Annual Reading Weekend
© The Burn
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2024
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2023
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2022
In April of 2024 a stout party, the cream of SAIMS & ISHR, ventured once more to The Burn. Up in the far- off Highlands, they were to partake in academic talks, relaxation, and good-hearted companionship. Some had taken with them their papers to give: others, their books to describe, but all had taken their good spirits. Little did they know of the great occasion the organisers, the venerable Frances Bickerstaff and Phoebe McIndoe, had so secretively laid out for them.
First, dear reader, permit me to describe The Burn. Situated near Edzell, this remote and arcane hall has hosted many a weary band of scholars seeking seclusion. It will suffice to say that inside, one finds a portrait in every hall, and a deermount on every wall. Tucked away in the Angus Glens, this home’s entrance is well-signposted, and lays at the end of a long and glorious driveway. Easy enough to find, then, provided one particular PhD student – who shall escape the mention of his dishonourable name – is not navigating…
After rambunctious icebreakers and a suitable settling of accommodation, we were treated to our inaugural lecture: the honour being delivered by Dr Bess Rhodes, tackling the policies of James V where they concerned the environment, and all the resources which depended on it. Questions came in thick and fast: but they were ably dispatched with equal alacrity. A fascinating discussion was opened by Professor Roger Mason over the nature of the environmental/economic divide, a discussion which was cheerfully continued in the bar.
As the merry throng awoke the next day, the gentle scent of breakfast sped them to the grand dining room. Yet it was to be a breakfast for action: for the first full day of the conference was to begin with a session of discussion over the books of our first set of more junior PhD students: from the First World War, to English Literature, to a piece of cold, hard, historiography, the room honed in upon questions of popular depictions of the First World War, and the great question of the accuracy of Blackadder Goes Forth: regardless, whether Blackadder was accurate or not, all must agree that this first morning did not miss!
From there, the Merry Throng was to proceed to express another purpose: to the serious and enlightening study first of Medieval manuscripts, delivered by Drs Baldon, Rohrhofer, and Turner. A strong performance across the board, one might recall the laser-focused explorations, or the methodological mastery, but what has stuck in the mind of this unfortunately un-medieval author’s mind, was that medieval readers petted dogs depicted in their books, so much so that they were worn away by affectionate touching. If the Burn instilled a sense of fellowship among colleagues, one must say such a display undoubtedly inspired one among humans across the veil of centuries.
Yet this was to be also a weekend of relaxation: and all attendees were then set loose upon the unsuspecting country. Parties ventured to towns, castles, ruins, and glens: one comrade, a Mr. Jack Abernethy, mounted a particularly high-speed reconnaissance in his running shoes, while another party attempted a brave fording: but were sadly repulsed. That night there were to be many stories traded in the bar, but first, the brave company were to face the full might of a fully-operational pub quiz!
Titans clashed. But in the end, above a sea of broken quizzers, Margaret’s team alone stood tall. The celebrations were to be legendary. All teams joined in their toast, and drinking continued late into the night, until the party sallied forth, out in search of the mystical, ethereal, Secret Tunnel, rumoured to appear only one evening every hundred years…
We came then to our final day, where our next section of delectable book discussions arrived. Some of our graduating PhD students gave their farewell lectures to wide acclaim, while Dr Sarah Leith closed the talks with landscape history: by the same stroke with which it had opened on that first night. The cycle was complete: with heavy hearts we departed, our time in this mysterious land over.
Return, we had to, to the normality of PhD life in St Andrews, to our studies. But we left The Burn 2024 in the hopeful knowledge that there would come again a time of relaxation and intense learning, come again a reunion: that there would come a Long-Expected Party (and academic conference!) known in prophecy as…
The Burn 2025…
And we hope to see you there!
Michael Fraser
First Year PhD Student
24th to 26th March.
This year saw the return of the joint ISHR and SAIMS reading weekend, held at The Burn, near Edzell. The first paper of the weekend was delivered by Professor Alison Beach. Appropriately enough for an event which drew people together from across a range of disciplines, Professor Beach’s paper gave some fascinating insight into how bioarchaeology could enrich our understanding of the lives of medieval religious women. After breakfast the next morning, we had the first Inspiring Books session, chaired by Julia Rohn. PhD students Phoebe McIndoe, William Mulloy, Rosalie Bernheim and Kate McGregor told us a bit about the books that inspired them on their journey to PhD research, sparking some spirited debate among the audience on the value of historical fiction. This was followed by three very interesting papers, the first from Dr Kirill Dmitriev on the figures of Barlaam and Josephat in Arabic sources. Visiting Professor Erik Opsahl discussed concepts of national identity in late medieval Norway. Dr Karie Schultz examined national identity from a different angle, looking at an eternal theme, that of conflict between English, Scottish and Irish students, this time at the national colleges in Rome in the first decade of the eighteenth century. That afternoon we were left with free time, which some used to explore the Burn estate and see the famous salmon ladder, others to demonstrate their croquet skills. After lunch, we headed back in for four brilliant papers delivered by current third year PhD students Lili Scott Lintott, Matt Edholm, Jack Abernethy and James Fox (who knew numeracy could be so fascinating?) That evening saw another successful Burns Night Quiz completed, with requisite rounds on Scottish and medieval history, as well as a much-needed pet-identification round.
