About our staff
Professor Julian Goodare
MA, PhD, FRHistS, FSAScot, FHEA
Emeritus Professor of History; History
- Email: j.goodare@ed.ac.uk
- William Robertson Wing, Old Medical School, Teviot Place
Affiliated research centres
Biography
I gained both my degrees from the University of Edinburgh in the 1980s, and was a postdoctoral fellow in the University in the early 1990s. I then went on to hold lectureships in the University of Wales, Lampeter, and in the University of Sheffield, and a Visiting Fellowship in the University of London. In 1998 I was appointed Lecturer in the University of Edinburgh, and was later promoted, eventually to Professor of History. Since my retirement in 2021 I have been Emeritus Professor of History. I remain active in research and in supervision of research postgraduates.
I was Publication Secretary of the Scottish History Society from 1989 to 2002. I am Director of the Survey of Scottish Witchcraft which went online in 2003. In 2019 the Witchcraft Survey was enhanced by an interactive map.
External appointments
Since 1998 I have been an Associate Editor of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (published in 2004, and periodically updated since then), responsible for entries on sixteenth-century Scotland. I have been a visiting lecturer in Nanjing University, China.
Useful Links
Research in a Nutshell video (2012) - https://media.ed.ac.uk/media/1_prznk9jj
Public lecture 'Reality Checking for Historians' (24 November 2022).
Summary of research interests
Places:- Britain & Ireland
- Europe
- Scotland
- Culture
- Economic History
- Gender
- Medicine, Science & Technology
- Politics
- Religion
- Society
- Early Modern
Research interests
I am mainly a historian of Scotland in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The main themes of my research are government, finance and politics; witchcraft; popular belief; and agriculture.
My earliest (and continuing) research interest has been the history of government – the exercise of power, and the role of institutions and political elites. I have published two books about this. I am particularly interested in taxation and other aspects of state finance, and in propaganda and political culture.
I am also interested in the history of witchcraft and witch-hunting. This is partly a Scottish interest, but it has broadened to include the whole of Europe. I published a book called The European Witch-Hunt in 2016, and I am working on a second edition of this. I am currently working on several projects on both Scottish and European witchcraft.
Related to this, I have become interested in the popular beliefs and practices that are sometimes revealed by witchcraft interrogations. These include visionary experiences in which people experienced encounters with fairies, ghosts, angels or other supernatural beings.
I have recently become interested in the history of agriculture. I am engaged in a project on this which I hope will lead to more than one publication (see below).
I believe that the study of history can be enriched by engaging with other intellectual disciplines that study aspects of the human condition. I have given papers at conferences in the fields of sociology, anthropology, folklore, literary studies and psychology.
This one-minute video has me talking about some of my current research ideas on witchcraft, particularly focusing on topics where historians should be collaborating with scholars in other disciplines:
There is information about my publications and other research activities on my Edinburgh Research Explorer page. My main publications are also listed at the Publications tab of this staff profile, below.
Current research activities
I am Director of a funded research project on 'Agriculture and Teind Reform in Early Modern Scotland', a collaboration with the University of Dundee. This is intended to produce two books on aspects of early modern Scottish agriculture. I am also co-editing a legal text from 1566, David Chalmers’ Compendium of the Laws of Scotland (to be published by the Stair Society during 2023; co-editors Winifred Coutts and Andrew Simpson), and two volumes of primary source documents on Scottish witchcraft called Scottish Witchcraft Trials and Scottish Witchcraft Narratives and Tracts (to be published by the Scottish History Society; co-editor of the Trials volume Liv Helene Willumsen). In addition, I am working on various other aspects of witchcraft, politics and state finance in early modern Scotland and Europe.
