Dr Martin Macgregor

  • Senior Lecturer in Scottish History (History)

telephone: 01413305681
email: Martin.MacGregor@glasgow.ac.uk

R307 Level 3, History, 9 University Gardens, Glasgow G12 8QH

Import to contacts

ORCID iDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-7594-9742

Research interests

My interests lie in the history of the Scottish Highlands and Islands - to be more precise, Gaelic-speaking Scotland or 'Gaelic Scotland' - in all periods from around 1266 to the present, with special emphasis upon 1328 to 1625. I am interested in most human aspects, including:

  • Politics: relations with the Scottish crown/government; relationships with Gaelic Ireland/Ireland; other external relationships; regional and local governance
  • Society: structure and hierarchy; clans and kinship; chiefship; specific social groupings
  • Culture: all types of cultural activity including relationships between 'high' and 'popular culture'; language, orality and literacy; the social roles of culture and cultural practitioners; education
  • Religion: Catholicism and relationships with the papacy; the impact of Protestantism; religious personnel; devotion, commemoration and spirituality
  • Economy: resources of land, sea and air; land use and economic organisation; trade and commerce
  • Gender: the role, status and lives of women; masculinities and femininities
  • Warfare: causation, prosecution and social significance
  • Ethos and Identity: language, ethnicity, location in time (relationship to the past)and space (relationship to the environment)

I also have strong interests in theoretical and methodological issues:

  • Paradigms governing approaches to Highland history: 'Highlands and Lowlands'; the 'Highland line' and 'Highland problem'; 'Greater Gaeldom' or the 'Gaelic world'; stasis, change, progression and agency; 'Internal Colonialism'; ideological stereotyping and 'Othering'; the ideological uses of the Highlands
  • Gaelic and Gaelic-orientated sources within Highland history, especially poetry/song, and oral tradition: their value and significance relative to documentary sources

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2024 | 2023 | 2019 | 2018 | 2014 | 2012 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2002 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998
Number of items: 27.

2024

MacGregor, M. (2024) Gaelic identity and culture in late medieval Scotland and Ireland. In: Duffy, S., Crooks, P. and Ditchburn, D. (eds.) The Irish-Scottish World in the Middle Ages. Four Courts Press: Dublin. (In Press)

MacGregor, M. (2024) Gaelic sovereignty in the later Middle Ages. In: Egan, S. (ed.) Studies in Early Modern Irish History. Manchester University Press: Manchester. (In Press)

MacGregor, M. (2024) Òraid Chùil Lodair. Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, 71, (Accepted for Publication)

2023

MacGregor, M. (2023) Gaelic poetry and Gaelic history. Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, 70, xviii-xxxv.

2019

MacGregor, M. and Wilkinson, C. (2019) In search of Robert Bruce, part II: reassessing the Dunfermline tomb investigations of 1818–19. Scottish Historical Review, 98(2), pp. 159-182. (doi: 10.3366/shr.2019.0399)

Wilkinson, C. M., Roughley, M., Moffat, R. D., Monckton, D. G. and MacGregor, M. (2019) In search of Robert Bruce, part I: craniofacial analysis of the skull excavated at Dunfermline in 1819. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 24, pp. 556-564. (doi: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.02.018)

MacGregor, M. (2019) 'Tha mulad air m’ inntinn': a third song by Marion Campbell of Glen Lyon? Aiste, 5, pp. 1-49.

MacGregor, M. and Wilkinson, C. (2019) In search of Robert Bruce, part III: medieval royal burial at Dunfermline and the tomb investigations of 1818–19. Innes Review, 70(2), pp. 171-201. (doi: 10.3366/inr.2019.0227)

2018

Hogg, U. and MacGregor, M. (2018) Historiography in Highlands and Lowlands. In: Royan, N. (ed.) The International Companion to Scottish Literature 1400-1650. Series: International companions to Scottish literature (6). Scottish Literature International: Glasgow, pp. 100-123. ISBN 9781908980236

MacGregor, M. (2018) In search of Robert Bruce. History Teaching Review Yearbook, 2018, pp. 10-31.

