This thesis examines the origins and purpose of the land assessment units known as ouncelands and pennylands, known from those areas of Scotland which came under Norse rule prior to the Treaty of Perth in 1266. The study is interdisciplinary, drawing on archaeological, toponymic and numismatic material as well as on documentary evidence. The extent to which the ounceland and pennyland units may be based on pre-Norse systems of assessment is considered, as is the probability of their introduction as an offshoot of the Norwegian lei angr (ship levy) system, as has previously been argued. The broader European context for the development of land assessment and military obligation is also briefly discussed. The conclusions of the thesis are that the ounceland assessment may have been introduced as early as the 10th-11th centuries, while the pennyland assessment was probably introduced in the mid-11th century. Both assessment units appear to have been superimposed onto pre-Norse land divisions, at least in some areas of the Norse settlements in Scotland. This dating would put the development of assessment systems in Norse Scotland later than much of Europe, but earlier than most of Scandinavia.

This thesis examines attitudes toward international affairs held by students and staff at the University of Edinburgh between 1914 and 1939, particularly those relating to the issues of war and peace. Specific ideological areas to be looked at include religious influences, nationalism and imperialism, racial concepts, health, fitness and eugenics, and Marxism. Primary sources made use of throughout include the private papers and publications of officials and teaching staff at the university, newspaper letters and reports, University Court, Senatus, Faculty and other committee papers and minutes, official University publications and course text books, and student publications, society minutes and debating records. In the main body of the thesis the relevant positions of the student body and University official and staff are looked at separately and a generally chronological approach followed, with the overall period divided up into World War One, the 1920s, and the 1930s respectively. The conclusion seeks to evaluate the reasons why both students and staff offered up a generally vigorous support for Britain’s war efforts in both 1914 and 1939, this in spite of the widespread popularity of pacifistic ideas throughout the period covered.

This thesis seeks to identify patterns between various pre-Christian and early Christian sites situated in the pre-Reformation landscape. Scotland, and the west in particular, is distinctly lacking in documentary evidence when compared to other areas in the British Isles – there is unfortunately no Scottish equivalent of the Domesday Book. However, human activity leaves evidence in the form of actual sites or memories and traditions of those that have gone without trace; and it was these sites that form the backbone of this study. A multi-disciplinary approach is adopted, taking an innovative maximalist approach in order to allow patterns to emerge that can be subjected to critical analysis. The study takes the Ordnance Survey National Grid NS map square as an arbitrary limit, and utilises the site record of the Royal Commission for Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, constructing a large database of sites, a digital mapping programme (ArcView), place-name, historical and archaeological data along with evidence from antiquarian authors. The resulting maps were then studied to identify patterns as described in the Methodology (Chapter 2). Chapters 3 and 4 examine the patterns produced when looking at two site types: court hills and holy wells. These site types are considered in respect of their proximity to other site types, in particular, early Christian sites such as parish churches and chapels. The data produced from studying holy wells in the landscape is interesting in their apparent proximity to chapels and parish churches; however, it was limited by the lack of dating evidence for these elusive sites. Court hills, proved to be more interesting and their repeated proximity to parish churches, which mirrored the few previous studies, implied the parish churches had been deliberately placed to the court hills. This, in turn, begged the question, why? In the concluding chapter, the study considers the possibility that court hills continued to be important in a landscape of overarching, general and specific lordship. Patterns indicated a tendency towards the siting of parish churches beside court hills in the royal demesne and provincial lordships, which was less frequent in those of specific lordships. Similarly, there is the possibility that this might represent a form of shire, thought to have been previously unattested in the west of Scotland.

Glasgow Necropolis, which opened in 1833, is celebrated as the first garden or ornamental cemetery in Scotland and as a ‘Victorian Valhalla’ that remembers and represents the makers of Glasgow as the so-called Second City of the British Empire. What few studies there have been have repeated the popular version of its genesis provided by the Merchants’ House of Glasgow, and have not looked beneath this tidy encapsulation of the origin of its new cemetery. This thesis uses the unpublished archives of the Merchants’ House, in particular the records of its Necropolis Committee, as well as numerous related sources, to examine and discuss the more complex interactions that lay behind the House’s investment. The thesis begins with a discussion of the physical and intellectual contexts of the origins of the Necropolis: the first chapter examines the new cemetery in the context of civic improvements in Glasgow in the first third of the nineteenth century, and the second discusses it in the context of cemetery development in Great Britain and western Europe. Chapters three and four offer a detailed account of the production of the Necropolis and its early years as an on-going business. The fifth chapter examines the public reception of the Necropolis, using a variety of contemporary sources, including the published accounts of visitors to the city. The sixth chapter discusses the early funerals and monuments of the Necropolis, and examines how these differed form the practices of previous generations. Methodologically, this thesis adopts a cultural historical approach, with a theoretical basis in the work of Ashplant and Smyth, which focuses on three key concepts in the creation of any cultural product: production, signification and reception.