Current Students:
| Cudney, Ashlyn | PhD | Social Control and Disciplinary Bias: Bute, 1648-1700 | Secondary | link |
| Cullis, Sarah | PhD | Witchcraft in Scotland: Emotions and Strategy | Secondary | |
| Greig, Elaine | PhD | The Haill Hamiltonis: Kinship and Power in Sixteenth-Century Scotland | Secondary | |
| Hall, Kevin | PhD | Purging the Poor and Undesirable: Urban Government and the People in Edinburgh and Canongate, 1560-1640 | Secondary | link |
| Hazelton, Jen | PhD | Friendship and Kinship in Diplomacy and International Relations in England, France, Scotland, and the Holy Roman Empire in the Late Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries | Secondary | |
| Rébeillé-Borgella, Elisabeth | PhD | Esmé Stuart D’Aubigny, First Duke of Lennox, c.1542-1583: A French Courtier in Scotland | Secondary | link |
| Whitehead, Ellie | MScR | Facing Scotland's Demons: George Sinclair's Satans Invisible World Discovered (1685) | Joint | link |
Past Students:
| Name | Degree | Thesis topic | Supervision type | Completion year | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Millward, Georgia | MScR | Social Class and Gender in the Scottish Witch Hunts | Joint | 2022 | |
| Holmes, Charlotte | PhD | Domestic Medicine in Early Modern Scotland, c.1650-c.1750 | Secondary | 2022 | link |
| Jones, Ciaran | PhD | Spiritual Roles in Early Modern Scotland | Primary | 2020 | link |
| Rogers, Ben | PhD | Religious Comprehension and Toleration in Scotland, 1689-1712 | Joint | 2019 | link |
|
Carmichael, Ann |
MScR | A Jacobean Business Man: George Heriot, 1563-1624 | Primary | 2018 | |
| Hall, Kevin | MScR | Famine and the 'Cradle King': The 'Ill Years' of 1621-25 | Primary | 2018 | link |
| McGill, Martha | PhD | Ghosts in Enlightenment Scotland, c.1650-1830 | Primary | 2016 | link |
| McLaughlin, Adrienne | PhD | Politics and Patronage in the Career of William Graham, seventh Earl of Menteith, c.1591-1661 | Primary | 2016 | |
| Cornell, Harriet | PhD | Gender, Sex and Social Control: East Lothian, 1610-1640 | Secondary | 2012 | link |
| Moffat, Laura | MScR | The Witches' Sabbath in Scotland | Primary | 2011 | link |
| Spence, Cathryn | PhD | 'To Content and Pay': Women's Economic Roles in Edinburgh, Haddington and Linlithgow, 1560-1640 | Primary | 2010 | link |
| Grant, Ruth | PhD | George, Sixth Earl of Huntly and the Politics of the Counter-Reformation in Scotland, 1581-1595 | Primary | 2010 | |
| Carr, Victoria | MScR | Aspects of the North Berwick Witch-Hunt | Primary | 2009 | |
| Robertson, Elizabeth | MScR | Panic and Persecution: Witch-Hunting in East Lothian, 1628-1631 | Primary | 2009 | |
| McCormack, Danielle | MScR | The Changing Status of the Scottish Highland Military Class, as evidenced by examination of events of the Interregnum | Primary | 2009 | |
| Jardine, Mark | PhD | The United Societies: Militancy, Martyrdom and the Presbyterian Movement in Late-Restoration Scotland, 1679 to 1688 | Primary | 2009 | link |
| Raffe, Alasdair | PhD | Religious Controversy and Scottish Society, c.1679-1714 | Primary | 2008 | link |
| Willumsen, Liv Helene | PhD | Seventeenth Century Witchcraft Trials in Scotland and Northern Norway | Primary | 2008 | link |
| Rayner, Laura | MScR | The Scottish Privy Council in the 1690s | Primary | 2008 | |
| Groundwater, Anna | PhD | The Middle March of the Scottish Borders 1573 to 1625 | Secondary | 2007 | link |
| Miller, Adrienne | MScR | 'The King Loves This Duke Above All Others': Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox, 1588-1603 | Primary | 2006 | |
| Fenwick, Robert | PhD | Locating Scotland's Ordinary Folk: Sources for Social and Family History Research, c.1630-c.1790 | Primary | 2006 | |
| Theiss, Sherrilynn | PhD | The Western Highlands and Isles, 1616-1649: Allegiances during the 'Scottish Troubles' | Primary | 2006 | |
| Raffe, Alasdair | MScR | Religious Controversy and Scottish Society, c. 1679-1714 | Primary | 2004 | link |
| Gibson, Iain | MScR | The Second Rise and Second Fall of the Fourth Earl of Morton, 1578-1581 | Primary | 2004 | |
| Stevenson, Katie | PhD | Knighthood, Chivalry and the Crown in Fifteenth-Century Scotland | Secondary | 2003 | link |
| Stewart, Laura | PhD | Politics and religion in Edinburgh, 1617-53 | Secondary | 2003 | link |
| Sáenz Cambra, Concepción | PhD | Scotland and Philip II, 1580-1598: Politics, Religion, Diplomacy and Lobbying | Secondary | 2003 | link |
| Cordey, Anna | MScR | Witch-Hunting in the Presbytery of Dalkeith, 1649-1662 | Primary | 2003 | |
| Adams, Sharon | PhD | A Regional Road to Revolution: Religion, Politics and Society in South-West Scotland, 1600-1650 | Primary | 2002 | link |
| Groundwater, Anna | MScR | The Middle March of Scotland, 1573-1625 | Secondary | 2002 | link |
| Theiss, Sherrilynn | MScR | The Western Highlands and Isles, 1616-1649: Allegiances during the 'Scottish Troubles' | Primary | 2002 |
Currently accepting research student applications : Yes
Areas accepting Research Students in:
I welcome supervision enquiries from prospective postgraduate students intending to research the economic, social or political history of Scotland between about 1500 and 1700. The history of witchcraft, and related popular beliefs, is a particular specialism in which my interests extend beyond Scotland to the rest of Europe.
