An Environmental History of the Jacobite Risings in Scotland
Start date
January 2027 (Full-time/part-time availability)
Full-time 3 years, Part-time 6 years
About the Project
The project will offer a fresh interpretation of the Jacobite risings of the eighteenth century, examining how Scotland’s environment shaped, and was shaped by, the military campaigns. It will further consider cultural responses to the Scottish environment and demonstrate the role such responses played in shaping eighteenth-century understandings of identity. Historians have undertaken detailed analyses of the military campaigns in Scotland during 1715 and 1745-46 and have examined the risings and their aftermaths as part of a broader, contested, process of state formation. To date, however, the impact of the risings on the Highland landscape has either been assumed or simply ignored. This project will therefore centre the landscape in its consideration of the military campaigns and aftermaths to demonstrate how environmental factors impacted the raising, supplying, manoeuvring, and tactics of both the British and Jacobite armies and to interrogate the nature and impact of the British army’s fire and sword campaigns. In doing so, it builds on recent scholarly interventions demonstrating how the management of the Highland environment, through ‘improvement’ ideology, was a central component of eighteenth-century state formation.
Research Questions
Research Questions
- How did environmental conditions affect the operational capacities of the Jacobite and/or British armies?
- What were the environmental legacies of the military campaigns in Scotland?
- How did British soldiers interact with the Scottish environment and how did responses to the environment intersect with cultural understandings of identity?
- Were experiences on the ground shaped by literary, visual, or material representations of the environment?
Methodologically, the project draws together archival records (estate papers, old parish registers, military and government records), literary representations (eighteenth-century travel writing, prints and paintings), cartographic analysis (estate and government surveys, early modern maps, military maps and plans), and environmental and archaeological datasets (settlement and battlefield archaeology, historical weather data). It will provide important perspectives on eighteenth-century warfare, environmental and population resilience, and identity. There is room for the successful candidate to shape the project to their own areas of interest in discussion with the lead supervisor, and the chronological and geographical scope of the project have been left intentionally broad to facilitate this.
Entry Requirements and Funding Notes
Entry Requirements and Funding Notes
A UK first-class or upper second-class honours Bachelor’s degree, or a UK Master’s degree with Merit (or their equivalent) are required for PhD admissions. Exceptional candidates holding only a Bachelor's degree may be considered on an individual basis. Candidates should be highly motivated with strong academic potential and a background in history, archaeology, heritage studies, or a related field. Previous experience working with archival documents would be an advantage, whilst Gaelic language skills may be necessary depending on the candidate’s preferred geographical focus.
This PhD can be undertaken remotely, but sustained research in a range of UK archives and fieldwork visits will be essential.
This project is self-funded but the candidate will receive a 5% fee discount per annum when successfully accepted and enrolled for this project. This discount is available for any fee status. Alumni are welcome to apply, but please note that this discount cannot be used in conjunction with any other 麻豆中文映画传媒 offered discounts (such as an Alumni Discount).