Neil McGuigan

Mar 6: Feast of Balthere (Baldred) (†756). Anchorite from Lindisfarne linked with Lothian sites Aldham (Auldhame), whose monastic community he may have founded; the Bass Rock, his likely retreat; and Tinangeham (Tyninghame), whose religious centre eclipsed Aldham by mid-10thC. #medievalsky

Congrats on another book!

Very pleased to receive author’s copies of Offa, King of the Mercians from @yalebooks.bsky.social today. Looking superb, and an excellent publishing experience!

For those who don't have the time to read this piece, it includes a new theory about the origins of Earl Harald & the politics of northern Scotland in the later 12th cent. See illustration (by Tom) for modified/suggested genealogical relations between Harald & other members of the Scottish dynasty.

Cheers, Caitlin! 😊 And thanks again for the stellar editorial work!

Details of Steve Boardman's forthcoming *The First Stewart Dynasty: Scotland, 1371–1488*, the long awaited Late Middle Ages volume in the New Edinburgh History of Scotland. Discount code from EUP on flyer.

See link for detail on the recently published Historical Map of Perth. This & detail about a forthcoming equivalent for St Andrews (see flyer) can be acquired via the website of the Historic Towns Trust: www.historictownstrust.uk

Published open access with other new articles (link below) in a special issue volume *Apardjón Journal for Scandinavian Studies - Connections and the Church in Late Norse Scotland*, thanks to the great editors @medivalist.bsky.social and @tomfairfax.bsky.social :
www.abdn.ac.uk/media/site/d...

Haraldr Maddaðarson and Scoto-Orcadian Politics before 1222 Haraldr Maddaðarson and Scoto-Orcadian Politics before 1222

New publication from myself, 'Haraldr Maddaðarson and Scoto-Orcadian Politics before 1222':
www.academia.edu/149771345/Ha...

Historic 200-year-old Category B listed church to close this year A historic 200-year-old church is set to close and it's building put up for sale

The Church of Scotland has confirmed that the Old Kilpatrick Parish Church, which sits on the northern bank of the Clyde near the Erskine Bridge, is set to close later this year after 214 years of service to its local community.

Read the story here 👇
www.clydebankpost.co.uk/news/2575942...

The wonderful @caitlinrgreen.bsky.social has a hugely interesting new article just out in Early Medieval England & its Neighbours, all about Alfred the Great's embassy to India - free to read here #India #AlfredtheGreat #medieval www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Demons & the undead reaching up from Hell to grasp the world? Perhaps a metaphor of some kind, or perhaps I've been watching too many horror films #Infantino #PeacePrize #FootballUnitesTheWorld

2025 Frank Watson Book Prize in Scottish History!

Catriona M.M. Macdonald, The Caledoniad: The Making of Scottish History. Edinburgh: John Donald, an imprint of Birlinn Ltd., 2024. ISBN: 9780859767200.

Congratulations, Dr. Macdonald! 🏆🎉

Read the jury's citation: www.uoguelph.ca/arts/scottis...

A Scottish History story :
@scotnational.bsky.social
@heraldscotland.bsky.social
@dailyrecord.co.uk
@scotsman.com
@pressandjournal.co.uk

Thank you Clare, enjoy! :)

Enjoy, & feel free to DM me if you have any questions!

Thanks!

The Máel Coluim III book, brand new in hardback, is available for just £30 (down from £70-100) Abebooks :
www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/Book...

Máel Coluim II, 'Canbeg'

Based on an article currently in press I believe published through Apardjón, the Aberdeen Journal for Scandinavian Studies.

YouTube video by Scottish Society for Northern Studies SSNS Seminar - Scoto Orcadian Relations in the Twelfth century, Dr Neil McGuigan

A recent talk I gave to the Scottish Society for Northern Studies on Earl Harald of Orkney and "12th-century Scoto-Orcadian relations" has been put on YouTube. Includes a new theory about the origins of Harald's branch of the Scottish royal dynasty:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIDR...

Day conference celebrating Glasgow's 850th anniversary. Celebrating with scholarship, and doubling as a commemoration of the work of Norman Shead. Thursday 4 September 2025 -- 10.00 am- 4:30 pm, City Chambers.

Used to have a National Geographic map of the Soviet Union & its ethnic groups on my wall as a kid & developed a peeve when the tv or radio (invariably football-related) referred to something USSR/CIS as 'Russian'. I think I saw the analogy between Russia/USSR and England/UK.

Did some google booking, exact expression is used in various editions of the the 19th-century Beeton encyclopaedias. It could appear that the 1992 author is either 'influenced' by one of these or we have a very a curious manifestation of the 'library of Babel'!

Bad copyediting? The 'Baltic' should make the "European" part redundant. If they writing before the Revolution Livonia was the name of a province of the Russian Empire.

There's a lot of flexibility of course, Mercia, Wessex, Northumbria, they all changed in size, they weren't fixed units over long periods of time. But England was built from component units, it's arguably most natural to use them a bit when you want to give people devolution they can buy in to.

People will mostly accept these regions once they are there. The key to is making people feel they belong. The regions with the convoluted bureaucratic names & no history will struggle, there needs to be legitimacy, authority, etc. Hence groups of shires in their high medieval blocks is one idea.

Not fully serious as a real suggestion, but East Anglia & Wessex surely musts, they are ideal units for devolution in terms of size and historic identity.

Own suggestion from a few years ago, trying to aim at entities ("Home Counties" aside) as analogous to Scotland & Wales as pos., three "legal nations" of England from the 11thc & 12thc ("Mercian law", "Danish law", "West Saxon law") plus Cornwall, Northumbria & East Anglia.

Great to see books stores still thriving, though they are perhaps stretching the definition of 'independent'