Bardic Sources

Bardic Sources While there are many medieval sources to be found on the web, I stongly emphasize checking out your local library. While there are some obscure works online that you won't find in your local libary, you will be amazed what is there hiding in the stacks. And for large collections like Shakespeare or Chaucer, it is MUCH easier to flip through the pages and scan the poems in the comfort of your favorite chair than to stare at the screen waiting for each one to download. Trust me! The internet isn't always the fastest way!

Links and Sources

Jefferson Parish Public Library Catalog - http://www.jefferson.lib.la.us/jplpage.catalog.html
SCA Minstrels Homepage - http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/minstrel.html - Info about the bardic arts, and many links to song and storytelling sources.
Codex Fabliauum - http://home.earthlink.net/~yevsha/SCA/codex.html - Primary sources for stories, organized by place and time period. Mostly lists books, with a few online sources. A must-see for the serious storyteller.
Internet Medieval Sourcebook Medieval Literary Texts - http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook2.html#lit2 - Just what the title says, all online.

Specific Online Texts
Note: I specifically selected short texts, this is not a list of all online medieval stories I know of.

Arthurian Texts from the Camelot Project - http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/mainmenu.htm - All Arthur, all the time.
Ballads Lyrics and Poems of Old France - ftp://uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu/pub/etext/gutenberg/etext97/blpof10.txt
The Canterbury Tales - http://www.vt.edu/vt98/academics/books/chaucer/ChaucerIndex.html - In modern(ish) English.
The Decameron - http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/dec_ov/dec_ov.html
Guillaume Marchaut - http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/composers/machaut.html - Poem-songs of the French 14th century troubadour, in French.
Medieval Irish Poetry - http://www.dnaco.net/~mobrien/irishptr/irepoems/index.html
The Robin Hood Project - http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/rh/rhaumenu.htm
Shakespeare's Sonnets - http://eng.hss.cmu.edu/poetry/sonnets/

Suggestions For Selecting a Bardic Piece

Pick something that interests you. What would your persona like to hear?
Mythology of all times is a winner. Mythology of one culture can be adapted to another. Chaucer's well known version of the Greek classic Troilus and Creysida is an example of this.
Tell about a great battle or deed you witnessed at an SCA event.
When all else fails, FILK, FILK, FILK! Sing a song about the SCA.
Know an interesting bit of history? Share it!
Tell a story from the Bible.
Recount the life of a real King, war hero, or Saint.
Describe something - a place you have traveled to mundanely, or the customs of a strange and far off Kingdom.
Tell a riddle.