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This page is intended primarily as a tool for students in my courses at The Ohio State University. The page will grow as web resources for the study of early modern literature and culture flourish. If you know of a site I should include on this page, you may contact me via e-mail at burks.29@osu.edu.
Contents:
Bibliographic sites and electronic texts:
(Reminder to students: the fact of publication is not a guarantee of excellence, especially in this age of electronic texts and self-publication via the world-wide web. Read carefully and with an awareness that, as in any edition, errors are possible.)
Aphra Behn -- 1. The Aphra Behn page (compiled by Ruth Nestvold). 2. An informative biographical page for Behn. 3. Another bio page. 4. A site devoted to the poetry of Aphra Behn. 5. The Aphra Behn Society homepage (includes many more links).
Brown University Women Writers Project database. Most pertinent for students of early modern literature, Renaissance Women On-Line is a special subset of the Brown textbase focused on the work of early modern women. RWO contains helpful contextual materials about the writers and works in the collection. This database is available to OSU-Lima students, but is closed to non-subscribers. (You must access it from campus.)
A Celebration of Women Writers: this site is a searchable (by author's name, country, period, etc) database of links to other sites about women writers and to sites containing on-line editions of the works of women writers.
Desiderius Erasmus: electronic texts project sponsored by the University of the South.
Electronic Texts: a biblography (w/ links) compiled by Early Modern Literary Studies (EMLS).
Emory Women Writers Resource Project: "The Emory Women Writers Resource Project is a collection of edited and unedited texts by women writing in English from the seventeenth century through the nineteenth century. The Project is a pedagogical tool, designed to offer graduate and undergraduate students in various disciplines the opportunity to edit their own texts."
Amelia Lanyer -- a site compiled and edited by Kari McBride. Contains a hypertext edition of Lanyer's Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum.
Luminarium: a site with biographical and bibliographical information on early modern writers. This is a marvelous site rich with illustrations and music. Compiled, edited, and maintained by Anniina Jokinen. ** Note to students: Jokinen has also provided links to academic papers on subjects related to the works of some of the authors included on this site. These essays vary in quality and usefulness. As with all scholarly material, you are obliged to include a proper citation to these on-line publications in any essay in which you quote from, refer to, or use them.
Thomas Middleton -- a site compiled and produced by Chris Cleary with links to hypertext editions of many of Middleton's plays and collaborations. Also contains links to other sites of interest.
The Perdita Project -- a database (in progress) cataloguing women's manuscript compilations of the early modern period. This project will not include text transcriptions of the manuscripts, but it will include detailed descriptions of the manuscripts and search tools to enable scholars to identify manuscript works by women currently housed in libraries around the world. Here are two article about the project: 1. Burke, Victoria, and Elizabeth Clarke. "The Perdita Project: A Database for Early Modern Women's Manuscript Compilations." Early Modern Literary Studies 3.2 (September, 1997): 3.1-5 <URL: http://purl.oclc.org/emls/03-2/burkperd.html>. 2. Seal, Jill. "The Perdita Project--A Winter's Report." Early Modern Literary Studies 6.3 (January, 2001): 10.1-14 <URL:
http://purl.oclc.org/emls/06-3/perdita.htm>.Renaissance Electronic Texts -- an as-yet-small collection of old spelling, SGML-encoded electronic editions of early modern texts assembled by the University of Toronto Library. Includes The Elizabethan Homilies (1623).
Renascence Editions -- a growing collection of electronic editions of English works printed between 1477-1799. Edited by Richard Bear, these publications are provided for nonprofit purposes only; unique content is copyrighted © 1997 by the editor and the University of Oregon. (Includes Sir Thomas Hoby's translation of Castiglione's The Courtier, Ben Jonson's Masque of Blacknesse, plus works by Gascoigne, Milton, More, Shakespeare, the Sidneys, Speght, Spenser, and Wroth among others.)
"Representative Poetry On-line" -- University of Toronto. A collection of electronic poetic texts from all periods, but with good representation of early modern poetry.
Restoration Drama Homepage (maintained at Bowling Green State University) -- site includes biographical information on dramatists of the Restoration as well as links to other resources.
William Shakespeare -- a page of links and meta-links.
The Edmund Spenser Home Page -- maintained by Andrew Zurcher at King's College, Cambridge Cambridge University. This site includes links to electronic editions of Spenser's works and to other sites for research into early modern literature and culture. Additional links to the Spenser Society and its journal, Spenser Studies, are also available through this page.
Voice of the Shuttle -- perhaps the best resource pages for English literature and culture studies links. Compiled and maintained by Alan Liu at the University of California at Santa Barbara.
Women Writers of the Seventeenth Century: An Annotated Guide to Internet Resources -- this site includes bibliographic and biographic information on a number of women writers, plus links to other useful sites and to electronic editions of texts. Page compiled and maintained by Marlo Edwards.