2014

MacGregor, M. (2014) Gaelic Christianity? The Church in the Western Highlands and Islands of Scotland before and after the Reformation. In: Ó hAnnracháin, T. and Armstrong, R. (eds.) Christianities in the Early Modern Celtic World. Palgrave MacMillan: Basingstoke, pp. 55-70. ISBN 9781137306340 (doi: 10.1057/9781137306357_5)

2012

MacGregor, M. (2012) Warfare in Gaelic Scotland in the later Middle Ages. In: Crang, J.A., Spiers, E.M. and Strickland, M. (eds.) A Military History of Scotland. Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh, UK, pp. 209-231. ISBN 9780748633357

MacGregor, M. (2012) The Campbells: lordship, literature and liminality. Textual Cultures: Texts, Contexts, Interpretation, 7(1), pp. 121-157.

MacGregor, M. (2012) Civilising Gaelic Scotland: the Scottish Isles and the Stewart Empire. In: Ciardha, E.Ó. and Siochru, M.Ó. (eds.) The Plantation of Ulster: Ideology and Practice. Series: Studies in Early Modern Irish History. Manchester University Press: Manchester, UK, pp. 33-54. ISBN 9780719086083

2010

MacGregor, M. (2010) Ar sliocht Gaodhal ó Ghort Gréag: An Dàn “Flodden” ann an Leabhar Deadhan Lios-mòir. In: Munro, G. and Cox, R. (eds.) Cànan & Cultar: Rannsachadh na Gàidhlig 4. Scottish Academic Press: Edinburgh, pp. 23-35. ISBN 9781903765869

2009

Broun, D. and MacGregor, M. (Eds.) (2009) Mìorun Mòr nan Gall, 'The great ill-will of the Lowlander'? Lowland perceptions of the Highlands, Medieval and Modern. Centre for Scottish and Celtic Studies, University of Glasgow: Glasgow. ISBN 978085261820X (print) 085261820X (e-book)

MacGregor, M. (2009) Gaelic barbarity and Scottish identity in the later Middle Ages. In: Broun, D. and MacGregor, M. (eds.) Mìorun mòr nan Gall, 'The great ill-will of the Lowlander'? Lowland perceptions of the Highlands, medieval and modern. Centre for Scottish and Celtic Studies, University of Glasgow: Glasgow, pp. 7-48. ISBN 978085261820X

2008

MacGregor, M. (2008) Introduction. In: Gregory, D. (ed.) The History of the Western Highlands and Isles of Scotland, 1493-1625. John Donald / Birlinn: Edinburgh, v-xvii. ISBN 9781904607571

MacGregor, M. (2008) Writing the history of Gaelic Scotland: a provisional checklist of "Gaelic" genealogical histories. Scottish Gaelic Studies, 24, pp. 357-379.

2007

MacGregor, M. (2007) Creation and compilation: The Book of the Dean of Lismore and literary culture in late medieval Gaelic Scotland. In: Brown, I., Clancy, T.O. and Pittock, M. (eds.) The Edinburgh History of Scottish Literature Volume One: From Columba to the Union (until 1707). Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh, pp. 209-218.

2006

MacGregor, M.D. (2006) The statutes of Iona: text and context. Innes Review, 57(2), pp. 111-181. (doi: 10.3366/inr.2006.57.2.111)

MacGregor, M.D. (2006) The view from Fortingall: the worlds of the Book of the Dean of Lismore. Scottish Gaelic Studies, 22, pp. 35-85.

2002

MacGregor, M.D. (2002) The genealogical histories of Gaelic Scotland. In: Fox, A. and Woolf, D. (eds.) The Spoken Word: Oral Culture in Britain, 1500-1850. Series: Politics, culture, and society in early modern Britain. Manchester University Press: Manchester, pp. 196-239. ISBN 0719057469

2000

MacGregor, M. (2000) Genealogies of the clans: contributions to the study of MS 1467. Innes Review, 51(2), pp. 131-146. (doi: 10.3366/inr.2000.51.2.131)

MacGregor, M. (2000) Làn-mara 's mìle seòl ("Floodtide and a thousand sails"): Gaelic Scotland and Gaelic Ireland in the Later Middle Ages. In: A' Chòmhdhail Cheilteach Eadarnìseanta Congress 99: Cultural Contacts Within the Celtic Community: Glaschu, 26-31 July. Celtic Congress: Inverness, pp. 77-97.

