Renaissance and Early Modern Research Alliance (REMRA)
Northern Narratives: Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Early Modern Period in the North Atlantic and Baltic
Online Conference, 11-13 June 2025
In 2021 scholars at the University of the Highlands and Islands came together to launch a new multidisciplinary Renaissance and Early Modern Research Alliance (REMRA). Since then, this collaboration has gone from strength to strength in its research and in the development of a new online postgraduate programme on Early Modern European Studies MLitt (EMES) which will launch in September 2025.
REMRA is excited to host its first multidisciplinary online conference from 11 to 13 June 2025 to discuss its exciting research with academic colleagues in the field. Papers will focused on the follow themes:
- Early Modern Warfare in the North Atlantic/ Baltic
- Early Modern Culture/ Archaeology in the North Atlantic
- Early Modern Public History
- Early Modern Communities and Identities
Keynote speakers include Dr Lucy Dean (UHI), Professor Mark Elliot (UHI) and Dr Simon Burton (University of Edinburgh), Professor Mark Gardiner (University of Lincoln) and Professor Steve Murdoch (Swedish Defence University, Visiting Professor INS UHI).
The conference will be hosted online via MS Teams. To register for your ticket, visit our Eventbrite page: Northern Narratives.
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The conference team:
Mark Elliott (Highland Theological College, UHI), Jen Harland (Archaeology Institute, UHI), Andrew Lind (Institute for Northern Studies, UHI), Kathrin Zickermann (Centre for History, UHI).
Overview of the Conference Programme
Day 1 - Wednesday 11 June
| Time | Programme | Theme |
|---|---|---|
| 9.00-9.15am | Conference Welcome | |
| 9.15-10.30am | Keynote I: Professor Mark Gardiner (University of Lincoln) | Early Modern Culture and Archaeology in the North Atlantic |
| 10.30am-12.15pm | Panel I | Early Modern Culture and Archaeology in the North Atlantic |
| Ingrid Mainland and Jen Harland (Archaeology Institute, UHI) - Fat of the Land: In-kind rental products in Early Modern Orkney and Shetland | ||
| Jen Harland (Archaeology Institute, UHI) - Fat of the Sea: Fish, marine mammals, and trade in Early Modern Orkney and Shetland | ||
| Lynn Campbell (Institute for Northern Studies, UHI) - Exploring Parish Life in Holm: Poverty, Discipline, and Gender in Early Modern Orkney | ||
| Brian Smith (Shetland Museum and Archives) - A Suspected German Merchant’s Booth in Shetland | ||
| Elizabeth Hines (John Hopkins University) - Living on the Edge in New Netherland and New Sweden | ||
| 12.15-1pm | Lunch | |
| 1-2pm | Keynote II: Steve Murdoch (Swedish Defence University, Visiting Professor INS UHI) - Controlling Maritime Violence: Comparative Sea Laws in the North Sea and Baltic (c.1500-1650) | Early Modern Warfare in the North Atlantic/Baltic |
| 2.15-3.45pm | Panel II | Early Modern Warfare in the North Atlantic/Baltic |
| Jaakko Björklund (University of Helsinki) - Swedish military entrepreneurship and the transnational fiscal-military system 1605–1618 | ||
| Sebastian Schiavone (University of Eastern Finland) - Sworn Swords and Unreliable Thieves The early Vasa Kings’ attempts to utilise and control the Swedish Scottish Military Network | ||
| Karin Tetteris (Stockholm University, Curator Swedish Army Museum) - A Matter of Negotiation – Using Military Flags in Rituals of Surrender in the 17th Century | ||
| Ivo Asmus (University of Greifswald) - The Wrong Forbes: A Skokloster Portrait in the 1998 Westphalian Peace Exhibition in Greifswald | ||
| 3.45-4pm | Coffee Break | |
| 4-5.30pm | Panel III | Early Modern Warfare in the North Atlantic/Baltic |
