Historian wins national award

A historian from the University of St Andrews has been honoured for his research into Scotland in the Viking age. 

Alex Woolf, a lecturer in the School of History, has been awarded the Scottish History Book of the Year title for the first book in twenty years on the destruction of the Picts.

Mr Woolf, one of four authors singled out this year, was honoured by the Saltire Society for his book `From Pictland to Alba 789-1070′, a historical monograph published in 2007.  The book, volume 2 in the New Edinburgh History of Scotland series, examines the mysterious disappearance of the Picts and their language and the sudden rise to prominence of the Gaelic-speaking Scots.

Using a range of contemporary accounts and surviving fragmentary sources, the book has been commended as the most coherent account of the darkest period in Scottish history to date.

Mr Woolf, who was presented with the £1500 award by Linda Fabiani MSP at the National Library of Scotland, was one of two historians from the School of History to reach the shortlist for the award this year; Dr Michael Brown was nominated as a finalist for his book `Bannockburn: The Scottish War and the British Isles, 1307 – 1323′.

The Saltire Society is a registered charity founded in 1936 to promote Scottish life and culture.  For further information visit http://www.saltiresociety.org.uk

ENDS

Issued by the Press Office, University of St Andrews
Contact Gayle Cook, Press Officer on 01334 467227 / 462529, mobile 07900 050 103, or email [email protected]

Ref:  Woolf Saltire 171208
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