Reading Seventeenth Century Scotland module (HY31016)
30
HY31016
- Level 3
- Semester 1
- History - School of Humanities
- Coursework 100%
Description
This module introduces you to seventeenth-century Scotland through an examination of different types of sources available for the period. It will cover political and cultural themes. A distinctive aspect of the module will be archive-based training in the reading and interpretation of original manuscript sources.
Some of the themes which the module will cover are:
- Language
- Parliament
- Religion
- Architecture
- Literature
- Political ideas
In this module you will also have the unique opportunity to use original manuscript sources. The key skills training element of the module will consist of archive-based sessions on palaeography (learning to read ancient handwriting).
Not only will this open up numerous possibilities for Level 4 dissertation topics, but it will also make reading bad handwriting much easier.
Convenor
Dr Alan MacDonald
Assessment
This module is assessed as follows:
- 2 x source review 30% & 40%
- palaeography exercise 30%
Reading
For some background reading on the period have a look at:
- Brown, K. M., Kingdom or Province? Scotland and the Regal Union 1603-1715 (London, 1992).
- Lynch, M., Scotland: a New History (London, 1991).
For an introduction to medieval and early modern Scottish handwriting:
- Simpson, G., Scottish Handwriting, 1150-1650: an introduction to the reading of documents (Edinburgh, 1973 and East Linton, 1998).