1999

MacGregor, M. (1999) "Surely one of the greatest poems ever made in Britain": the lament for Griogair Ruadh MacGregor of Glen Strae and its historical background. In: Cowan, E. J. and Gifford, D. (eds.) The Polar Twins. John Donald: Edinburgh, pp. 114-153. ISBN 9780859765138

1998

MacGregor, M. (1998) Church and culture in the late Medieval Highlands. In: Kirk, J. (ed.) The Church in the Highlands. Scottish Church History Society, pp. 1-36. ISBN 9780953491605

This list was generated on Fri Dec 13 14:24:25 2024 GMT.
Number of items: 27.

Articles

MacGregor, M. (2024) Òraid Chùil Lodair. Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, 71, (Accepted for Publication)

MacGregor, M. (2023) Gaelic poetry and Gaelic history. Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, 70, xviii-xxxv.

MacGregor, M. and Wilkinson, C. (2019) In search of Robert Bruce, part II: reassessing the Dunfermline tomb investigations of 1818–19. Scottish Historical Review, 98(2), pp. 159-182. (doi: 10.3366/shr.2019.0399)

Wilkinson, C. M., Roughley, M., Moffat, R. D., Monckton, D. G. and MacGregor, M. (2019) In search of Robert Bruce, part I: craniofacial analysis of the skull excavated at Dunfermline in 1819. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 24, pp. 556-564. (doi: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.02.018)

MacGregor, M. (2019) 'Tha mulad air m’ inntinn': a third song by Marion Campbell of Glen Lyon? Aiste, 5, pp. 1-49.

MacGregor, M. and Wilkinson, C. (2019) In search of Robert Bruce, part III: medieval royal burial at Dunfermline and the tomb investigations of 1818–19. Innes Review, 70(2), pp. 171-201. (doi: 10.3366/inr.2019.0227)

MacGregor, M. (2018) In search of Robert Bruce. History Teaching Review Yearbook, 2018, pp. 10-31.

MacGregor, M. (2012) The Campbells: lordship, literature and liminality. Textual Cultures: Texts, Contexts, Interpretation, 7(1), pp. 121-157.

MacGregor, M. (2008) Writing the history of Gaelic Scotland: a provisional checklist of "Gaelic" genealogical histories. Scottish Gaelic Studies, 24, pp. 357-379.

MacGregor, M.D. (2006) The statutes of Iona: text and context. Innes Review, 57(2), pp. 111-181. (doi: 10.3366/inr.2006.57.2.111)

MacGregor, M.D. (2006) The view from Fortingall: the worlds of the Book of the Dean of Lismore. Scottish Gaelic Studies, 22, pp. 35-85.

MacGregor, M. (2000) Genealogies of the clans: contributions to the study of MS 1467. Innes Review, 51(2), pp. 131-146. (doi: 10.3366/inr.2000.51.2.131)

Book Sections

MacGregor, M. (2024) Gaelic identity and culture in late medieval Scotland and Ireland. In: Duffy, S., Crooks, P. and Ditchburn, D. (eds.) The Irish-Scottish World in the Middle Ages. Four Courts Press: Dublin. (In Press)

MacGregor, M. (2024) Gaelic sovereignty in the later Middle Ages. In: Egan, S. (ed.) Studies in Early Modern Irish History. Manchester University Press: Manchester. (In Press)

Hogg, U. and MacGregor, M. (2018) Historiography in Highlands and Lowlands. In: Royan, N. (ed.) The International Companion to Scottish Literature 1400-1650. Series: International companions to Scottish literature (6). Scottish Literature International: Glasgow, pp. 100-123. ISBN 9781908980236

MacGregor, M. (2014) Gaelic Christianity? The Church in the Western Highlands and Islands of Scotland before and after the Reformation. In: Ó hAnnracháin, T. and Armstrong, R. (eds.) Christianities in the Early Modern Celtic World. Palgrave MacMillan: Basingstoke, pp. 55-70. ISBN 9781137306340 (doi: 10.1057/9781137306357_5)

