Geography and Scottish History

In the first two years of your degree (known as sub-honours), you will take the required modules in Scottish history alongside modules in at least one other subject. 

Typically, you will take one Scottish history module per semester during your first two years, and two modules per semester during your third and fourth year (known as Honours). 

Course information may change. Module information and course content, teaching and assessment may change each year and after you have accepted your offer to study at the University of St Andrews. We display the most up-to-date information possible, but this could be from a previous academic year. For the latest module information, see the module catalogue.

• First year

  Students will take the following compulsory first-year module:

  • The Kingdom of the Scots, c.900-1707: explores Scotland's long history as an independent kingdom between the tenth and the early eighteenth century. It places particular emphasis on the use of museum collections and built heritage as historical evidence.

  Students will also choose one module from the following:

  • The Fall of Rome and the Origins of Europe (400-1000): examines how political, cultural and social life changed in the Byzantine, British and 'barbarian' worlds in response to major upheavals.
  • The Early Modern Western World (c. 1450 - c. 1770): looks at continental European history in the early modern period, and the expansion of Europe.
  • Themes in Late Modern History (c. 1776 - 2001): provides thematic coverage of major political and social developments in the Western world during the 19th and 20th centuries. 

• Second year

  Students will take the following compulsory second-year module: 

  • Scotland, Britain and Empire (c. 1700 - 2000): provides an introduction to how and why the British nation state evolved from the separate kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland and how and why it has survived over the last three centuries.

  Students will also choose one module from the following: 

  • History as a Discipline: Development and Key Concepts: provides an introduction to key theoretical and methodological approaches which have characterised the emergence of history as a discipline since medieval times.
  • Medieval Europe (11th - 15th c.): examines key themes that helped to shape continental Western Europe from the aftermath of the Carolingian Empire