This manual applies to the bibliographies that are available on http://www.brepolis.net:

APh | L’année Philologique (SIBC, FR and USA)
Biblifre | Bibliographie des écrivains Français (Université de Poitiers, FR)
BBIH | Bibliography of British and Irish History (University of London, UK)
IMB | International Medieval Bibliography ( University of Leeds, UK)
BCM |Bibliographie de Civilisation Médiévale (Université de Poitiers, FR)
IBHR | International Bibliography of Humanism and the Renaissance
IR | Index Religiosus (KU Leuven, BE)
BiFran | Bibliographia Franciscana (Istittuto Storico dei Cappuccini, IT)
BIS | Bibliographia Internationalis Spiritualitatis (Pontificio istituto di spiritualità del Teresianum, IT)

Some information is only relevant to a specific bibliography in which case the abbreviated name will appear between brackets.

Table of contents:

Main menu
Search screen: how to search?
Result overview
Record view
Links to other databases
Export
Change interface language
Search history
Coverage
Video tutorials
Online test tool
Logout

Content profile

Brepolis Medieval and Early Modern Bibliographies

The below numbers are based on the joint data of the International Medieval Bibliography, Bibliographie de Civilisation Médiévale and International Bibliography of Humanism and the Renaissance.

Records per discipline

Administration	1,8%
Archaeology	4,0%
Architecture	2,8%
Archives and Source Collections	1,0%
Art History	6,2%
Artefacts	0,0%
Bibliographical	0,0%
Canon Law	0,4%
Charters and Diplomatics	1,1%
Classical Heritage and Humanism	1,2%
Colonialism	0,2%
Crusades	0,4%
Cultural and Historical	0,7%
Daily Life	0,9%
Decorative Arts	0,1%
Demography	0,4%
Drama	0,4%
Ecclesiastical History	3,7%
Economics	4,2%
Education	0,8%
Epigraphy	0,5%
Folk Studies	0,6%
Genealogy and Prosopography	0,9%
General	5,3%
Geography and Settlement Studies	2,3%
Hagiography	1,6%
Hebrew and Jewish Studies	0,9%
Heraldry	0,3%
Historiography	2,4%
Islam	0,6%
Language	2,8%
Law	1,6%
Literature	11,2%
Liturgy	1,0%
Local History	1,9%
Manuscripts and Palaeography	2,8%
Maritime Studies	0,3%
Medicine	0,7%
Military History	1,5%
Monasticism	3,0%
Music	1,0%
Numismatics	0,7%
Onomastics	0,9%
Painting	0,4%
Philosophy	2,6%
Political Thought	1,0%
Politics and Diplomacy	4,3%
Printing History	1,0%
Prose	0,1%
Protestantism	0,7%
Religious	0,2%
Religious Life	2,6%
Rural	0,1%
Science	1,4%
Sculpture	0,1%
Secular	0,1%
Sermons and Preaching	0,5%
Sites	0,1%
Social History	4,6%
Technology	0,5%
Theology and Biblical Study	2,9%
Trade	0,1%
Urban	0,0%
Verse	0,4%
Women’s Studies	1,2%

Records per area

Africa	0,4%
Americas	1,4%
Baltic	0,4%
British Isles	14,1%
Caucasus	0,1%
East Central Europe	4,2%
Eastern Mediterranean	5,1%
Far East	0,1%
France	15,9%
General	8,6%
Germany	10,5%
Iberia	12,6%
Italy	13,2%
Low Countries	4,5%
Middle East	0,5%
Russia	1,3%
Scandinavia	2,5%
South-Eastern Europe	4,4%

Records per century

Main menu

The most important elements in the Main menu are:

An overview of all Brepols’ online databases
The option of changing the interface language (Learn more)
A Search History function to see details of previous searches (Learn more)
A Logout button: always use this button to exit the database (Learn more)
The coverage list of all the journals and series covered in the bibliography (Learn more)
A link to the introduction page
A choice between a Simple search screen and an Advanced search screen
A quick search box: a search in this box corresponds to the Search anywhere search field (Learn more)
The date of the last update

Search screen: how to search?

Select Search from the green menu, and choose between the Simple search screen (learn more) and the Advanced search screen (learn more) using the links just underneath. Depending on your subscriber’s profile the default screen may be either the Simple search screen or the Advanced search screen.

Simple search

The Simple search screen offers a limited selection of search fields. Most bibliographies will offer the following search fields:

Search anywhere: searches for the words that you enter anywhere in the data (Learn more).
Author (Learn more)
Title contains (Learn more)
Supplementary fields that allow you to carry out a Subject or Thematic search. Available fields vary per bibliography.

Most fields offer an Auto-complete function. (Learn more).
You can also use Boolean operators and wildcards in all fields.

The number of hits for each search field will be displayed automatically (Learn more). The total number of hits appears at the bottom of the screen.

Click the Search button at the bottom right of the screen to see the results of your search on the Result overview (Learn more).

If you wish to remove the search criteria that you have inserted at any point, use the Clear fields button at the bottom left of the screen.

Advanced search

The Advanced search screen offers the following features not available on Simple search:

additional search fields (see list below);
Browse lists associated with most fields (learn more);
the option of selecting the Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) used between fields (see below).

Available fields are:

1. Search anywhere or All fields: searches for the words that you enter anywhere in the data (learn more). This field offers an Auto-complete list, enabling you to see all the words, names, periodical titles and indexing terms used in the database (learn more).

2. Bibliographical search:

Author (Learn more)
Title contains (Learn more)
Journal or Series (Learn more)
Type of publication (Learn more)
Year of publication (Learn more)

All the bibliographical fields except for Publication year offer Auto-complete lists (learn more) and Browse lists (learn more), enabling you to see all the names or titles used in these fields.

3. Subject or thematic search (available fields vary per bibliography)

All index terms: use this field to look for words or phrases occurring in subject indexing, including place names and personal names. This field offers an Auto-complete list (Learn more) and a Browse list (Learn more), enabling you to see all the terms used in the subject indexing fields.
Subject tree: enables you to select subject indexing terms (other than place names and personal names) by browsing a hierarchically organized tree. You can also search the tree for a specific word to see which terms match. (Learn more)
Place name tree: enables you to select geographical indexing terms by browsing a hierarchically organized tree. You can also search the tree for a specific place name to see which terms match. (Learn more).
Person as subject: use this field if you want to find works about a particular historical person. (Learn more). This field offers an Auto-complete list (Learn more) and a Browse list (Learn more) , enabling you to see all the names used in this field.
Period covered (BBIH): use this field to specify a range of years. There is also an option to restrict your search to Close matches. (Learn more).
Centuries: use this field to specify a range of centuries (Learn more).

You can use wildcards in all text based fields.

In addition to using Boolean operators within fields, you can also select the operators linking fields by using the drop-down menus at the left of the screen:

AND (the default setting) means that the results of your search must match any criteria that you have placed in the corresponding search field. If you fill more than one field and leave the operator preceding each field as AND, your search will return only records that meet all of your criteria. For example, inserting “Porter, Roy Sydney, 1946-2002” in the Author field and enlightenment in the Title contains field, and leaving the operator in front of each field as AND, would produce a result list containing all works by Roy Porter that have ‘enlightenment’ in the title.
OR means that the document to be retrieved may match either the criteria preceding OR or the criteria following it. For example, inserting “Porter, Roy Sydney, 1946-2002” in the Author field and enlightenment in the Title contains field, and then switching the operator in front of Title contains to OR, would produce a result list containing all works by Roy Porter and all works with ‘enlightenment’ in the title.
NOT means that the results of your search must exclude any record that matches the criteria in the corresponding field. For example, inserting “Porter, Roy Sydney, 1946-2002” in the Author field and enlightenment in the Title contains field, and then switching the operator in front of Title contains to NOT, would produce a result list containing all works by Roy Porter which do not have ‘enlightenment’ in the title.

The number of hits for each search field will be displayed automatically (Learn more). The total number of hits appears at the bottom of the screen.

Click the Search button at the bottom right of the screen to see the results of your search on the Result overview (Learn more).

If you wish to remove the search criteria that you have inserted at any point, use the Clear fields button at the bottom left of the screen.

