HNU Library: ISAC (Integrative Studies Across Cultures): ISAC 102: Premodern World

The Premodern World

The Premodern World is defined as the period between late Antiquity through the Renassaince, 400 B.C.E. through 1600 C.E., a period of global technological change that redefined our world prior to the rise of the industrial revolution and modern technology. You'll find links to relevant resources on this page for the ISAC 2 and 102 courses.

These are only a sampling of the resources you can find through the Holy Names library: you can search our reference collections for yourself (Credo, and Gale), find scholarly articles in Academic Search Premier or the ProQuest Research Library, and search for books, eBooks, and articles through HNU WorldCat. You can find out how to cite your references on our Citation Guide.

Image of the Qal'at al-Hambra in Spain courtesy Flickr user picture4it under a Creative Commons copyright.

Reference Databases

Online reference books are a great way to start your research project. You can get background information to develop your research topic.

Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Credo Reference offers hundreds of dictionaries, encyclopedias, and specialized reference works. A good place to begin investigating a new topic.

Premodern World eBooks

Reference titles drawn from our Credo and Gale reference collections. You can link in directly to any of these eBooks or search our entire reference collections for yourself.

Featured eBooks

Our complete book and eBook catalog can be searched via HNU WorldCat.

The Encyclopedia of World History by Peter N. Stearns (Editor)
Publication Date: 2001
This encyclopedia, spanning from prehistory to the year 2000, showcases traditional facts of national leadership and state power, but also embraces social and cultural developments, non-European history, women's history, religion, health, economics, technology, and other vital but less often reported aspects of the human drama.
All Things Chaucer: An Encyclopedia of Chaucer's World by Shannon L. Rogers (Editor)
Publication Date: 2007
Chaucer is the most widely read medieval author, and his works reflect the fascinating world of the Middle Ages. Written for students and general readers, this book includes numerous alphabetically arranged entries, from Abigail to Ypres, on items mentioned in all of his works and references the items to his writings.
A Social History of Byzantium by John F. Haldon (Editor)
ISBN: 9781405132404
Publication Date: 2008
With original essays by leading scholars, this book explores the social history of the medieval eastern Roman Empire and offers illuminating new insights into our knowledge of Byzantine society.

Provides interconnected essays of original scholarship relating to the social history of the Byzantine empire. Offers groundbreaking theoretical and empirical research in the study of Byzantine society. Includes helpful glossaries of sociological/theoretical terms and Byzantine/medieval terms.
Kingship: The Politics of Enchantment by Francis Oakley
ISBN: 9780631226956
Publication Date: 2008
From despots to powerless figureheads, and from the Neolithic era to the present, this book traces the history of kingship around the world and the tenacity of its connection with the sacred.
A Companion to the Medieval World by Carol Lansing & Edward D. English (Editors)
ISBN: 9781405109222
Publication Date: 2009
Drawing on the expertise of 26 distinguished scholars, this important volume covers the major issues in the study of medieval Europe, highlighting the significant impact the time period had on cultural forms and institutions central to European identity.

Article Databases

The following databases feature the most relevant scholarly content for the study of the premodern world.

Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window
Thousands of scholarly articles across many disciplines. Our library's largest and most in-depth general database.
ProQuest Research Library This link opens in a new window
A general database offering thousands of full-text scholarly articles.
Wiley Online Library This link opens in a new window
Thousands of full-text articles and book chapters from a wide range of journals and eBooks covering a variety of subjects including mathematics and science, history, medicine, technology, business, education, law, and the social sciences.

Featured Journals

Asian Culture and History

Scholarly journals that focus on periods of premodern history. Featured journals are drawn from Wiley Online Library, Academic Search Premier, and ProQuest Research Library databases.

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