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Prof Jane Dawson BA PhD Dip Ed FRHS FSA (Scot)
I am an early modern historian who is primarily interested in the four countries within the British Isles, Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales, and in the Reformation throughout Europe.
My teaching ranges from Christian origins to the present though it is concentrated upon the medieval and early modern periods.
Research interests
My own research interests are varied. I have been working in the 'new British history', specialising in Scottish topics, and am now returning to the Reformation in Scotland and throughout the British Isles and Europe. I am particularly interested in the creation of religious culture and in communication via images, song, material culture and the written and printed word.
Work on Scotland and the Highlands has resulted in two editions of manuscript letters Clan Campbell Letters, 1559-1583; Breadalbane Letters 1548-83 and a monograph on the head of the Campbells, the fifth earl of Argyll Politics of Religion in the age of Mary, Queen of Scots. A general history of Scotland during the long sixteenth century, Scotland Re-formed, 1488-1587 is published as Volume 6 of the New Edinburgh History of Scotland.
A range of Scottish research sources have already been placed online [see below for links] and I am developing an umbrella website on sources for Scottish ecclesiastical history.
I am currently working on a major biography of John Knox for Yale UP, a number of specialist studies on the British exiles [1553-8] and aspects of the Reformation arising from the Wode Psalter Project.
I am Principal Investigator for the AHRC-funded Wode Psalter Project [2009-11] that brings together a team from the University Library, Music and Divinity in Edinburgh with the British Library, Trinity College, Dublin and Georgetown University, Washington DC, and a network of scholars throughout the world. The project has mounted a major exhibition 'Singing the Reformation' [Aug-Oct 2011]. It has given a series of concerts and a new CD 'The Wode Collection' has been produced. Details can be found on the Wode Psalter website.
- Wode Psalter
- To see images of Religion in late medieval Scotland
- To view the entire manuscript Book of Hours of Virgin Mary and St Ninian
- Breadalbane Letters 1548-83
Academic supervision
I would warmly welcome enquiries concerning supervision of any topics relating to the religious history of late medieval and early modern Scotland and the islands of Britain for the period c1450-c1650.
I have particular interests in John Knox and the Scottish Reformation; sixteenth-century British Protestantism; the 'New British History'; the Scottish Highlands and Clan Campbell; the links between 'law' and 'discipline' in Reformation Scotland and sacred space in Scotland.
Selected publications
Breadalbane Letters 1548-83
Scotland Re-formed, 1488-1587 (New Edinburgh History of Scotland Vol 6, Edinburgh, 2007 & 2012)
The Politics of Religion in the age of Mary, Queen of Scots: The Earl of Argyll and the struggle for Britain and Ireland (Studies in Early Modern British History, Cambridge, 2002 & 2007)
Clan Campbell Letters 1559-83). [critical edition of manuscript letters] (Scottish History Society, 5th ser. Vol 10, Edinburgh, 1997)
Full publications list
A full publications list is available in PDF format.
Image Gallery
Click an image to view the full size version.
This article was published on Oct 31, 2011