City of Women - CSEM 23102-45 — College Seminar: Renaissance Feminism (McKenna) - Library Guides at University of Notre Dame

Encyclopedias and Reference Works (Paid Subscription or Print)

This section includes links to or call number information to encyclopedias and other reference works that you might find useful for background information. Many databases also include reference works, like Oxford Reference Online, which includes the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages.

The online databases are subscription-only, but you should be able to access them from campus from the links below. If you are off campus, you may be prompted to log in with your netID and password. The Dictionary of the Middle Ages is a print resource. We have a copy in Hesburgh Libraries Reference Collection (lower level of the Hesburgh Library) or the Medieval Institute's Reference Collection (Room 715 of the Hesburgh Library, which is open from 8am-5pm, Monday-Friday).

NOTE: there are two links to the Encyclopedia of Women in the Renaissaince. The first one points you to the print copy and the second links directly to the ebook version.

Gale ebooks This link opens in a new window
Provides searchable full-text e-book versions of many reference works, including multi-volume encyclopedias, biographical collections, business plan handbooks, company history compilations, consumer health references, and specialized handbooks, dictionaries, and encyclopedias.
MagillOnLiterature This link opens in a new window
Includes the complete contents of 31 sets of reference books, including nearly 20 Masterplots and Masterplots II titles, the Cyclopedia of world authors, the Cyclopedia of literary characters, as well as 10 years of Magill's literary annual and Magill book reviews.
Oxford Reference This link opens in a new window
Brings together digitized entries from Oxford's Dictionaries, Companions and Encyclopedias, spanning multiple subject areas.

Dictionary of the Middle Ages by Joseph R. Strayer (Editor); American Council of Learned Societies Staff (Contribution by)
ISBN: 0684190737
Publication Date: 1989-04-01
Published under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies Visit every aspect of medieval life in Western Europe, the Scandinavian north, the Byzantine and Slavic east, the Muslim south, and the ubiquitous world of Judaism from A.D. 500 to 1500. Here you can explore the conditions of daily life, major and minor figures, terms and concepts, countries and provinces, and movements, monuments, people, and events.
Encyclopedia of Women in the Renaissance by Diana Robin (Editor); Carole Levin (Editor); Anne R. Larsen (Editor)
Call Number: HQ 1148 .W67 2007
ISBN: 9781851097722
Publication Date: 2007-03-01
This work is a revealing combination of biographies and topical essays that describe the outstanding and often-overlooked contributions of women to the science, politics, and culture of the Renaissance. Encyclopedia of Women in the Renaissance: Italy, France, and England is the first first comprehensive reference devoted exclusively to the contributions of women to European culture in the period between 1350 and 1700. Focusing principally on early modern women in England, France, and Italy, it offers over 135 biographies of the extraordinary women of those times. Encyclopedia of Women in the Renaissance provides vivid portraits of well known women such as Catherine of Siena, Joan of Arc, Mary Queen of Scots, and Christine de Pizan. Also included are less familiar but equally important women like Elena Lucrezia Cornaro, the first woman in Europe to earn a doctorate; the renowned Renaissance painter Artemisia Gentileschi; and the acclaimed author of medical textbooks and midwife to a French queen, Louise Boursier. Based on the latest research and enhanced with thematic essays, this groundbreaking work casts our understanding of women's lives and roles in Renaissance history and culture in a provocative new light. Over 135 biographical entries covering the extraordinary women who made significant contributions to the art, science, culture, religion, and philosophy of the Renaissance Over 100 expert contributors, drawn from a range of scholarly disciplines An extensive bibliography pointing readers to the best sources for further reading in print and on the Web An extensive index that makes it easy to follow thematic threads across the portrayals of different women
Encyclopedia of Women in the Renaissance: Italy, France, and England by Anne R. Larsen (Editor); Diana Robin (Editor); Carole Levin (Editor)
Call Number: EBOOK VERSION
ISBN: 9781851097777
Publication Date: 2007-03-01
Encyclopedia of Women in the Renaissance: Italy, France, and England is the first first comprehensive reference devoted exclusively to the contributions of women to European culture in the period between 1350 and 1700. Focusing principally on early modern women in England, France, and Italy, it offers over 135 biographies of the extraordinary women of those times. Encyclopedia of Women in the Renaissance provides vivid portraits of well known women such as Catherine of Siena, Joan of Arc, Mary Queen of Scots, and Christine de Pizan. Also included are less familiar but equally important women like Elena Lucrezia Cornaro, the first woman in Europe to earn a doctorate; the renowned Renaissance painter Artemisia Gentileschi; and the acclaimed author of medical textbooks and midwife to a French queen, Louise Boursier. Based on the latest research and enhanced with thematic essays, this groundbreaking work casts our understanding of women's lives and roles in Renaissance history and culture in a provocative new light.

