LibGuides: Renaissance and Reformation: Primary Sources

Primary Sources

A primary source is a document, recording or other source of information created at the time being studied, by an authoritative source, usually one with direct personal knowledge of the events being described.

Primary sources include diaries, letters, family records, statistics, speeches, interviews, or autobiographies.

Look for subject headings in the library catalog that use the following terms:

Correspondence
Diaries
Personal narratives
Sources

In general, published primary source material covers a wide range of publications, including first-person accounts, memoirs, diaries, letters, government documents, court records, reports of associations, organizations and institutions, treatises and polemical writings, chronicles, saints' lives, charters, legal codes, maps, graphic material (e.g. photographs, posters, advertising images, paintings, prints, and illustrations), and literary works. Some of these materials were not published at the time of their creation (e.g. letters), but have subsequently been published in a book.

European History Websites

Many of these websites contain primary source materials.

EuroDocs
EuroDocs is an online directory of primary documents in Western European history compiled by Richard Hacken, librarian at Brigham Young University.
British History Online
The digital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles.

Primary Sources--Italy

Below are some important primary source books for Italian medieval history.

Her immaculate hand : selected works by and about the women humanists of Quattrocento Italy / by edited by Margaret L. King and Albert Rabil, Jr.
Call Number: PA8163.H47 1992
ISBN: 0866981241
Many of these fascinating documents have never before been published; the Latin originals are available only in manuscript form. Among other things, these texts reveal a much wider range of literary and intellectual activity by women than hitherto supposed, while also revealing the constraints placed on aspiring women humanists. This collection is an invaluable aid to understanding the roles of women in both Renaissance culture and intellectual history.
Letters to father : suor Maria Celeste to Galileo, 1623-1633 / by translated and annotated by Dava Sobel.
Call Number: QB36.G2 A4 2001
ISBN: 0802713874
Revolution of Cola di Rienzo / by Petrarch ; edited by Mario Emilio Cosenza.
Call Number: DG811.6.P39 1986
ISBN: 0934977003
This book tells the story of the relationship between Cola di Rienzo, a young visionary with a gift for oratory who overthrew the rule of the barons and the pope, and Francesco Petrarch, the poet and Renaissance humanist. Using Petrarch's letters to and about the Roman tribune, it traces his friendship from their first encounter in Avignon in 1343 and the poet's enthusiastic embrace of Cola's revolution in 1347, through his growing doubts and first criticisms, to his bitter disappointment at Cola's fall.
Selected letters of Alessandra Strozzi [computer file] / by translated with an introduction and notes by Heather Gregory.
Call Number: Ebsco DG737.58.S7 A5 1997
ISBN: 0520203895
The letters of Alessandra Strozzi provide a vivid and spirited portrayal of life in fifteenth-century Florence. Among the richest autobiographical materials to survive from the Italian Renaissance, the letters reveal a woman who fought stubbornly to preserve her family's property and position in adverse circumstances, and who was an acute observer of Medicean society. Her letters speak of political and social status, of the concept of honor, and of the harshness of life, including the plague and the loss of children. They are also a guide to Alessandra's inner life over a period of twenty-three years, revealing the pain and sorrow, and, more rarely, the joy and triumph, with which she responded to the events unfolding around her.

Primary Source Books--England

Below are some important primary source books for English medieval history.

Documents of the English Reformation
Call Number: BR375.D63 1994
ISBN: 0800629078
Bray has compiled a vast array of documents, covering the English Reformation from Henry to the Act of Supremacy, which show the momentous changes which took place during this important period. The 58 documents include all the main statutes, injunctions, and orders, confessions of faith, prefaces to prayer books and biblical translations, and other relevant texts in their entirety.
Elizabeth I : collected works / by edited by Leah S. Marcus, Janel Mueller, and Mary Beth Rose.
Call Number: DA350.A25 2000
ISBN: 0226504646
Elizabeth I (1533-1603) is widely recognized as one of the most educated and intelligent monarchs who ever sat on the throne of England. She also produced a considerable body of writings, which the editors have gathered for the first time into one convenient and highly attractive volume. Texts have been divided into four chronological periods: 1533-58, 1558-72, 1572-87, and 1588-1603. Within these sections Elizabeth's writings have been organized into speeches (24), letters (103), poems (15), and prayers (39).
George Fox and the children of the light / by edited and introduced by Jonathan Fryer.
Call Number: BX7795.F7 A3 1991
ISBN: 1856260240
Like many visionaries, George Fox (1624-1691) lived in a tumultuous age, a time of religious debate and persecution. Fox, largely a self-taught philosopher and preacher, could excite extreme devotion, incite riots and convince others of his mental derangement all in a single day. He travelled widely in Europe, the West Indies and America, and his eccentricity attracted the attention to him instantly. The introduction to his journal will set the basic tenets of his evolving religious belief and show how and why he came to be the guiding spirit of a small group of people who became the Society of Friends.
Life and campaigns of the Black Prince : from contemporary letters, diaries, and chronicles, including Chandos Herald's Life of the Black Prince / by edited and translated by Richard Barber.
Call Number: DA234.L53 1997
ISBN: 0851154697
Letters, reports, campaign diaries and the chronicles of Geoffrey le Baker and Chandos Herald document the life and dazzling exploits of the legendary Black Prince.

Primary Sources--Other European Countries

95 theses, with the pertinent documents form the history of the Reformation / by Martin Lucher.
Call Number: B332.D6 A45
Contents: The prehistory of the ninety-five theses and their connection with the history of the Reformation.--The ninety-five theses and A sermon on indulgence and grace.--The letters of Luther in connection with the ninety-five theses.--Luther's words on the theses in his table talk.--Luther's recollections.
Augsburg During the Reformation Era: an anthology of sources by B. Ann Tlusty (Edited and Translated by)
Call Number: ebrary DD901.A92 A83 2012
ISBN: 9781603848428
Publication Date: 2012-09-15
Institutes of the Christian religion / by John Calvin; John T. McNeill (Editor)
Call Number: BX5920.I65 2006 vol. 1-2
ISBN: 9780664220280
Publication Date: 1960-01-01
This is the definitive English-language edition of one of the monumental works of the Christian church.
Works of Martin Luther
Call Number: BR330.E5 1955 vol. 1-55
v.1-8. Lectures on Genesis. -- v. 9. Lectures on Deuteronomy -- v. 10-11. First lectures on the Psalms -- v. 12-14. Selected Psalms -- v. 15. Notes on Ecclesiastes ; Lectures on the Song of Solomon ; Treatise on the last words of David -- v. 16-17. Lectures on Isaiah -- v. 18-20. Lectures on the Minor Prophets, I-III -- v. 21. The Sermon on the mount (Sermons) and The Magnificat -- v. 22-24. Sermons on the Gospel of St. John -- vol. 25. Lectures on Romans, glosses and scholia -- v. 26-27. Lectures on Galatians. -- v. 28. Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 7, 1 Corinthians 15, Lectures on 1 Timothy. -- v. 29. Lectures on Titus, Philemon, and Hebrews -- v. 30. The Catholic epistles -- v. 31-34. Career of the reformer I-IV. -- v. 35-38. Word and sacrament, I-IV -- v. 39-41. Church and ministry, I-III. -- v. 42-43. Devotional writings. -- v. 44-47. The Christian in society, I-IV. -- v. 48-50. Letters I-III -- v. 51-52. Sermons -- v. 53. Liturgy and hymns. -- v. 54. Table talk. -- v. 55. Index.