Research Guides: Culturas Hispánicas I: Background Information

Online Reference Sources

These sources will be helpful for providing background information to the history and literature of the period you are working on. Most of the sources listed contain bibliographies which will help you identify other important secondary works.

The Dictionary of Literary Biography is a specialist encyclopedia dedicated to literature. Each biographical entry includes basic information on the author and works, a bibliography, and a list of further readings of essential secondary sources. Most of the canonical writers and texts covered in the Culturas Hispánicas syllabus have entries in this source.

Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia. This unique volume focuses on the Iberian kingdoms from the fall of the Roman Empire to the aftermath of the Reconquista. Also available in print.

Encyclopedia Judaica Provides an exhaustive and organized overview of Jewish life and knowledge including information on Jewish communities in the Iberian peninsula.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures This reference source chronicles Pre-Hispanic, colonial, and modern Mesoamerica, defined as the lands stretching from Mexico to the southern tip of Central America. The Encyclopedia covers art, archaeology, religious studies, anthropology, history, and historiography of the region.

Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages Consists of articles on all aspects of the period from the fifth to the fifteenth century, exploring art, architecture, religion, law, science, language, philosophy, and theology, as well as cultural, religious, intellectual, social and political history. With a focus on focus on Europe and Christendom, the Encyclopedia also covers the rise of Islam and people of other cultures with whom Europeans came into contact.

New Catholic Encyclopedia Among the 12,000 entries in the encyclopedia are articles on theology, philosophy, history, literary figures, saints, and musicians.

Oxford Bibliographies Offers peer-reviewed annotated bibliographies on specific topics in a growing range of subject areas including numerous entries on Medieval Studies, Islamic Studies, Jewish Studies and Latin American Studies.

Print Reference Sources

Spain: An Oxford Archaeological Guide. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998 This handbook describes Spanish historical sites (mainly Roman, Visigothic, and medieval) in alphabetical order.

Women and gender in medieval Europe: an encyclopedia. New York : Routledge, 2006. Comprehensive and authoritative reference work containing short thematic, biographical, and geographical entries on medieval women, femininity, and masculinity.