Royal Studies Journal Special Issue: Material Culture and Built Heritage: Manifestations of Scotland’s Royal Past, Present and Future

This episode focuses on RSJ Issue 12.1 (June 2025) a special issue on 'Material Culture and Built Heritage: Manifestations of Scotland's Royal Past, Present and Future', guest edited by Drs Lucinda H. S. Dean and Amy Hayes. The issue features six full length articles on various aspects of Scotland's rich material culture from the Stuart period ranging from the reign of James IV to considerations of the survival of the Trinity collegiate church, built by a 15th century queen, in the landscape of modern Edinburgh.

Host Ellie Woodacre interviews the editors here, discussing the unique elements of Scotland's royal heritage and the big themes which have emerged in the articles of this special issue

Guest Bios: 

Dr Amy Hayes Staff Tutor and Lecturer in History at the Open University: medieval queenship, particularly focused on socio-cultural role of Scottish queens consort. Also, elite medieval women and children, and Scottish medieval history more broadly. Upcoming monograph on Scottish queens consort with Palgrave Macmillan’s Queenship and Power series. 

Dr Lucy Dean is senior lecturer and interim Head of the Centre for History, UHI. She researches, publishes and teaches on medieval and early modern ritual, ceremony, kingship, material culture, gender (particularly masculinity), the life cycle (especially youth and old age) and public history in Scotland and beyond. She is co-investigator on the Perth Charterhouse Project, co-author of the Routledge Exploring Monarchy in Medieval Europe, 1000-1500 (forthcoming), author of Death and the Royal Succession in Scotland, c.1214-c.1543: Ritual, Ceremony and Power (Boydell, 2024) and long-standing member of the Royal Studies Network.