Cornell University Cornell University Library Guides - HIST 1180: Viking America (Spring 2009)

Useful Tips

Browse footnotes and bibliographies of books and articles for information about primary sources.

Search the Library Catalog for primary sources--both unpublished manuscripts and modern editions in print and online, sometimes in translation, of original primary medieval sources. Use the guided keyword search with such terms as sources Vikings as subject words.

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Find Primary Sources

Primary Sources in English Translation
Finding and using primary sources for the Middles Ages is particularly challenging, and the definition of primary source can be quite different than, for instance, that for twentieth century US history. When in doubt, consult your professor or TA.

Be prepared, you may find the best sources have never been translated from Latin (or Greek), or that translations exist in languages other than English.

ORB provides a selection of excerpts of sources translated into English full-text online arranged chronologically and geographically. Better editions are generally available in published book form.

Internet Medieval Sourcebook is helpful for getting a sense of the types of medieval sources and for bibliography.

Ferguson, Mary Anne. Bibliography of English translations from medieval sources, 1943-1967. New York, Columbia University Press, 1974. (Olin Library Room 404 and Olin Reference Z6517 .F35) and Bibliography of English translations from medieval sources, by Clarissa P. Farrar and Austin P. Evans. New York, Columbia University Press, 1946. (Olin Library Room 404 and Olin Reference Z6517 .F24). These guides are quite outdated and superseded and must be used with caution, but they can still be useful on occasion, especially for brief works (a single letter or poem) or excerpts of longer works contained within books or articles.

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