Postgraduate Course: Queens, Heiresses and Lords: Women Making Medieval Scotland (PGHC11588)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Women were fundamental to the foundation, consolidation, commemoration and crises of the ruling dynasty and noble families of medieval Scotland. Drawing on a wide range of primary sources, this course examines the lives, actions, and representations of royal and aristocratic women between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries. Students will also engage critically with the ways modern historians have studied topics such as queenship, gender, power and Scottish political history. |
| Course description |
Elite women played important roles within the Scottish political community and on a wider, European stage, even if narratives of the 'making of' medieval Scotland have tended to foreground male actors. Throughout this course, students will carefully assess women's involvement in politics and aristocratic culture between c.1066 and c.1328, examining figures such as queen consorts, royal mothers and daughters, countesses and noblewomen.
The course will be structured around weekly seminars which explore different arenas of royal and aristocratic life. Crucial themes students will encounter include: marriage, diplomacy, patronage, commemoration, power and authority, models of rulership, administration, law, courtly culture, religion and identity. Students will reach a fuller understanding of women's significant contribution to political life and culture in medieval Scotland by analysing important shifts over the period, critically examining historiographical arguments, and appraising a variety of primary sources.
Content note: The study of History inevitably involves the study of difficult topics that we encourage students to approach in a respectful, scholarly, and sensitive manner. Nevertheless, we remain conscious that some students may wish to prepare themselves for the discussion of difficult topics. In particular, the course organiser has outlined that the following topics may be discussed in this course, whether in class or through required or recommended primary and secondary sources: physical violence, warfare and conquest, sexual violence, suicide and suicidal thoughts. While this list indicates sensitive topics students are likely to encounter, it is not exhaustive because course organisers cannot entirely predict the directions discussions may take in tutorials or seminars, or through the wider reading that students may conduct for the course.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
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 ** |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Coursework:
1,000 word essay plan (20%)
4,000 word essay (80%) |
| Feedback |
Students are expected to discuss their coursework with the Course Organiser at least once prior to submission, and are encouraged to do so more often. Meetings can take place with the Course Organiser during their published office hours or by appointment. Students will also receive feedback on their coursework, and will have the opportunity to discuss that feedback further with the Course Organiser.
There will be an assessed essay plan, submitted mid-semester, which will be discussed in a one-to-one meeting with students and form the structured learning activity for one week of the course. This is intended to encourage students in their independent research throughout the semester, providing a meaningful forum for them to develop and discuss their essay question, initial ideas and writing intentions. This mid-semester feedback will allow students to shape and hone their final coursework assessment. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- show detailed knowledge of the lives, actions and representations of elite women in medieval Scotland.
- evaluate and apply recent critical debates in the study of gender, queenship, noblewomen, power, and medieval Scottish history.
- reflect critically on a variety of methodological approaches to primary source material, including diplomatic, epistolary, chronicle, hagiographical, literary and legal evidence.
- devise a research question and implement a structured plan to achieve the set research goal.
- develop and sustain original scholarly arguments in a written form.
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Reading List
The New Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women: From the Earliest Times to 2004, eds. Elizabeth Ewan, Rosemary J. Pipes, Jane Rendall and Sian Reynolds (Edinburgh: EUP, 2018)
Women in Scottish History Database (https://womeninscottishhistory.org/wish-database/)
Jessica Nelson, 'Scottish queenship in the thirteenth century', Thirteenth Century England, 11 (2007), 61-81
Fiona Downie, 'Queenship in late medieval Scotland', in Scottish Kingship, 1306-1542: Essays in Honour of Norman Macdougall, eds. Michael Brown and Roland Tanner (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2008), pp. 232-54
Lois L. Huneycutt, 'Public lives, private ties: royal mothers in England and Scotland, 1070-1204', in Medieval Mothering, eds. John Carmi Parsons and Bonnie Wheeler (New York: Garland, 1996), pp. 295-311
Catherine Keene, Saint Margaret, Queen of the Scots: A Life in Perspective (New York, 2013)
Cynthia J. Neville, 'Women, charters and land ownership in Scotland, 1150-1350', Journal of Legal History, 26 (2005), 25-54
Matthew H. Hammond, 'Women and the adoption of charters in Scotland north of Forth, ca 1100-1286', Innes Review, 62 (2011), 5-46
Medieval Elite Women and the Exercise of Power, 1100-1400: Moving Beyond the Exceptionalist Debate, ed. Heather J. Tanner (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019)
Theresa Earenfight, Queenship in Medieval Europe: Queenship and Power (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013)
A. A. M. Duncan, The Kingship of the Scots, 842-1292: Succession and Independence (Edinburgh: EUP, 2002)
Alice Taylor, The Shape of the State in Medieval Scotland, 1124-1290 (Oxford: OUP, 2016) |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
This course will enable students to:
Develop skills in critically appraising diverse evidence and historiographical arguments
Expand and demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of elite women in medieval Scotland
Hone practical expertise such as effective communication and collaborative working
Plan and implement self-directed research |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Emily Ward
Tel: (0131 6)50 6693
Email: Emily.Ward@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Katherine Perry
Tel:
Email: kperry2@ed.ac.uk |
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