Article and Book Databases (Paid Subscription)

The following databases contain articles and/or books, as well as book chapter essays. You can use "advanced search" or Boolean Operators to narrow results if there are many. An example of this is JStor, which includes not only textual resources but also images. If you search for Giovanni Boccaccio, for example, you will return more than 10,000 results. But if you narrow it by searching: Giovanni Boccaccio and women, this narrows the results considerably. You can also look at the side menu on the left to further refine results. This should work not just for JStor but for all of the databases below.

These databases are subscription-only, but you should be able to access them from campus from the links below. If you are off campus, you may be prompted to log in with your netID and password.

Gale Academic OneFile Select This link opens in a new window
Provides indexing, abstracts, and selected full text for 3,500+ scholarly journals and general interest periodicals embracing all academic disciplines (citations only for The New York Times). Search can be limited to book reviews.
Iter Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance. This link opens in a new window
Contains electronic resources for researchers in the study and teaching of the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400-1700). Enables users to access citations in journal, book, and reviews databases; provides online access to Paul Oskar Kristeller's Iter Italicum (a finding list of Renaissance humanistic manuscripts); provides access to the International directory of scholars (a comprehensive directory of contact information, and information on the research and teaching careers of scholars around the world).
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR is a digital library for scholars, researchers, and students. Contains digitized current and many back issues of academic journals, books, and primary sources.
Literature resource center This link opens in a new window
Provides biographical, bibliographical, and critical content on literary figures from all time periods; draws on Gale Group's Contemporary Authors, Contemporary Literary Criticism Select, and Dictionary of Literary Biography; selected full text from Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism, Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800, Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, and Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism; includes full text articles from numerous literary journals and periodicals.
Medieval feminist index This link opens in a new window
Indexes journal articles, book reviews, and essays about women, sexuality and gender in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, from 450 C.E. to 1500 C.E.
MLA international bibliography (EBSCO platform) This link opens in a new window
Indexes critical materials on literature, languages, linguistics, and folklore. Proved access to citations from worldwide publications, including periodicals, books, essay collections, working papers, proceedings, dissertations and bibliographies.
Periodicals index online This link opens in a new window
Index to millions of articles in over 4,500 periodicals in the arts, humanities, and social sciences published beginning 1770 or subsequently; scope is worldwide, covering major Western languages. Complete PCI Index, including links to selected full text articles. Only the index is searchable.
Women writers online This link opens in a new window
Contains full-text editions of more than 100 texts by English and American women published between 1500 and 1830. Also includes introductory essays written by contemporary scholars about Renaissance women writers, their texts, and related topics. Has links to other textual databases, and a collection of syllabi.

Online Resources (Freely Available)

Below are links to resources that are freely available on the internet to anyone (not just Notre Dame students, faculty, and staff) and include versions and translations of medieval texts, as well as biographical information about important people from the Middle Ages.

Diotima
Diotima is a resource for information on women, gender, sex, sexualities, race, ethnicity, class, status, masculinity, enslavement, disability, and the intersections among them in the ancient Mediterranean world.
Medieval Digital Resources-- A Curated Guide (Medieval Academy of America)
The Medieval Academy of America's searchable database of online scholarly projects and other resources for the study of the Middle Ages.
Online Medieval Sourcebook
The Online Medieval Sourcebook from Fordham University provides versions of historical texts from the Middle Ages covering all aspects of medieval life.