Hospitalfield House, 6.30pm to 8.30pm

Medieval Angus was a rich and culturally vibrant region at the heart of the kingdom of Scotland. Its castles, abbeys, churches and the landscape itself speak of a time when peasants, townsfolk, monks and knights transformed the face of the country, reshaping the face of the land and forging new bonds with continental Europe. This talk will explore the transformation of Angus in the Middle Ages, looking at the impact of the new monasteries founded by kings and earls, of the towns whose markets opened the region to the world, of the peasants who laboured to win ‘wasteland’ for agriculture, and of the knights whose castles ‘nailed’ their possession of the land.

Professor Richard Oram is Dean of Arts and Humanities and Professor of Environmental and Medieval History at the University of Stirling. A former Director of the Centre for Environmental History and Policy, in 2008 he was appointed a member of the Historic Environment Advisory Council for Scotland, providing advice to Scottish Ministers on aspects of policy and public engagement in the sector.

In 2020 Scotland will celebrate 700 years since the Declaration of Arbroath was sent from Arbroath Abbey to the Pope in Avignon. There are lots of plans afoot to mark this historic anniversary. In the approach to 2020 Hospitalfield will run a number of events, this being the first, which give insight into the significance of this historic moment.

This talk is part of our Friends of Hospitalfield Programme but as a special launch of the 2020 series, we are opening this out as a free event, open to everyone to attend, to help raise awareness about the approaching anniversary.