Electronic Databases:
English Poetry Database (available through OhioLink; may exclude non-members)
English Prose Drama Database (available through OhioLink; may exclude non-members)
English Verse Drama Database (available through OhioLink; may exclude non-members)
MIT Shakespeare Database -- includes the complete works, but the search engine is not currently operational. To search Shakespeare's texts (for words or phrases), click here (Matty Farrow's searchable version of the Moby Shakespeare).
Research Resources -- a page compiled by Early Modern England Source. This page points to archives, bibliographies, social science databases, local history sites, libraries and public record offices. Also contains links to electronic journals and electronic editions of primary texts, as well as electronic discussion forums related to early modern cultural studies.
Shakespeare in Performance Database (U of Reading, UK) includes information about performance practices (early modern and modern) related to the playing of Shakespeare.
Interesting Sites for the study of early modern English culture:
(Reminder to students: the fact of publication is not a guarantee of excellence, especially in this age of electronic texts and self-publication via the world-wide web. These are interesting sites, but you should always double check information you glean from such sources.)
Assorted images: 1.Dr. Herman Asarnow's course site for "English 324: Renaissance British Literature" at the University of Portland. This site contains a collection of images and texts representing early modern English culture.
Dancing: Greg Lindahl's Music and Dancing page.
Dress: 1. A document of Frequently Asked Questions about early modern costume and sewing. 2. Elizabethan Dress -- a Renaissance Faire site. 3. Information about corsets and Elizabethan underdress.
Executions/Justice: Tyburn Tree -- a page with information about early modern executions, including illustrations and excerpts from scaffold speeches.
Fencing and Weaponry: 1. George Silver's Paradoxes of Defense (1599) -- electronic edition by Steve Hick and Greg Lindahl. 2. An SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) page on fencing.
Food and Drink: 1. Ale -- discussion of methods and recipes for early modern brewing; 2. Food in early modern Europe; 3. Another food page with an extensive list of links to other websites; 4. Elizabethan Food and Drink -- page maintained by Rosie Crouch, Mandy Entringer, Eric Frank, and Jody Post; 5. Recipes and Helpful Hints from TudorTimes.com; 6. This "Medieval Food" page is misnamed; it speaks mostly of Elizabethan feasting; 7. Medieval and Anglo Saxon Recipes.
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Gunpowder Plot site -- includes historical information on the plot and discussions of the plot's political and religious significance. The pages also include interesting illustrations of the plot. The historical discussions are poorly documented, but the images are a significant resource. Caution: the images load very slowly.'
Heraldry: Elizabethan Heraldry page -- coats of arms, geneological preoccupations of the English upper classes.
History: ORB Online Encyclopedia (edited by A. Compton Reeves, Professor of History, Ohio University) -- A page of links to electronic texts of various medieval and early modern chronicles and histories. A good source of primary materials.
Language: 1. Shakespearean quirky word glosses (page created by Martin Mueller); 2. Elizabethan Pronunciation Page.
Literature: See list of electronic text and bibliography sites above.
Medicine: 1. Precious Waters: A miscellany of early cordials -- a page on Medieval English medicines; 2. early modern Arabian medicinal preparations.
Music: 1. Renaissance Consort, a page with pictures and sound clips of early modern instruments and recordings of several representative pieces of consort music. 2. Classical Net (look here for links to other early modern music sites). 3. Society for Creative Anachronysm (SCA) page on music and dance. 4. Sixteenth Century ballads, a page with links by Greg Lindahl. 5. Classical MIDI Archives (you may download early music MIDIs from this site). 6. Playford's The English Dancing Master (1651) -- an electronic text, plus facsimiles of some pages from the first edition, plus some music midis.
Plague: 1. a page produced by the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities. This site contains information pertaining to plague outbreaks in western Europe and does not focus specifically on England. 2. The Black Death; 3. "Bubonic Plague" by Ely Janis; 4. Ian Jessiman. "A General Study of the Plague in England 1539-1640, with a Specific Reference to Loughborough"; 5. "Plague" by Liam Miller and Evan Orr (focus on Elizabethan England); 6. Plague and Public Health in Renaissance Europe.
Religion: 1."The Reformation and Counter-Reformation," an essay by James Jackson; 2. A site on gargoyles (including this carving of Hell-mouth); 3. A virtual tour of Westminster Abbey; 4. A virtual tour of Winchester cathedral. Remember that Medieval churches filled the early modern landscape and were the sites of worship for many English folk in this period (those who were not dissenters or recusants); thus, Medieval art and architecture had a powerful residual effect even after the Reformation. The Winchester Cathedral site makes some mention of the destruction of interior decoration during the period of the English civil wars when militant Protestants broke stained glass, destroyed carvings, and white washed paintings from the walls in protest against the Roman Catholic theology implicit in these works of art.
Slavery: Cora Agatucci's history of European involvement in the African slave trade (Central Oregon Community College).
Theatre: 1. Shakespeare and the Globe on the Web: a research links page compiled by the Renaissance Texts Research Centre of the U of Reading, UK; 2. The Furness Memorial (Shakespeare) Library at the University of Pennsylvania: A collection of primary and secondary sources, including both texts and images, that illuminate the theater, literature, and history of Shakespeare, Shakespearean texts, theatrical production, and criticism, Furness Library resources are now being selectively scanned and mounted here to make them available for class and research use and to draw attention to the richer resources available in the Library as a whole.