Dr Alex Woolf kicked off the second day with an exploration of the perils of masculinity, and a demonstration of just how many women can be found in eleventhcentury Scottish records if you look for them. This was followed by Dr Bess Rhodes examining xenophobia in the Scottish Reformation in the 1560s. After this, a slight change of tack, with Dr Sarah Leith’s wonderful paper on the 20th century poet Sydney Scroggie (look out for his monument in the Sidlaws!)
Before we knew it, it was time for the final session of the weekend. This was another Inspiring Books session, from three PhD students, Sophie Kniaz, Frances Bickerstaff and Lucy Turnton, along with Sophie Lemberg, a current MLitt student, chaired this time by Jonathan Gibson. After one final lunch, it was time to say our goodbyes. Departure was heralded by an impressive rainstorm, as everyone piled back into various cars to head their separate ways. Thanks very much to Kate McGregor and Lili Scott Lintott as well as Professor Margaret Connolly and Professor Michael Brown for organising this fantastic weekend. We would also like to thank the entire team at the Burn, including our host David, who made the whole thing possible. Next year’s ISHR and SAIMS reading weekend will be held again at The Burn, make sure you don’t miss out!
Frances Bickerstaff
First-year PhD student
After a three-year hiatus, ISHR members were thrilled to return, or enjoy their very first, academic reading weekend at The Burn, near Edzell, this year held jointly with the St Andrews Institute of Medieval Studies (SAIMS). Full of excitement for the revival of this in-person staple of the ISHR calendar, we arrived on Friday afternoon to tea, coffee, and cakes with some familiar, and new, faces. An icebreaker which encouraged us all to speak about our research allowed us to jump over the first hurdle of introductions, and dinner encouraged more informal chatter. Thereafter we were treated to our first paper of the weekend from Dr Bess Rhodes on ‘Evidence and Imagination: Digitally Reconstructing Late Medieval St Andrews’, which allowed us to consider the benefits of collaborative inter-disciplinary research amongst historians, archaeologists, and computer scientists.
With a hearty breakfast the next morning, we began our first Inspiring Books session, chaired by Professor Roger Mason. MLitt students Anthony Avouris and Niamh Patterson, and PhD students Nathan Meades, Phoebe Mitchell, and Kate McGregor, each brought a book and animatedly told us the ways in which it had inspired their academic research or love of history. The second half of the morning brought academic papers from the early medieval period to the 19th century, with a paper by Dr Alex Woolf on the links between Adomnán mac Ronáin and Mu’awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan, and by Dr Bill Jenkins on David Brewster and the global networks of Scottish science in the 1800s.
That afternoon we had some time to spare in the gorgeously warm spring weather – playing croquet, taking walks along the river, or visiting the very affectionate donkeys, Mary and Joseph. After this, the third session of the day was a chance for PhD candidates Julia Rohn, Áron Kecskes, and Jonathan Gibson to give as a sense of their ongoing research, from medieval English queenship to Norman lords to Cromwellian Scotland. The evening brought the famous Burns Night Quiz, which included rounds of devilishly difficult anagrams, an assortment of castles, and much hilarity.
The third and final day, Sunday, began with another Inspiring Books session from PhD candidates Lili Scott Lintott, Tina Grundman, Jack Abernethy and James Fox. Coffee was followed by the fifth and final session of the Reading Weekend which focused on late medieval and early modern cultural research with two fascinating papers by Dr Vicky Turner on ‘Retelling Medieval Tales’ and Dr Karie Schultz on ‘Scottish Intellectual Culture in its European Context, c. 1603-1707’. The stimulating discussions after every session on the weekend was a rare in person treat, which has been a much-missed aspect of academia. The inspiring books sessions allowed us to reminisce about works that we had not read in years, or else ponder those that have been left untouched on our shelves and warrant investigation. These ranged from histories of medieval woman to source books, and our love/hate relationship with this primary source medium.
Kate McGregor
PhD student