Correction and clarification: The ‘richest commoner’ and his West Indian estates

FROM THE EDITOR

Hello and welcome to History Scotland’s themed

MEET THE CONTRIBUTORS

Julian Goodare is Professor of History at the

MUSICAL ‘TIME MACHINE’ RECREATES LOST CONCERT AT LINLITHGOW PALACE

Virtual reality and ground-breaking acoustic techniques have been used to recreate historical music performances that took place more than half a millennium ago

Quest to reunite World War II photos with their families

A photograph album belonging to a kind-hearted US family who welcomed 150 British and Commonwealth servicemen into their home is at the heart of a quest to reunite precious images with their families around the world

#STORY OF OUR STREET

A  Robert Burns  connection

‘A Roof o'er Their Heads’: The archaeology of Achtriachtan township in Glencoe

Derek Alexander of National Trust for Scotland reports on an archaeological survey and excavation work of settlement remains at Glencoe 

THE ANCRUM BUCKLE

Geoff Parkhouse takes a look at what post-excavation research can tell us about the story of a medieval buckle found at the Mantle Walls field in Ancrum, Scottish Borders

DUNRAGIT: THE PREHISTORIC HEART OF GALLOWAY

GUARD Archaeology report on a dig carried out ahead of a road construction, with excavations that revealed finds spanning more than 8,000 years

A Brief History of the Scottish Witch-Hunt

As an introduction to our special issue on Scottish witchcraft, Dr Allan Kennedy offers a short overview of witch-hunting in early modern Scotland

Costs and profits of SCOTTISH WITCH-HUNTING

Professor Julian Goodare investigates the financial consequences of witch-hunting, demonstrating that it had the potential for generating windfalls for a few, but overall came with heavy costs to individuals and local communities 

‘Erotic ravings’? Therianthropy in Scottish witch trials

Therianthropy – the transformation of people into animals – was an often-overlooked feature of magical thinking. Nicole Maceira Cumming explores the nature of the phenomenon, and asks what it can tell us about witchcraft and everyday belief in the early modern period 

LIKE A ROARING LION: THE DEVIL in early modern Scotland

The devil – the source of witches’ power and the master to whom they pledged their allegiance – was a frighteningly real presence in the early modern period, ever waiting, so it was thought, to lead the faithful astray. 

WOMEN, WORDS AND WITCHCRAFT IN EARLY MODERN SCOTLAND

Dr Sierra Dye explains the role of disorderly speech in sustaining witch-belief and witch-hunting in Scotland, and also shows how such ideas were intimately bound up with contemporary stereotypes about women

Witches, charmers, and cattle

Animals were an essential part of everyday life in early modern Scotland, and so it is no surprise that they were often caught up in witch-belief. Dr Lizanne Henderson unpicks this relationship between livestock and magic with specific reference to cattle

The 6D Pamphlet that Caused - An Invasion Scare

THE SIXPENNY PAMPHLET SENSATION

‘Fury and madness’: The statue smashing of 1559

SCOTLAND’S ‘TIME OF REFORMATION’

A pivotal century

Gary Hutchison discusses a thorough survey of Scotland’s transformation during the 19th century

‘Standing up for Scotland’

Sarah Moxey enjoys a fresh perspective on the development of unionism and nationalism in Scotland

Beyond the stigma

 Phil Back considers a new book on housing in 20th-century Glasgow

A WORTHIE AND CHARITABLE LADY

Clare Stubbs tells the story of a 17th-century philanthropist who helped to establish the first girls’ school in Edinburgh

DIARY DATES

VICTORIA & ALBERT: OUR LIVES IN WATERCOLOUR, UNTIL 3 OCTOBER

Records for injured World War I service personnel

This month, Ken Nisbet takes a look at the procedures for treating soldiers injured in the Great War and what records might be found for individual cases

The Scottish History Society: Volume in the Spotlight

Professor Annie Tindley presents a 20th-century source that spotlights a record of witchcraft accusations made in Bute in 1662, with the cases built around a series of ‘declarations’

FINAL WORD

History Scotland talks to Herbert Coutts, MBE, Chairman of the Scottish Battlefields Trust (SBT) about the Trust’s recent call to all political parties to protect the country’s historic battlefields