Very little critical work has been done on collections of charters surviving from medieval Scotland. Using cutting-edge methodologies, this study deconstructs the largest of these collections, namely the Kelso Abbey cartulary, and attempts to answer questions such as when, why and how was it produced, and is its content authentic? Ultimately, it concludes that the manuscript is not a straightforward, objective transcript of the monastery’s charters, and evidence to support this is presented in four chapters, a conclusion and two commentary sections. Chapter one demonstrates that the production of the cartulary was tied to a specific period in the abbey’s history and was certainly produced as part of a campaign to rebuild after the wars of the early fourteenth century and their ramifications. These ramifications included the destruction of the monks’ charters, the destruction of their home and property, and the upheaval of the native landholding establishment by King Edward I and King Robert I. Chapter two reinforces the above suggestions by dating the production of the manuscript between 1321 and 1326 - i.e. the precise years in which King Robert was working to help many of the religious houses in Scotland to reassert themselves after the war. Apart from contextual considerations, chapter two also establishes that the cartulary is not a completely accurate representation of the documentation in the monastery’s archive. Among other things, portions of the manuscript appear to be missing, and the scribes who produced it adopted selection criteria which led to the omission of charters or of diplomatic. Thereafter, chapters three and four evaluate the authenticity of the material in the manuscript. Chapter three demonstrates that there are severe problems with the information, diplomatic, witness lists and other features found in a number of its charters, and chapter four demonstrates that these items share a number of conspicuous features in common, including their locations, conditions and the circumstances which appear to have led to their production. In combination, chapters three and four build a strong case against the authenticity of a number of items in the manuscript, and both of these discussions are complemented by exhaustive commentaries which discuss each of the problematic charters in detail. Finally, this study concludes by demonstrating that certain features of the Kelso Abbey cartulary appear to call into question the veracity of several well-established paradigms, including the notion that cartularies were created for the sole use of the inhabitants of religious communities. It also suggests that the consequences of the Anglo-Scottish wars in the early fourteenth century may be comparable to the consequences of the Norman Conquest of 1066 in terms of inspiring religious houses, like Kelso, to forge charters, and it builds a strong case that this needs to be an area of future inquiry.

This thesis analyses the origins, development and impact of British army recruiting in the Scottish Highlands in the period from 1739-1815. It examines the interaction of government, landlords and tenantry using estate papers, notably the Macleod of Dunvegan and Gordon Castle Muniments, the Forfeited Estates papers and Campbell of Breadalbane collection. Recruiting is analysed within the context of rapid socio-economic change. The emphasis is on tenant reactions to recruiting, and the study concludes that the upward pressure released by this process was a vital factor in bringing about change in the tenurial structure in the region. Both the decline of the tacksman and the emergence of crofting are linked to the process of regiment raising. Military recruiting involved a clear recognition on the part of Highland landlords and tenantry that the empire and the 'fiscal military state' offered alternative sources of revenue. Both groups 'colonised' various levels of the state's military machine. As a result of this close involvement, the government remained a vital influence in the area well after 1745, and a major player in the region's economy. Recruiting was not merely a residue of clanship, rather it was a form of commercial activity, analogous to kelping.

This thesis draws on a wide range of primary sources in order to explore the criminalisation of children in nineteenth century Scotland. The analysis is set in the context of far-reaching changes in the administration of criminal justice including the expansion of urban policing, alterations in criminal procedure and legislative developments. Against this background the thesis examines the impact of pragmatic, religiously inspired philanthropy on reform of juvenile justice in Scotland and argues that Scottish reformers in the 1840s and 1850s achieved a remarkable degree of success in setting up a unique pre-statutory national experiment to deal with juvenile offenders. This innovative diversionary system was based upon the concept of the day industrial school, first set up by Sheriff William Watson in Aberdeen in the early 1840s. A genuine welfare initiative, the day industrial school was preventive in approach, aimed at rescuing vagrant, destitute children and juvenile offenders from a life of crime. Instead of being sent to prison children were sent by the courts to the schools where they received education, food and training in a trade. This system provided a model which was emulated in the reform of juvenile justice throughout the UK and was also of international influence. However, one of the key contentions of this thesis is that from 1854 onwards the pre-statutory Scottish system underwent a process of transformation as it adapted to changes associated with the advent of a statutory UK framework governing certified industrial and reformatory schools. Pressures for uniformity, in the shape of centralising influences and standardising UK wide legislation, combined to subvert the humane ethos of the Scottish pre-statutory system. To the dismay of the original advocates of reform in Scotland the statutory system evolved in a way that they had not anticipated: by the closing decades of the nineteenth century diversionary systems for young offenders had developed into a mechanism for channelling large numbers of children into prolonged detention in residential industrial and reformatory schools, establishments which were penal in character. This entailed criminalisation of children on an immense scale, impacting in a particularly dramatic way on Scottish children. However, despite the enormous gulf between the benign aspirations and high idealism of the early Scottish reformers and the eventual dismal outcome in practice, there was evidence of an abiding current of humanitarianism still flowing through the Scottish system. This left its mark on the Scottish approach which continued, in some respects, to reflect the humanitarian legacy.

