In the first quarter of the thirteenth century, an anonymous Flemish writer set in writing, in Old French, a chronicle of Normandy, England, Flanders and northern France. It ranged from the arrival of the Vikings in Normandy to the early years of the reign of King Henry III of England, ending with an account of the translation of the relics of St Thomas Becket to their magnificent new shrine in Canterbury Cathedral in 1220. Along the way, it adopted and formed part of a tradition of writing of the history of the dukes of Normandy and kings of England, a tradition which had developed in Latin in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and then continued in Old French. The work is famous for vibrant and informed description of the reign of King John, in particular the period of baronial reaction, Magna Carta, ensuing civil war and the nearly-successful invasion of England by Louis, heir to the kingdom of France. Flanders supplied troops to both sides, and this Flemish author sees these events in close detail, and from the Flemish, not the French or English, point of view. He may himself have been an eyewitness, directly involved, but if not he would have known many who had fought and died in this conflict. Janet Shirley’s translation of this chronicle, the first into English, brings the work of the Anonymous of Béthune to a new audience in this volume, accompanied by an introduction and historical notes by Paul Webster.
Illuminates how the ceremonial dimension of death and the succession reflected both Scottish royal identity and a broader culture of ceremony. To date, scholarly attention to royal ceremony in Scotland from the Middle Ages into the early modern period has been rather haphazard, with few attempts to explore how these crucial moments for the representation of royal authority. This monograph provides a long durée analysis of the ceremonial cycle of death and succession associated with Scottish kingship from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries, including the final century of the Canmore dynasty, the crisis of the Bruce-Balliol conflict, and the emergence and consolidation of the Stewart family up to the funeral of last monarch buried in Scotland, James V, in 1543. Using a broad range of primary sources, including financial records and material culture, many of them previously untapped, it addresses key questions about kingship and power, the function of ceremony in legitimising royal authority, its significance in relation to the practical exercising of power, and evidence for Scottish similarities and distinctiveness within wider European contexts.
The monograph series Oxford Studies in Medieval Literature and Culture showcases the plurilingual and multicultural quality of medieval literature and actively seeks to promote research that not only focuses on the array of subjects medievalists now pursue in literature, theology, and philosophy, in social, political, jurisprudential, and intellectual history, the history of art, and the history of science but also that combines these subjects productively. It offers innovative studies on topics that may include, but are not limited to, manuscript and book history; languages and literatures of the global Middle Ages; race and the post-colonial; the digital humanities, media and performance; music; medicine; the history of affect and the emotions; the literature and practices of devotion; the theory and history of gender and sexuality, ecocriticism and the environment; theories of aesthetics; medievalism. The field of medieval francophone literary culture outside France was for many years a minor and peripheral sub-field of medieval French literary studies (or, in the case of Anglo-Norman, of English studies). The past two decades, however, have seen a major reassessment of the use of French in England, in the Low Countries, in Italy, and in the eastern Mediterranean, and this impacts significantly upon the history of literature in French more generally. This book is the first to look at the question overall, rather than just at one region. It also takes a more sustained theorised approach than other studies, drawing particularly on Derrida and on Actor-Network Theory. It discusses a wide range of texts, some of which have hitherto been regarded as marginal to French literary history, and makes the case for this material being more central to the literary history of French than was allowed in more traditional approaches focused narrowly on 'France'. Many of the arguments in Medieval French Literary Culture Abroad are grounded in readings of texts in manuscript (rather than in modern critical editions), and sustained attention is paid throughout to manuscripts that were produced or travelled outside the kingdom of France.
Winner of the Saltire Society Scottish History Book of the Year 2019 Presiding over an age of relative peace and prosperity, Alexander III represented the zenith of Scottish medieval kingship. The events which followed his early and unexpected death plunged Scotland into turmoil, and into a period of warfare and internal decline which almost brought about the demise of the Scottish state. This study fills a serious gap in the historiography of medieval Scotland. For many decades, even centuries, Scotland's medieval kingship has been regarded as a close likeness of the English monarchy, having been 'modernised' in that image by the twelfth- and thirteenth-century kings, who had close relationships with their southern counterparts. Recent research has cast doubt on that view, and this examination of Alexander III's reign is based on a view of Scottish kingship which depends on much firmer continuity with its earlier, celtic past. It challenges accepted truth, revealing that the nature of state and government, and the relationships between ruler and subject, were quite different from the previous 'received view'. On the cusp of a dynastic catastrophe which led to economic and political disaster, Alexander III's reign captures a snapshot of Scotland at the end of a period of sustained peace and development: a view of the medieval state as it really was.
Here is a radical, academically based text which demolishes the myths currently masquerading as Gunn 'history'. Gunns are best thought of as the original, non-related inhabitants of northern, mainland Scotland. They do not have an Orkney Islands origin. Gunns should not be viewed as a clan as they had no founding ancestor. There was never an historic 'Clan Gunn Chief'. The first Gunn known to history was Coroner Gunn of Caithness who died around 1450. His eldest son started the MacHamish Gunns of Killernan line - many descendants from that line exist all around the world. Major detail on this MacHamish line is included. This book is an important addition to Scottish Highland history.
