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Semester 2

Improving the Nation. Change and Modernisation in Scotland, 1660-1730 (HIST10379)

Subject

Scottish History

College

CAHSS

Credits

20

Normal Year Taken

3

Delivery Session Year

2023/2024

Pre-requisites

Visiting students must have completed 3 History courses at grade B or above, and please note that we will only consider courses with a specific focus on History (not including History of Art) towards these pre-requisites. We will only consider University/College level courses. **Please see Additional Restrictions below**

Course Summary

This course examines the way Scotland was transformed in the period from the Stuart Restoration until the first quarter of the eighteenth century, in part as a result of its engagement with the wider world.

Course Description

This course examines the way Scotland was transformed in the period from the Stuart Restoration until the first quarter of the eighteenth century, not least as a result of its relations abroad. The self-conscious ways in which politicians, intellectuals and professionals expressed their concern with Scotland and its place in the world, both in relation to England, Europe and the emerging Atlantic empires, sets this period apart from the sixteenth and earlier seventeenth centuries, and arguably led to a pre-occupation with improvement. The course examines the interplay between challenges at home and the impact of the country's exchanges in people, goods and ideas, especially with the Continent. Amongst others, it looks at the language and intellectual underpinnings of such various projects of improvement as the quest for a Scottish colony, the reform of the universities, the development of the legal and medical professions and the Union debate. The course aims to: - develop an in-depth knowledge and an advanced, critical understanding of processes of modernisation and change in Scotland between c. 1660 and c. 1730; - deepen students' knowledge and understanding of early modern Scottish history; - develop students' skills and confidence in interpreting primary texts; - develop students' analytical, critical and communication skills, in both written and verbal forms. Topics and outline: Historiography; Restoration Scotland; Economic ambitions; Revolution; Political change; Civic aspirations; The Universities; Darien; Union; Post-Union Scotland; Improvement & Enlightenment

Assessment Information

Written Exam 40%, Coursework 40%, Practical Exam 20%

Additional Restrictions

Unless you are nominated on a History or HCA exchange agreement, visiting students are only permitted to enrol in two 3rd year History courses each, per semester, before the start of the relevant semester’s welcome period – and spaces on each course are limited so cannot be guaranteed for any student. This includes courses in Economic History and Scottish History. Enrolment in a third course from this group will depend on whether there are still spaces available in the January Welcome Period, and cannot be guaranteed. It is NOT appropriate for students to contact staff within this subject area to ask for an exception to be made; all enquiries to enrol in these courses must be made through the CAHSS Visiting Student Office. This is due to the limited number of spaces available in this very popular subject area.

view the timetable and further details for this course