Library Guides: History: United Kingdom &amp; Ireland: Primary Sources: Early Modern

Early Modern

The Court of Chivalry 1634-1640
This project provides abstracts, calendars and transcript of the surviving material relating to 738 cases heard in the Court of Chivalry (otherwise known as the Court of Honour or the Earl Marshal’s Court) between 1634 and 1640.

Church authority and power in medieval and early modern Britain: the Episcopal registers, 1215-1650
Call Number: MF-6242 CRL
Bishops Registers are the working records of the medieval prelates whose power transcended the ecclesiastical and extended over temporal affairs and the lives of whole communities. They record benefices, royal writs and patronage and are one of the fullest quotes to the nature and extent of the role of the medieval Church.
This microform collection is available through interlibrary loan from the Center for Research Libraries. There are guides to the collection arranged by part or by Bishop.

Cornell University Witchcraft Collection
Contains over 3,000 titles documenting the history of the Inquisition and the persecution of witchcraft, primarily in Europe.
Down Survey of Ireland (1656-1658)
Detailed land survey that sought to measure all the land to be forfeited by the Catholic Irish in order to facilitate its redistribution to Merchant Adventurers and English soldiers.

Early English Books Online (EEBO) This link opens in a new window
Early works printed in England, or in English.
Indexes over 125,000 volumes of early works printed in England or in English. These works constitute a significant portion of items included in the English Short Title Catalogue. It contains most of the works listed in Pollard & Redgrave's Short-Title Catalogue (1475-1640), Wing's Short-Title Catalogue (1641-1700), the Thomason Tracts (1640-1661) collection and the Early English Books Tract Supplements.

Early Modern Letters Online
Early Modern Letters Online is a combined finding aid and editorial interface for basic descriptions of early modern correspondence.
Early Stuart Libels
A web-based edition of early seventeenth-century political poetry from manuscript sources. It brings into the public domain over 350 poems, many of which have never before been published.
English Broadside Ballad Archive
Ongoing project to archive all of the surviving ballads published during the heyday of the black-letter ornamental broadside ballad of the 17th century.

Perdita Manuscripts: Women Writers, 1500-1700 This link opens in a new window
Over 230 manuscripts of early modern women writers whose work only exists in manuscript form. [1500-1700]
Perdita means 'lost woman' and the quest of the Perdita Project (University of Warwick and Nottingham Trent University) has been to find early modern women authors who were 'lost' because their writing exists only in manuscript form. The 230 entries from the project were written or compiled by women in the British Isles during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and they have been sourced from archives and libraries across the United Kingdom and the USA. One of the key attractions of Perdita Manuscripts is that it brings together little known material from widely scattered locations.

Post-Reformation Digital Library
A select database of digital books relating to the development of theology and philosophy during the Reformation and Post-Reformation/Early Modern Era (late 15th-18th c.).
Sir Francis Drake (Kraus Collection)
https://www.loc.gov/collections/sir-francis-drake/about-this-collection/
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The Kraus Collection on Sir Francis Drake at the Library of Congress consists of 60 items--16 manuscripts, 29 books, 8 maps and views, and 7 medals and portraits. The materials range in date from 1579 to 1765 and are written in English, Spanish, Latin, Italian, German, French, and Dutch.
Scottish trade with Africa and the West Indies in the early 18th century, 1694-1709 (BOA)
This collection contains the financial and administrative records of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies (also known as the Darien Company). The documents cover the period from the company’s formation in 1694 as a rival to the East India Company to its dissolution due to debts incurred in pursuit of the ill-fated Darien scheme. The latter is widely regarded as being the chief factor which gave rise to the 1707 Act of Union.

State Papers Online This link opens in a new window
Full text archive of original historical manuscripts from of Early Modern Britain and Europe. Includes the State Papers Domestic and Foreign and the Registers of the Privy Council and State Papers from the British Library. [1509-1714]
Resource for the study of Early Modern Britain and Europe. Reunites the State Papers Domestic and Foreign with the Registers of the Privy Council and State Papers in the British Library. The database reproduces the original historical manuscripts in facsimile linking each manuscript to its corresponding Calendar entry.

The Survey of Scottish Witchcraft
An interactive database contains all people known to have been accused of witchcraft in early modern Scotland—nearly 4,000 of them. The resource also includes supporting material, putting the database findings in context.