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Unit Outline

5 Scottish History

5.1 Overview

This section deals with the history of Scotland and is designed to stimulate thinking on some of the major events and themes which have shaped Scotland over a period covering the seventeenth century to the present day.

These selected units introduce learners to Scotland's rich heritage and also to its wider European and international context.

If you are interested in learning more about Scottish history, The Open University runs a collaborative scheme with the University of Dundee to provide a programme of distance learning courses suited to anyone with a serious interest in Scotland's past and its culture.

 

5.2 The origins of the wars of the three kingdoms

From Catholic rebellion to Civil War, what happened during the latter years of the reign of Charles I that caused people to take up arms against their fellow citizens? This unit looks at the background of the wars between England, Scotland and Ireland and how the King's actions led to the rift between royalists and parliamentarians.

To access this material click on the unit link below. It leads to a separate OpenLearn unit and will open in a new window.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this unit you should be able to:

  • describe the developments in the British Isles that led to the outbreak of war;
  • assess the debates between historians about the cause of the wars;
  • understand how to use evidence from church records to learn about changes in religion and society.

 

5.3 Heritage case studies: Scotland

These case studies introduce various typologies of heritage and the methods used to study them. They help draw attention to the fact that the heritage traditions in England, Scotland and Wales are not the same and are enshrined in slightly different legislation. Every study of heritage requires an understanding of the legal context and the traditions and history governing the object of heritage.

The first case study, by Mary-Catherine Garden, involves public memories of two significant historical events, the battles of Bannockburn and Culloden, which have helped forge national consciousness in Scotland but which have little visible archaeological evidence to inform the viewer. Intangible heritage, linked to a physical site, presents problems of its own.

The second case study examines the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh, its designation as a World Heritage Site and how Edinburgh is managed as heritage site.

To access this material click on the unit link below. It leads to a separate OpenLearn unit and will open in a new window.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this unit you should be able to:

  • understand significant issues affecting heritage;
  • engage effectively in debates about heritage issues in Scotland.

 

5.4 Dundee, jute and empire

This unit focuses on the economics of empire, and, in particular, of the British Empire in the second half of the nineteenth century. The theme of producers and consumers is central.

The unit starts by introducing some of the debates surrounding the economics of British imperialism. It then goes on to explore how empire and imperial trade shaped economic structures and urban society in late nineteenth-century Britain.

To access this material click on the unit link below. It leads to a separate OpenLearn unit and will open in a new window.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this unit you should be able to:

  • understand some of the debates surrounding the economics of British Imperialism;
  • describe how empire and trade shaped economic structures and urban society in late 19th-century Britain;
  • give examples of how Dundee's jute trade was influenced by British imperialism.

 

5.5 Science in the Scottish Enlightenment

This unit is concerned with science in Scotland, one of the most dynamic centres of Enlightenment thinking. Writers speak of the mid-eighteenth century as Scotland's ‘Golden Age’. In order to get a flavour of this age, it is necessary to take a very broad view of what we mean by ‘science’. Staying within the boundaries recognised by modern science faculties misses most of what is distinctive about eighteenth-century Scotland. The interconnections and cross-fertilisation between disciplines that we now regard as having little to do with each other is one of the remarkable features of the Scottish scene. Geologists associated with historians, economists with chemists, philosophers with surgeons, lawyers with farmers, church ministers with architects.

This unit examines the historical background from which an astonishing cluster of intellectuals and ideas emerged.

To access this material click on the unit link below. It leads to a separate OpenLearn unit and will open in a new window.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this unit you should be able to:

  • understand developments in Scotland with regard to the Enlightenment period;
  • give Scottish examples from the community of philosophers and scientists from the Enlightenment period;
  • describe how these Scots helped influence the Industrial Revolution and the American Revolution.

 

5.6 The history of medicine: a Scottish perspective

This unit looks at how historians seek to understand past diseases and epidemics. These had social, political and medical implications as they inevitably damaged the economic resources of a community. An example based in the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary is used to illustrate how changes in medical delivery affected the local population.

In addition there is a description of the work of the eminent Scot William Cullen, professor of medicine at Edinburgh University (1752), who described the body as a complex and highly integrated mechanism composed of solid organs, nervous system and fluids.

To access this material click on the unit link below. It leads to a separate OpenLearn unit and will open in a new window.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this unit you should be able to:

  • describe the Scottish contributions to the history of medical thinking and practice in the 19th century;
  • give examples of the many medical advances influenced by wider social, economic, political and cultural contexts;
  • understand how developments in medical education permitted women to qualify and practise as doctors.

 

5.7 Health, disease and society: Scottish influence in the 19th century

This unit examines the roles of Scots who contributed to the comprehensive transformation of medicine in the nineteenth century. It begins by observing how laboratory practices led to improved techniques of medical diagnosis. This is followed by assessing how Scots contributed to the emerging collective identity of medical practitioners, as well as the improvements in licensing that led to reform of the medical professions. Many new developments in medical education also enabled women to qualify and practise medicine for the first time.

Finally, using many Scottish examples, the last section of this unit presents information about how healthcare institutions, namely asylums, were again influenced by social, economic, political and cultural contexts.

To access this material click on the unit link below. It leads to a separate OpenLearn unit and will open in a new window.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this unit you should be able to:

  • describe the Scottish contributions to the history of medical thinking and practice in the nineteenth century;
  • give examples of many medical advances that were influenced by wider social, economic, political and cultural contexts;
  • understand how developments in medical education permitted women to qualify and practise as doctors;
  • appreciate that the laboratory had a limited impact on medical practice until the twentieth century;
  • describe the status of medical practitioners in Europe during the nineteenth century;
  • understand how different historical approaches describe women's access to the medical profession;
  • appreciate the ways in which the growth of British psychiatric institutions was influenced by wider social, economic, political and cultural contexts.