Words and phrases

If you enter multiple words into a search box the software will look for all of the words that you have entered wherever they occur in the appropriate field (or in the record as a whole, if you are using Search anywhere), irrespective of the order in which they occur. For example, entering the words suburbs challenge in Title contains will return the record with the title ‘Government in early modern London : the challenge of the suburbs‘.

To search for an exact phrase, place it in double inverted commas, e.g. “The challenge of the suburbs” . You will notice that, when you select terms from the Auto-complete or Browse lists, they appear with inverted commas around them for this reason.

If you include the words and, or or not, the software will not search for them, but will treat them as Boolean operators, unless you include them as part of a phrase enclosed in inverted commas, e.g. “Crisis and continuity”. Learn more about Boolean operators

Wild cards and Boolean searches

You can use wildcards and Boolean operators (‘AND’, ‘OR’, ‘NOT’) in all text based fields.

Multi-character wildcards (*)

Use * to represent any number of characters. This enables you to search for the root of a word and obtain results containing several variants; for example, agricultur* will match both ‘agriculture’ and ‘agricultural’. You can also end a word with * in order to find both singular and plural forms; for example, trade* union* will match ‘trade union’, ‘trade unions’ and ‘trades unions’. We strongly recommend that you use wildcards in this way when using Search anywhere to search for subjects.

The text in the search box must contain at least three characters, as well as the *. For example, in the Author field, you cannot search for i* but you can search for Archer I* to find all authors with the surname ‘Archer’ whose forenames begin with ‘I’.

You cannot use a wildcard as part of a phrase enclosed by inverted commas.

Single-character wildcards (?)

You can use ? to represent a single character; for example, if you search for p?rsons, this will match ‘persons’ or ‘parsons’. However, a character must be present where you place the ?; for example, guild? will match ‘guilds’ but will not match ‘guild’. To search for both single and plural forms of the same word, use *, e.g. guild*, or link the different forms with OR, e.g. guild OR guilds.

The text in the search box must contain at least three characters, as well as the ?. For example, in the Author field, you cannot search simply for j? but you can search for Wainwright J? and your search will find records by ‘Wainwright, Jo’.

You cannot use a wildcard as part of a phrase enclosed by inverted commas.

Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT)

When you use AND in a text based field it will be treated as a Boolean operator linking the words or phrases on either side of it. For example, searching for Crisis AND continuity in the Title contains field will find all records whose titles contain both the word ‘crisis’ and the word ‘continuity’, irrespective of the order in which they occur (‘AND’ has been shown in capitals here for clarity, but you do not have to type it this way). This has the same effect as typing crisis continuity because the ‘AND’ operator is assumed to be present between words by default. Different rules apply in hierarchical indexes.

You can also use OR to connect words when you want to find records that contain either word, e.g. Title contains crisis OR continuity will find records whose titles contain either the word ‘crisis’ or the word ‘continuity’. Again, Different rules apply in hierarchical indexes.

Use NOT to connect words when you want to find records that contain the first word or phrase, but not the second.

To find a phrase that contains any of the words ‘AND’, ‘OR’ or ‘NOT’, place it in double inverted commas, e.g. “Crisis and continuity”.

You can mix ‘AND’, ‘OR’ and ‘NOT’ in one search and use brackets to control how these operators are used, e.g.

Transport AND Gloucestershire OR Wiltshire finds all records that contain both ‘Transport’ and ‘Gloucestershire’ along with all records that contain ‘Wiltshire’

BUT

Transport AND (Gloucestershire OR Wiltshire) finds all records that contain both ‘Transport’ and either ‘Gloucestershire’ or ‘Wiltshire’, which is probably a more useful result.

On the Advanced search screen you can also select different Boolean operators between fields (Learn more).

Auto-complete

All text based fields include an auto-complete function.

As you type in the field, a list of suggestions will appear from which you may select a term; this alphabetically ordered list is based on the index terms for the corresponding search field, with two exceptions:

Hint: If you type very quickly, the list may take a little time to appear.

Once the list has opened, you can use the previous or next buttons to go back or forward through the list.

Each auto-complete list contains cross-references, about which you can learn more.

Click on a term or cross-reference in the list and it will be inserted in the search box. You can add other terms to the box if you wish, using Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT), but the auto-complete list works only for the first term. On the Advanced search form you can also explore the indexes associated with many of the fields by using Browse lists, which do enable you to build up, for each field, search criteria containing multiple terms (Learn more about Browse lists).

If you enter text that has no match in the appropriate index, the auto-complete list will disappear. Your search may still produce results (for example, the auto-complete lists for Title contains and for Journal or series are based on the start of each title, and you may be looking for a phrase occurring within a title) but, unless you are searching for title words using Title contains, or for words from a journal or series title using Journal or series, the auto-complete list is generally a good guide to the terms that will produce useful results.

Browse list

On the Advanced search form you can select a keyword from the browse list, instead of typing a word in the search field. (If you have already inserted a word or letters in the search-field and then open the browse list, the list will start with the nearest match to what you have typed.)

Each browse list contains the index terms for the corresponding search field, with the exception of the list accompanying All index terms, which incorporates all the terms from the available indexes into a single alphabetical sequence. When you select a term from the All index terms list, your search is carried out on all fields, whatever the source of the term.

In the browse list, you may enter one or more letters in the search-box at the top of the window to find entries starting with these letters. You can also use the Previous and Next buttons at the bottom of the screen to move back and forth through the list.

Each browse list contains cross-references, about which you can learn more.

Click on the append button (1 in the screenshot below) to select a term or cross-reference. The selected item is then indicated at the top of the window (2).

You can select additional terms if you wish, using the same technique, and they will be added to the list at the top of the window. By default, if you select more than one term, they are connected with a Boolean OR, which means that, when your search is run, the software will look for records that contain any of the listed terms in the appropriate field. You can change this to use other Boolean operators by editing the terms once they have been inserted in the search screen.

To confirm your selection and copy the selected terms into the search screen click the Insert/Close button (3).

The browse lists for some fields have special features:
Those for Author and All index terms also allow you to see a list of the individual words used in the fields by selecting the Wordlist radio button at the top of the window (5).
On the Title browse list, radio buttons in the same location allow you to switch between viewing a list of all the titles, a list of article titles and a list of book titles.

Hint: If you add to your selection a term that you later want to remove, or if you opened the list after typing something into the search field and subsequently want to remove it from your selection, simply add the terms that you want to use and then click the Insert/Close button (3). The items that you wanted to remove from your selection can then be deleted by editing the contents of the field on the search screen.

Cross-references

Cross-references are available in the auto-complete lists and browse lists.

Five different types of cross-reference exist:

1. Terms which are automatically replaced by a preferred term, for example:
‘Crimean War –> Wars, Crimean’
If you select this term from the list, your search will be automatically changed to ‘Wars, Crimean’, which is the term preferred by the Bibliography. If you simply enter Crimean War without selecting from the list, your search will still be converted to ‘Wars, Crimean’, but, if the preferred term is part of a tree, you may obtain fewer results, so it is better to insert the term from the list when using subject or place name terms.

2. Terms that factor into two or more preferred terms, for example:
‘Poor relief –> Poverty AND Welfare’
If you select this term from the list, the software will automatically look for records that carry all of the preferred terms in combination. If you simply enter Poor relief without selecting from the list, the same substitution should occur, but, if the preferred terms are part of a tree, you may obtain fewer results, so it is better to insert the term from the list when using subject or place name terms.

3. Ambivalent terms, where you are asked to make a choice, for example:
‘Depression –> Recession’
‘Depression –> Mental health and mental health care’
In such cases we strongly recommend that you do not enter the ambivalent term, but make a selection from the choice in the list.

4. Terms that are equivalent to another search term (available only in the Author and Journal or series fields), for example:
‘KNOWLES, David OR KNOWLES, Michael Clive [i.e. Knowles, David]’
‘Cambridge Historical Journal OR Historical Journal’
Equivalence relationships of this type are used where an author has published under different names or where a journal has changed title over time.
If you select one of these terms from the list, the software will look for records that contain either term in the appropriate field. If you simply enter Knowles, David (for example) without selecting from the list, the software will still return results for any equivalent term as well as for your search term.

