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Witchcraft, Traditional Practices and the Rise of a Protestant Culture in Early Modern Scotland

HI551C

CREDIT POINTS 15

Course Co-ordinator: Dr. William Naphy

Pre-requisite(s): None.

Co-requisite(s): Either HI5053 Introduction to Historical Research.

Note(s): Available in the second half session of 2009/10.

This course will consider the impact of the importation of ideas about Christianity from the wider Reformed world and their implementation in early modern Scotland. Particular attention will be given to traditional, pre-Reformation practices relating to healing (relics, holy sites, 'magical' cures, etc.), the transitions of life (birth, marriage, death, burial, and commemoration) and wider ideas about 'the world' (the role, place and power of the demonic, angelic and prophetic). Specific areas for examination may include: James VI and his ideas; the North Berwick witch trials; Aberdeenshire witchcraft; feasting & celebrating. Special attention will be given to popular and elite attitudes to traditional practices, superstition, 'latent' Catholicism (and recusancy) and the 'politics' of implementing the Reformation.

1 x 2 hour seminar per week for 10 weeks

100% continuous assessment: 1 x 2500 word pre-circulated seminar paper (50%); 1 x 1200 word pre-circulated response paper (25%); 1 x 500 word comparative review (15%); seminar participation (10%).

 

Arts and Humanities Research Council

The AHRC Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies >>

 

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