Introduction aux sources de l'histoire médiévale

The work opens with a clear and full introduction to the primary sources for the medieval history of Western Europe, together with the information which is needed to use these sources and interpret them correctly. The work covers the whole of Western Europe from the fifth to the fifteenth century and is indispensable for any scholar who needs access to the sources of information. It is therefore a fundamental tool for the systematic research into medieval history. The different types of texts and documents are described, narrative and non-narrative, together with an original perspective on the history of the birth and development of medieval studies from the sixteenth century to the present day. Although the focus is on Western Europe also two chapters are devoted to Byzantine history. The book concludes with a bibliography which has been brought up-to-date with reference works that are indispensable for a medievalist trying to resolve problems relating to language, geography, chronology, biography, onomastics, palaeography and other issues which one confront when undertaking primary research into medieval texts and documents. This French edition is a complete update of Van Caenegem's Introduction to the Sources of Medieval History(1978) taking account of the most recent progress in research, up to and including publications from 1996. It is important also to underline that the enormous increase in bibliographical data in recent decades is reflected in this new version so that the quantity of material is 25% greater than in the previous edition.

A propos de la parution de la version anglaise en 1978, M. Pacaut, dans son compte rendu dans les Cahiers de civilisation médiévale, exprimait le principal regret qu'avait suscité chez lui la lecture du present ouvrage, "à savoir qu'il n'y ait pas de ce volume une traduction française". C'est un grand plaisir donc de pouvoir annoncer enfin la parution de l'édition française, complètement mise à jour et adaptée à tous les progrès de la recherche (y compris les publications parues en 1996). Sans vouloir toucher au concept général de l'ouvrage, il est important de souligner que l'essor bibliographique énorme des dernières décennies est reflété dans la nouvelle version de sorte que l'ensemble s'est accru d'un quart par rapport à l'édition précédente. On dispose ainsi d'une introduction claire et complète aux sources originales de l'histoire du Moyen Âge occidental ainsi que de l'information nécessaire à leur utilisation et leur interprétation correctes.