THE 'LANDS OF THE NORMANS'
IN ENGLAND (1204 - 1244)


Links

The following sites may contain useful sources of information about medieval England and Normandy.

The Anglo-American Legal Tradition

The aim of the AALT is to make the resources of the National Archives more accessible to the general scholarly audience at no charge. The website contains good quality images of legal and other documents from the National Archives, including plea rolls of the royal courts and Exchequer Memoranda rolls.

Anglo-Norman Dictionary

A key resource for the Anglo-Norman or Anglo-French dialect of Old French.

Arts and Humanities Data Service (ADHS)

AHDS History is one of the five centres of the Arts and Humanities Data Service and collects, preserves, and promotes the use of digital resources, which result from or support historical research, learning and teaching. It is accessible to anyone with an Athens account. Relevant datasets include the Historic Parishes of England, from which the parish data used in the GIS element of this project was taken, a version of the Continental Origins of English Landowners (COELS) database, an edition of Domesday and data from the Acta of the Plantagenets project about the charters of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard I and John before his accession.

British History Online

British History Online is the digital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles. Created by the Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust, it aims to support academic and personal users around the world in their learning, teaching and research. British History Online is freely available and provides access to online editions of a growing number of Victoria County History volumes.

Continental Origins of English Landowners (COELS)

The COELS project was set up in 1995 and is an early example of the use of ICT for historical research. Its main aims were to establish the succession to Domesday fees, to establish the provenance (Norman or other, including English) of the first fee-holder, and to provide a prosopographical register of all persons occurring in English administrative documents written in the century after the Norman Conquest. COELS is a commercial product. However, a version of the electronic database is now available from the AHDS. Extracts from the COELS database have been published in book form in three volumes: K. S. B. Keats-Rohan and D. E. Thornton (eds.), Domesday Names: An Index of Latin Personal and Place Names in Domesday Book (Woodbridge, 1997); K S. B. Keats-Rohan, Domesday People: A Prosopography of Persons Occurring in English Document: 1066-1166, Vol. I: Domesday Book (Woodbridge, 1999); and idem, Domesday Descendants: A Prosopography of Persons Occurring in English Document: 1066-1166, Vol. II: Pipe Rolls to Cartae Baronum (Woodbridge, 2002).

Centre de recherches archéologiques et historiques médiévales, l'Université de Caen Basse-Normandie (CRAHM)

CRAHM was founded in 1955, combining the Recherches du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and the Université de Caen Basse-Normandie. Its website is a splendid resource for the history, archaelogy, and monuments of medieval Normandy.

Documents of Early England Data Set

The DEEDS project was founded in 1975 and aimed to create a database of information culled from medieval property exchanges documents which would be of interest to social and economic historians. The dataset now contains details of more than 9,500 documents from over 190 sources. Particulary interesting is the research into using the analysis of the word-structure of a document to date medieval charters.

Henry III Fine Rolls Project

The aim of the project is to make the fine rolls of Henry III available to the widest audience possible. In addition to a full English translation of the rolls, the project website also offers a search function, high-quality images of the original rolls and commentary on particular fines. All of this is freely available online. The current project will cover the first half of the reign, from 1216 to 1248. The edition of the rolls will also be published in book form and the first volume is now available: Calendar of the Fine Rolls of the Reign of Henry III preserved in The National Archives. Volume 1: 1216-1224, P. Dryburgh, B. Hartland, A. Ciula & J. M. Vieira (eds.) (Woodbridge, 2007).

The National Archives

The National Archives is the UK government's official archive, containing 900 years of history with records ranging from parchment and paper scrolls through to digital files and archived websites. The National Archives makes open records available to all, either onsite or online, continuously developing new tools to make history tangible for everyone.

Parker Library on the web

This is an interactive, web-based workspace designed to support use and study of the manuscripts in the historic Parker Library and based on a collaboration between Corpus Christi Cambridge and Stanford University Libraries. Matthew Parker (1504-75) collected one of the most important libraries of Anglo-Saxon and medieval manuscripts. Parker Library on the Web makes available a new catalogue of the library as well as very high quality images of some of the most important manuscripts. Of particular interest is the Chronica Maiora of Matthew Paris, one of the most important sources for the history of Henry III's reign. Matthew Paris was also a skilled artist and decorated the margins of his chroniclce with numerous illustrations, some of which appear in this website.

Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England

The Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England (PASE) is a database which aims to cover all of the recorded inhabitants of England from the late sixth to the end of the eleventh century. It is based on a systematic examination of the available written sources for the period, including chronicles, saints' Lives, charters, libri vitae, inscriptions, and coins.

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