Weddings: 1) Medieval and Renaissance Wedding Page: information on food, flowers, music, attire (B.J. Kuehl maintains this site); 2) The Medieval and Renaissance Wedding Site: part of a ring of similar websites.
Renaissance Faire site: for re-enactors and folks interested in participating in contemporary Renaissance fairs in style.
Electronic Editions of Critical Journals:
(Many, but not all of the journals below are print publications that are now also available in electronic editions. This list provides links to the electronically available issues of many of the most respected journals for early modern literary criticism. Reminder to students: the fact of publication is not a guarantee of excellence, especially in this age of electronic texts, so be wary of some of what you find on the web and be aware of who publishes what you find there.)
OhioLink Electronic Journal Center -- This database makes full-text articles available to students of Ohio Universities. Many of the journals available through this resource are listed separately below, but if you don't find the journal you need listed below, search this index -- this database is a tremendous resource.
ELH (English Literary History) -- published by Johns Hopkins UP, ELH is, as its title suggests a source of articles with a literary historical approach. It regularly publishes articles on early modern literature, though its historical scope is far reaching. Recent issues are available through OhioLink's Electronic Journal Center; back issues (1934-1994) are available through JSTOR for those with access to that service.
Early Modern Literary Studies -- the editors describe EMLS as "a refereed journal serving as a formal arena for scholarly discussion and as an academic resource for researchers in the area. Articles in EMLS examine English literature, literary culture, and language during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; responses to published papers are also published as part of a Readers' Forum. Reviews evaluate recent work as well as academic tools of interest to scholars in the field. EMLS is committed to gathering and to maintaining links to the most useful and
comprehensive internet resources for Renaissance scholars, including archives, electronic texts, discussion groups,
and beyond."Eighteenth-Century Life -- published by Johns Hopkins UP, this journal considers British and European culture of the 18th century, including literature, though it is not exclusively a lit-crit journal.
Eighteenth-Century Studies -- published by Johns Hopkins UP, this journal considers British and European culture of the 18th century, including literature, though it is not exclusively a lit-crit journal. It's editorial statement asserts: that "as the official publication of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS), Eighteenth-Century Studies is committed to publishing the best of current writing on all aspects of eighteenth-century culture. The journal selects essays that employ different modes of analysis and disciplinary discourses to explore how recent historiographical, critical, and theoretical ideas have engaged scholars concerned with the eighteenth century." Recent issues are available through OhioLink's electronic journal center; back issues (1967-1995) are available through JSTOR for those with access.
JMEMS (Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies) -- published by Duke University Press, JMEMS has a multidisciplinary scope (it is not exclusively a lit-crit journal).
Milton Quarterly -- published by Johns Hopkins UP
Renaissance Forum (University of Hull, UK) -- one of the best electronic journals devoted to early modern culture and literature studies.
Renaissance Quarterly -- published by the Renaissance Society of America, this journal is broadly European in focus, occasionally publishing articles on English literature. Note to students: this journal is available through JSTOR, which provides electronic access to back issues of the journal with a moving firewall of 3 years (issues within the past 3 years must be accessed in print format through the library).
SEL: Studies in English Literature -- published by Johns Hopkins University, SEL devotes one issue each year to early modern drama and another to non-dramatic early modern literature.
Shakespeare Quarterly -- published by the Folger Shakespeare, this journal is available through JSTOR, which provides electronic access to back issues of the journal (issues since 1995 must be accessed in print format through the library).
Research resources:
Early English Books Online -- From the first book printed in English by William Caxton, through the age of Spenser and Shakespeare and the tumult of the English Civil War, Early English Books Online (EEBO) contains over 125,000 titles listed in Pollard & Redgrave's Short-Title Catalogue (1475 - 1640), Wing's Short-Title Catalogue (1641-1700), and the Thomason Tracts (1640-1661) . The Early English Books Tract Supplements will also be added to EEBO soon.
English Short Title Catalogue -- (© 2000 The British Library and ESTC/NA) describes English or
English-language letterpress materials published before 1801. ESTC contains records for items of all types published in Great Britain or its colonies or in English from 1473 to 1800.MLA International Bibliography -- electronic bibliographic database of scholarship in literature and language studies. The primary research tool for literary critical scholarship.
OhioLink -- library consortium of Ohio colleges and universities.
OSCAR -- The Ohio State University library catalogue.
Oxford English Dictionary (OED) -- a searchable etymological dictionary useful for studying early modern vocabulary and usage.
Scholarly organizations:
The Aphra Behn Society, a scholarly society devoted to the study of the works of Aphra Behn, the Restoration period's leading literary woman. Back issues of the society's newsletters are archived at this separate site.
The Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (CMRS) at The Ohio State University
The Margaret Cavendish Society, an international society of scholars engaged in the study of the works of Margaret Lucas Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle.
The Marlowe Society, a scholarly society promoting study of the works of Christopher Marlowe.