2. How do we find out about
what happened in
medieval times?
3. We can divide our sources of
information about the past into two
categories
• PRIMARY SOURCES
• SECONDARY SOURCES
4. •PRIMARY
SOURCES
These are things
that are written or
made during the
time being
studied.
First hand
information
•SECONDARY
SOURCES
These are things
written or made
after the time
being studied.
Second hand
information that is
often based on
primary sources
5. Examples of primary sources
All these must have come from the time being
studied
• Photos
• Artefacts
• Autobiographies
• Film/video footage
• Letters
• Speeches
• Paintings
• Drawings
• Maps
• Documents
• Bones
• Ruins
• Fossils
• Graves/tombs
• Cave paintings
• Newspapers
• Voice recordings
• Diaries/journals
• Log books
• Posters
6. Examples of secondary sources
These are usually made long after the time being studied
• Text books
• Movies
• Newspapers
• Pamphlets
• Nonfiction books
• Fiction books
• Encyclopaedias
• Websites
• T.V shows
• Models
• Replicas
• documentaries
• Teachers’ notes
• Students’ essays/assignments
• Biographies
8. Primary sources are important when
studying history because…
You are seeing the original thing that
has not been altered so you can make
your own opinion of it. No one is
telling you what to think!
9. Secondary sources are important
when studying history because…
they can explain things and give
you a range of ideas about what
might have happened. They are
someone else’s opinion.
12. ORIGINAL TEXT TRANSLATION
• A great mortality ... destroyed more
than a third of the men, women and
children. As a result, there was such a
shortage of servants, craftsmen, and
workmen, and of agricultural workers
and labourers, that a great many lords
and people, although well-endowed
with goods and possessions, were yet
without service and attendance. Alas,
this mortality devoured such a
multitude of both sexes that no one
could be found to carry the bodies of
the dead to burial, but men and
women carried the bodies of their own
little ones to church on their shoulders
and threw them into mass graves, from
which arose such a stink that it was
barely possible for anyone to go past a
churchyard.
13. Yes, photos of primary sources can be
counted as primary sources (as students can’t visit
museums around the world to view the actual artefacts).
Yes, translations of primary sources can be
considered primary sources as long as they
are “word for word” translations - as far as
possible. (Is the translator an expert?)
15. Authenticity
To work out the source’s authenticity you have to identify its origin (when and where it came from and who
created it).
This can be really difficult!
If you can’t identify (find) it’s origin and you still want to use it, you need to note this in your work.
For example;
This diagram shows the farming style of peasants in medieval times (origin unknown).
http://resourcesforhistoryteachers.wik
ispaces.com/WHI.7
16. Another way or determining the authenticity of
the primary source is evaluating the reliability of
the secondary source where you found it (usually
a website or a book).
Eg: a Museum website should be a reliable
source, Wikipedia is not (why /why not?)
Remember CRRaP (evaluation)
17. Do all primary sources
give an accurate picture
of the past?
18. CONTEXT
When evaluating the reliability of primary source
information consider the context in which it was
created (setting, situation, background of it’s creation)
• Who created the primary source? PERSPECTIVE
• Why was it created? PURPOSE
• What was the knowledge or understanding of the person
who created it?
19. Primary source
An account of the black death by
Michael Platiensis 1357.
Translated by by C. H. Clarke
1926
20. Bayeux Tapestry
This is one of the most famous pieces of Primary evidence (source)
from the early medieval times.
It depicts (shows) the lead up to the Battle of Hastings and some of
the Battle (1066) fought between the King of England and the Duke of
Normandy (France).
It is actually an embroidery. It is made up of eight separate pieces of
linen that were joined to make it approximately 78 metres long and ½
a meter wide. Seven to eight metres are missing. It is very lucky to
have served so long and has been carefully studied by historians.
Let's have a look!
22. More than one source should help with a better range of information (answering all of your
specific inquiries).
Corroboration
Most importantly, more than one source should also;
• help you work out if the information you have found is reliable because if another
source gives the same or similar information then you can have more trust in it (one
source is corroborating another).
• help you work out the most correct information. If two sources contradict each other
you go to other sources.
Source 1
info
Source
3 info
Source
2 info
Source 1 & 3
corroborateSource 1 & 2
corroborate
Source 2 & 3
corroborate
All 3 sources
corroborate