5. Terms that are related to other terms dealing with similar concepts in which you may be interested, for example:
‘Abduction SEE ALSO: Ransoms and ransoming’
Selecting such a term from the list converts your search into the related term (‘Ransoms and ransoming’ in this instance). If you wish to search also for ‘Abduction’ itself, you must include this term in your search with a Boolean OR. This is particularly easy to do if you use the Browse lists on the Advanced search screen.

Auto record count

As you type text into a search field, the software will count automatically the number of hits for the text that you have entered in that field.

The total number of hits for the combination of all the search criteria appears at the bottom of the screen in red.

Hint: The speed with which results are calculated depends on a variety of factors, including the speed of your internet connection. You may sometimes see numbers fluctuate even though you have stopped typing. If you hit the Search button while the numbers are still fluctuating, your search will be carried out correctly; however, if you want to see the figures associated with each search field, you must wait for them to stabilize.

Help on individual fields

Search anywhere

Search anywhere or All fields is available on the both the Simple search screen and the Advanced search screen.

When you enter text in this field, the software searches for it anywhere in the database, in bibliographical data, subject indexing and notes.

If you enter more than one word, the software will search for records that contain all the words irrespective of their location or order in the record. However you can modify this to search for phrases (Learn more) and you can also use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to modify how the search is carried out (Learn more).

You can use wildcards in this field. We strongly recommend the use of the multi-character wildcard, *, when you are using this field to search for subjects (Learn more).

This field has an auto-complete list (Learn more).

Author

The Author field is available on the both the Simple search screen and the Advanced search screen.

Key features:
If you enter more than one word, the software will search for records that contain all the words in the author field, irrespective of their order. However you can modify this to search for phrases by enclosing the phrase in double inverted commas (Learn more) and you can also use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to modify how the search is carried out (Learn more).

You can use wildcards in this field (learn more).

This field has an auto-complete list showing all the author names occurring in the Bibliography (Learn more) and, on the Advanced search screen, a Browse list (Learn more).

Hints on finding authors:
To get the best results from these features, enter the author name with the surname first, followed by the first initial, if known (e.g. Porter R or Abrahams J). Now wait for the auto-complete list to open and select the author name that you want from the list by clicking on it. On the Advanced search screen, you can also search for the author name in the Browse list (Learn more).

However, the data have been built up over time from a variety of sources, and we have not yet been able to standardize all author names, so that you may sometimes find that the same author has been described in more than one way – e.g. using surname and full forenames, using surname and first forename, or using surname and initial(s). In such cases, you can follow the surname of the author with the initial of his or her first forename and a wildcard (e.g. Abrahams J*) to get all results relating to a particular person, although such searches may occasionally return some extraneous results.

For more precise results where different versions of the name have been used for the same author, you can also combine the specific names using a Boolean OR (e.g. “Jones, J. C.” OR “Jones, J. Colin”), to find records containing any of the specified names. The Browse list on the Advanced search screen makes it easy to select and combine multiple author names (learn more).

You may also wish to search for more than one author because you are looking for a multi-authored work: in this case link the names with a Boolean AND. Again, the Browse list on the Advanced search screen makes it easy to combine multiple author names in this way (Learn more). You can also learn more about Boolean operators.

Authors of edited texts: To find the authors of edited texts, search not only using the author field, but also using Person as subject on Advanced search, linking the fields with a Boolean OR. For some edited texts, only the editor/s are listed as authors and the author is listed as a Person as subject. For example, the record ‘Reynolds, Noel B.; Saxonhouse, Arlene W. (ed.). Thomas Hobbes: three discourses. Chicago (IL): Chicago University Press, 1995. ix, 181 p.’ is not listed under Hobbes as an author, but is listed under Hobbes in the Person as subject field.

Title contains

The Title contains field is available on the both the Simple search screen and the Advanced search screen. This field searches not only the title proper, but also any alternative or uniform titles that are recorded in the data. Additionally, where a record represents an article in a miscellany, the search includes not only the title of the article, but also the title of the miscellany volume.

If you enter more than one word, the software will search for records that contain all the words in the title field, irrespective of their order, e.g. if you enter housing london it will match ‘Housing London: the first 2000 years’ and ‘The London almshouses: six centuries of housing for the aged’, but not ‘Leading the way: council housing in Westminster’ (this title contains only one of the specified words). However you can search for phrases by enclosing the phrase in double inverted commas (Learn more) and you can also use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to modify how the search is carried out (Learn more).

You can use wildcards in this field (Learn more).

This field has an auto-complete list showing all the titles occurring in the Bibliography (Learn more) and, on the Advanced search screen, a browse list (Learn more). Note that, although the auto-complete and browse lists show only complete titles, you can search for words or phrases that occur anywhere in the title.

Journal or series

The Journal or Series field is available only on the Advanced search screen.

If you enter more than one word, the software will search for records that contain all the words in the journal or series fields, irrespective of their order, e.g. if you enter historical journal it will match ‘Historical Journal‘, ‘Bakewell & District Historical Society Journal‘ and ‘Journal of the Printing Historical Society’, but not ‘Historical Association, General ser.’ (this title contains only one of the specified words). However you can search for phrases by enclosing the phrase in double inverted commas (Learn more) and you can also use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to modify how the search is carried out (Learn more).

You can use wildcards in this field (Learn more).

This field has an Auto-complete list showing all the journals and series occurring in the Bibliography (Learn more) and a Browse list (Learn more). Note that, although the auto-complete and browse lists show only complete titles, you can search for words or phrases that occur anywhere in the title.

You can also see a list of the journals and series occurring in the Bibliography with information about the numbers covered by clicking the Coverage link in the green menu at the top of the search screen (Learn more).

Hint: Some journals can be difficult to isolate using this field because their titles consist of phrases that occur commonly in other journal titles. For example, “Historical Journal”, even when placed in inverted commas to ensure that it is searched for as a phrase, will still match ‘Historical Journal of Massachusetts’ and other titles. In such cases, once you have found a record for an article from the journal in which you are interested, if an ISSN is displayed in Record view, you can click on it and this will launch a search for the specific journal.

Publisher

The Publisher field is available only on the Advanced search screen.

If you enter more than one word, the software will search for records that contain all the words in the journal or series fields, irrespective of their order. However you can search for phrases by enclosing the phrase in double inverted commas (Learn more) and you can also use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to modify how the search is carried out (Learn more).

You can use wildcards in this field (Learn more).

This field has an Auto-complete list showing all the publishers occurring in the Bibliography (Learn more) and a Browse list (Learn more). Note that, although the auto-complete and browse lists show only complete titles, you can search for words or phrases that occur anywhere in the title.

Type of publication

The Type of publication field is available only on the Advanced search screen.

Use the dropdown to choose between articles and books:

To find articles, you can select “All types of articles” or you can select one of the options beneath it to confine your search to articles in books (contributions to miscellanies, such as conference proceedings or festschriften) or to articles in journals.

Hint: Some of the older articles in books included when you search for “All types of articles“are not identified in the database as being this particular type of article, so the results that you get when you search for “Article in book” may exclude some older articles.

To find books, you can select “All types of books” or you can select one of the options beneath it to confine your search to “Miscellany” (collections of separately authored articles such as conference proceedings or festschriften) or “Thesis” (unpublished theses, currently covering the history of London only). Use “Book” to find books that do not fall into either of these categories.

Hint: Some older collections of essays are not identified as “Miscellanies” in the database, and will be included in the results for “Book” rather than for “Miscellany”.

Year of publication

The Year of publication field is available only on the Advanced search screen.

To search, enter a range of years. To search for publications of a single year, enter the same date in both boxes. If you enter a year only in the first box, the software will search for all publications that appeared in or after this year. If you enter a year only in the second box, the software will search for all publications that appeared in or before this year.

Any record that matches the range that you specify in whole or in part will be returned by the database, e.g. if you search for 1980 to 1982 works published in 1980, 1981 and 1982 will be returned, as will any multi-volume work whose dates of publication overlap with your specified range, e.g. a work published in 1978-81. If a work has more than one date of publication (e.g. journal numbers published in one year ‘for’ another) your search will return matches with either or both of them.

