The antiquary Cosmo Innes (1798-1874) was a prolific editor of medieval and early modern documents relating to Scotland's parliament, legal system, burghs, universities, aristocratic families and pre-Reformation church. This book, which analyses Innes's work and provides sources.
Shortlisted for the Royal Historical Society Whitfield Prize (2014)
Shortlisted for the Saltire Society History Book of the Year Prize (2014)
'This is a masterly scholarly monograph that fills an important gap in the literature on Cosmo Innes and Scottish antiquarianism and its long afterlife in the nineteenth century. Situating Innes in an older antiquarian tradition, the author is able to convincingly demonstrate the importance of his work with primary sources in making him such an accepted authority on Scottish national history. Marsden's historiographical discussion of Innes and his contextualisation of him in the wider Scottish, British amd European scenarios are extremely lucid and helpful.' - Stefan Berger (Ruhr-Universitat Bochum, Germany)
'Marsden deserves to be read by scholars across the social sciences and humanities, as his work engages with comparative literature (particularly on romanticism), sociology, and political science (especially on civil society and nationalism in Europe) ? It is difficult to do justice to such rigorous and nuanced scholarship in a short review', Journal of Modern History
'This is a splendid and comprehensive book. For such a substantial work, it is highly readable, illuminating a neglected figure in Scottish historiography, and using Cosmo Innes as a much needed corrective to claims that Scottish history was unwilling or unable to align itself with the demands of Scottish national identity in the mid-nineteenth century.', Parliaments, Estates and Representation
'Marsden makes his volume all the more indispensable by revealing how Innes's life and work complicate some of the broad generalisations that have taken hold regarding Scottish historiographers in the nineteenth century ? The book's introduction (which focuses on the wider field of nineteenth-century Scottish history) should be recommended reading for any student studying modern Scotland.', British Association for Victorian Studies
'This text is a valuable addition to the study of nineteenth-century Scottish historiography and adds to our understanding of the character of Scottish national awareness and political nationalism.', Victorian Periodicals Review
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