This study addresses the roles women played in Glasgow during a period of economic, demographic and cultural change. Glasgow in the eighteenth century was rapidly expanding and fast establishing itself as an international trading centre and an important industrial region. Despite the considerable interest that these developments have received, the gendering of Glasgow’s economy remains relatively unexplored. This research adds to the work of redressing that imbalance, by exploring the economic activities of women of middling social status in the urban economy, focusing on women’s enterprise and also financial management as a form of work.

There has always been a high degree of interest in contextual and historical awareness of the situation in which the plays of Elizabethan and Jacobean dramatists were conceived. The same can be said of the works of the playwrights of the Spanish Golden Age. In the last half-century or so, the quality of research and research tools has increased exponentially, and the picture we draw of these early modern playworlds is ever more detailed and colourful. And yet, the corrosive nature of time has left gaps in our canvas that a single-country corpus of documents and evidence may not allow us to fill. A comparative transnational approach, however, often provides researchers with the sought-after ways through which one can take the limits of investigation one step further. With this intention in mind, this thesis surveys the landscape of the theatrical culture of early modern London and Madrid, the two most comparable 'playgrounds' in Renaissance Europe. The impressive similarities in infrastructures, arrangements and production of these two theatrical capitals not only begs for an in-depth comparison between them, but also invites consideration of whether the knowledge of one 'playground' can help shed light on the obscurities of the other. The project is divided into four different topics: the city and the neighbourhoods in which the playhouses were built, the playhouses themselves and their physical and social attributes, the playmakers (dramatists, actors, managers and all those agents participating in the theatrical event) and the relationship between the theatre and the emerging print culture. Each topic or chapter provides a comparative survey of the theatre history developed for each country's theatrical cultures in the first sub-chapter, and in the second an example of how this newly acquired knowledge benefits the early modern English and Spanish literary critic alike. In particular, the thesis is geared toward explaining the fundamental differences between the theatrical landscapes of Shakespeare's London and Lope de Vega's Madrid: why there were no indoor commercial playhouses in Madrid like the Blackfriars theatre of the English capital, and why there was such a large quantitative difference in dramatic production between the playwrights of both nations.

This thesis uses archived oral history interviews to trace the identities of scientists in narratives that capture their lived experiences of science. It draws upon fifty-four life history interviews with both men and women scientists from the British Library's 'An Oral History of British Science' (OHBS) archive. The OHBS was first established in 2009 to address the lack of comprehensive oral history archives devoted to documenting the personal experiences and memories of professionals involved in contemporary British science. In this thesis, however, the in-depth nature of these interviews are used to explore scientists' childhoods, careers and eventual retirement. This thesis therefore provides one of the first systematic attempts to draw together the personal accounts of professional scientists from a major public archive dedicated to science. In order to situate the study of scientists' lives, two fields of research are placed under scrutiny - oral history and history of science. In doing so, this thesis traces a longer tension between the 'history from below' approach of oral history and the 'great men' foundations of history of science when the two fields were still in their infancy. The different levels of emphasis that oral historians have placed on exploring issues such as trust, empathy and subjectivity have also been accompanied by a persistent scepticism found in history and associated studies in the sociology of science. Firstly, this thesis draws upon the democratic ethos of oral history in order to reconcile the trust and suspicion surrounding scientists' accounts of their lives. Secondly, the life history methodology of the OHBS interviews, which typically documents a whole person's life, draws attention to the importance of childhood and retirement for establishing scientists' identities as they sought to construct and reconstruct their lives in science. Lastly, it concludes with the implications of adopting an oral history approach to illuminate the contingent nature of scientists' identities.

This thesis traces the important role played by Spanish medical personnel, particularly surgeons, in the development and organisation of their own medical services during the Spanish Civil War. This study, therefore, is not strictly a history of medicine during the conflict, nor does it seek to further explore international efforts in this regard; rather it analyses through an examination of the medical personnel involved on both sides, the causes, treatments and long term consequences of injury and trauma, including that of exile, on the wounded of the Spanish Civil War. This thesis, by picking over the bones of a wide body of literature and by engaging with a variety of different sources, forms an interlocking part of a new historiographical strand examining the origins and evolution of a traumatic conflict whose repercussions continue to be felt throughout Spain. Through its engagement with a diversity of sources, its analysis of the relationship between medicine and propaganda, and through an inclusive examination of the contribution made by Spanish medical professionals across Spain during the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath, this thesis provides its own unique historical perspective of a conflict whose living legacy of trauma and of wounds unhealed is still alive in Spain today.

