1,720,995 research outputs found
Witchcraft in Scotland: emotions and strategy
Get PDFThis thesis explores the emotions and strategies of suspects who were prosecuted for witch craft in Scotland between 1563 (the year in which the Scottish Witchcraft Act was passed) and 1736(the date on which the Act was repealed). In recent years there has been an explosion of academic interest in the relationship between emotions and witchcraft. However much of this scholarly interest has focused upon witchcraft in continental Europe and in England. These studies have largely bypassed Scotland. This thesis addresses this gap by studying the emotional perspective of the accused witch during the Scottish witch hunts.
The thesis asks two questions. Firstly, what are the emotions displayed by the witches within the sources? Secondly, what can the strategies employed by the accused witch under interrogation tell us about their emotional framework? This research further investigates how the strategic negotiations displayed by some suspects during their prosecution process can enable a wider understanding of the emotional experience of suspects.
The principal sources used in this thesis are the primary records relating to the witch trials. As well as utilising the extensive historiography on witchcraft in Scotland, across Europe and from England, this thesis draws on research undertaken by scholars in such academic fields as psychology, philosophy, feminist studies, and criminology. This recent research can assist our understanding of the emotions displayed by the accused witch.The thesis examines both fear and anger, two emotions that are generally characterised as negative emotions. They typically frame the longstanding and widely held stereotypical characterisation of suspects as motivated to acts of witchcraft because of their negative emotional personalities.
The thesis also examines the witch’s own fears rather than the fear caused by the witch. The chapter on anger argues that the anger of the witch may be interpreted in gendered ways that reveal strategy and agency. Turning to the emotion of contempt, the thesis argues that it is possible to identify contempt displayed by the accused witch towards their interrogators through examining their use of petitions to the privy council to address their grievances. A chapter on positive emotions then explores the emotions of gratitude, pride, and love to show how these emotions shaped the strategies adopted by some of those accused of witchcraft. The chapter on self-conscious emotions examines whether, in addition to frequently acknowledging their legal guilt, the accused displayed signs of moral guilt or shame in respect of their alleged misdeeds.
The thesis uses micro-historical studies of individual cases to show that the emotional perspectives of the accused witch in Scotland were far broader than has hitherto been suggested
Justice and society in Strathspey: the Regality Court of Grant, c. 1690-1748
Get PDFPrior to the abolition of heritable jurisdictions in 1748 much of Scotland’s judicial
business was handled by courts of barony and regality. Historians have debated the
importance of these franchise courts in the everyday administration of the law in
Scotland during the eighteenth century; however, no detailed studies of these courts
have been undertaken for this period. This thesis explores the work of heritable
jurisdictions through a case study of the regality of Grant and its constituent baronies
in Strathspey from 1690 to 1748. In doing so this thesis contributes to debates in the
legal, social and economic history of Scotland along with Highland history. The
thesis’ main findings are that the baron and regality courts played an important role
in rural communities such as Strathspey, where they provided an important local
utility, offering legal safeguards and local access to the legal system which was
valued by all classes of people.
The thesis begins by defining the court’s importance in the context of clan society.
Following this there is a discussion of the court’s officials and procedures. Thereafter
the thesis considers the main areas of the regality’s jurisdiction, allowing for an
analysis of the functions performed by a regality court in the Highlands in the early
eighteenth century. The thesis demonstrates that the regality of Grant was actively
concerned not only with criminal and civil suits but also economic policy, social
control, local government and the administration of a landed estate. The jurisdiction
of the regality of Grant is shown to be little different from that of a barony.
Many historians have held that franchise courts were anachronistic and generally in
decline prior to 1748, this thesis disputes these assumptions. Evidence from the
Grant court books, supported by material from the Seafield muniments, shows that
courts of barony and regality fulfilled important social functions. Peasants, gentry
and the laird all used the court to their own advantage and in turn contributed to a
vibrant local legal culture. The thesis concludes by arguing that abolition of these
jurisdictions was not necessarily advantageous for the people of the Highlands as the
courts’ social functions still needed to be performed after 1748
Leveller social networks and their sectarian dynamic: 1646-1658
Get PDFThis thesis re-examines the so-called ‘Levellers’ of the English Revolutionary period alongside concurrent sectarian activity. The period under examination is the years 1646 to 1658, commencing with the gradual emergence of Leveller rhetoric from within London’s tolerationist discourse, and ending with the death of Oliver Cromwell in 1658, which commenced a period of recalibration and unrest across the Protectorate. The thesis argues that there was very little of what could be considered a distinct political Leveller movement, as previous scholarship has suggested, rather that Leveller networks and discourse existed within sectarian circles across the nation. It is argued that the nature of Leveller activity was far more dependent on a godly belief system and discourse within sectarian congregations than has previously been acknowledged. Rather than the traditional Leveller leadership, this work foregrounds sectarian preachers and polemicists, and it is argued that the Leveller platform was dependent on preachers and congregational circles as its primary means of development. Individuals such as Samual Oates, Samuel Chidley, Samuel Hyland and Jeremiah Ives are presented along with others as lay-preachers who were crucial nodes for driving Leveller activity.
