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

[updated 17 June 1999]

Bibliography and General Reference

Here I’ve included some general references because they contain good information (in particular, up-to-date bibliography) on authors who wrote in Latin.

Classical World (6 issues/year).

Occasionally publishes critical retrospective bibliographies that may be of interest to medievalists. See, most recently, Herbert W. Benario, “Recent Work on Tacitus, 1984–1993,” CW 89 (1995/96) 91–162. Some others: D. T. Benediktson, “A Survey of Suetonius Scholarship, 1938–1987,” CW 86 (1992/93) 377–447; James H. Dee, “A Survey of Recent Bibliographies of Classical Literature,” CW 73 (1979/80) 275–290, covering publications since 1945; and Thomas P. Halton and Robert D. Sider, “A Decade of Patristic Scholarship, 1970–1979,” CW 76 (1982/83) 65–127, 313–383.

Clavis patrum latinorum [CPL]. E. Dekkers. 2nd ed. 1961; 3rd ed. Turnhout 1995. 968 pp.

For Christian Latin authors from Tertullian to Bede (d. 735), a valuable “key” to verifying authorship (for example, the actual authors of many sermons attributed to St. Augustine are identified) and locating editions and manuscript studies; only material bearing on the establishment of the text is covered, not critical studies. In order to keep the second edition’s numbering scheme, items new to the third edition have a letter following the number, e.g. 262a for the letters of St. Augustine first published in 1983. Because it is organized by a combination of geography and chronology, consult first the Index nominum et operum if you seek information about a specific author or text.

To give you an idea of how this works, entry numbers 250–386 cover St. Augustine, including a large number of spurious works attributed to him in the Middle Ages. If you are interested in De civitate Dei, for example, the Index nominum et operum will direct you to number 313; there, the Corpus Christianorum edition is listed first, with marginal cross-references to editions in the other two major series of Christian authors, PL and CSEL; secondary bibliography on manuscript studies and emendations follows. Number 368 lists dozens of spurious sermons, by their numbers in PL 39 and with the name of the actual author (or other information). If you are limited to working with a PL edition of any author writing before 700, it is therefore wise to check the Clavis before you draw any conclusions about your text—someone else may have written it, 300 years later.

Dictionary of the Middle Ages. 13 vols. New York 1982–89.

The largest and most up-to-date encyclopedic reference work in English, but of uneven quality. Vol. 13 contains the analytical Index; note the 7-page “accessus” outlining the conventions used for indexing.

Garland has started a series of one-volume “encyclopedias of the Middle Ages,” each devoted to a single country. Medieval England, Medieval France, and Medieval Scandinavia are out; Medieval Italy is supposedly in the pipeline.

Encyclopedia of Early Christianity. Ed. Everett Ferguson et al. 2nd ed. 2 vols. New York 1997.

To the seventh century. Contains 1,245 entries by 167 scholars. Whereas the first edition (1990) helpfully included the volume numbers of text editions in series such as PL and CC, the second edition merely cross-references authors and texts to their numbers in Clavis patrum latinorum and its Greek equivalent, Clavis patrum graecorum. Excellent secondary bibliography; index.

A larger, almost as current, rival is Encyclopedia of the Early Church, ed. Angelo di Berardino, trans. from Italian by Adrian Walford (2 vols. New York 1992). It covers the first eight centuries of Christianity in approximately 2,300 entries prepared by 167 scholars from 17 countries. Good bibliographies, updated to 1991. Maps, illustrations, and index in vol. 2.

Gnomon (Kritische Zeitschrift für die gesamte klassische Altertumswissenschaft). 8 issues/year.

Chiefly book reviews—most but not all in German—but every other issue has truly current bibliography, arranged by subject areas, including articles in periodicals and multi-author volumes and Christian authors as late as Bede. Don’t shy away from Gnomon just because your German is weak: Its coverage is international, extensive, and as up-to-the-minute as a printed source can be.

Lexikon des Mittelalters. 9 vols. Munich 1977–98.

Covers ca. 300–1500. Lengthy articles on major topics and figures; bibliography; extensive cross-references. Vol. 9 includes genealogical tables; a list of the broader articles (“Auswahl übergreifender Sachartikel”); cross-references for a selection of persons, places, and things that either are not treated separately or are entered under different headings (e.g. Channel Islands, entered as Kanalinseln); and errata.

The same publisher’s one-volume Lexikon der Alten Welt (1965; rpt. 1990) includes the early Middle Ages.

Medieval Latin: An Introduction and Bibliographical Guide. Ed. F. A. C. Mantello and A. G. Rigg. Washington, D.C. 1996.

Almost 800 pages of meaty, but mostly brief, essays + bibliography, each written by an expert on the subject. Its four main sections are: reference and research tools, medieval Latin philology, varieties of medieval Latinity (38 of them, ranging from agriculture through music to zoology), and varieties of medieval Latin literature (e.g. hagiography, epic, sermons). The organizational schema for cross-referencing bibliographical items is complex but efficient and thorough. An outstanding resource!

