Teaching
Neil McGuigan organizes and teaches the following modules for the School of History and the Combined Studies programme:
SC1901: Mediaeval Scotland, 1100–1513
SC1902: Celtic Civilization: History of the Celts from Brennus to Braveheart
ME2901: Introduction to Early Medieval Europe
ME2902: The Rise of Europe: Middle Ages, 1000–1500
SC3904: Dark Age Scotland - Northern Britain before Macbeth
ME3906: Normans, Natives and Norsemen: Scotland c. 1050–1250
Research areas
Neil McGuigan is a historian with a particular focus on Scotland, Britain and Ireland before 1300. Thematically, he is most interested in political and social order, cultural encounters, kingship and succession, regionality, language and ethnicity, and the forces that underlie the use of myth (including historical writing, medieval and modern). He tends to navigate the lonely, desolate and forbidding wastes that separate the lush fields of the 'Celtic', the 'Anglo-Norman', the 'Anglo-Saxon' & the 'Viking', and those of the pre-1100 and post-1100.
His previous research has concentrated on the politics and church of northern Britain c.800 to c.1200 and the twelfth-century sources for ‘Viking Age’ history, especially in relation to northern England and Scotland. In 2021, he published Máel Coluim III, 'Canmore': An Eleventh-Century Scottish King. The book subsequently won the international Frank Watson Book Prize, awarded in 2023 for the 'best book on Scottish History published in the previous two years'.
Selected publications
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Open access
McGuigan, N., 1 Jan 2026, In: Apardjón Journal for Scandinavian Studies. Special Issue, 4, p. 84-120
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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McGuigan, N., Jul 2025, In: Speculum. 110, 3, p. 811-812
Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review › peer-review
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Open access
McGuigan, N., 9 Jun 2025, In: Foillseachaidhean Rannsachaidh Oilthigh Ghlaschu. 1, p. 416-436
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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McGuigan, N., 6 Feb 2024, The reigns of Edmund, Eadred and Eadwig, 939-959: New interpretations. Blanchard, M. E. & Riedel, C. (eds.). Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, p. 121–149 (Anglo-Saxon Studies; vol. 48).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review
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McGuigan, N., Nov 2024, History Scotland, 24.5, p. 44-50.
Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article
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McGuigan, N., 2023, In: Early Medieval Europe. 31, 2, p. 331-333
Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review › peer-review
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McGuigan, N., 2023, In: Scottish Historical Review. 102, 1, p. 161-162
Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review › peer-review
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McGuigan, N., Sept 2023, History Scotland, 23.5, p. 11-17.
Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article
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McGuigan, N., 19 Oct 2022, In: Anglo-Saxon England. 48, p. 121-162
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
McGuigan, N., 1 Dec 2022, In: Offa's Dyke Journal. 4, p. 36–65
Research output: Contribution to journal › Special issue › peer-review