Medieval and Renaissance Studies

Biographical Resources

In addition to the specialized works listed below, please consult the general biographical dictionaries for the countries of western Europe; these works normally include many figures of the medieval period, and are located in the Rose Main Reading Room.  The principal ones are:

  • Biographie universelle ancienne et moderne
  • The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  • Dictionnaire de biographie française
  • Dizionario biografico degli Italiani
  • Allgemeine deutsche biographie
  • Neue deutsche biographie.

The Annotated Index of Medieval Women, by Anne Echols and Marty Williams  (New York: M. Wiener Pub., 1992)  *R-RMRR  CT3220  .A56.

Bibliotheca sanctorum  12 vols. and separate index volume (Roma: Istituto Giovanni XXIII,  1961-1969)  JFF 98-1511.  Biographical dictionary of the saints.   

Butler, Alban.  Butler’s Lives of the Saints(Collegeville, MN: Liiturgical Press;  Tunbridge Wells: Burns and Oates, 1995-2000), 12 vols.    *R-RMRR  BX4654  .B8.  (For other editions, please check CATNYP.)  

Checksfield, Muriel May.  Portraits of Renaissance Life and Thought  (London: Longmans, 1964) 
D-15 5801.  

Extraordinary Women of the Medieval and Renaissance World: A Biographical Dictionary, edited by Carole Levin and others   (Westport, Conn.; London: Greenwood Press, 2000)  JFE 00-16731.  

Kelly, J.N.D.  The Oxford Dictionary of Popes,  rev. ed.  (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2005)  *R-RMRR   BX955.2  .K45. 

The Late Medieval Age of Crisis and Renewal, 1300-1500: A Biographical Dictionary,  edited by Clayton J. Drees   (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2001)  *R-RMRR   CB353  .L38.   

Renaissance and Reformation, 1500-1620: A Biographical Dictionary, edited by Jo Eldridge Carney  (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2001)  *R-RMRR   CT759  .R46. 

Snodgrass, Mary Ellen.  Who’s Who in the Middle Ages  (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2001)
*R-RMRR  CT114  .S56.   

Tyerman, Christopher.  Who’s Who in Early Medieval England, 1066-1272  (London: Shepheard-Walwyn, 1996)  JFD 96-18903.