A New perspective on the Highlands Before Culloden —The life‐writing of ‘curious cleric’ Rev. James Fraser (1634‐1709

Professor David Worthington

Victoria Hall, Cromarty

This talk will interrogate the autobiographical sources left by Rev. James Fraser (1634‐1709) of Kirkhill, a Gaelic‐speaking scholar, traveller and minister. The entire period between 1493 and 1746 can still sometimes appear enigmatic in the history of the region, but Professor Worthington will highlight a different side that becomes apparent in Fraser’s presentation. His talk will focus on his strong engagement with Europe and his entanglement with empire, offering a fresh interpretation of the Highlands in the century before Culloden.

Professor David Worthington is an historian of Scottish (and wider British and Irish) connections with central Europe (c.1500‐c.1700). He researches and publishes also on the history of the firthlands of mainland northern Scotland from within a coastal history context. He completed his PhD in the Department of History, University of Aberdeen in 2000, and, prior to taking up his position at UHI, held the following posts: Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences Postdoctoral Fellow at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth (2001‐2002); Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow at the University of Aberdeen (2005‐2007); Visiting Professor on two separate occasions at Polish universities, in the cities of Kielce (2004‐2005) and Wroclaw (2007‐2008). On arriving at the Centre for History as a lecturer in July 2008, he led on the development and launch of both the university's first joint honours degree, and the validation of a suite of four online masters programmes in history from 2011‐17. Prof Worthington has been head of the Centre since 2011, and was awarded his professorship in 2020.

Cromarty History Society now meets on the the third Tuesday of each month, September‐April and occasionally during the summer