LibGuides: History of Britain: 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.

Primary Source Books--To 1688

Anglo-Saxon chronicles / by translated and collated by Anne Savage.
Call Number: DA150.A5 1995
ISBN: 0517140799
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The annals were created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great. Multiple manuscript copies were made and distributed to monasteries across England and were independently updated. In one case, the chronicle was still being actively updated in 1154. The Chronicle is not unbiased: there are occasions when comparison with other medieval sources makes it clear that the scribes who wrote it omitted events or told one-sided versions of stories; there are also places where the different versions contradict each other. Taken as a whole, however, the Chronicle is the single most important historical source for the period in England between the departure of the Romans and the decades following the Norman Conquest. Much of the information given in the Chronicle is not recorded elsewhere.

Below are some important primary source books for British history.

Anonimalle chronicle, 1333 to 1381, from a ms. written at St. Mary's abbey, York, and now in the possession of Lieut.-Col. Sir William Ingilby, bart. by edited by V.H. Galbraith.
Call Number: DA220.A6
A dull English monastic product of the late 14th century, the Anonimalle Chronicle which includes a narrative of the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381.
Armburgh papers [computer file] : the Brokholes inheritance in Warwickshire, Hertfordshire, and Essex, c.1417-c.1453 : Chetham's Manuscript Mun. E.6.10 (4) / by edited with an introduction by Christine Carpenter.
Call Number: netLibrary DA240.A76 1998
ISBN: 085115624X
Chiefly letters from Joan Armburgh and her husband Robert to various parties concerning her claim.
Battle of Hastings [computer file] : sources and interpretations / by edited and introduced by Stephen Morillo.
Call Number: Ebsco DA196.B32 1996
ISBN: 0851155936
A unique collection of materials focused on one of the most significant battles in European history. Also available as a circulating paper book.
Chronicles of the revolution, 1397-1400 : the reign of Richard II / by translated and annotated by Chris Given-Wilson.
Call Number: DA235.C54 1993
ISBN: 0719035260
Contemporary accounts of the struggle between Richard II and Henry Bolingbroke, later Henry IV, for the English throne. The extracts from chronicles are supported by commentary and explanation. A primary resource for students and scholars.
Curia Regis rolls of the reign of Henry III : preserved in the Public Record Office. by edited by David Crook.
Call Number: DA25.A3 vol. 20
ISBN: 184383247X
Transcripts of 13th century plea rolls, vital legal, social and economic detail of the time, presented with index and critical introduction. Text in Latin with introduction and notes in English.
Diary of Samuel Pepys / by edited by Robert Latham and William Matthews.
Call Number: DA447.P4 A4 1970 vol. 1-11
The definitive edition of Samuel Pepys diary. Contents: v. 1. 1660.--v. 2. 1661.--v. 3. 1662.--v. 4. 1663.--v. 5. 1664.--v. 6. 1665.--v. 7. 1666.--v. 8. 1667.--v. 9. 1668-9.--v. 10. Companion--v.11. Index.
Domesday book : a survey of the counties of England / by general editor, John Morris.
Call Number: DA190.D5 1983 vol. 1-35
The Domesday Book is the record of the great survey of England completed in 1086, executed for William I of England, or William the Conqueror. Click the title for the online website of the Domesday Book.
Elizabeth I : collected works / by edited byLeah S. Marcus, Janel Mueller, and Mary Beth Rose.
Call Number: DA350.A25 2000
ISBN: 0226504646
Illustrated chronicles of Matthew Paris : observations of thirteenth-century life / by translated, edited and with an introduction by Richard Vaughan ; illustrations selected by Nigel Wilkins ; photography by Ian Cannell.
Call Number: DA220.P2213 1993
ISBN: 0750902760
Re-issue of Chronicles of Matthew Paris, published in 1984, but without the "Deeds of the Abbots of St Alban's," and with many of Matthew Paris's own marginal illustrations to his chronicle reproduced in colour. This is one of the most valuable sources of our knowledge of 13th-century life remarkable for its detail, scope, and accounts of events in Europe as well as England.
Kingsford's Stonor letters and papers 1290-1483 / by edited and introduced by Christine Carpenter.
Call Number: DA170.S76 1996
ISBN: 0521555868
Provides us with a fascinating insight into the lives and careers of a gentry family in late medieval England.
Knighton's Chronicle 1337-1396 / by edited and translated by G.H. Martin.
Call Number: DA170.K55 1995
