biases, agendas or blind spots of the creator
  • Purpose and intended audience shape content

Survival and Transmission

• Many medieval sources have been lost over time due to decay or destruction
  • Surviving sources may not be representative of all that once existed
• Copying of manuscripts introduces the possibility of errors or alterations
  • Compare multiple versions to identify discrepancies
• Linguistic barriers require translation of Latin and vernacular languages
  • Meaning can be lost or changed in translation

Interpretation and Context

• Symbolism and conventions of medieval art require decoding to understand meaning
  • Consult secondary sources for analysis of artistic style and iconography
• Literary works may blend fact and fiction or use rhetorical devices
  • Corroborate with other sources to separate truth from embellishment
• Archaeological remains and artifacts require dating and reconstruction of use
  • Utilize scientific techniques and comparative analysis with known objects
• Oral traditions can evolve over time and mix historical and legendary elements
  • Trace development and variations of stories through different versions

Secondary Sources in Medieval History

Scholarly Books and Articles

• Historians piece together primary sources with analysis and arguments
  • Reconstruct narrative of medieval events, cultures and individuals in accessible form
• Shaped by the author's methods, interpretations and potential biases
  • Critically evaluate the scholar's approach and compare with other works
• Provide comprehensive treatment of a topic or period
  • Offer bibliography of primary and secondary sources for further research

Academic Journals and Debates

• Publish shorter, focused studies on specific questions or themes
  • Offer insight into scholarly debates and trends in medieval research
• Review new publications and developments in the field
  • Useful for identifying most current and authoritative works on a topic
• Showcase a range of historical methods and theoretical approaches
  • Demonstrate how different frameworks shape interpretation of medieval past

Reference Works and Textbooks

• Encyclopedias, dictionaries, and atlases gather background information
  • Provide overview of key events, figures, places and concepts
  • Summarize and synthesize information from many primary and secondary sources
• Textbooks introduce major themes and model historical skills
  • Combine excerpts of primary sources with summaries of secondary scholarship
  • Designed for students new to the study of the Middle Ages
• Offer a starting point for research and learning
  • Lead to more in-depth sources in bibliographies and citations

Digital Resources and Tools

• Online collections make primary sources widely accessible
  • Provide high-quality images and transcriptions of manuscripts and objects
  • Allow keyword searching and side-by-side comparison
  • Notable examples: Digital Scriptorium, Bibliotheca Augustana
• Databases and digital humanities projects enable new research approaches
  • Aggregate data for quantitative and spatial analysis, data visualization
  • Notable examples: Medieval Digital Resources, Mapping Gothic France
• Digitized versions of print secondary sources expand access
  • Books, articles, dissertations and reference works in online repositories
  • Searchable and hyperlinked for navigation