Early modern history (British & W European c. 1500-c. 1800): Biographical sources

Alternative names: DNB ; Oxford DNB ; ODNB ; Dictionary of National Biography

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In order to access ODNB, please follow the link above. If you are accessing remotely, you may be prompted to enter your SSO credentials. You will then be taken to the ODNB homepage, and you should see a message “University of Oxford” displayed above the login box. At this point you will have gained access to full text articles, and there is no need to log in on the ODNB homepage. In order to access the articles from the search results, you will need to click on their titles. If you still have experienced problems with ODNB, please clear your cache and cookies, as previous unsuccessful login attempts may be interfering with the current session, and then follow the above instructions again. The recent issues with ODNB's new interface have been flagged with the OUP.

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After twelve years' work, involving over 10,000 people, writing and editing 60 million words to produce a 60 volume book, and a website with over 100,000 pages, the Oxford DNB was published on 23 September 2004.

An illustrated collection of 50,000 specially written biographies of the men and women who shaped all aspects of Britain's past, from the fourth century BC to the year 2000. Remarkable people in any walk of life who were connected with the British Isles - excluding living people. It includes not just the great and good, but people who have left a mark for any reason, good, bad, or bizarre.

Alternative name: DIB
The Dictionary of Irish Biography (DIB) is a project of the Royal Irish Academy. It tells the island’s life story through the biographies, at home and overseas, of prominent men and women born in Ireland, north and south, and the noteworthy Irish careers of those born outside Ireland.

Alternative names: Dizionario biografico degli italiani ; DBI

Full-text extended essays on Italians through history. [Note : Currently only about half-way through the alphabet.] Essential resource on not only major and minor artists, but also patrons and collectors. Excellent bibliographies, albeit somewhat out-of-date for the earliest-added entries.

Alternative name: DB~e
This is a selected, updated and corrected version of the Spanish national biography, Diccionario biográfico español, providing online access to more than 45,000 biographies of deceased individuals which span 2,500 years of Spanish history. While its focus is on the Iberian Peninsula, it has a global reach to include biographies of individuals active in territories which were part of the Spanish administration. Each biography has a brief listing of key readings.