All index terms

The All index terms field is available on the both the Simple search screen and the Advanced search screen in the Subject search section.

This field provides a quick way of doing a subject search, as it enables you to search all different indexes using a single field.

If you enter more than one word, the software will search for records that contain all the words in the subject indexing fields, irrespective of their order. However you can modify this to search for phrases by enclosing the phrase in double inverted commas (learn more) and you can also use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to modify how the search is carried out (learn more).

You can use wildcards in this field (learn more).

This field has an auto-complete list showing all the subject indexing terms used in the Bibliography (learn more) and, on the Advanced search screen, a browse list (learn more).

Subject tree (BBIH)

The subject tree is available on the Advanced search screen.

This field offers a powerful way of searching by subject because it uses a controlled hierarchical language. Searches are generic, so that when you pick a term from the upper levels of the tree, your search includes all the terms grouped beneath it. For example, when you search for ‘Transport’, your search automatically includes ‘Railways’, ‘Merchant shipping’ and other aspects of transport.

This field should give complete results for publications of 1993 onwards and for records from Irish History Online. However, indexing terms from the subject tree have not been applied to all pre-1993 records so, if you are interested in older works, you may wish also to use Title contains to search the titles of older works, or Search anywhere to search both the titles and the uncontrolled indexing terms applied to 1946-92 publications (and to some earlier ones).

How to use the subject tree window

To open the subject tree, click on All subjects next to Subject tree on the Advanced search page. The tree is then displayed with the top level terms in the left-hand column. You can click on a term to drill down to a lower level (1 in the screenshot below) and you can select a term for inclusion in your search at any point by marking the selection box (2). Once you have selected a term, any terms below it in the hierarchy will be automatically included in your search. Note that the higher level terms are most likely to have been consistently applied in the indexing.

Alternatively, enter a subject in which you are interested into the search box at the top of the window and click Search in tree (6); for the widest range of results, type only the root of the word, for instance Agricultur rather than Agriculture or Agricultural. You will then see a list of all the indexing terms that contain the string that you have entered (so a search for Mission matches not only ‘Missions’ but also ‘Ecclesiastical commissions’). You will also see the preferred forms of any non-preferred terms that contain the string that you have entered (so a search for Town will match ‘Urban’, because that is our preferred term for ‘Towns’, as well as terms that contain the string ‘Town’). After you have searched the scheme in this way, you cannot see the hierarchy above or below the listed terms but, once you have carried out your search, the terms are displayed in their hierarchical context on the Record view screen. Once you have chosen a term for inclusion in your search, mark the selection box next to the term.

You can select multiple terms. The terms that you have selected are displayed at the top of the window; you can unmark the checkbox next to any term that you wish to remove from your selection (3).

By default, if you have selected more than one term, they are connected with a Boolean ‘OR’ which means that your search will return records that contain any of your selected terms. However, you can use the radio buttons above the summary of selected terms to change the Boolean operator between them to ‘AND’ so that your search will return only records that contain all of your selected terms (4).

Once you are happy with your selection, click Insert/Close (5) to insert your terms into the search form.

Hint: You must wait for any term that you have chosen to appear in the summary at the top of the window before you click Insert/Close, otherwise your selection will not be transferred to the search form.

Hint: Once you have returned to the search screen, if you want to empty or re-edit the contents of the Subject tree field without clearing the whole form, click on the field to re-open the Subject tree window. Then, in the summary at the top of the window, empty the checkboxes next to any of the terms that you want to remove and click on Insert/Close to return to the search screen.

Place name tree (BBIH)

The Place name tree is available on the Advanced search screen.

This field offers a powerful way of searching for places because it uses a controlled hierarchical language. Searches are generic, so that when you pick a term for a region, province or county, your search includes all the specific locations that we have identified as lying within that area. For example, when you search for ‘England, north-eastern’, your search automatically includes ‘County Durham’, and places in County Durham, such as Whickham.

This field should give complete results for publications of 1993 onwards and for records from Irish History Online. However, terms from the place name tree have not been applied to all pre-1993 records so, if you are interested in older works, you may wish also to use Title contains to search the titles of older works, or Search anywhere to search both the titles and the uncontrolled indexing terms applied to 1946-92 publications (and to some earlier ones), although searches using Search anywhere may also find instances where your place name occurs as a place of publication or in a personal name.

Note that you can also search for terms from the place name tree using the All index terms field, which enables you to type the place name into the search box rather than requiring you to find it in the tree. However, this may cause confusion with subject indexing terms or personal names which are also searched when using All index terms. For example, ‘Reading’ occurs as a subject and as part of a personal name (‘Isaacs, Rufus Daniel, 1st marquess of Reading, 1860-1935’), as well as being a place name (‘Reading (Berkshire)’). You may wish to experiment with All index terms and to use the Place name tree only if the former field gives insufficiently precise results.

You can read below about the principles of the place name indexing scheme and about how to use the place name tree window.

Principles of the place name indexing scheme

Places covered by the Bibliography have been grouped hierarchically under the following headings:.

1. Britain:
Beneath this term are grouped, firstly, England, Scotland and Wales, together with the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and a heading for ‘Early British realms’ (including those that lay partly within the modern England and partly within the modern Scotland). The country headings are followed by regions, early realms or principalities, historic counties and dioceses; beneath each historic county are listed the places lying within it that occur in the database.

Particular places in England, Scotland and Wales are listed beneath the county in which they lay according to Bartholomew’s Survey Gazetteer of the British Isles, 9th edn., 1943 (‘new’ counties created in 1974 and 1975 are also listed but are used to index only items relating to the administrative history of the ‘new’ counties; particular places are NOT grouped under the ‘new’ counties; the same rule applies to early realms such as Mercia, Dalriada or Deheubarth). An exception is made for London: places within the current Greater London which lay outside London in 1943 are indexed under London (and under their current London boroughs) AND under the counties in which they lay in 1943.

2. Ireland: .
Beneath this term are grouped, firstly, the early Irish kingdoms, the Irish provinces (with the appropriate historic counties beneath each) and dioceses; a separate term, ‘Northern Ireland’ covers the six counties which remained part of the United Kingdom following the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, but these counties are also grouped under ‘Ulster’ in the provinces section.

Particular places are listed beneath the county in which they lay according to Bartholomew’s Survey Gazetteer of the British Isles, 9th edn., 1943 (although early realms such as Bréifne are included in the scheme, particular places are NOT grouped under them).

3. Other countries: .
The hierarchy of places is based on the 1992 edition of the Times Atlas. Jurisdictions which did not exist at that time (e.g. ‘Soviet Union’, ‘Holy Roman Empire’) are also used for indexing items which deal specifically with British or Irish relations with those jurisdictions during their existence, but more specific locations are not grouped beneath them; they are grouped under the jurisdiction applying in 1992 (e.g. ‘Russian Federation’, ‘Georgia, republic of’, ‘Germany’)

How to use the place name tree window

To open the place name tree, click on All places next to Place name tree on the Advanced search page. The tree is then displayed with the top level terms in the left-hand column. You can click on a term to drill down to a lower level (1 in the screenshot below) and you can select a term for inclusion in your search at any point by marking the selection box (2). Once you have selected a term, any terms below it in the hierarchy will be automatically included in your search.

Alternatively, enter the name of the place in which you are interested (or the start of the name) into the search box at the top of the window and click Search in tree (6). You will then see a list of all the place names that contain the string that you have entered (so a search for Hampstead matches not only ‘London, Camden: Hampstead’ but also ‘Finchampstead (Berkshire)’). You will also see the preferred forms of any non-preferred names that contain the string that you have entered (so a search for Forfar will match ‘Angus’, because that is our preferred version of the name of this Scottish county). After you have searched the scheme in this way, you cannot see the hierarchy above or below the listed terms but, once you have carried out your search, the terms are displayed in their hierarchical context on the Record view screen. Once you have chosen a term for inclusion in your search, mark the selection box next to the term.

You can select multiple terms. The terms that you have selected are displayed at the top of the window; you can unmark the checkbox next to any term that you wish to remove from your selection (3).