ISBN: 0198205031
Henry Knighton, a canon of St Mary's Abbey, Leicester, wrote his Chronicle between 1378 and 1396. Leicester was a fief of the duchy of Lancaster, and the abbey was closely in touch with the households of Henry of Grosmont and John of Gaunt. The Chronicle contains exceptionally vivid accountsof the campaigns in France, in which Duke Henry was one of Edward III's leading generals, of the onset and effects of the Black Death, and of the crises of Richard II's reign. Knighton, whose fellow canon Philip Repingdon was a pupil and early disciple of John Wyclif, was a horrified witness of therise of Lollardy, his account of which is unmatched. The Chronicle was printed in 1652 in a competent text with a brief Latin commentary, and less satisfactorily in the Rolls Series in 1889-95. This edition includes analysis of the text and its sources, and the first translation of its distinguished and engaging narrative.
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.
Medieval life of King Alfred the Great / by a translation and commentary on the text attributed to Asser
Call Number: DA153.A8213 2002
ISBN: 0333699173
This is a translation of the medieval life of King Alfred of Wessex together with an extensive commentary. This account of England's best-loved and most famous king has been accepted as offering unassailable evidence on most aspects of life in early medieval England and beyond. Alfred Smyth argues that the work is a forgery which has profound implications on our understanding of the early English and medieval past.
Norman conquest of England [computer file] : sources and documents / by R. Allen Brown.
Call Number: Ebsco DA190.B757 1995
ISBN: 0851156185
This selection of documents offers an insight into the Norman Conquest of England from a variety of perspectives. It is divided into four parts, each dealing with evidence of a different kind: literary and narrative sources (including Norman, Old English and Anglo-Norman texts); documentary sources, such as charters, writs and leases; letters; and the art of the period, principally, though not exclusively, from the Bayeux Tapestry. Both Anglo-Saxon and Norman England are represented, and Normandy itself is the subject of one section. R. Allen Brown's general introduction supplies a broad context for the material, and commentaries are provided with the documents where necessary, explaining points of particular significance, while a select bibliography gives suggestions for further reading. All documents are provided in translation.
Peterborough Chronicle, 1070-1154. by Edited from Ms. Bodley Laud misc. 636, with introd., commentary, and an appendix containing the interpolations by Cecily Clark.
Call Number: DA690.P47 A49
The Peterborough Chronicle (also called the Laud Manuscript), one of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, contains unique information about the history of England after the Norman Conquest. According to philologist J.A.W. Bennett, it is the only prose history in English between the Conquest and the later 14th century. Thislater Peterborough text is one of the earliest examples of Middle English in existence.
Plantagenet chronicles / by edited by Elizabeth Hallam.
Call Number: DA225.P53 1986
ISBN: 1555840183
The brilliant and erratic Plantagenets from Anjou ruled England and most of western France from 1154 to 1216. The dramatic lives of Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard Lionheart, John Lackland, and their kin are here set forth in chronological selections from 14 contemporary writers; their stories are decorated with rich illustrations and short topical essays by modern British historians. Advanced students of the Middle Ages will relish the appearance in English of previously untranslated texts but find the collateral essays rather simple; general readers may think the unexplicated chronicles occasionally perplexing. Also see the sequel to this book: Four gothic kings (DA225.F68 1987).
Register of Thomas Appleby : Bishop of Carlisle, 1363-1395 / by edited by R.L. Storey.
Call Number: BX1495.C37 C38 2006
ISBN: 0907239668
Thomas Appleby was an Augustinian canon of Carlisle cathedral before his elevation to the bishopric. Pope Urban V, who had reserved the see, initially squashed Appleby's election but appointed him as bishop by papal provision. Consecrated at Avignon on 18 June 1363, his episcopate turned out to be the longest of any bishop of Carlisle, and he ruled the border diocese for well over thirty years before his death in 1395. His register gives ample evidence of his careful administration of the diocese and also reveals his political involvement as a warden of the west march, frequently involved in negotiations with the Scots.