MacGregor, M. (2012) Warfare in Gaelic Scotland in the later Middle Ages. In: Crang, J.A., Spiers, E.M. and Strickland, M. (eds.) A Military History of Scotland. Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh, UK, pp. 209-231. ISBN 9780748633357

MacGregor, M. (2012) Civilising Gaelic Scotland: the Scottish Isles and the Stewart Empire. In: Ciardha, E.Ó. and Siochru, M.Ó. (eds.) The Plantation of Ulster: Ideology and Practice. Series: Studies in Early Modern Irish History. Manchester University Press: Manchester, UK, pp. 33-54. ISBN 9780719086083

MacGregor, M. (2010) Ar sliocht Gaodhal ó Ghort Gréag: An Dàn “Flodden” ann an Leabhar Deadhan Lios-mòir. In: Munro, G. and Cox, R. (eds.) Cànan & Cultar: Rannsachadh na Gàidhlig 4. Scottish Academic Press: Edinburgh, pp. 23-35. ISBN 9781903765869

MacGregor, M. (2009) Gaelic barbarity and Scottish identity in the later Middle Ages. In: Broun, D. and MacGregor, M. (eds.) Mìorun mòr nan Gall, 'The great ill-will of the Lowlander'? Lowland perceptions of the Highlands, medieval and modern. Centre for Scottish and Celtic Studies, University of Glasgow: Glasgow, pp. 7-48. ISBN 978085261820X

MacGregor, M. (2008) Introduction. In: Gregory, D. (ed.) The History of the Western Highlands and Isles of Scotland, 1493-1625. John Donald / Birlinn: Edinburgh, v-xvii. ISBN 9781904607571

MacGregor, M. (2007) Creation and compilation: The Book of the Dean of Lismore and literary culture in late medieval Gaelic Scotland. In: Brown, I., Clancy, T.O. and Pittock, M. (eds.) The Edinburgh History of Scottish Literature Volume One: From Columba to the Union (until 1707). Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh, pp. 209-218.

MacGregor, M.D. (2002) The genealogical histories of Gaelic Scotland. In: Fox, A. and Woolf, D. (eds.) The Spoken Word: Oral Culture in Britain, 1500-1850. Series: Politics, culture, and society in early modern Britain. Manchester University Press: Manchester, pp. 196-239. ISBN 0719057469

MacGregor, M. (2000) Làn-mara 's mìle seòl ("Floodtide and a thousand sails"): Gaelic Scotland and Gaelic Ireland in the Later Middle Ages. In: A' Chòmhdhail Cheilteach Eadarnìseanta Congress 99: Cultural Contacts Within the Celtic Community: Glaschu, 26-31 July. Celtic Congress: Inverness, pp. 77-97.

MacGregor, M. (1999) "Surely one of the greatest poems ever made in Britain": the lament for Griogair Ruadh MacGregor of Glen Strae and its historical background. In: Cowan, E. J. and Gifford, D. (eds.) The Polar Twins. John Donald: Edinburgh, pp. 114-153. ISBN 9780859765138

MacGregor, M. (1998) Church and culture in the late Medieval Highlands. In: Kirk, J. (ed.) The Church in the Highlands. Scottish Church History Society, pp. 1-36. ISBN 9780953491605

Edited Books

Broun, D. and MacGregor, M. (Eds.) (2009) Mìorun Mòr nan Gall, 'The great ill-will of the Lowlander'? Lowland perceptions of the Highlands, Medieval and Modern. Centre for Scottish and Celtic Studies, University of Glasgow: Glasgow. ISBN 978085261820X (print) 085261820X (e-book)

This list was generated on Fri Dec 13 14:24:25 2024 GMT.

Grants

none (as at 1/4/14).

In preparation:

  • project on Women in late medieval Gaelic Scotland and Ireland (with Dr Gillian Kenny, Trinity College Dublin)
  • project on early modern Gaelic Scotland (with Dr Aonghas MacCoinnich, University of Glasgow)

Supervision

I would welcome the opportunity to supervise PGR students in any of the areas cited above under Research Interests.

