Research Guides: ENGL 237: Living with the Dead: Attitudes Towards Death in Medieval Britain (HC) Fall 2016: Finding Background Information

Finding Background Information

Take hede unto my fygure, The Disputacione betwyx the Body and the Wormes, ca. 1475-1500

British Library, Add. 37049 f. 32v. Description in Feminae.

The following sources provide overviews of ideas, people, and literary works important for the study of issues connected to death in the Middle Ages. They are a quick way to begin getting background information and to identify some current points of debate.

When using an article in an encyclopedia or handbook, always check the bibliography for further reading at the end of the article. It will provide a selective list of the books, articles, and, frequently, Web resources considered to be the most up-to-date and reliable.

Handbooks

The Cambridge Companion to Medieval English Culture by Andrew Galloway (Editor)
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ISBN: 9780521856898
Publication Date: 2011-03-24
The cultural life of England over the long period from the Norman Conquest to the Reformation was rich and varied, in ways that scholars are only now beginning to understand in detail. This Companion introduces a wide range of materials that constitute the culture, or cultures, of medieval England, across fields including political and legal history, archaeology, social history, art history, religion and the history of education.
A Companion to the Early Middle Ages by Nick Stafford; Pauline Stafford (Editor)
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ISBN: 9781405106283
Publication Date: 2009-04-20
Drawing on 28 original essays, A Companion to the Early Middle Ages takes an inclusive approach to the history of Britain and Ireland from c.500 to c.1100 to overcome artificial distinctions of modern national boundaries.
Handbook of Medieval Studies by Albrecht Classen (Editor)
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ISBN: 9783110184099
Publication Date: 2010-11-16
Overview essays on topics, terms, textual genres, and key scholars. See in particular:
"English Studies" by Robin Gilbank
" Last Wills" by Hiram Kümper
The companion title, Handbook of Medieval Culture: Fundamental Aspects and Conditions of the European Middle Ages, includes such relevant essays as: "Death", "Hell, Purgatory and Heaven" and "Illness and Death".
The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Literature in English by Elaine Treharne (Editor); Greg Walker (Editor)
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ISBN: 9780199229123
Publication Date: 2010-06-06
The Handbook contains 44 newly commissioned essays from both world-leading scholars and exciting new scholarly voices. Topics covered range from the canonical genres of Saints' lives, sermons, romance, lyric poetry, and heroic poetry; major themes including monstrosity and marginality, patronage and literary politics, manuscript studies and vernacularity are investigated; and there are close readings of key texts, such as Beowulf, Wulf and Eadwacer, and Ancrene Wisse and key authors from AElfric to Geoffrey Chaucer and the Gawain Poet.
The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Christianity by John H. Arnold (Editor)
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ISBN: 9780199582136
Publication Date: 2014-10-21
The handbook addresses topics ranging from early medieval monasticism to late medieval mysticism, from the material wealth of the Church to the spiritual exercises through which certain believers might attempt to improve their souls. It draws together thirty key scholars in the field from the United States, the UK, and Europe. See these essays in particular:
"Fear, Hope, Death, and Salvation"
"'Popular' Religious Culture(s)"
"Using Saints: Intercession, Healing, Sanctity"

Encyclopedias on the Middle Ages

Encyclopedia of Medieval Pilgrimage by Larissa Taylor (editor)
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ISBN: 9789004181298
Publication Date: 2009-11-01
The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages by Robert E. Bjork (Editor)
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ISBN: 9780198662624
Publication Date: 2010-07-29
Over 800 scholars, guided by an international advisory board of five and an international editorial board of 26, have written the over 5,000 entries, and these entries have been lavishly supplemented by more than 500 illustrations and 50 maps. Each entry contains a brief bibliography. Distinguishing this research resource are its balanced coverage of both the whole geographical extent of the European Middle Ages and sixteen major topics centrally important to the study of the period.
Women and Gender in Medieval Europe by Margaret C. Schaus (Editor)
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ISBN: 0415969441
Publication Date: 2006-09-01

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