A native of south east London, I moved to Scotland in 2001 to take my undergraduate degree, choosing Stirling partly as the result of a very sunny (February) open day. During my undergraduate years I was fortunate to undertake a year abroad at the University of Kansas.
It was at Stirling that I developed my passion for medieval, and specifically Scottish, history and after graduating in 2005 I decided to take this interest further. Moving to Edinburgh I completed a MSc in Medieval History and then a PhD which explored the role of local and national saints’ cults and shrines in the devotional culture of late medieval and early modern Scotland.
After completing my doctorate at Edinburgh in 2011, I returned to the University of Stirling, first working as a researcher on the AHRC funded Corpus of Scottish Medieval Parish Churches (2012-2013), and subsequently as a Teaching Assistant, Researcher and Lecturer.
As a freelance historian, I have also collaborated on a number of projects outside of academia, writing short books on the Declaration of Arbroath (2020), a guidebook for Dunfermline, and collaborating on large projects including the Family Names UK Project (2013-2014), the Fife Pilgrim Way (2016), Kilrenny, Anstruther and Cellardyke Burgh Survey (2016-2017) and Inverkeithing Community Burgh Survey (2020-).
Project Historian, Inverkeithing Community Burgh Survey
Northlight Heritage and Fife Council
https://fifehistoricbuildings.org.uk/project/inverkeithing/
The Inverkeithing Community Burgh Survey is the latest in the Scottish Burgh Survey Series. It provides an exciting opportunity for Inverkeithing’s community to share a journey of exploration and discover the fascinating history and archaeology of the town. The results will be published in a book.
There have be opportunities for people to volunteer, learn, contribute and participate in four key areas of activity:
Archaeological Excavations – take part in a dig on your doorstep! Help uncover and analyse what past residents of Inverkeithing left behind, hid or threw away.
Archive Research – document detectives, learn how to access and use historic documents and maps to reveal Inverkeithing’s most important stories.
Standing Building Surveys – learn how to read buildings, understand the significance of built evidence, and help record the Town House and Friary buildings
Oral Histories – help collect and preserve memories of Inverkeithing’s places and people.
As Project Historian, Dr Turpie is;
• Responsible for the historical research training and supervision of volunteers
• coproduction of the Burgh Survey
PhD in History
University of Edinburgh
MSc in Medieval History
University of Edinburgh
BA (Hons) History
University of Stirling
Project Historian. Kilrenny and Anstruther Burgh Survey
https://www.facebook.com/AnstrutherSurvey
• Project historian on the Public History enterprise, Kilrenny, Anstruther and Cellardyke Burgh Survey
• Role involved historical research on Anstruther and Kilrenny and co-authoring the survey monograph due for publication in 2017
• Role also included organising and supervising local volunteer involvement in the project and supplying material for social media and project marketing
My research concentrates on later medieval and early renaissance Scotland, its social, religious and political history. I am interested in how this society functioned, and particularly how the people and political and social structures of pre-modern Scotland understood and coped with the cataclysmic environmental, religious and political changes of the 14th to 17th centuries.
My primary research interest is the cult of the saints, trying to understand why particular saints and saint types were venerated by particular people (or groups of people) at particular times, or why long established cults declined. More recently I have developed a keen interest in the response to infectious disease (esp Plague), climate stresses and warfare in pre-modern Scotland.
In general, my research aims to respond to Steve Boardman and Michael Lynch's statement (2000) that ‘most pressing need for medievalists is to extend their agenda beyond politics and lordship and to move towards a more complete account of Scottish society as a whole'.
Working with community groups and other heritage stakeholders has also helped me to develop a strong interest in how Scotland's pre-modern past is used in the present, and can be utilised in the future.
Research Report
REF2021 ICS - Place-making And Community-building Through Ecclesiastical Heritage: Dunfermline Abbey
Penman M, Oram R & Turpie T (2022) REF2021 ICS - Place-making And Community-building Through Ecclesiastical Heritage: Dunfermline Abbey [REF2021 ICS History at Stirling #3]. University of Stirling for Research Excellence Framework 2021. Stirling. https://results2021.ref.ac.uk/impact/8549be06-55fa-410b-9658-fc67e4229b4c?page=1
Conference Proceeding
Watson E & Turpie T (2020) Putting Historians into Work. A discipline-specific example of embedding employability at the centre of the student lifecycle in Higher Education. In: Norton S & Dalrymple R (eds.) Enhancing Graduate Employability: a case study compendium. Advance HE Employability Symposium: Pedagogy for Employability, York, 29.04.2019-29.04.2019. York: Advance HE, pp. 33-39. https://cris.brighton.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/8766873/AdvHE_Case_study_compendium_1580306728.pdf#page=35
Authored Book
Declaration of Arbroath: What it Meant Then and What it Means Now
Turpie T (2020) Declaration of Arbroath: What it Meant Then and What it Means Now. Edinburgh: Luath Press. https://www.luath.co.uk/new-releases/the-declaration-of-arbroath
Research Report
Penman MA, Utsi EC & Turpie T (2020) In Search Of The Royal Mausoleum At The Benedictine Abbey Of Dunfermline Fife: Medieval Liturgy, Antiquarianism, and a Ground-Penetrating Radar Pilot Survey, 2016-19 (2020). Dunfermline Abbey Church and Kirk Session; Historic Environment Scotland; Fife Council; Dunfermline Heritage Partnership; GWS BArrow Award; Strathmartine Trust; Royal Society of Edinburgh; Hunter Archaeological Trust; Faculty of Arts & Humanities, University of Stirling. https://dunfgpr.stir.ac.uk/; University of Stirling Research respository; Historic Environment Scotland CANMORE database; Dunfermline Abbey Church website; dunfermline.com.
