Lucy Dean

My doctoral thesisbridges the gap between medieval and early modern to provide the first long term study of Scottish inaugurations/coronations, funerals, and weddings (with consort coronations) across four centuries placing these ceremonies within the complexities of their political context. This original doctoral research is being revised for a monograph: Death and the Royal Succession: Scottish Funerals, Coronations and Weddings, c.1214–1543, in preparation for St Andrews Scottish History Series, Boydell and Brewer.

My research is expanding in a number of directions including an exploration of manhood, masculinity and coming of age of the later Stewart kings; a rapidly developing areas of medieval and early modern historical discussion, but are still in relative infancy in a Scottish context in this era. I am currently working on a case study of James V as forerunner to a wider project on the male monarchs who ‘came of age’ after accession in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Scotland. Each has acquired a significantly different historical reputation and this research will engage with cultural, social and political historical methodologies to consider representation, agency and experience, and offer a new angle of comparative analysis on these Scottish Renaissance monarchs.

Another one of my keen growing interests is looking for innovative and meaningful ways of engaging the wider public with history and Scottish history particularly, working currently and previously with the likes of Historic Environment Scotland, Culture Perth and Kinross and Paul Gorman (Hidden Giants).

Other research interests and expertise: liturgy and ritual at all levels of society; appropriation of ‘royal’ ceremonial by non-royal individuals in medieval and early modern Europe; misuse and reuse of images of power and authority at all levels of society; public interaction with royal demonstrations of power; ambassadorial interaction and the ‘king abroad’; the itinerant court in Scotland and Europe; Scottish financial and burgh sources; rituals of the day-to-day royal household; heraldic manuscripts and the role of the herald (particularly interested in seventeenth-century collections in Scottish repositories); baptism in the late medieval and early modern eras (with a particular interest in the role and choice of godparents); queenship and the roles of elite women; crime and punishment in the medieval and early modern eras.

Oct 2009 –Sept 2013 PhD, University of Stirling
(AHRC-funded 3 year full award Oct 2009 – Oct 2012) Title:  Crowns, Wedding Rings and Processions: Continuity and change in the representations of royal authority through state ceremonial in Scotland c. 1214 – c. 1603. Supervisors:  Dr Michael Penman and Dr Alastair Mann Examiners:  Prof Roger Mason (St Andrews) and Dr Emma Macleod (Stirling)
Oct 2007 –  June 2009 MA by Research in History, Kingston University Dissertation: ‘Representing Authority: The Image of Authority Under Louis XIV’ Supervisors:  Dr Marisa Linton and Dr John Stuart.
Sept 2004 –  June 2007 First Class BA Honours in History and Creative Writing, Kingston University