Renaissance and Early Modern Research Alliance (REMRA)
Call for papers
Northern Narratives: Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Early Modern Period in the North Atlantic and Baltic
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 (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. We therefore invite papers in the following categories:
- 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 UHI).
The conference will be hosted online via MS Teams. Papers from postgraduate researchers and ECRs are particularly welcome.
Please contact Dr Kathrin Zickermann (kathrin.zickermann@uhi.ac.uk) if you have any questions about the event. We are looking forward to hosting you!
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)
Provisional Programme:
Wednesday, 11 June 2025
9am Welcome (Conference Team)
Theme I: Early Modern Culture and Archaeology in the North Atlantic
9.15 am – 10.15am KEY NOTE I: Professor Mark Gardiner (University of Lincoln)
10.30am – noon PANEL 1
Ingrid Mainland and Jen Harland (Archaeology, UHI)
Fat of the Land: In-kind rental products in Early Modern Orkney and Shetland [15m]
Jen Harland (Archaeology, UHI)
Fat of the Sea: Fish, marine mammals, and trade in Early Modern Orkney and Shetland [15m]
Lynn Campbell (Northern Studies, UHI)
Exploring Parish Life in Holm: Poverty, Discipline, and Gender in Early Modern Orkney
Brian Smith (Shetland Archives)
A Suspected German Merchant’s Booth in Shetland
Elizabeth Hines (John Hopkins University)
Living on the Edge in New Netherland and New Sweden
12.45pm – 1pm Lunch Break
Theme II: Early Modern Warfare in the North Atlantic/Baltic
1pm – 2pm KEY NOTE II: Professor Steve Murdoch (Swedish Defence University)
2.15 – 3.45 PANEL 2
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.
3.45pm – 4pm Break
4pm – 5.30pm PANEL 3
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
Thursday, 12 June 2025
Theme III: Early Modern Communities and Identities
9am – 10am KEY NOTE III: Professor Mark Elliot (HTC, UHI) and Dr Simon Burton (University of Edinburgh)
10am - 11.30am PANEL 4
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 Break
11.45am – 1.15pm PANEL 5
Andrew Lind (INS, UHI)
‘The Instrument of Scotland’s Delivery’: Glencairn’s Rising, 1652-1655
Nathan McLennan (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
1.15pm – 2.15pm LUNCH BREAK
Theme IV: Public History
2.15pm – 3.15pm KEYNOTE IV: Dr Lucy Dean (Centre for History, UHI)
3.15pm – 4.45pm PANEL 6
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 (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
FRIDAY, 13 June 2025
10am – 11am Roundtable: The Future of Early Modern Studies
11am – 11.15am Break
11.15 - 12.15 New Masters Programme Launch: Early Modern European Studies MLitt