Book Chapter
Duthac Wigmore and Ninian Wallace: Scottish saints and personal names in the later middle ages
Turpie T (2019) Duthac Wigmore and Ninian Wallace: Scottish saints and personal names in the later middle ages. In: Hammond M (ed.) Personal Names and Naming Practices in Medieval Scotland. Studies in Celtic History, 39. Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, pp. 213-220. https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781783274284/personal-names-and-naming-practices-in-medieval-scotland/
Book Chapter
Turpie T (2017) When the miracles ceased. Shrine and cult management at St Andrews and Scottish cathedrals in the Later Middle Ages. In: Brown M & Stevenson K (eds.) Medieval St Andrews: Church, Cult and City. St Andrews Studies in Scottish History. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, pp. 84-98. https://boydellandbrewer.com/medieval-st-andrews.html
Book Chapter
Turpie T (2016) Scottish and British? The Scottish Authorities, Richard III and the Cult of St Ninian in Late Medieval Scotland and Northern England. In: Penman M, Buchanan K & Dean L (eds.) Medieval and Early Modern Representations of Authority in Scotland and The British Isles. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 124-140. https://www.routledge.com/Medieval-and-Early-Modern-Representations-of-Authority-in-Scotland-and/Buchanan-Dean/p/book/9781472424488
Discussion Paper
Report Detailing References to Pilgrimage and the Cult of the Saints in Fife
Turpie T (2016) Report Detailing References to Pilgrimage and the Cult of the Saints in Fife [Fife Pilgrim Way Report]. Fife Coast and Countryside Trust.
Book Chapter
Turpie T (2016) North-eastern Saints in the Aberdeen Breviary and the Historia Gentis Scotorum of Hector Boece: Liturgy, history and religious practice in late medieval Scotland. In: Geddes J (ed.) Medieval Art, Architecture and Archaeology in the Dioceses of Aberdeen and Moray. The British Archaeological Association Conference Transactions. Leeds: Maney Publishing, pp. 239-247. https://www.routledge.com/Medieval-Art-Architecture-and-Archaeology-in-the-Dioceses-of-Aberdeen/Geddes/p/book/9781138640689
Authored Book
Kind Neighbours. Scottish Saints and Society in the Later Middle Ages
Turpie T (2015) Kind Neighbours. Scottish Saints and Society in the Later Middle Ages. The Northern World, 70. Leiden: Brill. http://www.brill.com/products/book/kind-neighbours-scottish-saints-and-society-later-middle-ages
Article
Turpie T (2014) Our friend in the north: the origins, evolution and appeal of the cult of St Duthac of Tain in later Middle Ages. Scottish Historical Review, 93 (1), pp. 1-28. https://doi.org/10.3366/shr.2014.0197
Article
The many lives of St Duthac of Tain. Tracing the origins of a late medieval Scottish saint
Turpie T (2013) The many lives of St Duthac of Tain. Tracing the origins of a late medieval Scottish saint. Northern Studies, 44, pp. 3-20.
Book Chapter
A Casualty of War? Kentigern of Glasgow, Scottish patron saints and the Bruce/Comyn conflict
Turpie T (2012) A Casualty of War? Kentigern of Glasgow, Scottish patron saints and the Bruce/Comyn conflict. In: Ritchie A (ed.) Historic Bute: Land and People. Lerwick: Scottish Society for Northern Studies, pp. 61-73. http://ssns.org.uk/publications/books.html
Article
A Monk from Melrose? St Cuthbert and the Scots in the later middle ages, c. 1371-1560
Turpie T (2011) A Monk from Melrose? St Cuthbert and the Scots in the later middle ages, c. 1371-1560. The Innes Review, 62 (1), pp. 47-69. https://doi.org/10.3366/inr.2011.0004
Website Content
A Corpus of Scottish Medieval Parish Churches
Fawcett R, Luxford J, Oram R & Turpie T (2008) A Corpus of Scottish Medieval Parish Churches. 2008. http://arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/corpusofscottishchurches
I currently coordinate the second year module, HISU9X4 Back to the Future; Putting History and Heritage to Work, and support teaching on HISU9A1 For the Lion: Scotland in the British Isles and Europe 1100-1542 and HERPP07 Understanding and Managing Historic Environments: a Scottish Perspective.
In the past I have also supervised MSc Heritage and BA History Dissertations, and taught on War, Famine. Disease and Death, c.1250-1650, Castles: Power and Authority, Landscapes and Contexts, The Stewart Kings of Scotland, 1424-1513, Scotland in the Age of Wallace and Bruce, Reputations in History, Concepts of History: themes and transformations and The making of modern Britain, 1707 – 2000: an introduction
Module Coordinator
University of Stirling
Coordinated module HISU9X4 Back to the Future; putting History and Heritage to Work
HIS9P5 The Stewart Kings of Scotland, 1424 - 1513
HIST07001 Medieval Scotland
University of Edinburgh
Preparing and leading seminars of 12-14 students on Level one course; Medieval Scottish History. Roles also involved providing advice on essay writing, oral performance and assessing and providing feedback on written work and presentations.
U03750 Introduction to Medieval Europe 2
University of Edinburgh
Preparing and leading seminars of 10-12 students on Level Two course; Introduction to Medieval Europe 2 (and in 2010 IME 2a in new format). Roles also involved providing advice on essay writing, oral performance and assessing and providing feedback on written work and presentations
