Oxford LibGuides: Early modern history (British & W European c. 1500-c. 1800): Scottish & Irish sources

Jacobite Uprising of 1745

An incident in the rebellion of 1745 by David Morier

Key Irish newspapers

Irish Newspaper Archives & Radical Irish Newspaper Archive
INA provides access to over the archive of 110+ Irish national and regional newspapers, covering over 300 years of Irish culture, history, and politics. It includes, for instance, Freeman’s Journal, Irish Press and Irish Independent, but also regional publications such as the Dublin Evening Post.

The Radical Irish Newspaper Archive includes 100+ titles covering a broad sweep of nationalist, republican, feminist, and socialist publications covering mostly the revolutionary period 1913–23. This collection will also be useful to researchers of the post-independent Ireland.
The Irish Times (1859-2015) / Weekly Irish Times (1876-1958)
Founded originally as a moderate Protestant Irish nationalist newspaper, it was a predominantly Unionist until the 1930s. It is an important source for studies on Irish history and culture, but also Irish views on international events. The Irish Times passed into the ownership of a trust in 1974.

Scottish sources

Medieval and Early Modern Sources Online (MEMSO)
A growing resource of essential medieval and early modern sources online. It is an excellent way to access a large library of books essential to the study of medieval and early modern England, Scotland and Ireland. Includes selections of annals and chronicles, calendars and registers, saints’ lives, Rolls’ Series and HMC reports and Statutes of the Realm. Particularly strong for Scottish history.

Some key sources:
Calendar of Border Papers (1560 – 1603)
Calendar of Home Office Papers of the Reign of George III (1760 – 1775)
Calendar of State Papers relating to Scotland and Mary Queen of Scots (1547 - 1597)
Calendar of Treasury Papers (1696 - 1728) & Books (1729-1745)
Pitcairn's Criminal Trials in Scotland (1488 - 1624)
Register of the Privy Council of Scotland
Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland (1488 - 1574)

Scottish historical documents; [compiled by] Gordon Donaldson.

Scottish History Society Publications [URR K.6.2]
Volumes kept in the Old Bodleian's Upper Reading Room. The Scottish History Society is the leading publisher of manuscript sources relating to the history of Scotland. Founded in 1886, the Society has published over 170 volumes; taken together, these form a collection of great richness and variety illustrating the history of the nation as recorded by contemporaries, covering all periods from the twelfth to the twentieth centuries and a very wide range of topics - social, economic, legal, political, constitutional, diplomatic, military and religious history.

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Example: Scottish texts and calendars: an analytical guide to serial publications; David and Wendy B. Stevenson. (London; Edinburgh: Royal Historical Society; Scottish History Society, 1987).
Calendar of State Papers, Scotland
For the period 1547-88. 9 volumes [via British History Online - requires Single Sign-On]
Calendar of Border Papers
Papers concerning the Anglo-Scottish border (1560-1603). 2 volumes [via British History Online]

Rotuli Scaccarii Regum Scotorum = The Exchequer Rolls of Scotland. 1264-1600. Edited by John Stuart and George Burnett et al. 23 vols. (Edinburgh, H.M. General Register House, 1878-1908). [URR K.5.71]

Registrum Secreti Sigilli Regum Scotorum = The Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland.1488-1584. Edited by M. Livingstone et al. 8 vols. (Edinburgh, H.M. General Register House/Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1908-1982). [URR K.5.70]

Acta Dominorum Concilii = Acts of the Lords of Council in civil causes. 1478-1503. Edited by George Neilson et al. 3 vols. (Edinburgh, H.M. General Register House/Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1839-1993). [URR K.5.348]

Acts of the lords of council in public affairs, 1501-1554: selections from the Acta dominorum concilii introductory to the Register of the Privy Council of Scotland. Edited by Robert Kerr Hannay. (Edinburgh: H. M. General Register House, 1932). [URR K.5.67]

The Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, 1124-1707. (Edinburgh, 1814-75). 11 vols & index. [URR K.5.354]

Charters and Documents of Glasgow
Transcripts of 123 key charters and other documents, plus abstracts of further related documents relating to Glasgow for the period 1175-1649. 2 volumes [via British History Online]
The New Statistical Account of Scotland
Edinburgh, 1845. 15 volumes [available online via Making of the Modern World]

Irish sources

The proclamations of Ireland : 1660-1820 / edited by James Kelly with Mary Ann Lyons. 5 vols. Dubling, 2014. [Volume 1: Charles II, 1660-85 -- Volume 2: James II, 1685-91; William and Mary, 1689-1702 ; Anne, 1702-1714 -- Volume 3: George I, 1714-1727 and George II, 1727-60 -- Volume 4: George III, Part 1: 1760-1790 -- Volume 5: George III, Part 2: 1791-1820.]

Medieval and Early Modern Sources Online (MEMSO)
A growing resource of essential medieval and early modern sources online. It is an excellent way to access a large library of books essential to the study of medieval and early modern England, Scotland and Ireland. Includes selections of annals and chronicles, calendars and registers, saints’ lives, Rolls’ Series and HMC reports and Statutes of the Realm.

Some key sources:
Calendar of the State Papers relating to Ireland. 1509-1669. [also via British History Online. Requires Oxford SSO login]
Calendar of Patent and Close Rolls of Chancery in Ireland (1514-1633)
Calendar of the Manuscripts of the Marquis of Ormonde (1572 - 1685)

The journals of the House of Commons of the Kingdom of Ireland. 28 vols. (Dublin, 1753-91). Selections also available online in Making of the Modern World 1450-1850.

Carte Papers (BOD MS Carte)
The Carte papers in the Bodleian Library comprise vast collections of original papers from various sources which Thomas Carte amassed in preparation for the publication of his biography of James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond, in 1735-6. There are 276 large volumes, comprising Ormond, Fitzwilliam, Chichester, Sandwich, Wharton, Huntingdon and Nairn papers largely relating to the history of Britain and Ireland in the period 1560-1715.
Calendar of Carte Papers
Between 1877 and 1883 Edward Edwards produced a calendar of the entire Carte collection, itself comprising 75 volumes. The calendar is only available in the Bodleian Library, though some Irish libraries have microfilm copies.
The calendar gives an abstract of every paper in the Carte collection in chronological order. Calendar entries for the period 1660-87 were digitised and are available via an archived webpage.