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Semester 1

Kings and Kindreds: Scotland, Wales and Ireland in the Later Middle Ages (SCHI10005)

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

The course compares the way in which the native 'Celtic' aristocracies of the British Isles responded to the political, economic and cultural pressures and opportunities created by the burgeoning power and ambition of the emergent 'national monarchies' of England and Scotland. Within this broad framework the course focuses on a number of specific themes such as the decay of native kingship, the success or failure of attempts at aristocratic integration, and the emergence of minority political cultures whose key features were a sense of decline and exclusion.

Course Description

The course engages with the methodologies and conclusions of the wave of historical studies, pioneered by Rees Davies and Robin Frame, that address the history of the medieval polities of Britain and Ireland as an inter-connected whole rather than a series of discrete 'national' stories. The course is organised into three sections, covering the relationship between 'Frankish' lordship, embodied in the post conquest English monarchy and aristocracy, and the nobility of Wales, Ireland and Scotland in turn. The Welsh section covers, inter alia, the rise of the thirteenth-century Princes of Wales and the rebellion of Owain Glyn Dwr. The Irish section examines the declining status of Irish kings after 1170, the notion of the so-called 'Gaelic Resurgence' of the fourteenth century, and the ambivalent role of and cultural identity of the 'English of Ireland'. The Scottish material looks at the Lordship of the Isles and the emergence of the idea of the Highlands. The course thus gives students the opportunity to consider the implications of the so-called 'New British History' for the study of medieval history in the British isles and Ireland.

Assessment Information

Written Exam 0%, Coursework 100%, Practical Exam 0%

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 September 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.

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