The Place of the Dead
| Author | : Bruce Gordon |
| Publisher | : Cambridge University Press |
| Total Pages | : 344 |
| Release | : 2000-01-28 |
| Genre | : History |
| ISBN | : 9780521645188 |
This volume of essays provides a comprehensive treatment of a very significant component of the societies of late medieval and early modern Europe: the dead. It argues that to contemporaries the 'placing' of the dead, in physical, spiritual and social terms, was a vitally important exercise, and one which often involved conflict and complex negotiation. The contributions range widely geographically, from Scotland to Transylvania, and address a spectrum of themes: attitudes towards the corpse, patterns of burial, forms of commemoration, the treatment of dead infants, the nature of the afterlife and ghosts. Individually the essays help to illuminate several current historiographical concerns: the significance of the Black Death, the impact of the protestant and catholic Reformations, and interactions between 'elite' and 'popular' culture. Collectively, by exploring the social and cultural meanings of attitudes towards the dead, they provide insight into the way these past societies understood themselves.
Fraser's Penguins
| Author | : Fen Montaigne |
| Publisher | : Henry Holt and Company |
| Total Pages | : 304 |
| Release | : 2010-11-09 |
| Genre | : Nature |
| ISBN | : 1429988908 |
A dramatic chronicle of Antarctica's penguins that bears witness to climate changes that foreshadow our own future The towering mountains and iceberg-filled seas of the western Antarctic Peninsula have for three decades formed the backdrop of scientist Bill Fraser's study of Adélie penguins. In that time, this breathtaking region has warmed faster than any place on earth, with profound consequences for the Adélies, the classic tuxedoed penguin that is dependent on sea ice to survive. During the Antarctic spring and summer of 2005-2006, author Fen Montaigne spent five months working on Fraser's field team, and he returned with a moving tale that chronicles the beauty of the wildest place on earth, the lives of the beloved Adélies, the saga of the discovery of the Antarctic Peninsula, and the story—told through Fraser's work—of how rising temperatures are swiftly changing this part of the world. Captivated by the tale of these polar penguins and a memorable field season in Antarctica, readers will come to understand that the fundamental changes Fraser has witnessed in the Antarctic will soon affect our lives.
The Beatons
| Author | : John W. M. Bannerman |
| Publisher | : Birlinn Ltd |
| Total Pages | : 141 |
| Release | : 2022-09-08 |
| Genre | : History |
| ISBN | : 1788853601 |
This book traces the Clann Meic-bethad or Clan MacBeth whose members practised medicine in the classic Gaelic tradition in various parts of Scotland from the early fourteenth to the early eighteenth century. From many medieval Gaelic manuscripts known to have been in their possession, individual members of the clan and their activities are identified. Sometime in the second half of the sixteenth century the kindred began to adopt Beaton as a surname for use in non-Gaelic contexts. The medical Beatons fell naturally into two divisions: one confined mainly to the Western Isles and the other to the mainland of Scotland. This detailed study of the Beatons and their medicine describes how the position of medical doctor was inherited by the eldest son, and potential Beaton physicians were sent out to be trained by other members of the family for several years before undertaking their own practice. The book provides information on medieval medicine at the highest levels of Highland society.
The Brahan Seer
| Author | : Alex Sutherland |
| Publisher | : Peter Lang |
| Total Pages | : 286 |
| Release | : 2009 |
| Genre | : History |
| ISBN | : 9783039118687 |
The Brahan Seer is a legendary figure known throughout Scotland and the Scottish Diaspora and indeed anywhere there is an interest in looking into the future. This book traces the legend of the Seer between the sixteenth and twenty-first centuries. It considers the seer figure in relation to aspects of Scottish Highland culture and society that shaped its development during this period. These include the practice and prosecution of witchcraft, the reporting and scientific investigation of instances of second sight, and the perennial belief in and use of prophecy as a means of predicting events. In so doing the book provides a set of historicised contexts for understanding the genesis of the legend and how it changed over time through a synthesis of historical events, oral tradition, folklore and literary Romanticism. It makes a contribution to the debates not only about witchcraft, second sight and prophecy but also about the relationship between 'popular' and 'elite' culture in Scotland. By taking the Brahan Seer as a case study it argues that 'popular' culture is not antithetical to 'elite' culture but rather in constant (and complex) interaction with it.
List of Books Forming the Reference Library in the Reading Room of the British Museum
| Author | : British Museum. Dept. of Printed Books |
| Publisher | : |
| Total Pages | : 1162 |
| Release | : 1910 |
| Genre | : Best books |
| ISBN | : |
Noble Power in Scotland from the Reformation to the Revolution
| Author | : Keith M Brown |
| Publisher | : Edinburgh University Press |
| Total Pages | : 345 |
| Release | : 2013-05-21 |
| Genre | : Political Science |
| ISBN | : 0748681191 |
Analyses the relations between nobility, crown and state, first in Scotland and then in the first courts of the unified kingdoms.