This thesis examines the conflicted relationship between the Belgian army and society from its independence in 1830 through to the end of the First World War in 1918. It assesses the role that the army played as a tool of nation building in what was a culturally, geographically, linguistically, and politically fractured country. Ultimately, the work argues that the army largely failed in this role as political interference in the institution restricted its ability to impact positively on the youth entrusted to its care. The machinations of the two dominant parties, the Catholics and the Liberals, helped reinforce local ties as opposed to fostering a wider sense of nationhood. The military implications were manifold. Not only was the army slow, within a continental context, to adopt conscription, only doing so in 1913, but the strong sense of anti-militarism within society equally held successive governments to account over necessary financial contributions towards other aspects of the military, such as the Civic Guard and the fortresses. When coupled with the issue of language among a majority Flemish rank and file commanded by a predominantly French-speaking officer corps, there was a real fear among domestic and foreign commentators that Belgium’s ability to uphold its unique imposed neutrality in the event of a future war was limited. Notwithstanding, its performance during the First World War was surprising and marked a brief interlude in the contested domestic affairs of the long nineteenth century, as opposition against the ‘other’ rallied the nation behind a single cause. It demonstrated that, despite an entrenched parochialism, multiple associations with the concept of Belgian nationality were extant, but required the crisis of the Great War in order to be clearly expressed.

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This thesis investigates how health officials sought to preserve or recover good health during plague epidemics in Mantua, from 1463-1577. Scholarship on health boards in Italy has focused primarily on larger cities such as Milan, Florence and Venice, while many smaller cities and states which formed part of the wider network of interdependent health offices have yet to receive significant attention. This study attempts to address this imbalance by focussing on Mantua, a hitherto neglected area in the heart of northern Italy. Historians have shown by the sixteenth century health offices had wide-ranging responsibilities, yet their most important function remained tackling plague outbreaks through measures including trade and travel bans, quarantine periods and lazaretti. An analysis of the Mantuan health office’s actions and reactions reveal that it does not fit neatly with the health board model historians have established elsewhere in northern and central Italy. I will argue that while the hallmarks of the ‘Italian system’ of public health procedures are evident, closer examination of their organisation and composition reveals that they were shaped by the incidence and severity of outbreaks. Above all, however, they were dependent upon and defined by the evolving state apparatus and by participation of the wider community, both lay and ecclesiastic. Contrary to the view that permanent Italian health offices enforced plague regulations uniformly, there was a degree of flexibility in application within the structures created to fight plague. Further, it will be argued that by examining in detail symbolic acts, such as processions, in conjunction with practical methods we see with greater clarity how civic and ecclesiastical authorities worked together in the attempt to restore the city to good health. By exploring the dialogues between civic authorities, the people they governed and interactions between specific health agencies across the peninsula, this thesis contributes to the understanding of the Gonzagan state-building process and concepts of public health in Renaissance Italy.

The earldom of Ross was a dominant force in medieval Scotland. This was primarily due to its strategic importance as the northern gateway into the Hebrides to the west, and Caithness and Sutherland to the north. The power derived from the earldom’s strategic situation was enhanced by the status of its earls. From 1215 to 1372 the earldom was ruled by an uninterrupted MacTaggart comital dynasty which was able to capitalise on this longevity to establish itself as an indispensable authority in Scotland north of the Forth. By the fifteenth century the earldom had passed to an equally powerful dynasty, the MacDonald lords of the Isles, and became a part of one of the most powerful regional hegemonies of medieval Scotland. The earldom and the power of its earls are acknowledged by most scholars, yet it remains a relatively under-analysed subject, as scholarship tends to gravitate towards viewing Ross through the MacDonald lordship of the Isles, or through the Scottish kings. This has led to Ross being treated as a secondary subject. Moreover, little has been done to compare the two principal dynasties that ruled the earldom and explore issues of continuity between the two. This thesis will study Ross through the comital dynasties that ruled it and the important local magnates within it, and will provide a Ross-centred platform from which to analyse the political development of the earldom. The thesis will also address issues of continuity, beginning with the origins of the Mac ant t-sagairt earldom and trace its political evolution until the MacDonald claim to Ross was finally extinguished in the early sixteenth century. This thesis will be the first long duree study of this Scottish earldom, and will increase our understanding of Ross and its earls who were so vital to Scotland’s medieval history.