A study of Scottish thinkers and writers in their political and cultural context. The "advancement of learning" was the term used by late seventeenth-century Scots for intellectual enquiry of all kinds. Encouraged by Stuart patronage, and echoing a Royalist ideology of continuity and order following the chaos of the Civil War, the "Virtuosi", Scottish writers and thinkers, sought to define Scotland's identity. They undertook structured, empirical enquiry into Scottish natural history and geography, human history and antiquities, law and society, while the legal and medical professions developed their status and purpose through institutions such as the Royal College of Physicians and the Advocates' Library. They both complemented and eclipsed the changing intellectual life of the Church and Universities. This book considers the work of leading authors, such as Sir George Mackenzie, Sir Robert Sibbald and Lord Stair, alongside the many other voices engaged in learned research and debate, examining their shared or contrasting philosophy and methods. It shows how a distinctively Scottish take on the "Scientific Revolution" was enhanced by close contacts with the Royal Society and English thinkers, and a conscious membership of the European Republic of Letters.
An exploration of the complex and multifaceted connection between deviant behaviour and social marginality in Scotland between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. During the early modern period in Scotland, deviant behaviour often went hand-in-hand with social marginality. Individuals might be ejected from the mainstream after breaching core behavioural standards; the experience of marginality itself often necessitated transgressive behaviour as a survival strategy; and, for some minority groups, the simple maintenance of their accustomed culture or lifestyle was understood through the lens of deviance. To be marginalised and to be deviant were, in many cases, two sides of the same coin. Focusing on a range of behaviours, including irregular sex, violent and verbal assault, petty criminality, piracy, political dissidence, and religious nonconformity, this book explores the connection between deviance and marginality in early modern Scotland, particularly in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It assesses why certain behaviours were judged to deserve social marginalisation, what mechanisms were used to enforce this, how individual and groups responded to it, and what opportunities existed for avoiding, escaping, or mitigating its effects. The result is a fresh and innovative perspective on early modern Scotland, one that not only recovers the experiences of people long excluded from historical discussion, but also offers insights into the nature of crime and deviance in the pre-modern world. Specific topics covered include sexual deviance, defining words as witchcraft, piracy and the state, the weaponisation of "marginality" in verbal violence, covenanting women, and the connection between deviance and the "common musician".sses why certain behaviours were judged to deserve social marginalisation, what mechanisms were used to enforce this, how individual and groups responded to it, and what opportunities existed for avoiding, escaping, or mitigating its effects. The result is a fresh and innovative perspective on early modern Scotland, one that not only recovers the experiences of people long excluded from historical discussion, but also offers insights into the nature of crime and deviance in the pre-modern world. Specific topics covered include sexual deviance, defining words as witchcraft, piracy and the state, the weaponisation of "marginality" in verbal violence, covenanting women, and the connection between deviance and the "common musician".sses why certain behaviours were judged to deserve social marginalisation, what mechanisms were used to enforce this, how individual and groups responded to it, and what opportunities existed for avoiding, escaping, or mitigating its effects. The result is a fresh and innovative perspective on early modern Scotland, one that not only recovers the experiences of people long excluded from historical discussion, but also offers insights into the nature of crime and deviance in the pre-modern world. Specific topics covered include sexual deviance, defining words as witchcraft, piracy and the state, the weaponisation of "marginality" in verbal violence, covenanting women, and the connection between deviance and the "common musician".sses why certain behaviours were judged to deserve social marginalisation, what mechanisms were used to enforce this, how individual and groups responded to it, and what opportunities existed for avoiding, escaping, or mitigating its effects. The result is a fresh and innovative perspective on early modern Scotland, one that not only recovers the experiences of people long excluded from historical discussion, but also offers insights into the nature of crime and deviance in the pre-modern world. Specific topics covered include sexual deviance, defining words as witchcraft, piracy and the state, the weaponisation of "marginality" in verbal violence, covenanting women, and the connection between deviance and the "common musician".ctive on early modern Scotland, one that not only recovers the experiences of people long excluded from historical discussion, but also offers insights into the nature of crime and deviance in the pre-modern world. Specific topics covered include sexual deviance, defining words as witchcraft, piracy and the state, the weaponisation of "marginality" in verbal violence, covenanting women, and the connection between deviance and the "common musician".
An exploration of the diverse lived experiences of marginality in Scottish society from the sixteen to the eighteenth century. Throughout the early modern period, Scottish society was constructed around an expectation of social conformity: people were required to operate within a relatively narrow range of acceptable identities and behaviours. Those who did not conform to this idealised standard, or who were in some fundamental way different from the prescribed norm, were met with suspicion. Such individuals often attracted both criticism and discrimination, forcing them to live confirmed to the social margins. Focusing on a range of marginalised groups, including the poor, migrants, ethnic minorities, indentured workers and women, the contributors to this book explore what it was like to live at the boundaries of social acceptability, what mechanisms were involved in policing the divide between "mainstream" and "marginal", and what opportunities existed for personal or collective fulfilment. The result is a fresh perspective on early modern Scotland, one that not only recovers the stories of people long excluded from historical discussion, but also offers a deeper understanding of the ordering assumptions of society more generally. Specific topics addressed range from the marginalisation of people with disabilities in the domestic sphere to female sex workers, and the place of executioners in society.
In Frontiers for Peace in the Medieval North. The Norwegian-Scottish Frontier c. 1260-1470, Ian Peter Grohse examines social and political interactions in Orkney, a Norwegian-held province with long and intimate ties to the Scottish mainland. Commonly portrayed as the epicentre of political tension between Norwegian and Scottish fronts, Orkney appears here as a medium for diplomacy between monarchies and as an avenue for interface and cooperation between neighbouring communities. Removed from the national heartlands of Scandinavia and Britain, Orcadians fostered a distinctly local identity that, although rooted in Norwegian law and civic organization, featured a unique cultural accent engendered through Scottish immigration. This study of Orcadian experiences encourages greater appreciation of the peaceful dimensions of pre-modern European frontiers.