Please contact me directly before you submit a formal application.
Books - Authored
Goodare, J. (2016) The European Witch-Hunt. Abingdon; New York: RoutledgeDOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315560458
Goodare, J. (2004) The Government of Scotland, 1560-1625. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Goodare, J. (1999) State and Society in Early Modern Scotland. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Books - Edited
Chalmers of Ormond, D., Coutts, W., Goodare, J. and Simpson, A. (eds.) (2023) Compendium of the Laws of Scotland. Edinburgh: Stair Society
Goodare, J. and McGill, M. (eds.) (2020) The Supernatural in Early Modern Scotland. Manchester: Manchester University Press
Goodare, J., Voltmer, R. and Willumsen, L. (eds.) (2020) Demonology and Witch-Hunting in Early Modern Europe. Abingdon: RoutledgeDOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003007296
Adams, S. and Goodare, J. (eds.) (2014) Scotland in the Age of Two Revolutions. Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer
Boardman, S. and Goodare, J. (eds.) (2014) Kings, Lords and Men in Scotland and Britain, 1300-1625: Essays in Honour of Jenny Wormald. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press
Goodare, J. (ed.) (2013) Scottish Witches and Witch-Hunters. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
Goodare, J. and MacDonald, A. (eds.) (2008) Sixteenth-Century Scotland: Essays in Honour of Michael Lynch. Leiden: BrillDOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004168251.i-476
Goodare, J., Martin, L. and Miller, J. (eds.) (2008) Witchcraft and Belief in Early Modern Scotland. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
Goodare, J. (ed.) (2002) The Scottish Witch-Hunt in Context. Manchester: Manchester University Press
Goodare, J. and Lynch, M. (eds.) (2000) The Reign of James VI. East Linton: Tuckwell Press
Articles
Goodare, J. (2021) Witchcraft and prophecy in Scotland. Journal of the Northern Renaissance, N/A(12), pp. 1-28
Goodare, J. (2020) Away with the fairies: The psychopathology of visionary encounters in early modern Scotland. History of Psychiatry, 31(1), pp. 37-54DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0957154X19880829
Goodare, J. (2014) The Scottish Convention of Estates of 1630. The Scottish Historical Review, 93(2), pp. 217-239DOI: https://doi.org/10.3366/shr.2014.0217
Goodare, J. (2012) The Cult of the Seely Wights in Scotland. Folklore, 123(2), pp. 198-219DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0015587X.2012.682483
Goodare, J. (2010) The Scottish Presbyterian Movement in 1596. Journal of History, 45(1), pp. 21-48
Goodare, J. (2010) Diary of the Convention of Estates, 1630. Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, 14, pp. 86-110
Goodare, J. (2009) A Balance Sheet for James VI of Scotland. Journal of European Economic History, 38(1), pp. 49-91
Goodare, J. (2009) The debts of James VI of Scotland. Economic History Review, 62(4), pp. 926-952DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0289.2009.00464.x
Goodare, J. (2006) How Archbishop Spottiswoode became an Episcopalian. Renaissance and Reformation, 32, pp. 83-103
Goodare, J. (2005) John Knox on Demonology and Witchcraft. Archiv fur Reformationsgeschichte, 96, pp. 221-245
Goodare, J. (2005) The First Parliament of Mary, Queen of Scots. Sixteenth Century Journal, 36, pp. 55-75DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/20477242
Goodare, J. (2005) The Scottish Witchcraft Act. Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture, 74, pp. 39-67DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0009640700109655
Goodare, J. (2004) Fiscal Feudalism in Early Seventeenth-Century Scotland. Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, 13, pp. 189-222
Goodare, J. (2004) The Scottish Parliament and its Early Modern 'Rivals'. Parliaments, Estates and Representation, 24, pp. 147-172
Goodare, J. (2003) The Scottish Political Community and the Parliament of 1563. Albion, 35, pp. 373-397
Goodare, J. (2002) The framework for Scottish witch-hunting in the 1590s. The Scottish Historical Review, 81, pp. 240-50DOI: https://doi.org/10.3366/shr.2002.81.2.240
Goodare, J. (2001) The Aberdeenshire Witchcraft Panic of 1597. Northern Scotland, 21, pp. 17-37