| Kate McGregor (University of St Andrews) - Waging war ‘by land and sea’: maritime encounters and naval policy during the personal rule of James V, King of Scots (1528-1542) | ||
| Eddie Stewart (University of Glasgow) - 'We wined them and dined them, they ate o' our meat': An archaeology of the MacDonald of Glencoe elite of the later 17th century in life and death | ||
| Derek Alexander (National Trust for Scotland) - Shot, shell and sprue: the material remains of the Battle of Glenshiel | ||
| Nicola Martin (Centre for History, UHI) - Eighteenth-Century Warfare and Military Occupation: from Culloden to Concord |
Day 2 - Thursday 12 June
| Time | Programme | Theme |
|---|---|---|
| 9-10am | Keynote III: Professor Mark Elliot (Highland Theological College, UHI) and Dr Simon Burton (University of Edinburgh) - Scottish-European Renaissance intellectual history: an explanation and a proposal | Early Modern Communities and Identities |
| 10-11.30am | Panel IV | Early Modern Communities and Identities |
| Elena Dahlberg (University of Skövde, Nordin Foundation) - Conflicting Identities in Johannes Messenius’ Poetry on the Catholic Legacy of Sweden’s Oldest Cities | ||
| Sofia Guthrie (University of Warwick) - 'A battle fever filled the people of the North': Seventeenth-century Sweden, as envisioned in an epic about Gustavus Adolphus | ||
| Natalie Smith (Swedish Defence University) - Assimilation strategies for Roma and Sámi people in 18th Century Sweden | ||
| David Gagie (University of York) - How the Integration of Credit and Payment Settlement Practices Fuelled Early Modern Baltic Trade Growth | ||
| 11.30-11.45am | Coffee Break | |
| 11.45am-1.15pm | Panel V | Early Modern Communities and Identities |
| Andrew Lind (Institute for Northern Studies, UHI) - 'The instrument of Scotland’s delivery’: Glencairn’s Rising, 1652-1655 | ||
| Nathan MacLennan (University of Glasgow) - Scottish royalists in the British Republic: A preliminary exploration of new research into royalism in Cromwellian Scotland | ||
| Tane Moorhouse (University of Dundee, The Strathmartine Trust) - The Ministry of Dundee and Forfarshire, c.1583-1687: Professional Structures, Political Identities and the Stability of the Parochial Kirk | ||
| Alena Shmakova (Centre for History, UHI) - Dance Assemblies: Politics and Identity in Scottish Ballrooms | ||
| 1.15-2.15pm | Lunch Break | |
| 2.15-3.15pm | Keynote IV: Dr Lucy Dean (Centre for History, UHI) - Teaching Public History: the importance of research-teaching linkages in one historian’s journey towards co-production with communities | Public History |
| 3.15-4.45pm | Panel VI | Public History |
| Anna Groundwater (Principal Curator, National Museums of Scotland) - A nightgown, a banner, a tankard and a chest: material traces of Scottish communities in early modern northern Europe | ||
| Ragnhild Ljosland (Archaeology, UHI) - The Witch and I: A methodology for empathy and engagement with historical witchcraft trials through creative writing workshops | ||
| Sarah Jane Gibbon (Archaeology, UHI) - The LIFTE historical research volunteer programme: making the most of Covid lockdowns | ||
| Siobhan Cooke-Miller (Curator of Archaeology - Orkney Museums; and DSM International Research Fellow) - LIFTE Exhibitions: From Bremerhaven to Stromness and beyond |
Day 3 - Friday 13 June
| Time | Programme | Theme |
|---|---|---|
| 10-11am | Roundtable: The Future of Early Modern Studies | The Future of Early Modern Studies |
| 11-11.15am | Coffee Break | |
| 11.15am-12.15pm |
New Masters Programme Launch: Early Modern European Studies MLitt |
The Future of Early Modern Studies |
| 12.15pm |
Closing Remarks and Thanks |