Using Medieval Latin: A Toolbox of Resources
by Carol D. Lanham

[updated 17 June 1999]

A Bibliography of Research Aids—Overview

This bibliography is divided into five sections; entries are alphabetized within each section, according to the common or “shorthand” form of reference if one exists.

• Bibliography and General Reference
• Dictionaries / Word and Concept Studies
• Language and Style
• Literary History and Criticism / Nachleben
• Supplement: Some Computer-based Resources

Its contents reflect my own experience. As a graduate student, I took a standard set of courses in Greek and Latin, plus a concentration in medieval Latin. When I embarked on a dissertation exploring how salutation formulas in Latin letters had developed from the simple classical “salutem” to the elaborate phrases popular in the twelfth century, my first task was to locate relevant source materials covering a time-span of some 1,400 years. You might think that I had a good headstart, since my texts—once I found them—would all be in Latin, after all, and I did have linguistic training specifically in medieval Latin. On the other hand, I knew very little about bibliographical aids to research in medieval studies, and had never even thought to take a course in medieval history. So I had to spend an enormous amount of time finding my way, in hit-or-miss fashion, to the many collections of primary texts that included letters, and to the various guides to secondary bibliography. When I finally was able to take a course in resources for the study of medieval history, it proved immensely valuable, and I was really appalled to see how much time I could have saved if I had gone exploring outside of the classics department sooner.

Subsequently, I found that there exist people who have the mirror image of my problem: Whereas I as a medieval Latinist need a working knowledge of the resources for studying medieval history but will never be “a historian,” they have mastered Old English or the French fabliaux or the terminology and literature of Romanesque enamelwork, but cannot use medieval Latin source materials with confidence and do not know where to find help for linguistic problems. It is primarily for such students, but also for classicists who have little or no training in medieval Latin, that I assembled this bibliography. First, some caveats.

• Above all, it is selective and arbitrary. (Indeed, I have in reserve another dozen titles by which I would begin to enlarge it.) The common denominator is Latin—and the fact that I have, at one time or another and to a greater or lesser degree, used every item listed in the first four sections.
• Because scholarship in medieval studies is markedly international, I include works in languages other than English—especially German. (A word of caution here: In French sources, “le haut moyen Age” means not the “high” but the early Middle Ages.)
• It includes works not limited to Latin philology, or even to the Middle Ages; you’ll see titles pertaining to classical antiquity, since we often have to start there and work forward, or work back to antiquity in search of roots.
• But it excludes works devoted to specific fields, such as diplomatics or philosophy, even if they are linguistically oriented. You will know what field-specific bibliographical guides are available to help you. I concentrate on how to cope with the Latin, regardless of the nature of your source material.
• Finally, please forgive my failure to give every last bibliographical detail in standard citation style; I believe I’ve given enough information to locate each item.