Medieval Palaeography

An Introduction

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Introductory bibliography for palaeography

Literacy and background

M.T. Clanchy, From Memory to Written Record. England 1066-1307 (1993)
M.B. Parkes, 'The literacy of the laity' in D. Daiches and A. Thorlby, eds, The Medieval World(1973), 555-77.

Palaeography

Practical

L.C. Hector, The Handwriting of English Documents(latest edition)
C. Johnson and H. Jenkinson, English Court Hand 1066-1500 (1915)
Johnson and Jenkinson, The Later Court Hands in England (1927)

Theoretical

B. Bischoff, Latin Palaeography (1990)
N. Denholm-Young, Handwriting in England and Wales (1954)
M. B. Parkes, English Cursive Bookhands (1971)
T. A. M. Bishop, English Caroline Minuscule (1971)

Tools of the trade

Any edition in most cases

C. R. Cheney, Handbook of Dates for Students of English History
Handbook of British Chronology
L. C. Latham, Revised Medieval Latin Wordlist
C. T. Martin, The Record Interpreter

Additionally, there are DuCange, Cappelli and the revised medieval Latin wordlists emanating in fascicles from the Bodleian Library.

Introductory bibliography for charters

Four items only are being recommended here, concentrating on the early development of the charter. Additionally, reference will be made in the seminars and in the hypertext tutorials to other important work; how far you engage with that other literature is for you to decide. For the later developments, formalised by statute law, reference will be made in the seminars to secondary works, but you will not be required to follow those through. The extent to which you read the wider secondary literature depends on your personal interests and your workload for other parts of the M.A. course.

Read this first P. R. Hyams, 'The charter as a source for the early common law', The Journal of Legal History 12 (1991), 173-89
J. Hudson, Land, Law and Lordship in Anglo-Norman England (Oxford, 1994)
P. R. Hyams, 'Warranty and good lordship in twelfth century England', Law and History Review 5 (1987), 437-503.
S. F. C. Milsom, The Legal Framework of English Feudalism (Cambridge, 1976): read one chapter (I suggest the last chapter on 'Inheritance').

Plates of charters

R. Patterson, ed., Earldom of Gloucester Charters [to 1217] (Oxford, 1973)
H. E. Salter, ed., Facsimiles of Charters in Oxford Muniment Rooms (Oxford, 1929)
W. Farrer and C. T. Clay, eds, Early Yorkshire Charters (12 volumes)

Calendars [abstracts] of charters

V. M. London, ed., The Cartulary of Canonsleigh Abbey (Devon and Cornwall Record Society, ns 8, 1965)
K. Hanna, ed., The Cartularies of Southwick Priory (Hampshire Record Series, 2 vols, 9-10, 1988-9)

Introductory bibliography for cartularies

G. R. C. Davis, Medieval Cartularies of Great Britain (London, 1958)
D. Walker, 'The organisation of material in medieval cartularies' in D. A. Bullough and R. L. Storey, eds, The Study of Medieval Records. Essays in Honour of Kathleen Major (Oxford, 1972), 132-50.
T. Foulds, 'Medieval cartularies', Archives 18 (1987), 3-35
V. H. Galbraith, 'Monastic foundation charters of the 11th and 12th centuries', Cambridge Historical Journal 4 (1932-4), 205-22 [for forgeries in cartularies].