Undergraduate Course: Literature and Politics in Early-Modern Scotland (SCHI10043)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course explores the huge wealth of contemporary literature in Scotland in the late fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and how it relates to the political circumstances of that kingdom. Writers reflected political concerns and events in their work, but they also helped to create the plays, poetry and court entertainment that shaped political opinion during a tumultuous period in Scottish history, which saw the Scottish nation redefined by its Protestant Reformation, the Union of the Crowns, and the Covenanting Revolution. |
| Course description |
Each week we look at a number of writers whose work relates to the theme of that week, such as looking at Sir David Lindsay¿s Satire of the Three Estates in relation to the advice to princes¿ tradition, and pre-Reformation concerns over ecclesiastical abuses, the execution of justice and social morality. Over the course we thus build a literary background to the political and religious complexities of Scottish history from the late fifteenth century to the beginnings of the Covenanting Revolution in 1638. We see how kings tried to legitimise their rule, their counsellors articulated their advice, and their opposition justified their dissent.
1. Introduction: literature and politics in Scotland
2. National Identity: chronicle and epic: Barbour and Bower
3. The court: chivalry and honour: The Buke of the Howlat and Gavin Douglas
4. The court: James III, and IV: Henryson and Dunbar
5. Pre-Reformation: advice and dissent: Lynsday and Maitland
6. The Reformation: building a national religion: Knox and Buchanan
7. The Marian period: a queen and the opposition
8. The rise of literacy
9. The Political Theorists: James VI and I, Knox and Buchanan
10. The Union of the Crowns: the Union tracts, Drummond of Hawthornden, and Alexander
11. The Crisis of the 1630s: Johnston of Warriston, and Samuel Rutherford
This course relates to some of the history covered in the honours course ¿The Blessed Union¿ (James VI and I): the uniting of the kingdoms, and builds on the first year survey course Early Modern Scottish History.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | A pass or passes in 40 credits of first level historical courses or equivalent and a pass or passes in 40 credits of second level historical courses or equivalent.
Before enrolling students on this course, Personal Tutors are asked to contact the History Honours Admission Secretary to ensure that a place is available (Tel: 503767). |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least 3 History courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses. Applicants should note that, as with other popular courses, meeting the minimum does NOT guarantee admission.
** as numbers are limited, visiting students should contact the Visiting Student Office directly for admission to this course **
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| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, command of the body of knowledge considered in the course;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to read, analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to understand, evaluate and utilise a variety of primary source material;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, the ability to develop and sustain scholarly arguments in oral and written form, by formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence;
- demonstrate independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers.
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Reading List
S. Mapstone, ¿Scotland¿s Stories¿, in Jenny Wormald, ed, Scotland: a History (Oxford, 2005), pp.304-
S. Mapstone, ¿Was there a Court Literature in Fifteenth-Century Scotland¿, in Studies in Scottish Literature, 26 (1991)¿
S. Mapstone and J. Wood, eds, The Rose and the Thistle: Essays on the Culture of
Late Medieval and Renaissance Scotland (1998)¿
L.A. Houwen, J.R., MacDonald, A.A. and Mapstone S.L. (eds.), A palace in the wild: essays on vernacular culture and humanism in late-Medieval and Renaissance Scotland (2000).
J. Goodare and M. Lynch, eds, Reign of James VI¿(1999)
R. Mason, Kingship and the Commonweal: Political Thought in Renaissance and Reformation Scotland (1998)¿
A. Fox, Oral and Literate Culture in England, 1500-1700 (2000)
Primary texts: including Barbour¿s Bruce, Walter Bower¿s Scotichronicon, the poems of Gavin Douglas, Robert Henryson, William Dunbar, David Lynsday, Richard Maitland, Mary Queen of Scots, Alexander Scott, the Satirical Poems of the Time of the Reformation, Drummond of Hawthornden, William Alexander and Robert Ayton; the political writings of James VI and I, George Buchanan, John Knox.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Lit and Politics |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Anna Groundwater
Tel: 0131 (6)50 2553
Email: Anna.groundwater@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Clare Guymer
Tel: (0131 6)50 4030
Email: clare.guymer@ed.ac.uk |
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