05 July 2024, Starts: 09:00, Ends: 17:00

The Sixteenth Century in the Highlands 

Conference organised by the Society of Highland & Islands Historical Research. Venue: UHI Inverness, Inverness campus

Cost £30 (which includes lunch). Bookings and further details via their website

Provisional Programme

09:00 – 09:30: Registration, coffees and refreshments.

09:30 – 09:45: ‘Housekeeping’, Chairman’s introductions and opening remarks — Professor Ewen Cameron, University of Edinburgh.

Followed by 11 papers, each of 25 minutes. These are grouped into 4 sessions. At the end of each session, there is a 15 minute period for questions and answers. Coffees/teas etc will be provided on arrival and in the morning break and luncheon catering provided.

SESSION 1: 09:45 – 11:15

David Caldwell, Independent Scholar: James V and Islay – the archaeological dimension (09:45 – 10:10)

Domhnall Uilleam Stiùbhart, University of the Highlands & Islands (UHI): Witchcraft troubles and trials and Clan Munro at the end of C16th (10:10 – 10:35)

Alan Macquarrie, Hon. Research Fellow, University of Glasgow: The reforms of Roderick Maclean in the diocese of the Isles, 1545 to 1553 (10:35 – 11:00)

11:00 – 11:15: Questions/discussions

11:15 – 11:35: Break

SESSION 2: 11:35 – 13:05

Alison Cathcart. Professor, Stirling University: ‘The scattered isles in the polar ocean’? Scotland and the isles in the early modern period (11:35 – 12:00)

Allan MacInnes, Emeritus Prof. of History, Strathclyde University: The Rise of the Slate industry: 1490-1625 (12:00 – 12:25)

David Worthington, Professor + Head of the Centre for History, University of the Highlands & Islands (UHI): ‘The ane in the west, and the vther in the northe’. Spanish interventions in the Highlands and Islands 1588 – 1633 (12:25 – 12:50)

12:50 – 13:05: Questions/discussions

13:05 – 14:00: Lunch

SESSION 3: 14:00 – 15:30

Elizabeth Ewan (Canada), University of Guelph and UHI: The Inverness Burgh Court Records as a Source for Life in the Sixteenth Century (14:00 – 14:25)

Ronald Black, University of Edinburgh: The Dewar MSS as a source for Sixteenth-Century Highland History (14:25 – 14:50)

Katharina Pruente, University of Stirling: The Earls of Argyll in the 16th Century: using network analysis to study early modern clan structures (14:50 – 15:15)

15:15 – 15:30: Questions/discussions

15:30 – 15:50: Break

SESSION 4: 15:50 – 16:55

Aonghas MacCoinnich, University of Glasgow: ‘Thus do the tryb of Clankenzie become great in these parts’. The rise of the Clan Mackenzie, c. 1540-1604 (15:50 – 16:15)

James Petre, ICE, University of Cambridge: ‘The chiefest persons of the west isles’? The MacDonalds of Glengarry and Clan Donald North in the 16th Century, c. 1539-1602 (16:15 – 16:40)

16:40 – 16:55: Questions/discussions and Chairman’s concluding remarks

16:55: Disperse