John Bannerman Lecture 2026 - Professor Fiona Edmonds The John Bannerman LecturesThe lecture series - co-hosted between the departments of History and Celtic & Scottish Studies - continues the aims of the John Bannerman Seminar on the History of Gaelic Scotland which ran for several years from around 2010, to promote the study of the history of Gaelic Scotland and the wider Gaelic world. Dr John Bannerman (1932–2008) joined the Department of Scottish History at the University of Edinburgh in 1965, where he worked as a lecturer and senior lecturer for over thirty years before retiring in 1997 to work full-time on his farm. Described as ‘the 20th century’s foremost historian of Gaelic Scotland’, Dr Bannerman’s work included studies of pre-Viking Dál Riata, monumental sculpture and inscriptions in the West Highlands, the Lordship of the Isles, late medieval Gaelic language and learning, and Gaelic medical traditions. The lectures are free and open to all. They are hybrid events, with joining instructions circulated to those who register in advance. Professor Fiona EdmondsProfessor Edmonds studies medieval Britain, Ireland and Brittany, with interests ranging from the sixth century to the twelfth. Her research focuses on maritime connections and now-lost kingdoms. Particular areas of interest are the Irish Sea region in the Viking Age; central Britain (northern England and southern Scotland) prior to the Anglo-Scottish border; and connections between northern Britain and Wales. Her monograph Gaelic Influence in the Northumbrian Kingdom: The Golden Age and the Viking Age won the Frank Watson Book Prize in 2021. She has been involved in funded projects on Furness Abbey’s links across the Irish Sea and contacts between Britain and Brittany. She is interested in interdisciplinary work, for example combining historical and linguistic evidence through the study of names. From 2016-24 she was the Director of the Regional Heritage Centre, which received an Educate North Award for Community Engagement in 2023. She was recently awarded a British Academy mid-career fellowship for the academic year 2024/5. Mar 26 2026 17.15 - 18.30 John Bannerman Lecture 2026 - Professor Fiona Edmonds 'Dál Riata and Northumbria, c. 700‒1000: Connections and comparisons'. Hybrid. Lecture Theatre C, 40 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JX Find the venue Tickets (free)
John Bannerman Lecture 2026 - Professor Fiona Edmonds The John Bannerman LecturesThe lecture series - co-hosted between the departments of History and Celtic & Scottish Studies - continues the aims of the John Bannerman Seminar on the History of Gaelic Scotland which ran for several years from around 2010, to promote the study of the history of Gaelic Scotland and the wider Gaelic world. Dr John Bannerman (1932–2008) joined the Department of Scottish History at the University of Edinburgh in 1965, where he worked as a lecturer and senior lecturer for over thirty years before retiring in 1997 to work full-time on his farm. Described as ‘the 20th century’s foremost historian of Gaelic Scotland’, Dr Bannerman’s work included studies of pre-Viking Dál Riata, monumental sculpture and inscriptions in the West Highlands, the Lordship of the Isles, late medieval Gaelic language and learning, and Gaelic medical traditions. The lectures are free and open to all. They are hybrid events, with joining instructions circulated to those who register in advance. Professor Fiona EdmondsProfessor Edmonds studies medieval Britain, Ireland and Brittany, with interests ranging from the sixth century to the twelfth. Her research focuses on maritime connections and now-lost kingdoms. Particular areas of interest are the Irish Sea region in the Viking Age; central Britain (northern England and southern Scotland) prior to the Anglo-Scottish border; and connections between northern Britain and Wales. Her monograph Gaelic Influence in the Northumbrian Kingdom: The Golden Age and the Viking Age won the Frank Watson Book Prize in 2021. She has been involved in funded projects on Furness Abbey’s links across the Irish Sea and contacts between Britain and Brittany. She is interested in interdisciplinary work, for example combining historical and linguistic evidence through the study of names. From 2016-24 she was the Director of the Regional Heritage Centre, which received an Educate North Award for Community Engagement in 2023. She was recently awarded a British Academy mid-career fellowship for the academic year 2024/5. Mar 26 2026 17.15 - 18.30 John Bannerman Lecture 2026 - Professor Fiona Edmonds 'Dál Riata and Northumbria, c. 700‒1000: Connections and comparisons'. Hybrid. Lecture Theatre C, 40 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JX Find the venue Tickets (free)
Mar 26 2026 17.15 - 18.30 John Bannerman Lecture 2026 - Professor Fiona Edmonds 'Dál Riata and Northumbria, c. 700‒1000: Connections and comparisons'. Hybrid.
