Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
I am an early modern Scottish historian, with a particular interest in the period between c.1550 and c.1650. I studied at Edinburgh and worked at St Andrews before joining the University of Dundee in 2000.
My teaching looks at early modern Scotland in a British and European context. My current modules are: 'Reading Seventeenth-Century Scotland', a Level 3 module focusing on original sources and their interpretation; and ‘Scotland in the Age of Mary Queen of Scots’, a Level 5 module on a period when Scotland received more international attention than at any other time before or since.
My current research interests concern agriculture, with a particular focus on the system of teinding (known in England as tithing), the system of taking one tenth of crops as a tax to pay the clergy; I also retain an active interest in the history of government, especially the interactions between the localities and the centre. I am also interested in environmental history and the history of everyday life. I could supervise postgraduate research degrees on most aspects of early modern Scottish history.
Research
My research concentrates on the social and political history of early modern Scotland, with particular focuses on agriculture and parliament. I have also worked on ecclesiastical and environmental history and maintain an active interest in both.
The principal focus of my research is a collaborative research project on Agriculture and Teind Reform in Early Modern Scotland, funded by the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland. In its exploration of attempts to reform the valuation and collection of teinds (a tax of one tenth of agricultural produce to support the church), the project encompasses politics, government, social and economic and even environmental history. The main aims of the project are to trace the making of policy, the implementation of that policy and its impact in the localities, and the relationship of that process to agricultural change. This has already begun to produce insights into the development of agriculture in the early seventeenth century, previously regarded as post-1660 developments.
My work on parliamentary history builds upon a major study (published in 2007) of urban Scotland’s relationship with parliament, shifting the emphasis to the rural setting, examining the role, development and significance of the other elected part of parliament, the shire commissioners. Although not created until 1587, the shire commissioners quickly became a key element of the parliamentary setup, playing a prominent role in the political upheavals of the seventeenth century.
Postgraduate supervision
• Religion and society in early modern Scotland
• The Scottish parliament before 1707
• Scottish political history c.1500-c.1650
• Early modern Scottish urban history
• Environmental history
AHRC funded studentships are available in my research area - more details
Research problems
When did commercial estate management develop in Scotland?
How did the localities interact with the centre?
To what degree were lairds politically dependent on peers?
Was there a Scottish ‘shire community’?
(Why) Did the royal burghs decline after 1660?
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Education/Academic qualification
Doctor of Philosophy, Ecclesiastical Politics in Scotland 1585-1610, University of Edinburgh
Award Date: 1 Jan 1995
Master of Arts, University of Edinburgh
Award Date: 1 Jan 1991
Keywords
- DAW Central Europe
- Early Modern
- parliament
- environment
- urban
- Scotland
Fingerprint
- 1 Similar Profiles
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The Scottish Privy Council, 1692-1708: Government from Revolution to Union
1/10/20 → 30/09/23
Project: Research
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Church and state in Scotland from the reformation to the covenanting revolution
MacDonald, A. R., 16 Dec 2021, A companion to the reformation in Scotland ca.1525-1638: Frameworks of change and development. Hazlett, W. I. P. (ed.). Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, p. 607-629 23 p. (Brill's Companions to the Christian Tradition; vol. 100).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review
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Jenna M. Schultz, National Identity and the Anglo-Scottish Borderlands 1552-1652: (Woodbridge, 2019. Pp. xviii +326. Hardback, ISBN 97817832739733, £70)
MacDonald, A. R., 1 May 2021, In: Journal of Scottish Historical Studies. 41, 1, p. 97-99 3 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review
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Parliamentary representation in early modern scotland: concepts and practices
MacDonald, A., 2021, Dois Seculos de Constitucionalismo Eleitoral im Portugal, 1820-2020: Two centuries of electoral constitutionalism in Portugal, 1820-2020 : conference proceedings. Moreira, V. & Domingues, J. (eds.). Lisbon: Universidade Lusiada Editora, p. 9-21 14 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution
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Allen, Building Early Modern Edinburgh: A Social History of Craftwork and Incorporation
MacDonald, A., Oct 2019, In: Scottish Historical Review. 98, 2, p. 309-311 3 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review
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Urban Archives: endless possibilities
MacDonald, A., Oct 2019, In: Journal of Irish and Scottish Studies. 9, 2, p. 29-49Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile82 Downloads (Pure)
Activities
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The Scottish Medievalists
Alan MacDonald (Participant)
7 Jan 2023 → 8 Jan 2023Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference
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Les Pouvoir Parlementaires et Politiques en Temps de Crise et d'exception
Alan MacDonald (Chair)
21 Sept 2022Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference
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FLAG Workshop
Alan MacDonald (Participant)
6 Oct 2022 → 7 Oct 2022Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in workshop, seminar, course
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73rd Conference of the International Commission for the History of Representative and Parliamentary Institutions
Allan Kennedy (Participant) & Alan MacDonald (Participant)
21 Sept 2022Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference
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The Scottish Medievalists
Alan MacDonald (Participant)
8 Jan 2021Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference