Scottish History MA (Hons)

In the first two years of your degree (known as sub-honours) you will take the required modules in Scottish History alongside modules in at least one other subject.

1st Year

Students will take the following compulsory first-year module:

• Scotland and the English Empire 1070-1500: compares and relates the societies of the English crown and the kingdom of Scotland in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest of England.

Students will also choose one module from the following:

• The Fall of Rome and the Origins of Europe (400-1000): examines how political, cultural and social life changed in the Byzantine, British and ‘barbarian’ worlds in response to major upheavals.
• The Early Modern Western World (c. 1450-1770): looks at continental European history in the early modern period, and the expansion of Europe.
• Themes in Late Modern History (c. 1776-2001): provides thematic coverage of major political and social developments in the Western world during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Students will take the following compulsory second-year module:

• Scotland, Britain and Empire (c. 1500-2000): provides an introduction to how and why the British nation state evolved from the separate kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland and how and why it has survived over the last three centuries.

Students will also choose one module from the following:

• History as a Discipline: Development and Key Concepts: provides an introduction to key theoretical and methodological approaches which have characterised the emergence of History as a discipline since mediaeval times.
• Mediaeval Europe (1000-1400): examines key themes that helped to shape Western Europe from the 11th to 14th centuries, a period known as the ‘High Middle Ages’.

If you decide to take Scottish History in your third and fourth years, you choose from a wide variety of advanced options, including modules ranging from the Picts and Vikings to modern Scottish politics and society.

Here is a sample of Honours modules which have been offered in previous years:

• Culture and Society in Renaissance Scotland
• End of the Middle Ages? Scotland and England in the Fifteenth Century
• Kingship and Tyranny: Scotland in the Age of Reform 1513-1603
• Mediaeval St Andrews
• The Scottish Enlightenment
• Work and Politics in Modern Scotland.

Some modules at Honours level are intended to build your portfolio and provide you with career experience. For example, the Recording the Past module allows you to submit a multimedia historical project in the form of a radio programme, video documentary, website or other appropriate medium.

In fourth year, students also undertake a dissertation of around 10,000 to 12,000 words on a topic of their choice or an Honours Project. These modules based on independent research enable you to develop key research skills which are desired by both prospective employers and by graduate schools offering postgraduate degrees.