Goodare, J. (2001) The Admission of Lairds to the Scottish Parliament. The English Historical Review (EHR), 116 (469), pp. 1103-1133DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/116.469.1103
Goodare, J. (1999) The Scottish Parliamentary Records, 1560-1603. Historical Research, 72, pp. 244-267
Goodare, J. (1998) The Statutes of Iona in context. The Scottish Historical Review, 77(203), pp. 31-57DOI: https://doi.org/10.3366/shr.1998.77.1.31
Goodare, J. (1998) Women and the Witch-Hunt in Scotland. Social History, 23, pp. 288-308
Goodare, J. (1996) The Estates in the Scottish Parliament, 1286-1707. Parliamentary History, 15, pp. 11-32
Goodare, J. (1995) The Scottish Parliament of 1621. Historical Journal, 38(1), pp. 29-51
Goodare, J. (1993) The Long Hundred in Medieval and Early Modern Scotland. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 123, pp. 395-418
Goodare, J. (1993) The Nobility and the Absolutist State in Scotland, 1584-1638. History, 78, pp. 161-182
Goodare, J. (1989) Parliamentary Taxation in Scotland, 1560-1603. The Scottish Historical Review, 68, pp. 23-52
Chapters
Goodare, J. (2020) Emotional relationships with spirit-guides in early modern Scotland. In: Goodare, J. and McGill, M. (eds.) The Supernatural in Early Modern Scotland. Manchester: Manchester University Press
Goodare, J. and McGill, M. (2020) Exploring the supernatural in Early Modern Scotland. In: Goodare, J. and McGill, M. (eds.) The Supernatural in Early Modern Scotland. Manchester: Manchester University Press
Goodare, J. (2020) Connecting demonology and witch-hunting in early modern Europe. In: Goodare, J., Voltmer, R. and Willumsen, L. (eds.) Demonology and Witch-Hunting in Early Modern Europe. Routledge, pp. 345-381DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003007296
Goodare, J. (2020) Witches’ flight in Scottish Demonology. In: Goodare, J., Voltmer, R. and Willumsen, L. (eds.) Demonology and Witch-Hunting in Early Modern Europe. Routledge, pp. 147-167DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003007296
Goodare, J. (2019) Seely wights, fairies and nature spirits in Scotland. In: Pócs, É. (ed.) Body, Soul, Spirits and Supernatural Communication. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 218-237
Goodare, J. (2018) Between humans and angels: Scientific uses for fairies in early modern Scotland. In: Ostling, M. (ed.) Fairies, Demons, and Nature Spirits: 'Small Gods' at the Margins of Christendom. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 169-190
Goodare, J. (2017) The Octavians. In: Kerr-Peterson, M. and Reid, S. (eds.) James VI and Noble Power in Scotland, 1578-1603. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 176-193
Goodare, J. (2017) Ghosts, Fairies and the World of Spirits. In: Broomhall , S. (ed.) Early Modern Emotions: An Introduction. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 330-333
Goodare, J. (2015) The Rise of the Covenanters, 1637–1644. In: Braddick, M. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of the English Revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 43-59DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199695898.013.003
Goodare, J. (2015) Visionaries and Nature Spirits in Scotland. In: Mosia , B. (ed.) Book of Scientific Works of the Conference of Belief Narrative Network of ISFNR, 1-4 October 2014, Zugdidi. Zugdidi: Shota Meshkia State Teaching University of Zugdidi, Georgia, pp. 102-116
Adams, S. and Goodare, J. (2014) Scotland and its Seventeenth-Century Revolutions. In: Adams, S. and Goodare, J. (eds.) Scotland in the Age of Two Revolutions. Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, pp. 1-22
Goodare, J. (2014) The Scottish Revolution. In: Adams, S. and Goodare, J. (eds.) Scotland in the Age of Two Revolutions. Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, pp. 79-96
Goodare, J. (2014) Boundaries of the Fairy Realm in Scotland. In: Olsen, K. and Veenstra, J. (eds.) Airy Nothings: Imagining the Otherworld of Faerie from the Middle Ages to the Age of Reason. Leiden: Brill, pp. 139-69
Goodare, J. (2014) The Ainslie Bond. In: Boardman, S. and Goodare, J. (eds.) Kings, Lords and Men in Scotland and Britain, 1300-1625: Essays in Honour of Jenny Wormald. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 301-319