By default, if you have selected more than one term, they are connected with a Boolean ‘OR’ which means that your search will return records that contain any of your selected terms. However, you can use the radio buttons above the summary of selected terms to change the Boolean operator between them to ‘AND’ so that your search will return only records that contain all of your selected terms (4).

Once you are happy with your selection, click the Insert/Close button (5) to insert your terms into the search form.

Hint: You must wait for any term that you have chosen to appear in the summary at the top of the window before you click Insert/Close, otherwise your selection will not be transferred to the search form.

Hint: Once you have returned to the search screen, if you want to empty or re-edit the contents of the Place name tree field without clearing the whole form, click on the field to re-open the Place name tree window. Then, in the summary at the top of the window, empty the checkboxes next to any of the terms that you want to remove and click on Insert/Close to return to the search screen.

Person as subject

The Person as subject field is available only on the Advanced search screen. Use it to find works about a particular historical person.

BBIH: This field should give complete results for publications of 1993 onwards and for records from Irish History Online. However, Person as subject indexing has not been applied to all pre-1993 records so, if you are interested in older works, you may wish also to use Title contains to search the titles of older works, or Search anywhere to search both the titles and the uncontrolled indexing terms applied to 1946-92 publications (and to some earlier ones).

Key features:
If you enter more than one word, the software will search for records that contain all the words in the Person as subject field, irrespective of their order. However you can modify this to search for phrases by enclosing the phrase in double inverted commas (learn more) and you can also use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to modify how the search is carried out (learn more).

You can use wildcards in this field (learn more).

This field has an Auto-complete list showing all the person as subject names occurring in the Bibliography (learn more) and a Browse list (learn more).

Period covered (BBIH)

The Period covered field is available on the Simple search screen and on the Advanced search screen of BBIH. On the advanced search screen, there is an additional option to limit your results to close matches.

The majority of pre-1946 publications have not been categorised using this field, so, if you use this field to restrict your search, most pre-1946 publications will be omitted (exceptions are works on Imperial and Commonwealth history, and data from Irish History Online and London’s Past Online). Note also that records are categorised by period covered with varying precision; click here for more information.

To search, enter a range in years. Dates BCE (or BC) can be entered following a ‘-‘ sign (e.g. -55) although such dates will display as BCE in your search results; however, coverage of prehistoric material is not systematically recorded in the Period covered field, so the entering of dates earlier than 55 BCE is not recommended.

To search for a single year, enter the same date in both boxes. If you enter a year only in the first box, the software will search for the period from the date that you enter through to the present. If you enter a year only in the second box, the software will search for the period up to the date that you enter.

When you search by period covered records which overlap in any degree with your selected date range will be returned, so, if you enter the range 1660 to 1666, records indexed as covering 1664, 1665-90, 1650-1662, 1650-1672 and 1000-1700 will all be returned if they match your other search criteria. Note that:

If you are interested in a long period, it may be best not to include in your range the earliest and latest dates in the range for which you wish to search. For example, entering 1500 to 1600 will include in your results all those records matching your other search criteria which have been catalogued as beginning in 1600 (which could include records covering 1600-1900, for example) and which have been catalogued as ending in 1500 (which could include records covering 1000-1500, for example). This means that if you are searching for works which deal with the sixteenth century in general, and are not specifically concerned with 1500 or 1600, the best results will be obtained by searching for 1501-1599.
On the Advanced search screen you can obtain more precise results by ticking the Close matches only box. This excludes from your results any records whose period covered begins 100 or more years before the starting date that you specify, and any records whose period covered ends 100 or more years after the finishing date that you specify. This option will therefore exclude records covering very long periods that may touch only lightly on the particular period in which you are interested, and also any records whose period covered has been indicated only approximately. Bear in mind, though, that you nonetheless run some risk of missing worthwhile results if you use this option.

Disciplines (IMB-BCM-IBHR)

Click All Academic Disciplines to open the list and mark the checkbox to select one or more disciplines from the 62 different items (for a definition of the terms used, see below). At the top of the screen an overview of the selected keywords is given (1); unmark checkbox to remove keywords from the selection. Use the radio buttons to change the Boolean relation between the selected items (And/Or) (2). To use the selected items as search criteria use the Insert/Close button (3). Once back on the search screen the selected search items can be altered by clicking on the search items.

Definition of the terms used:

General – Bibliographical
Bibliographies (including bibliographies of modern scholars often found in Festschriften), reports on conferences, major scholarly projects, etc.

General – Cultural and Historical
Articles whose subject matter is too broad for one or two categories.
e.g. an article on the survival of Gothic culture in Italy, on religion, law and language;
an article on Bulgaria’s place in the medieval world.

Administration
All levels of government (central and local), including the administration of towns, territories, lordships; machinery of government, including exchequers, chanceries, courts of justice, types and methods of taxation (but for papal taxes and church dues, such as tithes SEE Ecclesiastical).

Archaeology – General
Archaeological methodology and techniques, theory, environmental archaeology, and surveys of the archaeology of a region or county.

Archaeology – Artefacts
Articles analysing the dating, style, function, typology etc. of particular finds, such as ceramics, skeletons, grave-goods etc.

Archaeology – Sites
Reports and studies on excavations of individual sites, including fieldwork.

Architecture – General
Architectural style or features found in a wide range of buildings, both secular and religious, or on building construction and techniques generally; surveys of aspects of the architecture of a particular district or region.

Architecture – Religious
Architecture of cathedrals, churches, monasteries, chapels and other religious houses etc.

Architecture – Secular
Vernacular architecture, palaces, houses, secular buildings etc; infrastructure such as harbours, bridges and gates.

Archives and Sources
Articles that study modern-day archival collections (including photographic collections); catalogues or surveys of such collections; exhibitions, conservation and restoration of such collections.
For articles on medieval collections of documents, such as exchequer rolls, or books in medieval libraries SEE Charters and Diplomatics and Manuscripts and Palaeography respectively.

Art History – General
Periodisation, schools and movements of art; themes, symbols or iconography in various art forms, methodology, analysis of style, sources in general, patronage, contemporary criticism etc; surveys of various aspects of the art of a particular district or region.

Art History – Decorative Arts
Design and production of artefacts such as textiles, tapestries, embroidery, metalwork, ivory-carving, enamels, jewellery, mosaics, pavements, tiles, reliquaries, stained glass etc.

Art History – Painting
Paintings (including icons, altar-pieces and wall-paintings), illumination of manuscripts, book illustration, drawings and figurative representations; studies of individual painters or workshops.

Art History – Sculpture
Figure-sculpture in the round or in relief, produced by carving, moulding or casting, including statues, effigies; non-figural artefacts such as crosses or capitals; individual artists and workshops.

Canon Law
Conciliar or synodal decrees; canonists, decretals, canonical treatises and collections.

Charters and Diplomatics
Studies or editions of charters and other documents, both individual examples and in theoretical terms, also sigillography (sphragistics) and the activity of notaries.

Crusades
Crusades and related military expeditions to the Holy Land and the Eastern Mediterranean, as well as the Baltic Crusades and minor crusades (e.g. Albigensian, Despenser). Unless they deal with crusades per se, articles dealing with the Crusader States in Syria and Palestine are included under the relevant other topic.
e.g. an article discussing the succession to King Baldwin II of Jerusalem is listed under Politics and Diplomacy

Daily Life
Costume, food and eating habits, games, recreations, sport, hunting, mentalities, material culture etc.

Demography
Studies of population, such as birth rates, demographic aspects of plague and disease.

Ecclesiastical History
The institutional secular church, including church administration and structure at all levels (parish, deanery, diocese, province); ecclesiastical politics; the papacy and cardinals; tithes and other church dues; councils and synods; the regulation of heresy, pilgrimage, preaching or the sacraments; schisms.
For religious orders, SEE Monasticism.

Economics – General
Macroeconomic issues, e.g. money-supply, inflation, productivity, recession; weights and measures; economic analysis of concepts such as feudalism; economic analysis of a particular district or region.

Economics – Rural
Economic activity and production in the countryside; agriculture, pastoralism, wine-growing; land tenure and estate managenment.

Economics – Trade
Merchants and their activities; trade treaties and laws; international trade; trade-routes and shipping; local trade and finance related to trade.

Economics – Urban
Economic activity and production in towns or cities and the related structures, such as markets.
Urban industries and crafts may include textile-production, butchers, shoemakers. Economic activities of guilds.

Education
Universities, episcopal and monastic schools; grammar schools and lay education; students, masters, textbooks and curricula.

Epigraphy
Inscriptions, including graffiti, runes and ogham, as well as papyrology.

Folk Studies
Traditional customs and beliefs; pre-Christian religions and mythology; paganism and superstition; divination, charms and witchcraft; popular culture and festivals. SEE Science for alchemy and astrology.

Genealogy and Prosopography
Studies of individual families or dynasties; biographies; prosopographical analysis of specific social or kinship groups.

Geography and Settlement Studies
Settlement studies, deserted settlements, landscape history, topography, land-use and town-planning; travel, exploration and cartography; climate and environment; studies of charter- and parish-boundaries.

Hagiography
All aspects of saints and sanctity, including the canonisation process; miracles, cults and relics; Vitae and other records of saints’ lives.

Hebrew and Jewish Studies
All aspects of Jewish life, including the Jewish faith, conversion to and from Judaism, antijudaism and the Hebrew and Yiddish languages and literatures.

Heraldry
Coats of arms, armorials, liveries and badges, flags and banners; the activities of heralds.

Historiography
Medieval histories, chronicles, annals and other historiographical texts and their authors.

Language
Grammar, syntax, lexicology, lexicography, morphology, etymology, phonology and sociolinguistics of medieval languages and texts.

Law
Secular law, including customary and Roman law; specific laws and legal practices.

Learning
Humanism and the transmission of the learning of classical Antiquity (‘Fortleben’); also on revivals and renaissances of classical culture.

Literature – General
Literary theory, discussion of genres, stylistic features or movements that cross drama/verse/prose.

Literature – Drama
Drama, including liturgical drama, mystery plays, passion plays and morality plays; acting and staging of drama.

Literature – Prose
Prose works of imaginative literature (or belles-lettres), but not handbooks or works of practical instruction. Where devotional literature is known primarily for its devotional quality rather than its literary merit, it is classified under Religious Life.

Literature – Verse
Verse works of imaginative literature: epic, lyric (including songs and ballads).

Liturgy
Liturgical rites, texts and services; vestments; hymns, sequences, antiphons and chants; prayers, liturgical calendars.

Local History
The history of a particular place, district or region, especially when these draw on subject-matter which takes in different disciplines.

Manuscripts and Palaeography
Codicology, scriptoria, scribes, scripts; book production and trade; medieval libraries, catalogues and booklists; literacy; antiquarian collectors and their collections. A study of an individual manuscript of a particular work is classified under the section relevant to the work itself. Thus, an article examining a manuscript of the Canterbury Tales is classified under Literature – Verse.

Maritime Studies
Navigation, ships and shipbuilding, maritime law, piracy, sea transport.

Medicine
Medical practitioners, including physicians, surgeons and dentists; health and disease, pharmacists, medical training, hospitals and hospices; medical treatises and handbooks.

Military History
Military campaigns, battles, and sieges; theories and rules of war; strategy and tactics; recruitment and military service; castles and other defensive structures (from a military rather than purely architectural perspective); weaponry and armour; tournaments and jousting.

Monasticism
Religious orders (male and female), including monks, canons, friars, nuns and military and hospitaller orders. For confraternities and lay religious organisations SEE Religious Life.

Music
Musical works and performance; instruments, notation, musicians.

Numismatics
Coins, coin-hoards, mints, moneyers; discussions of money-supply; forgery and debasement of coinage.

Onomastics
Placenames and other topographical names; personal names (forenames and surnames); ethnic and tribal names.

Philosophy
Philosophers, philosophical movements and commentaries, the medieval discipline of logic or dialectic, and subjects such as epistemology and metaphysics.

Political Thought
Political philosophy, medieval theories of kingship (including the genre of `advice for princes’) political order, constitutions etc.

Politics and Diplomacy
Relations between different states; parliaments and representative assemblies; the emergence of states, royal or imperial power, elections and successions.

Printing History
Individual printers, workshops and publishing history of printed books; typography; paper, watermarks, woodcuts for printing.

Religious Life
Spirituality and the practice of religion; hermits, recluses and anchorites; lay piety; mysticism and contemplation; devotional literature, pilgrimage, asceticism, lay movements such as béguines or confraternities, and the practices of heretical movements; religious activities of guilds.

Science
Scientific thought; mathematics, astronomy, alchemy, astrology, natural philosophy (such as zoology or botany).

Sermons and Preaching
Vernacular and Latin sermons, homilies, preaching aids and handbooks, etc.

Social History
Social and family structures, marriage and kinship patterns, social origins of popular movements, crime, law and order, sexuality etc; surveys of the society of a particular region or district.

Technology
Techniques and technical aspects of mining and other industries, including weaving, metallurgy; energy and power etc.

Theology and Biblical Study
Bible study and exegesis, speculative theology, vernacular translations and paraphrases from the Bible.

Women’s Studies
Studies of women; articles from a feminist perspective; misogyny and attitudes to women; women’s roles in the home, work and society.

Areas and placename tree (IMB-BCM-IBHR)

The hierarchical placename tree is available in the Area search field that appears on the simple and advanced search screen (under the category General search).

Places are classified in a hierarchical string containing one or more of the following elements:

one of fifteen general areas.
a modern political unit – typically a state, in its modern English form.
the administrative division (e.g. county, département, province, Land), except in the case of small countries, in its modern official form.
the settlement name, in its modern official form (within Europe) or in its historical form (outside Europe).
a subdivision of the settlement, such as a location or building, or a subject.

Depending on the interface language the two highest levels will be translated.

Click the search term to drill down to a lower level or select a search term by marking the selection box. At the top of the screen an overview of the selected keywords is given; unmark the checkbox to remove keywords from the selection. Use the radio buttons to change the Boolean relation between the different items (And/Or). To use the selected items as search criteria use the Insert/Close button. Once back on the search screen the selected search items can be altered by clicking on the search items.

For a definition of the main level terms used, see below.

Definition of the main level terms used:

General
Articles relating to more than two areas.

Africa
The entire continent of Africa except Egypt.

Baltic
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Kaliningrad oblast of the Russian Federation.

British Isles
United Kingdom, Ireland, Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

East Central Europe
Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia.

Eastern Mediterranean
Egypt; Greece, Cyprus and Turkey; Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza.

France
France (including Corsica), Monaco, and the predominantly French-speaking cantons of Switzerland.

Germany
Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein and the predominantly German-speaking cantons of Switzerland.

Iberia
Spain (including the Balearic and Canary Islands), Portugal (including Azores and Madeira) and Andorra.

Italy
Italy (including Sardinia and Sicily), Malta and the canton of Ticino (Switzerland).

Low Countries
Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

Russia
The Russian Federation, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia and Ukraine.

Scandinavia
Denmark, the Faeroes, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

South Eastern Europe
Albania, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Macedonia (F.Y.R.O.M.), Montenegro, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.

Subject tree (IMB-BCM-IBHR)

The subject tree is only available on the advanced search screen (under the category More search possibilities).

The subject tree is generated from a controlled vocabulary of subject terms with up to four levels: the highest level (level 1) corresponds to nine broad divisions of knowledge, while the lowest (level 4) is a specific subdivision of one of over 1000 third-level subjects, e.g. for the subject of hospitals run by the Augustinian canons, the entry is:

“Religion – Religious orders – Augustinian canons, order – hospitals”

where “Religion” is the highest level; “Religious orders” level 2; “Augustinian canons, order” level 3; with “hospitals” a final subdivision at the lowest level.

The level 3 and level 4 entries are also displayed alphabetically in the Subjects browselist. Thus, under “Augustinian canons, order” there are over forty subdivisions, from “agriculture” to “wine-trade”. The first subheading (General) represents entries where there is no subdivision of the level 3 subject.

Click the search term to drill down to a lower level (1) or select a search term by marking the selection box (2). At the top of the screen an overview of the selected keywords is given; unmark the checkbox to remove keywords from the selection (3). Use the radio buttons to change the Boolean relation between the different items (And/Or) (4). To use the selected items as search criteria use the Insert/Close button (5). Once back on the search screen the selected search items can be altered by clicking on the search items.

