Academic Patronage in the Scottish Enlightenment

Roger Emerson

This book considers the ways in which 388 men secured posts in the Scottish universities 1690-1806, from the purge following the Revolution of 1688 to the end of Henry Dundas's political career. Most professors were political appointees vetted and supported by political factions and their leaders. This study considers the politics of patronage appointments at the universities in Glasgow, Edinburgh and St Andrews. The improving agenda of political patrons and of those they served is considered and its relation to the Scottish Enlightenment is explored.

CONTENTS; A Note on the Text; List of Abbreviations; Tables; 1 The Glasgow University and College Staffs in 1714; 2. Professorial Appointments 1690 -1806; PART I: PRELIMINARIES; Chapter 1: Introduction; 1. Patronage and The Enlightenment; 2. Data and the Scope of the Study; 3. Politics and University Patronage; 4. The Processes of Appointment; 5. Other Aims of this Book; PART II: GLASGOW; Chapter 2: Glasgow university to 1701; 1. The Structures of Patronage at Glasgow University; 2. The Purge of 1690 and the Revolution Settlement to 1692-3. Appointments 1692-though 1701; Chapter 3: Principal Stirling's Regime: Family and Politics 1701-1725; 1. The Political Environment; 2. John Stirling and the Expansion of the University, 1701-1714; 3. The Decline of Principal Stirling, 1714-1725; Chapter 4: Glasgow under the Campbells 1725-1742; 1. Ilay's Visitation and the End of the Stirling Regime 1725-1727; 2. The Regime of the Campbells 1727-1742; Chapter 5: Squadrone Glasgow and the Return of the Duke of Argyll,1742-1761; 1. Squadrone Glasgow; 2. Glasgow after the '45; 3. Argyll's Return to Power; 4. Argyll, Greatest of Patrons; Chapter 6: The Age of Bute and the Moderates; 1. The Age of Merit?; 2. Catch as Catch Can; 3. Other Glasgow Appointments Made by the Masters; Chapter 7 :Glasgow University in the Age of Dundas; 1.'Harry the Ninth'; 2. Dundas's Glasgow Before the French Revolution; 3. Glasgow Appointments During the French Revolution; 4. Conclusion; PART III: EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY; Chapter 8: Edinburgh University to 1704; 1. Introduction; 2. The Revolution Settlement; Chapter 9: Edinburgh Appointments in the Faculty of Divinity; 1. The Principals; 2.. Divinity Professors; 3. Ecclesiastical History; 4. Oriental Languages; Chapter 10: Chairs of Interest to Lawyers; 1. Humanity; 2. Universal and Civil History and Roman Antiquities; 3. The Law Chairs; 4. Public Law; 5. Civil Law; 6. Scots Law; Chapter 11: Surgical and Medical Chairs; 1. Introduction; 2. Botany and Materia Medica; 3. Anatomy; 4. Surgery, Clinical Surgery and Military Surgery; 5. Chemistry to 1726; 6. The Founding of a Medical School; 7. Midwifery; 8. Chemistry after 1726; 9. The Institutes or Theory of Medicine; 10. Theory and Practice of Medicine; 11. Natural History; 12. The Chair of Agriculture; Chapter 12: The Arts Chairs; 1. Mathematics; 2. Astronomy; 3. Greek; 4. The Regents, 1695-1707; 5. Logic and Metaphysics; 6. Moral Philosophy; 7. Natural Philosophy; 8. Rhetoric and Belles Lettres; 9. Conclusion; PART IV: ST ANDREWS UNIVERSITY; Chapter 13: The Arts Chairs 1690-c.1715; 1. The Uniqueness of the Place and its Institutions; 2..The Purge of 1690 and the Revolution Settlement; 3. The First Principals; 4. Other Appointments at St Salvator's and St. Leonard's Colleges 1691- C. 1693; 5. College Appointments to 1716; 6. The Mathematics Professorship 1690-1708; 7. So?; Chapter 14: St Mary's College and Other Appointments 1713 -1747; 1. St Mary's Appointments 1693-1713; 2. The '15 and After; 3. Appointments in the Arts Colleges 1716-1739; 4. St Mary's College 1720-1747; Chapter 15: The Untold Story; 1. Aspirations and Disappointments; 2. Signs of Crisis; 3. The Union of the Arts Colleges in 1747; Chapter 16: Thomas Tullideph's St Andrews, 1747-1777; 1. The Making of a 'usurping tyrant'; 2. The Tullideph Regime; Chapter 17: the Dundas Era at St Andrews, 1780-1806; 1. Gaining Control; 2. Dundas as Patron; 3. A Summing Up; PART V: CONCLUSION; Chapter 18: Conclusions; 1. Appointments: Politics, Processes and Constraints; 2. The Managers; 3. The People Appointed by the Patrons.; 4. Scotland and Europe; BIBLIOGRAPHY; APPENDICES; 1. Estimated Values of the Chairs in the Scottish Universities for the 1690s, 1725, 1760, 1795.; 2. Average Total Incomes of the Professors from All Sources; INDEX.