Medioevo latino (Bollettino bibliografico della cultura europea dal secolo VI al XIII). Annual, 1980– . Sponsored by the Società Internazionale per lo Studio del Medioevo Latino <http://sismel.meri.unifi.it>.

The primary resource for current (i.e. about two years behind the date of publication) bibliography from 1978 on, worldwide, for the period A.D. 500–1500. Modeled on L’année philologique, which surveys classical antiquity, Medioevo latino provides numbered, annotated entries, with thorough cross-references, for books (and reviews of them), journal articles, and the contents of conference-proceedings volumes, essay collections, and Festschriften (the last three usually difficult to access). Vol. 19 (1998) contains 12,629 entries. Manuscript, geographical, and author indexes.

Run, do not walk, to this treasure trove—it’s the fundamental bibliographical resource for medieval Latin studies. Vastly superior in its organization and ease of use to the International Medieval Bibliography (published semiannually by the International Medieval Institute at the University of Leeds), which I have not included because it is organized exclusively by subject, does not cover monographs, and embraces vernacular languages as well as Latin.

Medioevo latino is being converted to CD-ROM format; the first release includes vols. 1–10 (1980–89) and 17 (1996). The IMB is also being issued on CD-ROM, by Brepols. For our purposes, Medioevo latino will still hold the advantage.

Orbis latinus. Rev. ed. Helmut Plechl. 3 vols. Braunschweig 1972.

Latin place names and their modern equivalents; also, Latin names for modern places. Use the one-volume Orbis latinus (4th ed. 1971) if you know the modern name (e.g. York) but need its Latin equivalent (Eburacum).

Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2nd ed. F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone. Oxford 1974; reprinted with corrections 1983. 3rd ed. E. A. Livingstone. Oxford 1997.

Much broader in scope than its title suggests; entries include bibliography. For our purposes, the third edition is an improvement over the second chiefly for its updated bibliography. A Concise ODCC (1978) is available in paperback.

“Pauly-Wissowa.” Paulys Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft. 34 vols. (1894–1972) + 15 supplement vols. (1903–78).

Abbreviated RE or PW. A monument to deutsche Gründlichkeit (for example, Julius Victor the [4th c.?] rhetorician is Julius no. 532 of 539 Julii), its coverage extends into the sixth century. For tips on navigating the whole, see the introduction to Index to the Supplements and Supplement Volumes of “Pauly-Wissowa’s” R.E., by John P. Murphy, S.J. (Chicago 1976); use that and the Register der Nachträge und Supplemente (1980) to control the supplement volumes, since each one covers the entire alphabet.

Der Neue Pauly, of which I have seen only an announcement, is about a third of the way through publishing what sounds like a thorough reworking of PW. Volumes 1–12 will cover classical antiquity; vols. 13–15 will treat its afterlife—sorry, but English has no better word for Nachleben or Rezeptionsgeschichte—and modern research on antiquity, right up to the new millennium (“bis zu unserer Jahrtausendwende”). Meanwhile, Der Kleine Pauly (5 vols. 1964–75), a condensed and updated version of PW, may be consulted for its bibliography and Nachträge to PW at the end of each volume.

Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum. Stuttgart 1950– , + supplements.

Fascicle 3 of vol. 19 (1998) ends in “Jünger.” Supplements contain both additional articles and updates; the first one, for example, has a long article on an important topic, “Africa—literaturgeschichtlich.”

“Strecker-Palmer.” Introduction to Medieval Latin. Karl Strecker; trans. and rev. Robert B. Palmer. Dublin and Zurich 1957 (6th printing 1971).

A compact, judicious, and remarkably comprehensive survey of the major topics and problems. Later printings have additions, through 1961, pp. 161 ff. Paperback (listed as available in 1998/99 German Books in Print). If you should see a secondhand copy for sale, snap it up.

Typologie des sources du Moyen Âge occidental. Turnhout 1972– .

From the publisher’s catalog: “Typology is that analysis which seeks to establish the particular character of each of the various kinds of evidence (Gattungsgeschichte), as well as the principles of interpretation which are peculiar to that genre.… It should help the historian not to conclude too little or too much from a given genre’s evidence.… The project covers the period from 500 to 1500 A.D., and encompasses those documents produced in the Latin West and Arabic Spain.” Excellent for orientation, because each fascicle is sharply focused on a precisely defined genre—genealogies, canon collections, martyrologies, inscriptions, letters and letter collections, hymns, etc. Almost 80 fascicles, each prepared by an expert or experts in its subject, have been published; updates to most of the first 39 appeared in a 1985 supplement volume.

An efficient way to orient yourself in a new area. The examples I give all concern texts, but other fields treated include dendrochronology, maps, fossil pollens, and numismatics.