Before and after Bishop Elphinstone: Creativity and learning in medieval and renaissance Aberdeen

525 Years in the Pursuit of Truth: A New History of The University of Aberdeen

King’s College has a prehistory. Dr Jackson Armstrong (Senior Lecturer in History, University of Aberdeen) sheds new light on the founding of King’s College as a kingdom-building endeavour that underscored Scottish engagement with the age of the renaissance. This involved the tenure of Archdeacon John Barbour at the medieval cathedral of St Machar’s by the Don, who in the 1380s composed The Brus—an epic poem that is considered to be the foundational work of Scots literature—and in the chantry chaplains of St Nicholas in the adjacent royal burgh on the Dee. Transcript for this episode: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/events/resources/index.php#panel1550