1.1 Sources of Historical Data

• Written Sources of History


  Chronicles or tracts presented in narrative form.
• Diplomatic or Juridical Sources


  Document/record an existing legal situation or create a new one. Sources that professional historians once created as the purest, the best source.
• Social Documents


  Information pertaining to economic, social, political or judicial significance records
• 2 Non-written Sources of History

  • Material or Archeological Evidence
  • Oral Evidence
• Primary Sources


  Original, first hand account of an event or period that are usually written close to the event. Original and factual, not interpretative.
• Secondary Sources


  Materials made by people long after the events being described had taken place. It analyzes and interprets primary sources 'after the fact'.
• Historical Criticism


  Examines the origins of earliest text to appreciate the circumstances upon which text came to be
• External Criticism


  Determines the "authenticity" of the source
• Internal Criticism


  Determines the "historicity" of the facts contained in the document
• Material or Archeological Evidence


  Artistic creations such as poetry, graves, churches, and roads.
• Oral Evidence


  Tales and sagas of ancient people and the folk songs from pre modern period of western history.
• Legal document


  Usually sealed or authenticated to provide evidence.