Medievalists.net A new site, still not officially launched, with general news, resources and information for those interested in the middle ages. Watch for continuing developments.

The Medieval Scriptorium A nicely produced blog with various news items relating to the study of medieval manuscripts, including book reviews and news items from museums and galleries, as well as links to other relevant sites.

Manuscript Manual A Hungarian site, in English, on the production, typology and function of medieval books, with some nice illustrations. Definitely worth a look.

ORB Online Encyclopedia - Manuscript Books Basically a plain text file with a scholarly introduction to the history and structure of medieval manuscript books.

A Brief History of Scriptoria and the evolution of the book A very concise plain text page which introduces some technical terms.

Bibliography for Western Book History (The Middle Ages) Plain text bibliography on books and book production.

What is Palaeography? Plain text version of an essay by gun paleographer Julian Brown, part of a site on manuscript records of 16th century America and Spain.

Medieval Calligraphy A site developed for a class project at Harvard, with some basic introductory material on medieval handwriting. As this was produced in 1997, the design is pretty basic and many of the external links no longer function. Such is the ephemeral nature of the 90s web!

The Fitzwilliam Museum: The Cambridge Illuminations This virtual exhibition contains a multimedia segment using Flash on how manuscripts were made. Notably, it works brilliantly on a standard modem over a rural phone line. Hey, it can be done! (Flash player needed.)

Medieval Sourcebook: Accounts of Medieval Literacy and Education A set of translated snippets from medieval authors which shed light on attitudes to literacy in the middle ages.

The Making of a Medieval Book A brief exhibition page from the Getty Museum, including short videos on aspects of book production (RealPlayer needed).

Manuscript Sources in British History From the Institute of Historical Research, a general introduction to archives and the use of manuscript sources - all very practical stuff. Furhter mousing around the site maypay dividends for historical researchers.

Catholic Encyclopedia A handy first reference point for anything to do with the Catholic church or religion.

Bible Research A comprehensive site on the formation of the Biblical canon and the histories of texts, containing a broad spread of brief articles and extensive bibliographies.

Glenn Gunhouse's Home Page A multifacetted resource which contains, among other things, a hypertext Book of Hours, a parallel text Latin/English Psalter and a calendar of saints' days.

A Few Minutes on the Book of Hours An essay on the structure of the book of hours, with some graphic images of pages.

Center for Håndskriftstudier; Danmark A collection of notes on books of hours in Danish collections, in English. There are no illustrations, but there is a tutorial on the structure of the book of hours.

Medieval Learning An English translation of the chapter headings of several medieval encyclopedias. What is the point of that, you ask. Well, it shows not only what they wrote about, but how they structured it.

Exposition 200 Reliures Du Moyen Age A Nos Jours An online exhibition of bookbindings from the Bibliothèque Municipale de Metz, with several medieval examples.

Domesday Explorer Web Site This is basically an ad and set of help files for the fancy CD-ROM of Domesday Book, which costs £314-99. However, even if you don't fancy forking that out for a plastic disk that will probably be technologically redundant in about five years, you can get quite a bit of background information for free in the Online Help Manual. For a selective peek at more modest rates, one can now access Documents Online: Domesday Book from the National Archives in London, where it is possible to search using various criteria and purchase images of individual pages by download, supplied with a translation.

Gallica From the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, this calls itself an "encyclopaedic digital heritage library". It includes presentations of French culture under various themes, including a history of the book. There are various topics involving medieval manuscripts.

Some Notes on Medieval English Genealogy This is a very useful plain English guide and resource site for the investigation of medieval English documents. Their section on dating and chronology provides a good basic guide and links to online resources of the sort which were once buried away in archives and esoteric publications. Not just for genealogists.

GENUKI - UK & Ireland Genealogy An extensive listing of web resources for genealogists and others working in practical history.

Old English Libraries: The Making, Collection, and Use of Books An e-book by Ernest A. Savage published in 1911. This edition is provided by Project Gutenberg.

The Ecole Initiative Badging itself as an encyclopaedia of the early Christian church, including the medieval era, this site has many visual and written resources.

The Medieval Bestiary An index of bestiary animals with images from manuscripts and literary sources for the text. There is a list of bestiary manuscripts with links to catalogue entries, some sample images and listings of printed and digital editions.

Regesta Imperii For those whose passion is Germanic history, the full text of this mighty historical compilation on the German monarchy from Merovingian times to the 16th century is accessible. There is also a database of bibliographical material.

Patrons and Performances From REED (Records of Early English Drama) who have produced many paper academic editions of drama texts, a database of information on touring companies, their patrons and their itineraries. It includes images of performance venues, maps and other visual resources. An intriguing new concept.

Medieval Imaginations: literature and visual culture in the middle ages A database of images from medieval works of art which illustrate episodes from the Mystery Plays. There are complicated zoom features, but if you connect over a modem, click to view "without applet" for a basic image and some commentary.

An Introduction to Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts A short series of illustrated seminars by Michelle Brown of the British Library.

Liturgica.com This is a web store for CDs of liturgical music, but contains some good information pages, as well as sound samples.

Gregofacsimil A French language site dedicated to Gregorian chant, including texts of some of the lesser known offices, and including links to external sites with digital facsimiles of medieval music manuscripts.

Cantus Planus There are many resources and external links on this site devoted to Gregorian chant and the liturgy.

The Order of Saint Benedict This big resource contains loads of information on all things Benedictine, including the church calendar, Rule of St Benedict, liturgy and many links to outside resources including liturgical texts.

Patron Saints Index An exceedingly useful resource with profiles of various patron saints, a calendar with a large selection of saints and image galleries. Very handy for finding out about some of those odd saints in the medieval calendars.

Researching Historic Buildings in the British Isles This resource rich site on architectural history might seem at first glance to have little to do with medieval writing, but there is a great deal of information on primary source material in manuscript form, such as surveys, rentals, wills and other archived documents.

Early Insular Manuscripts: Merging of Oral and Literate Culture An essay by Elizabeth Howie of the University of North Carolina, with discussion and some small pictures of a number of important early Celtic manuscripts.

Omniglot If you want to know where our little corner of the written world fits into the whole global scheme of writing systems, this excellent, neat and clear site provides an introduction to all forms of writing systems; past, present and imaginary. It includes bibliographies and web links, as well as a Puzzles sections where users can send pictures of mysterious written objects for decoding by other users.