Research Guides: HIST 150: The Family in Premodern Europe (Fall 2024): Problem with Primary Sources

Using Primary Source from Premodern Europe

Most of us cannot read Latin, ancient Greek, or any of the other numerous and varied language of premodern Europe, and as a result need to reply upon translations.

Translated volumes of Historical texts are very common and extremely useful, and librarians call these materials "Sourcebooks."

Below is a scan of a recent sourcebook full of "Medieval Miscellany," or a collection of documents from various sources about various topics.

Herrin, Judith., Linda. Falter, Michael. Falter, and Emmanuel. Le Roy Ladurie. A Medieval Miscellany. New York, N.Y: Viking Studio, 2000.
Please read page 31, "A teacher's warning" and endnote 31 in the bibliography

In Groups, Consider

Basic questions

What is the document about?
Who is the author?
How might it relate to Family in premodern Europe?
When was the document written?

More detailed questions

Who is the compiling translator?
What information do we know about the original author?
Beyond the general information, how much do we actually know about the context of the original document?
Who is the target audience of this work?

Tracking down the citation

Herrin identifies the original source of this document as:

Browning, Robert. “THE CORRESPONDENCE OF A TENTH-CENTURY BYZANTINE SCHOLAR.” Byzantion (Bruxelles) 24, no. 2 (1954): 397–452.

Specifically pgs 415-416 of the article (pgs 20/21 of the PDF)

Browning, Robert. “THE CORRESPONDENCE OF A TENTH-CENTURY BYZANTINE SCHOLAR.” Byzantion (Bruxelles) 24, no. 2 (1954): 397–452.
See bottom of page 415

COMPARE THE TWO WORKS

How does the target audience differ?
How do the author's intentions differ?
How does contextual information change the document?
Which resource is more helpful for this project?