Scottish Popular Culture 1500-1800 (Honours) HIST4124

  • Academic Session: 2025-26
  • School: School of Humanities
  • Credits: 20
  • Level: Level 4 (SCQF level 10)
  • Typically Offered: Either Semester 1 or Semester 2
  • Available to Visiting Students: Yes
  • Collaborative Online International Learning: No
  • Curriculum For Life: No

Short Description

This course will explore changes in popular culture in early modern Scotland arising from the Protestant Reformation. We will investigate the changing nature of popular piety, beliefs about magic and witches, festive practices and Scottish national identity and consider popular involvement in key events from the Reformation rebellion to the Jacobite risings.

Timetable

1 x 1hr lecture and 1 x 1hr seminar per week for 10 weeks. This is one of the Honours options in History and may not run every year. The options that are running this session are available on MyCampus.

Requirements of Entry

Available to all students fulfilling requirements for Honours entry into History, and by arrangement to visiting students or students of other Honours programmes.

Excluded Courses

HIST3016

Co-requisites

None.

Assessment

1000-word source analysis - 30%

1000-word source analysis - 35%

1000-word source analysis - 35%

Are reassessment opportunities available for all summative assessments? Not applicable

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. For non Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

Course Aims

This course aims to:

■ Consider the impact of the Protestant Reformation on popular culture in early modern Scotland, encompassing religious cultures, magical beliefs and practices, popular politics and national identity.

■ Examine scholarly approaches to the history of 'popular culture' and specialist methods (such as reading against the grain).

■ Develop proficiency in the assessment of primary and secondary sources, collaborative group discussion and written argument.

Intended Learning Outcomes of Course

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

■ Critically assess the approach and findings of scholarly research on Scottish popular culture (1500-1800).

■ Evaluate surviving primary source evidence and use this to interrogate academic interpretations.

■ Present clear and well-supported written arguments.

Minimum Requirement for Award of Credits

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.