Professor Julian Goodare (MA, PhD, FRHistS, FSAScot, FHEA)

Emeritus Professor of History

Biography

Background

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.

Responsibilities & affiliations

Affiliated research centres

Centre for Medieval & Renaissance Studies

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).

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

Yes

Areas of interest for supervision

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.

Current PhD students supervised

Aldazabal, Ana Inés    PhD    'Magic and Witchcraft in the Burgundian Literary Imagination'    Secondary supervisor

Cudney, Ashlyn    PhD    'Social Control and Disciplinary Bias: Bute, 1648-1700'    Secondary supervisor link

Greig, Elaine    PhD    'The Haill Hamiltonis: Kinship and Power in Sixteenth-Century Scotland'    Secondary supervisor

Hall, Kevin    PhD    'Social Problems and Urban Governance in Edinburgh and Canongate, 1560-1640'    Secondary supervisor link

Jones, Kim    PhD    'The Similarities and Differences between Visionary and Non-Visionary Folk Healing Practices in Early Modern Scotland'    Joint supervisor

Kirkman, Iain    PhD    'Agrarian Reform in the Barony of Kinneil, 1750-1850'    Joint supervisor

Whitehead, Ellie    MScR    'Facing Scotland's Demons: George Sinclair's Satans Invisible World Discovered (1685)'    Joint supervisor

Past PhD students supervised

Cullis, Sarah   PhD 'Witchcraft in Scotland: Emotions and Strategy'   Secondary supervisor   2024

Rébeillé-Borgella, Elisabeth   PhD 'Esmé Stuart D’Aubigny, First Duke of Lennox, c.1542-1583: A French Courtier in Scotland'   Secondary supervisor   2023 link

Millward, Georgia   MScR   'Social Class and Gender in the Scottish Witch Hunts'  Joint supervisor   2022

Holmes, Charlotte   PhD   'Domestic Medicine in Early Modern Scotland, c.1650-c.1750'   Secondary supervisor   2022    link

Jones, Ciaran   PhD   'Spiritual Roles in Early Modern Scotland'   Primary supervisor  2020   link

Rogers, Ben   PhD   'Religious Comprehension and Toleration in Scotland, 1689-1712'   Joint supervisor  2019   link

Carmichael, Ann   MScR   'A Jacobean Business Man: George Heriot, 1563-1624'   Primary supervisor   2018

Hall, Kevin   MScR   'Famine and the 'Cradle King': The "Ill Years" of 1621-25'   Primary supervisor   2018   link

McGill, Martha   PhD   'Ghosts in Enlightenment Scotland, c.1650-1830'   Primary supervisor   2016   link

McLaughlin, Adrienne   PhD   'Politics and Patronage in the Career of William Graham, seventh Earl of Menteith, c.1591-1661'   Primary supervisor   2016

Cornell, Harriet   PhD   'Gender, Sex and Social Control: East Lothian, 1610-1640'   Secondary supervisor   2012   link

Moffat, Laura   MScR   'The Witches' Sabbath in Scotland'   Primary supervisor   2011   link

Spence, Cathryn   PhD   '"To Content and Pay": Women's Economic Roles in Edinburgh, Haddington and Linlithgow, 1560-1640'   Primary supervisor   2010   link

Grant, Ruth   PhD   'George, Sixth Earl of Huntly and the Politics of the Counter-Reformation in Scotland, 1581-1595'   Primary supervisor   2010

Carr, Victoria   MScR   'Aspects of the North Berwick Witch-Hunt'   Primary supervisor   2009

Robertson, Elizabeth   MScR   'Panic and Persecution: Witch-Hunting in East Lothian, 1628-1631'   Primary supervisor   2009

McCormack, Danielle   MScR   'The Changing Status of the Scottish Highland Military Class, as evidenced by examination of events of the Interregnum'   Primary supervisor   2009

Jardine, Mark   PhD   'The United Societies: Militancy, Martyrdom and the Presbyterian Movement in Late-Restoration Scotland, 1679 to 1688'   Primary supervisor   2009   link

Raffe, Alasdair   PhD   'Religious Controversy and Scottish Society, c.1679-1714'   Primary supervisor   2008   link

Willumsen, Liv Helene   PhD   'Seventeenth Century Witchcraft Trials in Scotland and Northern Norway'   Primary supervisor   2008   link

Rayner, Laura   MScR   'The Scottish Privy Council in the 1690s'   Primary supervisor   2008

Groundwater, Anna   PhD   'The Middle March of the Scottish Borders 1573 to 1625'   Secondary supervisor   2007   link

Fenwick, Robert   PhD   'Locating Scotland's Ordinary Folk: Sources for Social and Family History Research, c.1630-c.1790'   Primary supervisor   2006

Theiss, Sherrilynn   PhD   'The Western Highlands and Isles, 1616-1649: Allegiances during the "Scottish Troubles"'   Primary supervisor    2006

Gibson, Iain   MScR   The Second Rise and Second Fall of the Fourth Earl of Morton, 1578-1581   Primary supervisor   2004

Stevenson, Katie   PhD   'Knighthood, Chivalry and the Crown in Fifteenth-Century Scotland'   Secondary supervisor   2003   link

Stewart, Laura   PhD   'Politics and Religion in Edinburgh, 1617-53'   Secondary supervisor   2003   link

Sáenz Cambra, Concepción   PhD   'Scotland and Philip II, 1580-1598: Politics, Religion, Diplomacy and Lobbying'   Secondary supervisor   2003   link

Cordey, Anna   MScR   'Witch-Hunting in the Presbytery of Dalkeith, 1649-1662'   Primary supervisor   2003

Adams, Sharon   PhD   'A Regional Road to Revolution: Religion, Politics and Society in South-West Scotland, 1600-1650'   Primary supervisor   2002   link

Amy L. Juhala   PhD   'The Household and Court of James VI of Scotland, 1567-1603'   Primary supervisor   2000

Research summary

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: 

 - Media Hopper

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.

Places: 

  • Britain & Ireland
  • Europe
  • Scotland

Themes: 

  • Culture
  • Economic History
  • Gender
  • Medicine, Science & Technology
  • Politics
  • Religion
  • Society

Periods: 

  • Early Modern

Current research interests

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; the first of these, Agriculture, Economy and Society in Early Modern Scotland, is in the press and due to be published in 2024. I am also editing 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.

The list below is a subset of the information held on the University of Edinburgh PURE system, and includes Books, Chapters, Articles and Conference contributions. For a full list, including details of other publication types (e.g. reviews), please see the Edinburgh Research Explorer page for Professor Julian Goodare.

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

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