English Civil War

Cromwell at the head of his troops after Marston Moor

Artist: Ernest Crofts

British History Websites

These websites may contain primary source materials.

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.
EuroDocs
EuroDocs is an online directory of primary documents in Western European history compiled by Richard Hacken, librarian at Brigham Young University.
Life in Elizabethan England: a Compendium of Common Knowledge, 1558-1603
A reference guide to everyday life in Elizabethan England. The site was originally created to aid living history re-enactors and writers.
National Archives of the United Kingdom
Large scope of coverage dating to the 12th century. Includes free and fee-based services.

Queen Victoria

Queen VICTORIA 1819-1901 in her coronation robes 1837 from Jubilee book of Queen Victoria

Primary Source Books--1688 to the present

Benjamin Disraeli letters / by edited by J.A.W. Gunn [et al].
Call Number: DA564.B3 A235 vol. 1-7
ISBN: 080204137X
Contents: v. 1. 1815-1834 / edited by J.A.W. Gunn - v. 2: 1835-1837 - v. 3. 1838-1841 / edited by M.G. Wiebe - v. 4. 1842-1847 -- v. .5. 1848-1851 -- v. 6. 1852-1856 -- v. 7. 1857-1859 / edited by M.G. Wiebe
Business of abolishing the British slave trade, 1783-1807 / by [edited by] Judith Jennings.
Call Number: HT1162.B87 1997
ISBN: 0714642355
Correspondence of King George the Third from 1760 to December 1783, printed from the original papers in the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle by arranged and edited by Sir John Fortesque.
Call Number: DA506.A2 A2 1967 vol.1 -6
Contents: v. 1. 1760-1767.--v. 2. 1768-June 1773.--v. 3. July 1773-December 1777.--v. 4. 1778-1779.--v. 5. 1780-April 1782.--v. 6. May 1782-December 1783.
Gladstone diaries / by W. E. Gladstone.
Call Number: DA563.A34 vol. 1-14
v. 1. 1825-1832 -- v. 2. 1833-1839 -- v. 3. 1840-1847 -- v. 4. 1848-1854 -- v. 5. 1855-1860 -- v. 6. 1861-1868 -- v. 7. January 1869-June 1871 -- v. 8. July 1871-December 1874 -- v. 9. January 1875-December 1880 -- v. 10. January 1881-June 1883 -- v. 11. July 1883-December 1886 -- v. 12. With cabinet minutes and prime-ministerial correspondence, 1887-1891 -- v. 13. With cabinet minutes ... 1892-1896 -- v. 14. Index.
Letters from a lost generation : the First World War letters of Vera Brittain and four friends, Roland Leighton, Edward Brittain, Victor Richardson, Geoffrey Thurlow / by Vera Brittain.
Call Number: D640.A2 B75 1999
ISBN: 1555533795
Letters of Queen Victoria, a selection from Her Majesty's correspondence between the years 1837 and 1861, published by authority of His Majesty the king / by ed. by Arthur Christopher Benson, M.A. and Viscount Esher
Call Number: DA552.L7 1907 vol.1-3
Contents: I. 1837-1843.--II. 1844-1853.--III. 1854-1861.
Speeches and trials of the militant suffragettes : the Women's Social and Political Union, 1903-1918 / by edited by Cheryl R. Jorgensen-Earp.
Call Number: JN979.S67 1999
ISBN: 0838637884
Red earl : the papers of the Fifth Earl Spencer, 1835-1910 / by edited by Peter Gordon.
Call Number: DA565.S7 S72 vol. 1-2
ISBN: 090127545X

History of Britain: Primary Sources