Lancaster University, Saturday 6 July 2013

A conference in association with the research project The Breaking of Britain: Cross-Border Society and Scottish Independence, 1216–1314 (funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council), co-sponsored by the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, Friends of Cumbria Archives, and the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne.

This conference will provide a forum for discussions of how the English and Scottish monarchies asserted their respective authority in ‘Middle Britain’, the different styles and intensities of royal rule, and the varying experiences of local communities within the Border region in terms of crown power and its demands. The speakers will include Dauvit Broun (Glasgow University), David Carpenter (King’s College, London) and Keith Stringer (Lancaster University). The conference will also introduce a new online database of translated English royal records for the counties of Cumberland, Westmorland and Northumberland. There will be no conference fee; lunch and refreshments are free of charge; and a warm welcome is guaranteed to all. More information about the Conference, including registration details, will be circulated by the organisers in due course. In the meantime, please visit the project’s website at http://www.breakingofbritain.ac.uk/

 PEOPLE OF MEDIEVAL SCOTLAND 1093-1314

 NEW ON-LINE LEARNING RESOURCE AND RESEARCH TOOL

 By Michael Russell MSP

Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, Scottish Government

 6.30–8.30pm, Wednesday 5 September 2012

Sir Charles Wilson Lecture Theatre, University of Glasgow

The ‘People of Medieval Scotland’ is a database of the 21,000+ people mentioned in the 8500+ documents from Scotland that survive between 1093 and 1314. It has been designed to cater for beginners as well as experts. Learners can explore and discover this pivotal period of Scotland’s past on their own terms. Experts can conduct research in days and hours that would once have taken them months. The database also offers learners and experts a new experience of engaging with the past, allowing thousands of individuals and hundreds of places to take centre stage. It is left to the user to decide what is interesting and important.

Special features include:

• A ‘lab’ space for quick and thought-provoking ways to explore the database
• Gaelic names are identified in their medieval and modern forms
• A multi-faceted search facility
• For experts: special attention to the form of documents

If you would like to attend, please register at http://peopleofmedievalscotland.eventbrite.com

 If you would like to bring a class, please e-mail dauvit [dot] broun [at] glasgow [dot] ac [dot] uk and indicate how many pupils there are likely to be.

The database is the outcome of two projects funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council: the ‘Paradox of Medieval Scotland, 1093-1286: Social Relationships and Identities before the Wars of Independence’ (www.poms.ac.uk) and the ‘Breaking of Britain: Cross-border Society and Scottish Independence 1216-1314’ (www.breakingofbritain.ac.uk), a collaboration between the Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh and Lancaster, and King’s College, London.

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