Mediaeval/Middle Ages: online resources

[Brian G Turner]

Personally, I'm one of those sticklers for realism, where possible. I find the distinct lack of even a basic attempt at realism in a lot of fantasy work to be disappointing.
Although I can quite accept there is a place for it, I never feel there's enough mature end work that seeks to bring an entire reality into existence, rather than a simple daydream.

You know what flaws I'm talking about - cities with no history, peoples with no culture, 21st century healthcare, anachronistic behaviours and technologies...etc.

So if this is a direction you'd like to take your own writing [and my expression of personal taste here is simply that], then here are my main Mediaeval Resources links [I hope some of them prove useful - I personally favour paper resources, but all sources can provide useful information]:


INTERNET MEDIAEVAL SOURCEBOOK

NETSERF.ORG [MASSIVE ONLINE LIBRARY]

THE VIRTUAL LIBRARY - MEDIAEVAL

MANCHESTER MEDIAEVAL SOURCES

And here's a beauty - just a few important mediaeval terms explained:

BRITTANIA LEXICON

 

[Brian G Turner]

Re:Mediaeval/Fantasy: online resources

Here are a few more:

Byzantine Studies

Images from the Middle Ages (manuscripts)

Art of the Middle Ages

Resources for the Middle Ages

The Middle Ages, Chivalry, and Knighthood (very very link rich resources)

De Re Militari Online Resources

 

[Brian G Turner]

Ahhh...now check this out for quite a large resource site. Check out the drop down boxes - quite a comprehensive list of resources.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Oh - and there is quite an excellent collection of mediaeval and other historical fonts, notably Celtic, here.

 

[Brian G Turner]

There are some interesting eye-witness sources here.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Some interesting resources for looking at the issues of fighting styles and weaponry:

International Hopology Society

Sword Forum

 

[Brian G Turner]

Met someone at the local museum with a great selection of imitation ancient coins - and not only that, but stamping some for display.

This erally was interesting stuff. I bought a small bag of imitation Roman coins, and though not the Real McCoy, in terms of feeling the money it gave a better insight into ancient usuage (for example, I always thought of some of the "Chronicles of Empire" coinage as large and unwieldly - have to edit that!).

Nice bloke as well - here's the link:

Grunal Moneta