xternal Resources

A project to bring academic and popular e-journals concerning various aspects of the martial arts and sciences, both east and west, to the web. A collection of online articles submitted and categorized into one of four areas: Combative Sport, Western Martial Art, Non-lethal Combatives and Theatrical Combatives. For information on submitting an article, or for more info, click
 

Creating French Culture: Treasures from the Bibliothéque Nationale de France traces the history of the relationship between power and culture from Charlemagne (b. 742?-d. 814) to Charles de Gaulle (b. 1890-d. 1970), through the prism of more than 200 magnificent "treasures" on loan from the Bibliothéque Nationale de France in Paris. The Bibliothéque's generous collaboration has made possible a unique exhibition which includes many items never before seen outside of France. The choice of items was dictated as much by their historical importance as by their artistic value in the hope that they will provide insight into, and spark curiosity about, the complex history of the United States' oldest ally.

A fantastic collection of digitized images of works by individuals including, but not limited to Jean Froissart (circa 1337-circa 1404) who is is best remembered as a historian and as the author of the Chronicle, a document that is essential to an understanding of Europe in the fourteenth century and to the twists and turns taken by the Hundred Years' War. Froissart's constant travels took him to the four corners of Europe and placed him in direct contact with a variety of courtly circles, all very well versed in the political affairs of the day. And by another writer by the name of Primat, a monk of Saint-Denis, who had presented his works (Roman des Rois (Romance of the Kings)) to Philip III the Bold in 1274 which formed the basis of the Grandes Chroniques de France into 1461. Other collections include the works by John of Berry's Petites Heures, containing five books of hours which he commissioned for his personal use from about 1375 until his death in 1416, and which are numbered among the masterpieces of French, indeed European manuscript painting from the late Middle Ages.

The Early Manuscripts Project has created an excellent collection of high-resolution digital facsimiles of complete manuscripts scanned directly from the originals and available online. Although, not presently oriented towards combat and martial arts, it deserves mentioned due to the opportunity of viewing these ancient documents online. Currently, many of the Celtic manuscripts held by the Oxford Libraries are available here, but the project will eventually include broader range of manuscripts held by the Oxford libraries as well. The project forms part of the Specialised Research Collections in the Humanities (NFF) initiative supported by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC), Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) and Department of Education Northern Ireland (DENI) under the direction of the Non-Formula Funding Committee. Beginning with collections of Celtic manuscripts from several Oxford libraries, and subsequently extended to include a broader range, the project is creating high resolution digital images, which are stored on the Oxford University Hierarchical File Server, and made available over the international networks. 

The Internet Medieval Sourcebook (sponsored by Fordham University) had been developed to assist historians teaching medieval history and who desired a mechanism to combine a textbook, a sourcebook, and additional readings. Textbooks, as an ever-evolving form, are probably worth the cost, but sourcebooks are often unnecessarily expensive. Unlike some modern history texts, the sources used for medieval history have been around a long time. Very many were translated in the 19th century, and, as a rapid review of any commercial source book will show, it is these 19th century translations which make up the bulk of the texts. Indeed the genealogy of such texts is a minor area of possible historiographical research. Although publishers need make no copyright payments to use these texts, there is no real cost reduction, compared with sourcebooks  for modern history surveys. Many of these 19th century texts are now available on the Internet, or are easily typed in to etext form.

The Labyrinth (sponsored by Georgetown University) provides free, organized access to electronic resources in medieval studies through a World Wide Web server at Georgetown University. The Labyrinth's easy-to-use menus and links provide connections to databases, services, texts, and images on other servers around the world. Each user will be able to find an Ariadne's thread through the maze of information on the Web. This project not only provides an organizational structure for electronic resources in medieval studies, but also serves as a model for similar, collaborative projects in other fields of study. The Labyrinth project is open-ended and is designed to grow and change with new developments in technology and in medieval studies.

Hosted by the Catholic University of America, NetSERF is a repository of an extensive listing of internet links to other relevant medieval studies groups and resources.  NetSERF was created by Beau A.C. Harbin, who is currently a Ph.D. student at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., specializing in late medieval English history, especially the effects of the Hundred Years War upon English society and politics.
 

The Online Resource Book for Medieval Studies (ORB), hosted by Rhodes College, is a cooperative effort on the part of scholars across the internet to establish an online textbook source for medieval studies on the World-Wide Web. In principle, authors of the various articles that make up ORB maintain their own articles at their own locations.   Each article is connected to ORB's Title Index, which can be accessed at any time by clicking on the ORB icon anywhere it appears. In addition, each article will be linked directly to related articles and other information available on the Web. Some authors welcome your questions, comments and observations about their articles. This invitation is indicated by a sensitive mail icon after the author's name.