History, Literature, and Music in Scotland, 700-1560

John Walker is a professor of Spanish studies at Queen’s University.

Scottish medieval studies have flourished in Canada in the last several
decades, especially through the efforts of the national Scottish Studies
Foundation. The genesis of the eight essays in this volume was a
symposium held at the University of Toronto.

Following a useful introduction by the editor (“Medieval Scotland and
the New Millennium”), Benjamin Hudson demonstrates that there is a
uniquely Scottish viewpoint in early medieval texts in “The Scottish
Gaze.” George Brunsden’s more specific study of St. Magnus of Orkey
(11th to 12th centuries) shows his position in the development of
Western Christianity. Andrew McDonald’s essay offers a reassessment of
the resistance to the Scottish kings of the 12th and 13th centuries,
through a study of the Canmore dynasty. Richard Moll’s paper takes a
fresh look at the problem of national identity in the well-known Blind
Hary’s Wallace. Mary Robbins’s “Carnival at Court and Dunbar in
the Underworld” presents Dunbar in the Bakhtinian tradition. Elizabeth
Ewan’s prize-winning essay offers an innovative examination of the
medieval tradition of “flyting” or insulting (especially as it
applies to women), and Margaret McIntyre’s paper on Tudor family
politics highlights the strategic influence of Margaret Tudor at court
in early 16th-century Scotland. The final essay by Andrea Budgey
analyzes the link between medieval Scottish music and Irish music. The
volume as a whole proves that Scottish medieval studies are alive and
well in Canada.