Centuries

Make your selection from the drop-down menu. You can either search for a single century or chronological range between two different centuries.

Period (IR)

Make your selection from the popup menu. You can either search for a single period or multiple periods.

Discipline after vol. 67 (APh)

The content of this hierarchical index corresponds to the current table of contents of the printed version of APh. The current table of contents only applies to volumes published since volume 67.

To search the records of volumes from before volume 67 please access the search field Discipline prior to vol. 67. This search field is accessible under the category More search possibilities.

Discipline prior to vol. 67 (APh)

The content of this hierarchical index corresponds to the old table of contents of the printed version of APh that has been used for the volumes 1 to 66.

This search field is only available on the advanced search screen (under the category More search possibilities).

To search the records of volumes published after volume 67 please access the search field Discipline after vol. 67.

Result overview

The result overview provides a description of the records found by your search. You can chose between detailed view (default) and condensed view.

Detailed view

The detailed view includes all bibliographical information of a publication. To view classification details and reviews of a single record, click on the corresponding title. Below each record you will find the following functionality:

Export (Learn more)
Cite this record: 4 citation formats are provided: MHRA, MLA, APA & Chicago.
Full text: this button will only appear if the record contains a doi-number or full-text URL that links to the content of the publication
Find a copy at…: OpenURL-link. This button will only appear if your subscribing library has setup an OpenURL-resolver. (Learn more)

The sorting order of the records can be changed, but by default the most recent publications will appear on top of the list.

You can also use the checkboxes to select multiple records and then click the View selection button to see them in detail. Or click the checkbox next to View selection to select all the records on the page, and click the View selection button to see them in detail. Or click the View all link to see details of all the results of your search, including those on any subsequent pages, up to a maximum of 1000 records.

Other features are as follows:

Total number of hits.
Indication of your search criteria.
If your search results extend to more than one page, navigation buttons at the top and bottom of the screen enable you to browse through the pages.
You can change the sorting order by sort. The default sorting order is by year of publication, starting with the most recent publications (indicated by the downward arrow next to Year).
Records that have been added to the database in the latest upload are flagged as New.
Export all records or, if some records have been selected, export the selected records (learn more).
Click Refine search to go back to the search screen, showing the criteria used for the current search, which you can then amend. Alternatively, to see details of previous searches, select Search History from the top menu (learn more, 8). To start a new search, click on Simple search or Advanced search beneath Search in the green menu.

Condensed view

The sorting order of the records can be changed, but by default the most recent publications will appear on top of the list.

To view the details of a single record, click on the corresponding author or title. You can also use the checkboxes to select multiple records and then click the View selection button (3 in the screenshot below) to see them in detail. Or click the checkbox next to View selection to select all the records on the page, and click the View selection button to see them in detail. Or click the View all records link (2) to see details of all the results of your search, including those on any subsequent pages, up to a maximum of 1000 records. Other features are as follows:

Indication of your search criteria (1).
If your search results extend to more than one page, navigation buttons at the top and bottom of the screen enable you to browse through the pages (4).
You can change the sorting order by clicking on the column titles: Author, Title or Year. The default sorting order is by year of publication, starting with the most recent publications (indicated by the downward arrow next to Year). In this situation, clicking on Year inverts the order; clicking on Author or Title sorts by these criteria in ascending order; clicking again inverts the order (5).
Records that have been added to the database in the latest upload are flagged as New (6).
OpenURL-link, if present (learn more) (7).
Export all records or, if some records have been selected, export the selected records (learn more) (8).
Click Refine search (9) to go back to the search screen, showing the criteria used for the current search, which you can then amend. Alternatively, to see details of previous searches, select Search History from the top menu (learn more, 8). To start a new search, click on Simple search or Advanced search beneath Search in the green menu.
Total number of hits (10).

Hint: To clear your selection from a page, first click the checkbox next to the View selection button (3). This selects all the records on the page, but clicking the checkbox again will then remove all selections.

Record view

Record view shows the full details for each bibliographical record. Your search terms are highlighted in red (5 in the screenshot below).

The display is divided into the following main sections (not all sections will be shown on every record, depending on the type of record and the amount of information recorded) :

Bibliographical details: (1). Read more about this section.
Classification details: (2). Read more about this section.
See articles from miscellany: For most volumes of essays in the Royal Historical Society data published in and since 1975, links are provided, under this heading, to a detailed display of any records for constituent essays that are included in the database (for some very recent volumes, such links may not be available because the articles are still being identified and processed for inclusion in the Bibliography). On the records for the corresponding articles, you can click on the title of the miscellany volume to see the record for the volume, enabling you to see the other articles included in the volume (3).
Related publications: Links to related records, such as earlier or later editions, that occur elsewhere in the bibliography. In some cases, subject indexing is given only for one version of a book or article, so, if the record that you are viewing lacks classification details, you may find them by following this link (3).
External links (3). Read more about this section.

Other features of Record view

Hover over Record source and copyright to see the source of the record and to see copyright information; a unique identification number is also provided (4).
OpenURL-links (6). Learn more.
A navigation area (8) with the following links:
- Links to the preceding and following record, if your selection contains multiple records.
- Export the current record (Learn more).
- Click Refine search to go back to the search screen with the criteria from your current search, so that you can modify it. Alternatively, to see details from previous searches, select Search History from the top menu (learn more). To start a new search, click on Simple search or Advanced search beneath Search in the green menu.
- Result overview returns you to the display of brief details of all results from your current search.
- Provide feedback links to forms on the project’s website which enable you to send comments, corrections or information about missing records.

Bibliographical details:

Author names, journal and series titles, and ISSNs are formatted as links: click on these to launch a search of the Bibliography.
In BBIH Some author names are accompanied by links to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, the United Kingdom National Register of Archives or Who was Who. Click on these to find more information about the person in question. (Learn more)

Classification details are arranged in different sections and are specific to each bibliography.

OpenURL-links (6):

Depending on the type of record and your subscription, you may see some or all of the following links:

a link to your institution’s OpenURL resolver which will search for online text and/or information about where copies are available in libraries (learn more).
COPAC link (only in BBIH): this link launches a query in the combined online catalogue of major university and national libraries in the UK and Ireland, including the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, and the National Library of Wales/Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru. A search is carried out for copies of the book, if the record represents a book, or for copies of the journal or book containing the article, if the record represents an article. You can then see if the title is available in a library to which you have access (please contact the individual libraries for information about access).
Google Books link: this link launches a search for the listed work in Google Books (learn more).
British Library Direct-link (recent articles in selected journals only; only in BBIH): enables you to order the item from the British Library Direct service. Note that copyright and handling fees will be due for any items ordered using this service; if you have any questions about the service, please consult the British Library.

External links (3):

Direct link to online text (JSTOR, Persée,…).
Alternatively, it may provide information about subscription services or publishers’ sites where online text is available. For journals, this information will most often relate to the journal, whereas the OpenURL links may be able to take you directly to the specific article. However, we have included the information provided in this section as it may offer a guide to the dates of publication for which a journal is available online.
This section may also give links to online reviews.
Finally, information may be given here about related websites, e.g. for a learned society which published the work described by the record.

Links to other databases

Link to LexMA and IEMA (IMB, BCM & IBHR)

Classification terms (document view) may link to a corresponding encyclopedic article from the Lexikon des Mittelalters or the International Encyclopaedia for the Middle Ages. Click the button “View article in LexMA” to activate the link.

The access to the encyclopedic article is restricted to subscribers only.

Link to DHGE (IR)

Link to LLT (IR)

Link to DPhA (APh)

Link to ODNB, NRA and Who was Who (BBIH)

Many Person as subject entries and Author entries in Record view are linked to a corresponding encyclopedic article in the online Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB). Similar links exist to the online version of Who was Who and to the United Kingdom National Register of Archives (NRA).

Click on View life in ODNB/Who was Who or on View archives in NRA as appropriate to activate the link.

Access to ODNB and Who was Who is restricted to subscribers.

