School of History

News and Events Archive

ISHR Reading weekend

The Institute of Scottish Historical Research reading weekend will be held between 18-20 April 2008 at Hospitalfield, near Arbroath.

For more information please contact the organisers Isla Woodman or Siobhan Talbott

Mediaeval History Undergraduate Reading Party

A weekend away for Mediaeval History undergraduates in their final year is being organised by students. This informal and sociable event, attended by staff and students, will run from 21-23 March near Arbroath.

For further information and details of how to sign up, click here.

Honours Advising - Second Semester

Honours Advising information for the second semester is now available on the Honours Advising website.

The Advising website contains information on all available course modules in Junior and Senior Honours for students studying in the School of History.

St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies welcomes visiting Research Fellow

Dr Campanelli discussing mediaeval
texts with Dr Andrews

Dr Maurizio Campanelli of the Classics department of La Sapienza University Rome and the Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo will be visiting the St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies from January until July 2008. Dr Campanelli has published extensively on medieval and renaissance texts, including books on the history of classical scholarship in the fifteenth century, the Florentine Libro del Chiodo, and the writings of Andrea Brenta, Domizio Calderini, and Marsilio Ficino. While in St Andrews he will be working on fourteenth-century descriptions of Rome and also the Anonimo Romano. His visit is funded by the Caledonian Research Foundation 's European Visiting Research Fellowship, administered by the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Institute for Iranian Studies Events

The Institute of Iranian Studies are holding two workshops in early February which will explore aspects of Iranian culture and identity. History, Myth and Literature will be the focus of the first workshop to be held on Monday 4th February while Shi’ism & Identity in Iran will be under discussion in the second workshop to be held on Tuesday 5th February.

To register interest or to find out more information about the workshops, please visit the Institute of Iranian Studies website

New Edinburgh History of Scotland Book Launch

Alex Woolf, author of From Pictland to Alba talks about his volume

On 29 November 2007 the publication of the first three volumes in the New Edinburgh History of Scotland was marked with a launch held at Blackwell's in Edinburgh. Two volumes in the series were written by two members of the School of History: Mr Alex Woolf, From Pictland to Alba, 789-1070 and Dr Michael Brown, The Wars of Scotland, 1214-1371. The general editor is Professor Roger Mason, Director of the Institute of Scottish Historical Research at St Andrews.

Induction of New Professors

Professor Ali Ansari and Profesor Bruce Gordon

Two members of the School of History were inducted as Professors in the University of St Andrews at a graduation ceremony on St Andrews Day, 30 November 2007.

Professor Ali Ansari is Director of the Institute for Iranian Studies and an expert on modern Iran.

Professor Bruce Gordon, a founder member of the St Andrews Reformation Studies Institute, is an authority on the Swiss Reformation and directs the Protestant Latin Bible Project.

French Book Project Publication

Professor Pettegree speaking at the reception

On 21 November 2007 the completion and publication of the French Book Project was celebrated at a reception hosted by Lyon & Turnbull, Auctioneers, in Edinburgh. The event was attended by over 150 people including the French consul general, the Minister for Europe, trustees of the National Library of Scotland and many past members of the project team and representatives from the University of St Andrews and the School of History. The launch of this ten-year project has also been marked by a series of lectures in France and by an exhibition of sixteenth century French books in Edinburgh.

Gladstone Book Prize

Fascism's European Empire. Italian Occupation during the second World War

Davide Rodogno has been named runner up in the Gladstone Book Prize, 2006, for his book Fascism's European Empire. Italian Occupation during the second World War (Cambridge University Press, 2006).

Awarded by the Royal Historical Society, the Gladstone Prize acknowledges outstanding original scholarly work in the recipient’s first book. Davide is an RCUK Academic Fellow in the School of History.

15th October 2007 - Former US Ambassadors visit Institute for Iranian Studies

On Monday 15 October two former United States Ambassadors with invaluable insight into the relationship between the US and Iran over the last thirty years visited the St Andrews Institute for Iranian Studies. Bruce Laingen was Charge dAffaires in Tehran and John Limbert a Political Officer at the US Embassy when student demonstrators overran the Embassy and took the US staff hostage in a crisis that lasted 444 days. After their release, Laingen went on to be Ambassador to Malta while his colleague John Limbert served as Ambassador to Mauritania and was President of the American Foreign Service Association.

During the visit both students and staff had the opportunity to hear and discuss views on US-Iran relations past and present in a seminar and at a public forum. The Director of the Institute Ali Ansari noted how beneficial this opportunity was for students at St Andrews in helping them understand the broader problems which plague US-Iran relations which, as he stressed, is probably the most serious issue confronting the international community today.

3rd Oct 2007- Inauguration of the St Andrews Institute of Scottish Historical Research.

Under the directorship of Prof. Roger Mason, the Institute draws together the extensive expertise in Scottish History based at St Andrews, providing an intellectual and social focus for both staff and students. It is also home to two major research projects and will host visiting lecturers and researchers

Find out more about the St Andrews Institute of Scottish Historical Research and other Centre and Institutes in the School of History

Major Mediaeval Research Project

A major research project on Religion and Public Life in Late Mediaeval Italy has just been awarded three years' funding by the AHRC. The project, led by Dr Frances Andrews with the assistance of Dr Caroline Proctor, will document the phenomenon of communal office-holding by men vowed to the religious life as a means to illuminate relations between secular and religious communities, the attitudes of elites and the ways in which they negotiated power.