The First Scottish Enlightenment

a text that contributes wonderfully to our understanding of our past as we continue to struggle over how to imagine the future.

Auteur
Kelsey Jackson Williams is Lecturer in Early Modern Literature at the University of Stirling and his research focuses on the intellectual, cultural, and material histories of Scotland, England, and continental Northern Europe. He was educated at Balliol College, University of Oxford, and held posts at Jesus College, University of Oxford, and the University of St Andrews before taking up his present lectureship.

Texte du rabat

This book argues that the 'first' Scottish Enlightenment was championed by minority groups traditionally assumed to have been backward-looking and conservative--Jacobites, Episcopalians, and Catholics--and that it resulted in a dramatic transformation of how Scots understood their history.

Contenu

• Introduction: Scotland and Enlightenment

• Enlightenment Origins

• Northern World: The Growth of a Regional Culture

• The Fall of the Ancient Monarchy: Demolishing Humanist History

• Thomas Innes: Rewriting Scotland

• Stupendous Fabricks: Archaeology and Material Culture

• Enlightenment in the Archive: Reclaiming the Medieval Past

• Scotland Illustrated: National and Local Geographies

• Pedigrees and Proof: Preserving the Old Nobility

• Fighting with Canon: Building a Literary Heritage

• Such Honourable and Worthy Persons: The Enlightenment's Readers

• Conclusion