Category: scotland

  • The Cat in the Cradle: Conspiracy Theories and Credible News, 1688 – and Now

    The Cat in the Cradle: Conspiracy Theories and Credible News, 1688 – and Now

    By Laura Doak On 10 June 1688 a new Prince of Wales was born at St. James’s Palace, London, and whispers swept across Europe. Some claimed that the baby, born to King James VII & II and his queen, Mary of Modena, was a fake. Stories circulated that it was a plot to engineer counter-Reformation…

  • Blurring the lines of the two kingdoms: kirk and council in Scotland, 1689-1708

    Blurring the lines of the two kingdoms: kirk and council in Scotland, 1689-1708

    By Robbie Tree As the British Cabinet continues to run rough shod over its responsibilities, we hear grumblings over the effectiveness of our leaders and the legitimacy of central government intervention into the daily lives of the populace. These issues were relevant to early modern Scots as well, in terms of the government of both…

  • Women collectors, Lady Associates and the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland

    Women collectors, Lady Associates and the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland

    By Julie Holder When I tell people that I research the nineteenth-century history of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, a very specific idea of an ‘antiquary’ comes to mind: white, male, and middle or upper class. And to a great extent this view is correct. However, that does not mean that women were not…

  • ‘Here terrible portents’: Famine as a Catalyst for the first Viking raids?

    ‘Here terrible portents’: Famine as a Catalyst for the first Viking raids?

    By Tenaya Jorgensen As an Environmental Historian, I am keenly interested in how humans have responded to climate pressures and weather extremes in the past, and what we can learn from these responses today. One aspect of my doctoral research compares periods of violence against temperature and precipitation during the early Viking Age, c. 790-920.…

  • The History of Emotions: A Four Volume Sourcebook

    The History of Emotions: A Four Volume Sourcebook

    KATIE BARCLAY, with FRANÇOIS SOYER, is editor of Emotions in Europe, 1517-1914 (Routledge, 2020), a four volume sourcebook. Here she talks to History about the work. History: What was the inspiration behind this project? Katie: I’ve been teaching History of Emotions courses for several years now and had been developing a series of resources to support students…

  • Analysing Jacobite Prisoner Lists with JDB45

    Analysing Jacobite Prisoner Lists with JDB45

    Analogous Analysis Paralysis: The Stultifying Weltschmerz of Jacobite Prisoner Lists DR DARREN SCOTT LAYNE Now nearly three centuries on from Jacobitism’s imminent threat to the British post-revolution state, the movement’s historical record is still a living entity with plenty of room for growth. To wit, the demographic characteristics of both domestic and international participation in…