This thesis is presented in part fulfilment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Huddersfield. This thesis aims to explore the lives of seventeenth century noble widows in the north of England. The issues investigated include the demographics of widowhood, economics of widowhood, charitable activities, noble widows and the law, social networks surrounding widows and widows' political interests. Each of these subjects forms a chapter, where widows' contribution to each sphere through the seventeenth century is explored and assessed. The work also covers wider issues which affected women prior to and during marriage as they were also relevant to widowhood. Therefore it has been necessary to widen the scope of research from analyzing women's lives after the deaths of their husbands. Similarly, the geographical scope of the research, whilst basically entrenched in the north of England, extends in response to the variety of widows' experiences. The research has required examination of primary source material generated by widows such as letters, diaries, estate records and account books from institutions such as the British Library and private libraries such as that at Chatsworth. The second aim of this thesis is to examine more recent attitudes towards seventeenth century noble widows, encompassing the writings of nineteenth century historians and contemporary authors. The subject of this study is an under researched area and the thesis highlights the importance of the only part of a noblewoman's life that was lived as an independent individual. By scrutinising the secondary source material, challenging and criticizing general arguments proposed by other writers, debate upon the subject should be increased and new ideas expressed. Despite the social, legal, economic and political changes which took place throughout the seventeenth century, noble widows remained influential figures within the contexts of family, household and society as they exploited legal loopholes or accepted conventions in order to further their individual aims. This study advances the understanding of women's history by focussing on a neglected aspect of the subject, provides a new viewpoint for regional history and stimulates ideas for further academic debate.

The main purpose of this research is to re-examine Chartism by analysing how the Home Office’s suppression of the movement affected the development of the British State and the machinery of public order during the 1830s and 1840s. In recent years, the study of Chartism has become a domain for historians engaged in cultural history. As a result, studies of both a political and localised nature have been neglected. The poverty of recent research in these areas has occurred since the major dispute between Dorothy Thompson and Gareth Stedman Jones, over the ‘linguistic’ turn and the meaning of the language of Chartism took place during the 1980s. Since the early-1990s, the debate has now moved on towards what Patrick Joyce and James Vernon have identified as ‘the language of politics’. The aim of this research is to move the debate away from a cultural perspective and, instead, to examine how government policy changed to deal with Chartism. The purpose of this study is, therefore, not to examine the legislative effects of social, political and economic reforms as suggested by Gareth Stedman Jones, but to offer a more thorough investigation of the lines of argument pursued by Dorothy Thompson and James Vernon. Thompson argued that state suppression played a huge role in the demise of Chartism, whilst Vernon has asserted that during the first half of the nineteenth century the political system gradually became closed and disciplined. Mass movements such as Chartism, it is argued, failed in their quest to bring about major changes to the political system in the early nineteenth century, largely because they succumbed to huge pressure from the state and its institutions. In order to establish the influence of the Home Office, this study has analysed how its policy impacted upon the Chartists in the West Riding. This involved a struggle for hegemony between central government and local agencies which ultimately brought about significant changes to the way in which the state functioned, along with many improvements to its machinery of control. These reforms included the advent of better policing and a gradual redefining of the roles of traditional forms of control such as the magistracy, army, militia and yeomanry. From a thorough investigation of both primary and secondary source materials, the evidence suggests that Dorothy Thompson was generally correct in her observation that the Home Office suppression of Chartism allowed the state to learn from its mistakes and become more effective in managing public order. However, this study will argue that the process was not as clear cut as Thompson implied. The implementation of reforms was a gradual process in which the Home Office played a significant role in the management of tensions that existed amongst various central and local government agencies. In doing so, the state became more efficient in controlling disorder. It remains for others to investigate the view of Gareth Stedman Jones that Chartism was by-passed by a reforming state.