OpenURL-link

An OpenURL-link enables you to interrogate an external database, e.g. to check the availability of a book in a library or to read the full text of an article that is accessible in an online journal.

This link will only appear for subscribers with an OpenURL link resolver (e.g. SFX from Ex Libris) who have supplied appropriate details to Brepols Publishers. If, when you use other services in your institution, such as your institutional library catalogue or COPAC, OpenURL resolver links are visible, and no such links are visible on BBIH, please discuss the situation with your librarian (or whoever manages your subscription).

Find in a Library link (BBIH)

As an alternative to providing OpenURL resolver details to Brepols, a link to the OCLC Resolver Registry may be provided.

If this option has been selected by the subscriber and the user has a resolver registered with OCLC, clicking on

in Record view should send details of the record to your resolver and you should see options to locate copies or view online text similar to those that you see when you are using your own library’s catalogue, as described in section XX.

If this option has been selected but you have no resolver registered with OCLC, you should see a WorldCat “Find in a Library” page showing details of the work for which you are searching.
If this is the first time that you have used the service, you should specify your location following the on-screen instructions (if you are in the USA, you can specify a state or a postal code).
A list of WorldCat member libraries in your area will then appear (you should of course bear in mind that there may be other libraries in your area that hold the work, that are not members of WorldCat).
Where the library names are formatted as links, you can click to enter the library catalogue – the results that you obtain at this stage will depend on the library (and in some cases on your location), but you should usually be able to see the library classmark for the item, with information on multiple holdings where appropriate; you will often see whether the item is in place or not and you may also be able to order it or to gain access to an online copy (if you are a library member).

If no OpenURL resolver or

button shows on records which include ISBNs and ISSNs, consult your librarian (or whoever manages your subscription), who may wish to contact Brepols Publishers about registering OpenURL details or implementing the Find in a Library option.

Google Books link

In Record view, if the record represents a book or a recent article in a book, we provide a link that searches Google Books for the listed work. If you follow the link you will be presented with a Google results page which tells you if there are any results and also indicates whether you can see online text, and, if so, whether full or limited view is available. You can follow the link or links on the results page to see the Google Books display. Note that:

If our data include an ISBN number this is used for the search; otherwise title words are used and such searches may not always produce entirely precise results, but the best matches should be listed first.
Where full text is not available online, you may still be able to see a table of contents and links to reviews. Where books have been digitized by libraries, the amount of text available may be limited by copyright restrictions. All Google Books records include links to online booksellers.

Export

Records can be exported from Record view or from Result overview (if records have been selected, the selected records are exported; otherwise all records are exported). To export records, click the link in the right top corner of the results pane.

The number of records that can be exported is limited to 1000.

The export can be emailed as an attachment or downloaded to a computer. You can modify the file name as you wish.

Seven different export formats are available:

.html: can be opened with web browser
.xls: can be opened with Microsoft Excel
EndNote web (Learn more)
.xml – Microsoft Office Word (Learn more)
.txt – RefWorks (Learn more)
.ris –Research Information Systems Format
by using Zotero (Learn more)

EndNote Web

The usage of Endnote web requires an account with Endnote web (link).

When clicking Endnote Web the records are directly downloaded to your account:

.xml – Microsoft Office Word

1. Export from Bibliography: download or email records

2. Go to MS Word > References > Manage Sources:

3. Import downloaded .xml file (1), select all records, copy to Current List (2) and Close (3):

4. Insert Citation (1) or Bibliography (2) and modify Style (3):

.txt – RefWorks

Records can be processed by RefWorks without downloading a filter
Export: download or email records
Open RefWorks and, from the References menu, select Import. In the import screen, set Import Filter/Data Source to ‘International Medieval Bibliography’, identify your file and ensure that Encoding is set to UTF-8.
You can now click Import

By Using Zotero

To import records into Zotero please make sure to have activated or installed the Zotero plugin in your webbrowser (see https://www.zotero.org/).

1. Select and save records to Zotero library (possible from result list and record view)

2. View selected records in the Zotero library. The Zotero library can be opened by clicking on “Zotero” at the bottom right of the browser window.

3. You can use saved records as bibliographical references in your footnotes: if you use Word, go to Word and open Zotero Add-in (the OpenOffice plugin works in a similar way):

4. If this is the first citation you have added to the document, then you will need to select a bibliographical style for your citation (e.g. Modern Humanities Research Association)

Then select the reference that you wish to use from your Zotero library. Start typing part of a title, the last names of one or more authors, and/or a year in the dialog box. Matching items will instantly appear below the dialog box. Click Enter to add the reference.

5. In this example, four footnotes with bibliographical references have been added

6. You can make a bibliography containing all the references used in your document

7. You can change the bibliographical style of your footnotes and bibliography: e.g. from Modern Humanities Research Association to Harvard Reference Format:

A library of styles that can be downloaded is available, see https://www.zotero.org/styles

For more help and other options, see http://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_usage .

Change language interface

The interface is available in five languages: English (EN), French (FR), German (DE), Spanish (ES) and Italian (IT). To change the language click one of the options in the top menu: EN, FR, DE, ES or IT.

Changing the language translates all buttons, functional elements and labels. In the following bibliographies this will also change the language of the keywords (IMB, BCM, IBHR, IR, BIS and APh).

The interface language can be changed at any time during the session.

The default language setting depends on your subscriber’s profile

Search history

All searches are automatically included in Search History for the duration of your current session. To see details of your previous searches click Search History in the top menu.

You can use the links to view the corresponding results, or to refine the search (in which case the Advanced search screen will open with your previous search criteria inserted).

Coverage

The Coverage option shows you a list of all the journals and series included in the Bibliography, with a list of the volume and/or part numbers and years included. To view Coverage, click the link in the green menu at the top of the screen.

Journals and series are listed here irrespective of whether they have been systematically searched for relevant material. Equally, the list does not show the numbers of volumes and parts which have been checked but contained nothing relevant to the Bibliography.

A search box beneath the radio buttons enables you to jump to periodicals whose titles start with the text that you enter.

My email alerts

To receive email alerts register your email address. The alert will only become active after confirming your address in the confirmation mail you will receive.

The email alerts are based on your registered search criteria. An update of the bibliography with new records will trigger an email alert including the number of new records per registered email alert.

Video tutorials

Link

Bibliometrics: author profiles, journal profiles and subject trends

Online test tools

Below you find short tests that will take you through the most important and useful search functions of the bibliographies. These tests are specific for each bibliography:

Logout

This button is available in the top menu.

Please always use this button to exit the database.

If the browser is closed instead of using the Logout-button the session will not be closed and will be inaccessible for other users. To prevent unfinished sessions staying open and thus inaccessible for other users the system will automatically logout sessions that have been inactive for more than fifteen minutes.

Brepolis bibliographies – manual

Content profile

Brepolis Medieval and Early Modern Bibliographies

Records per discipline

Records per area

Records per century

Main menu

Search screen: how to search?

Simple search

Advanced search

Words and phrases

Wild cards and Boolean searches

Multi-character wildcards (*)

Single-character wildcards (?)

Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT)

Auto-complete

Browse list

Cross-references

Auto record count

Help on individual fields

Search anywhere

Author

Title contains

Journal or series

Publisher

Type of publication

Year of publication

All index terms

Subject tree (BBIH)

Place name tree (BBIH)

Person as subject

Period covered (BBIH)

Disciplines (IMB-BCM-IBHR)

Areas and placename tree (IMB-BCM-IBHR)

Subject tree (IMB-BCM-IBHR)

Centuries

Period (IR)

Discipline after vol. 67 (APh)

Discipline prior to vol. 67 (APh)

Result overview

Detailed view

Condensed view

Record view

Links to other databases

Link to LexMA and IEMA (IMB, BCM & IBHR)

Link to DHGE (IR)

Link to LLT (IR)

Link to DPhA (APh)

Link to ODNB, NRA and Who was Who (BBIH)

OpenURL-link

Find in a Library link (BBIH)

Google Books link

Export

EndNote Web

.xml – Microsoft Office Word

.txt – RefWorks

By Using Zotero

Change language interface

Search history

Coverage

My email alerts

Video tutorials

Bibliometrics: author profiles, journal profiles and subject trends

Online test tools

Logout

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