New online resources for the study of the Stuart era are becoming available all the time. The challenge is navigating the wealth of material available. Here we offer an introductory guide to some of the most valuable material. If you want to progress further, exploring some of the more specialized resources available, we recommend the Early Modern Hub.
Texts and Documents
Early English Books: Text-Creation Partnership
Full and reliable (but unmodernized) transcriptions of English books published between 1470 and 1700 are gradually being released via the wonderful EEBO-TCP initiative. Search-functions are also available.
Renascence Editions
A reliable, and growing, library of literary works first published between 1477 and 1799.
The Folger editions of Shakespeare
There are now several editions of William Shakespeare’s works available online, but the Folger editions, published by the superb Folger Shakespeare Library, are excellent.
English Broadside Ballad Archive
One of two excellent sites providing access to this important form of popular literature.
Broadside Ballads Online
Another rich resource for ballads, produced by our partners at the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.
Early Stuart Libels
Libels – short and scurrilous poems, generally on prominent individuals – provide access to some of the more subversive political thought of this period.
Online Library of Liberty: The English Revolution
This site provides access to some of the most important texts and documents of the revolutionary era.
Online Library of Liberty: The Putney Debates
Held in 1647, at the end of the Civil Wars, these are some of the most important debates about the nature of the British constitution, in which participants contested the future shape of their nation.
Images and Material Culture
British Printed Images to 1700
A fully-searchable database of thousands of prints and book illustrations: perfect for tracking images of people and events.
National Portrait Gallery
This online catalogue is a great way to find glorious images of prominent men and women from the Stuart era.
Victoria and Albert Museum
The collections of art and design at the V&A are unparallelled. The online catalogue can be a great way of tracing images and artefacts.
Television and Audio
Monarchy: Tudors and Stuarts
Thanks to Channel 4 for making this David Starkey documentary freely available.
Gunpowder, Treason and Plot
Another excellent documentary from Channel 4.
In Our Time: Seventeenth-Century Episodes
This excellent BBC Radio 4 weekly programme has archived all its past programmes, with a list of seventeenth-century episodes including: ‘The Divine Right of Kings’, ‘The Glorious Revolution’, ‘The Restoration’, ‘The Trial of Charles I’, ‘The Putney Debates’, ‘Milton’, ‘Hobbes’, and ‘Seventeenth-Century Print Culture’.
Teaching and Teachers
The National Archives: Education
A wealth of classroom resources, organized by period, theme, and level of learning.
National Portrait Gallery: Step into the frame
An intelligent resource for using Tudor and Jacobean portraits in the classroom.
The History of Parliament
Resources from the excellent History of Parliament Trust.
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
The mission of our partners at the SBT is to support learning about Shakespeare.
Folger Shakespeare Library: Teach and Learn
Teaching materials designed by experts at the Folger Shakespeare Library, in Washington, D.C.
Britain in the Seventeenth Century
An impressive site designed to support learners taking the Edexcel A-Level paper, ‘Britain, 1625–1701: conflict, revolution and settlement’