The thesis suggests that a Christian underpinning of Leveller beliefs, such as Right Reason, or an emphasis on godly righteousness, have been overlooked in previous scholarship and that these are further signals of a fundamentally Christian foundation to Leveller arguments. While a Reformed two-kingdoms theory, the separation of the civil and spiritual state, was at the heart of Leveller campaigns, issues of a democratic legislature rarely featured. This thesis demonstrates that Leveller arguments which were found in both civilian and military circles often employed a millenarian position, relating to the anticipated Second Coming, and much of their Christian belief informed their desires for an egalitarian and tolerationist civil government. This thesis will utilise the language of social networks in their informal exploration, suggesting that Levellersim is best understood as moving through a series of interwoven networks, rather than a coherent and organised movement. A social network vocabulary is utilised to assist in the understanding of Leveller social connections and the ways in which Leveller arguments were transmitted among godly congregations and social affiliations. After re-examining the period of Leveller activity most discussed in previous scholarship, the period 1646 to 1649, the thesis continues its analysis of ongoing sectarian Leveller activity into the Commonwealth and Protectorate years. This thesis concludes by examining the presence of Leveller arguments and social networks within Fifth Monarchist congregations, suggesting that the two persuasions need not have always been mutually exclusive. Some ministers and polemicists within the Fifth Monarchy community, including John Rogers, Samuel Hyland and James Frese did promote Leveller ideas as a godly position in preparation for the rule of Christ’s directly appointed Saints
The Scottish State and the Experience of Government, c. 1560-1707:Essays in Honour of Julian Goodare
Get PDFThis volume examines the development of Scotland’s institutions of government in the early modern period, and considers how local and central authorities affected the lives of the Scottish people. In the book’s first part, contributors provide up-to-date studies of initiatives to reform, define and reimagine the Scottish state. The essays discuss changes in the privy council, parliament and administration, and assess political and constitutional ideas. The book’s second part explores how Scots experienced government. Contributors consider the material culture of state power and the actions of local courts and officials. Essays reconstruct the perspectives of criminals and religious dissenters, as well as participants in debt litigation and slander suits. Several chapters attend to the role of governing bodies in the Scottish witch-hunts. The essays respond to major themes in the work of Julian Goodare, who retired as Professor of History at the University of Edinburgh in 2021
Religious comprehension and toleration in Scotland, 1689-1712
No full textThis thesis examines the religious divisions that Scotland experienced after the
revolution of 1688-89, and how the authorities responded to them. It shows how the
nation went from having one established Church in 1689, to having two churches in
1712. These were the presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the new episcopalian
church that was erected under the toleration act that was enacted on 3 March 1712.
The thesis argues that this development was a combination of political, intellectual,
and social processes that culminated in a begrudging acceptance of legal pluralism and
the end of the established Church’s exclusive national status.
After episcopacy was abolished in 1689, and presbyterianism and the
Westminster confession were re-established as the Church’s ecclesiological and
doctrinal standards in 1690, there was a substantial episcopalian minority who refused
to accept these standards. The government of William II, the re-established
presbyterians, and the episcopalians, all supported a national church but disagreed over
how it should be organised. Many episcopalians were willing to be received into the
Church under a flexible presbyterian settlement that did not pressure them to accept
the Westminster confession. William’s government adapted this idea to try and
convince the presbyterians to receive episcopalians into the Church under a flexible
settlement that did not require them to fully accept the re-established standards.
However, the presbyterians felt that ministers should accept presbyterian government
and subscribe the Westminster Confession of Faith before they were received.
Comprehension, or the modification of the established Church’s structure to
accommodate nonconformists, was promoted in the early 1690s to solve these
divisions, but its meaning was not fixed. Four national settlements attempted to
implement comprehension in the 1690s. These were the Act ratifying the Confession
of Faith and settling presbyterian church government in 1690, the ‘Church Union’ that
was proposed to the 1692 general assembly, the 1693 Act for settling the quiet and
peace of the Church, and the formula for entry that was implemented by the 1694
general assembly. Comprehension was also practised in the localities when ministers
negotiated an arrangement with a Church court or visitation commission to be
received. As the terms of national comprehension gradually became associated with
the presbyterians’ demands, most episcopalians became alienated from the Church.
The 1695 Act concerning the Church addressed this problem and had widespread
uptake. It allowed episcopalians to minister in their parishes and exempted them from
accepting presbyterianism and the Westminster Confession, if they qualified by
swearing certain state oaths.
Despite the compromise that was reached in 1695, the differences over
comprehension caused some politicians and younger episcopalians to argue that their
co-religionists should be legally tolerated as a separate church. These men organised
themselves into a tolerationist movement and used Anne’s accession to propose a
toleration act to the Scottish parliament in June 1703. The act failed, but the movement
continued to claim that it was necessary because comprehension had failed to preserve
a national church in the 1690s. After the union of 1707, the tolerationists used the
political and constitutional arrangements within the new British state to push for a
broader toleration that allowed episcopalians to use the English liturgy. The 1712 act
was the culmination of a successful campaign by the movement to convince the British
authorities to enact such a toleration. The thesis concludes by examining the previously
unexplored proposals for a Scottish model of England’s 1689 toleration act that were
unsuccessfully made by some presbyterians to counter the broad terms of the 1712 act
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