Goodare, J. (2013) In Search of the Scottish Agrarian Problem. In: Whittle, J. (ed.) Landlords and Tenants in Britain, 1440-1660: Tawney’s Agrarian Problem Revisited. Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, pp. 100-116
Goodare, J. (2013) Bibliography of Scottish Witchcraft. In: Goodare, J. (ed.) Scottish Witches and Witch-Hunters. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 234-245
Goodare, J. (2013) Flying Witches in Scotland. In: Goodare, J. (ed.) Scottish Witches and Witch-Hunters. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 159-176
Dudley, M. and Goodare, J. (2013) Outside In or Inside Out: Sleep Paralysis and Scottish Witchcraft. In: Goodare, J. (ed.) Scottish Witches and Witch-Hunters. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 121-139
Goodare, J. (2013) Witchcraft in Scotland. In: Levack, B. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 300-317DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199578160.013.0018
Goodare, J. (2010) Parliament and Politics. In: Brown, K. and MacDonald, A. (eds.) The History of the Scottish Parliament, vol. iii: A Thematic History, 1268-1707. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 244-274
Goodare, J. (2009) Men and the Witch-Hunt in Scotland. In: Rowlands, A. (ed.) Witchcraft and Masculinities in Early Modern Europe. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 148-170
Goodare, J. (2009) The Parliament of Scotland to 1707. In: Jones, C. (ed.) A Short History of Parliament: England, Great Britain, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Scotland. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, pp. 300-319
Goodare, J. (2008) Scottish witchcraft in its European context. In: Goodare, J., Martin, L. and Miller, J. (eds.) Witchcraft and Belief in Early Modern Scotland. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 26-50
Goodare, J. (2008) The Attempted Scottish Coup of 1596. In: MacDonald, A. and Goodare, J. (eds.) Sixteenth-Century Scotland: Essays in Honour of Michael Lynch. Leiden: Brill, pp. 311-336
Goodare, J. (2008) The Scottish Revolution. In: Grinin, L., Beliaev, D. and Korotayev, A. (eds.) Hierarchy and Power in the History of Civilizations: Political Aspects of Modernity. Moscow: URSS, pp. 53-62
Goodare, J. (2004) Mary [Mary Stewart] (1542-1587), Queen of Scots. In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 77-93
Goodare, J. (2002) The Scottish Witchcraft Panic of 1597. In: Goodare, J. (ed.) The Scottish Witch-Hunt in Context. Manchester University Press, pp. 52-72
Goodare, J. (2002) Witch-Hunting and the Scottish State. In: Goodare, J. (ed.) The Scottish Witch-Hunt in Context. Manchester University Press, pp. 122-145
Goodare, J. and Lynch, M. (2000) James VI: Universal King?. In: Goodare, J. and Lynch, M. (eds.) The Reign of James VI. East Linton: Tuckwell Press, pp. 1-31
Goodare, J. (2000) James VI's English Subsidy. In: Goodare, J. and Lynch, M. (eds.) The Reign of James VI. East Linton: Tuckwell Press, pp. 110-125
Goodare, J. (2000) Scotland's Parliament in its British Context, 1603-1707. In: Dickinson, H. and Lynch, M. (eds.) The Challenge to Westminster: Sovereignty, Devolution and Independence. East Linton: Tuckwell Press, pp. 22-32
Goodare, J. (2000) Scottish Politics in the Reign of James VI. In: Goodare, J. and Lynch, M. (eds.) The Reign of James VI. East Linton: Tuckwell Press, pp. 32-54
Goodare, J. and Lynch, M. (2000) The Scottish State and its Borderlands, 1567-1625. In: Goodare, J. and Lynch, M. (eds.) The Reign of James VI. East Linton: Tuckwell Press, pp. 186-208
Goodare, J. (1999) Thomas Foulis and the Scottish Fiscal Crisis of the 1590s. In: Ormrod, W., Bonney, M. and Bonney, R. (eds.) Crises, Revolutions and Self-Sustained Growth: Essays in European Fiscal History. Stamford: Paul Watkins Publishing, pp. 170-197
Goodare, J. (1994) Scotland. In: Scribner, R., Porter, R. and Teich, M. (eds.) The Reformation in National Context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 95-110
Goodare, J. (1988) Queen Mary's Catholic Interlude. In: Lynch, M. (ed.) Mary Stewart: Queen in three Kingdoms. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, pp. 154-170