News:

Welcome to the Renaissancefestival.com Forums!  Please post an introduction after signing up!

For an updated map of Ren Fests check out The Ren List at http://www.therenlist.com!

The Chat server is now running again, just select chat on the menu!

Main Menu

learning about Scottish life in the mid-1500's

Started by LadyMorna, December 27, 2008, 12:25:52 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

LadyMorna

Can anyone direct me to any books that could tell me more about life in Scotland in the mid 1500's? I specifically would like to know how upper middle class and minor nobility lived, and how, if possible, a person could move from upper middle class into nobility.  Did simply owning land make one part of the noble class?  These questions might have better posted in the Celtic Corner, but I decided to start here. I'm having some mixed feelings about in which direction I'd like my persona to go.  To be called "Lady" anything, I would have to be either nobly born or married into nobility, wouldn't I?  My husband is a stained glass artist, which would make him fit better into upper middle class rather than into nobility, wouldn't it?  I didn't think nobles actually "worked" at any art/craft.

Lady Morna
Mistress of Conundrum Castle, Wife of Sir Marcas McLaren, and Lady-in-Waiting to two royal housecats

DonaCatalina

Medieval Scotland

Burgess, Merchant and Priest This work examines what life was like in the new communities founded by David I in the 12th century, such as Perth, Aberdeen, Elgin, Edinburgh and Glasgow. It looks at houses, clothes and lifestyles, and also in relation to the religious houses which played such an important part in their life.

Outlaws of Medieval Scotland The history of the so-called Canmore kings in Scotland, from the reign of Malcolm lll (1058-93) down to that of Alexander lll (1249-86), is marked by an array of insurrections led by discontented dynasts and native warlords with grievances against these kings. Although none of the challenges ultimately proved successful, they nevertheless form a much-neglected theme across a formative era of Scottish history, which they in part define. This book demonstrates that the Canmore kings maintained their grip on power in large measure through crushing rivals and quashing numerous insurrections; their claim to be the founders of the medieval kingdom is valid, but the roles of violence and military confrontations in the consolidation of their power and the formation of the medieval kingdom are given new emphasis here. From well-known events like the invasion of Somerled of Argyll in 1164 to lesser-known challenges like that from Donald MacWillliam in the 1180s, the book offers a systematic exploration of the leaders of insurrection, their aims and motivations, their military capabilities, and the reasons behind their failure as well as the overall impact of insurrection upon the Scottish kingdom. Medieval Scotland.

Native Lordship in Medieval Scotland In the century or so after 1125 significant numbers of Anglo-Norman and European noblemen settled in Scotland at the invitation of the crown, chiefly in the lowlands. North of the Forth, however, lay large provincial lordships ruled on behalf of the king by hereditary lords known as 'mormaers'. Even after the arrival of the newcomers, the native rulers of this area, Gaelic speakers for the most part, remained a small, powerful, and largely independent group. Using the lordships of Strathearn and Lennox as focal points, this book explores the complex nature of the encounter between the cultures of the Gaels and the Europeans, and shows how important were native customs and practices in the making of the later medieval kingdom.

Older Scots Literature Written by leading scholars in the subject, this three-part collection features essays on medieval and Renaissance Scotland's principal writers, including Robert Henryson, William Dunbar, and Alexander Montgomerie. It also provides discussions of a wide range of types of writing, in poetry and prose, from the ballad and the personal letter to Scotland's extraordinary tradition of 'eldritch' (supernatural or 'spooky') verse. Women's writing and gender issues are examined in several essays dealing with the sixteenth century. These contributions are supported by important contextualising essays on manuscript and print culture, and by linguistic, stylistic and metrical analyses of key texts from these periods, such as Hary's Wallace and the Gude and Godlie Ballatis. This volume constitutes a rich combination of original research and scholarly reassessment into the literature of the Scottish nation's most creative era. Contributors include Priscilla Bawcutt, Sarah M. Dunnigan, William Gillies, R.J. Lyall, and A.A. MacDonald. Each part is introduced by a substantial essay by the editor.

Aurum peccamenes multifariam texit
Marquesa de Trives
Portrait Goddess