I am also very happy to supervise students whose research relates to Gaelic Scotland from 1625 to 1945, particularly 1689-1886; reflecting my interest in continuity and change within Gaelic Scotland from medieval to modern.

Supervision and thesis submission can take place in either Gaelic or English. Dr Sheila Kidd (Celtic & Gaelic) and I are currently supervising two PhD students working on the history of Gaelic Scotland in the modern era through the medium of Gaelic, and one of these theses will be written in Gaelic. 

To date I have supervised six successful doctoral students:

  • Brian Doogan: A social and economic history of the Blackmount deer forest, Argyllshire, 1815-1900 (2004)
  • Anne MacLeod: The idea of antiquity in visual images of the Highlands and Islands c.1700-1880 (2006)
  • Iain MacDonald: The secular church and clergy in the Diocese of Argyll from circa 1189 to 1560 (2008)
  • Sarah Thomas: From Rome to 'the ends of the habitable world': the provision of clergy and church buildings in the Hebrides, circa 1266 to circa 1472 (2008)
  • Janet MacDonald: Iona's local associations in Argyll and the Isles, c1203-c1575 (2010)
  • Nathan Gray: 'A publick benefite to the nation': the charitable and religious origins of the SSPCK, 1690-1715

Current supervisions are: 

  • Kevin Grant (Start date: 01/02/2010 Secondary Supervisor 25%): Gaelic landscape history and archaeology in the era of Improvement, with special reference to St Kilda and Loch Eyenort, South Uist 
  • David Cochran-Yu (Start date: 15/09/2011 Secondary Supervisor 50%): The history of the earldom of Ross before c. 1500
  • Tomas MacAilpein (Start date: 04/10/2011 Principal Supervisor 50%): A Social and Cultural History of Islay, c. 1860-1960
  • Calum Cameron-White (Start date: 01/10/2012 Principal Supervisor 50%): The Life of John Murdoch, Land Reformer
  • Ross Crawford (Start date: 01/10/2012 Principal Supervisor 50%): Warfare and Society in late medieval Gaelic Scotland
  • Miles Kerr-Peterson (Start date: 01/10/2012 Secondary Supervisor 25%): George Keith, 4th Earl Marischal, c. 1555-1623
  • Niall Bartlett (Start date: 01/10/2013 Principal Supervisor 50%): Gaelic Scotland 1886-1945, with special reference to the Isle of Lewis, and the First World War
  • Healey, Euan
    Maritime Gaels: a Social History of Fishing Work in the Highland and Hebrides c. 1750-1914
  • McCoy, Holley
    Thàine 's gun tàine feamainn (Come and come is seaweed): The Archaeology, history and heritage of Scotland's Seaweed Industry, 1621-1932
  • Smith, Gemma
    Shieling landscapes of North West Sutherland: people, place and ecology
  • Wright, Grace
    Positioning Women’s Agency in Land Agitation and Protest in the Scottish Highlands and Islands 1847-1897

Teaching

I teach across all levels from level 1 to PGR. Current teaching is:

  • Level 1: Scotland's Millennium: Kingdom, Union and Nation, c.1000-1999
  • Junior Year Abroad: Exploring Scottish Culture
  • Honours Modules: The Highland Clearances, 1746-1886; Gaelic Scotland and the British State, 1603-1746; The First War of Scottish Independence, 1286-1329
  • Senior Honours: Gaelic Scotland: The Scottish Highlands c.1400-1609 (Special Subject)
  • MLitt in History (Scottish): Issues, Ideologies and Institutions of Modern Scotland (with Drs Karin Bowie and Catriona Macdonald); Culture, Politics and Society in the Highland Clearances (with Dr Sheila Kidd, Celtic & Gaelic)

Additional information

  • General Editor, with Prof Thomas Clancy, of The History of Gaelic Scotland, 6 vols. (Edinburgh University Press, forthcoming)
  • Researcher/presenter of Bheir Dhomh Sgeul air Clann Ghriogair ('Tell me news of Clan Gregor'): four-part radio series broadcast on BBC's Gaelic radio channel Rèidio nan Gàidheal, January/February 2014;