As one of the curators working in the medieval European section of the Geni World Tree, I'd like to start a running discussion about how we are finding and can find the most historically accurate research material.
I've seen many discussions among Geni users who want to base decisions on web trees they find online. All of us who work on the historical tree before the 1600s will admit that finding good, easily digestible sources is a definite challenge! However, it's really important for us to take our research up a few notches when we are investigating such a specialized area of historical knowledge. Clearly, it's not for everyone--but some of us find quite a passion for it! You know who you are. <smile>
Let me start by saying there are several layers in this kind of research.
1. One is in finding primary sources, or those as close to the original time period as possible. Many of these are going to have been written in Latin or early forms of other European languages, so they are difficult for the layperson to read and digest. They are important, though!
a. First, you might find original records: Land taxes and feudal surveys, Inquisitions post mortem, Pipe rolls, Taxation and other lists, Common law records, Feet of fines, Chancery and other equity suits, Chancery rolls, Miscellaneous public records (See http://www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk/sources/public.shtml, for example). You might also find Visitations, which were a sort of census.
b. Second are the chronicles and histories written close to the time period in which they happened. An example is the writing of Orderic Vitalis (1075-c.1142), a monk who chronicled Anglo-Norman history of his time period in works such as the multi-volume "The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy."
2. NOTE: there is an intermediate category here that I want to mention about which you must be a skeptical reader and evaluator. These include the many peerages, such as Burke's Peerages and Cokayne's The Complete Peerage, which provide invaluable data for genealogists but which are not without flaw. Also, Google Books has a trove of digitized history and genealogy books published in the 1600s-early 1900s that are of mixed value. Many are great, but you really have to be discerning especially if it was a genealogy written to boost a particular family's social standing (this also leads to the many cases of fraudulent genealogies of that period).
3. But even primary sources can't always be taken at face value--medieval scholars know how to interpret them and also which are more trustworthy. For this reason, we are very dependent upon the wisdom of modern, contemporary medieval historians, so that leads us on a search for credible and authoritative secondary sources--these are books, journal articles, papers, web sites, databases even discussions on online listservs like gen-medieval (aka soc.gen.medieval) where the medieval historians share their interpretations that might lead us to better understand who was father or mother of whom, who inherited which lordship, and so on.
After doing this kind of research for Geni for ten years now, I've got to tell you that the medievalists don't always agree. What's important to realize is that there's not always a single right answer. Often--quite often--we end up with models of how particular families were *probably* structured--but those are subject to change, and they are often fiercely debated. What to do in that situation? We try to document the debate. We try to explain in the About Overview section (see Overview tab for each profile) what different experts have said, what different primary sources have said, what may be contradictory, and what is the best model for now.
We also have two different "breeds" of medieval specialists.
(a) We have the medieval genealogy folks, who don't all have advanced degrees or doctorates in medieval history but who have been doing it a long time and who are fairly well-respected, although they also feud a lot among themselves. These include (and I'm naming the ones on gen-medieval whose work has been most helpful for me in the Anglo-Norman part of the medieval tree) people like Douglas Richardson, Peter Stewart, Todd Farmerie, Rosie Bevan, Stuart Baldwin, and others. One of the medievalists of this ilk that I most respect is Charles Cawley, who runs the truly amazing Medieval Lands Database on the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy website. His efforts have made these family trees and relationships much more accessible to us all, and he includes quotes from the Latin along with voluminous footnotes. He's also been extremely gracious in responding to email questions about these families. He is a retired British lawyer, I believe.
There seems to be a running animosity (a bit harsh of a word, but at least a disrespect) between some of the American medievalists and some of the British, or perhaps it's just between the egos of various persons in the gen-medieval circle. I came across a long discussion among Wikitree users about the credibility of these specialists. I've noticed that Wikitree tends to be more Douglas Richarson-centric, while on Geni we are more Charles Cawley-centric. But you may enjoy reading it: https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/129280/good-and-not-so-good-medieval-g...
(b) On the other hand, there is a vast wealth of knowledge to be found in scholarly (academic) history books and articles. It's important to distinguish (in this medieval period as in all others) between books published by a reputable press that have been peer-reviewed to establish credibility versus self-published books (especially in today's online publishing environment) by people who pass themselves off as historians but who aren't really. (If in doubt, look up the author to find out his or her credentials).
The very most admired person, I believe, in Anglo-French medieval genealogy and history, is a British woman and scholar named Katherine S. B. Keat-Rohan, who has specialized in the families associated with the Domesday Book. She also practices an approach called prosopography, which leads her to look at not just genetic relationships but also larger social and cultural factors that have influenced inheritances and social networks. You have to hunt for her writing, but it's the ultimate, and it has changed many family trees as she has uncovered and reinterpreted the assumptions of earlier works like the peerages. She has a French counterpart named Christian Settipani whose works are also revered.
Medieval history scholars are publishing articles and books every day on various topics, so the best thing to do is to search library databases (if you have access to sites like JSTOR, they are terrific for journal articles) as well as book catalogs (I also find an Amazon.com search to be a great way to find books on special topics).
I just came across a great find today that I'd like to read. It's published by Yale University Press, and it's a book written by a 12th-century Flemish chronicler named Galbert of Bruges who was an eyewitness to the events he writes about in "The Murder, Betrayal, and Slaughter of the Glorious Charles, Count of Flanders" (translated and with an Introduction by Jeff Rider, a professor of Romance languages and literature at Wesleyan University).
Our goal at Geni is to build one well-researched Master Profile for each medieval ancestor on the tree, with documentation (sources) and a historical narrative biography and information in the Overview section. A curator needs to designate a Master Profile, but we rely on non-curators to help with the research and verifying the facts and helping to build the best entry for that person that exists anywhere online. That's our goal! We also have many different projects related to families and events of the Middle Ages in Europe, and these are great for adding history that is bigger and broader than just one person or profile at a time. If you have a special, focused area of interest, you are invited to start a project and gather some collaborators.
So what I'd love is for any of you to share references to books, articles, and websites that you find especially helpful in your pre-1600 research, as well as share any helpful tips for newcomers to this area of research. Also, if curators who work in this area of the tree, as well as some of our experienced medieval researchers who aren't curators, can introduce yourselves, that would be great. We have a lot of really great people who have been helping with medieval profiles and projects over the years, but we don't all know each other. Let us know your special interest areas as well as any special skills or knowledge you might have (like languages--we always need translators to help read Latin, old French, early German, and so on). If you live in Europe and have access to local archives, that's great to know too!
We really need a lot of help with the medieval tree in all areas, so if you want to find a place where you can be very helpful to Geni and also engage in your favorite passion for reading up on medieval history, this may be the place for you!
Thanks for reading!
Pam
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