This thesis explores the relationship between age, class and gender among female munitions workers at the government explosives factory at Gretna in south-west Scotland during World War I. The Ministry of Munitions not only organised the construction of a factory nine miles in length, but also built two new townships to house a migrant workforce, which was drawn from all parts of the United Kingdom and Ireland. Teenage girls comprised a considerable proportion of this workforce. Significantly, welfare provision at Gretna, both inside and outside the factory, was far more extensive than at many other munitions establishments. This thesis focuses on the relationship between welfare supervisors, women police, social reformers and the female workers. While some middle and upper-class women attempted to claim new areas of social space during World War I, by embracing industrial welfare work or police work, their authority was often defined by their relationship with young, working-class females. Class was important in this relationship. However, welfare workers, for example, not only claimed authority because of their superior social standing, but also because they were often significantly older than much of the female workforce. The thesis concludes that the youthfulness of Gretna munitions workers was a significant component of their wartime identities and experience.

The cattle trade of Scotland is generally considered as a very important element of early modem Scottish economy and society. After peace was established in the Borders, and along with the gradual pacification of the Highlands, a regular trade in livestock developed over the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the principal component of which consisted of large-scale cattle exports to England. A number of obstacles stood in the way of the fledging industry. The credit economy was not sufficiently developed to accommodate the droving trade or to minimise the risk of dishonest dealers, bankruptcies and defaults. Also, smugglers and thieves regularly disrupted the trade, and the Privy Council repeatedly tried to curb illegal activities, especially in the Highlands. Yet, despite difficulties and regional differences, most of Scotland's territories appear to have engaged in the cattle trade. Previous research has often referred to the cattle trade. The few studies of the subject though, are either too concise to adequately explore the topic or lack the perspective of an economic history. In this thesis, wider economic factors such as the credit economy, lawlessness and Irish competition are discussed and related to price trends, export figures and general costs and profits. Present assumptions have been re-examined, and new research data has been collected and analysed along with existing evidence, in an effort to fill the gap in the secondary literature. It has been found in this thesis that both livestock trade and cattle prices followed similar trends. After decades of modest growth or stagnation in the first half of the 17th century, a market infrastructure developed by the 1660s, which allowed the cattle business to reach unprecedented levels. The growth was unevenly distributed in geographic and social terms, and was mainly accounted for by a small number of rich landowners/businessmen in the Southwest. Trade and prices stabilised to this new equilibrium for more than 80 years (with many fluctuations), until the mid-18th century when they grew significantly further.

This thesis examines the interaction between the Kirk’s institutions and the state between the fall of the earl of Arran’s government in 1585 and the full restoration of diocesan episcopacy in 1610. Due to the lack of focussed secondary material, reliance has been placed upon primary sources, especially information from the courts of the Kirk above the parochial level - the presbyteries, synods and the general assembly - on personal correspondence and on governmental and diplomatic sources. The role of the general assembly has been investigated by analyses of its composition and its interaction with the crown. The part played by the presbytery of Edinburgh and its successor as the principal standing committee of the Kirk, the commission of the general assembly, provides a more focussed investigation of the personnel involved in ecclesiastical politics at the highest level. Chapters are also devoted to the synods and the presbyteries, concentrating on how these regional and local courts responded to matters of national significance. Finally, a chapter on the question of ecclesiastical representation in parliament complements the analysis of the institutional framework of the Kirk by demonstrating how opinions on a particular issue were formed and changed by political circumstances. This analysis demonstrates that many of the historiographical constructs which have been placed upon the issue of ecclesiastical politics in the reign of James VI require fundamental reassessment. The idea of factions within the Kirk - ‘Melvillians’ , or ‘Presbyterians’ and ‘episcopalians’ - is misleading and has done much to cloud the true picture. The alternative view presented here suggests that there were, throughout the period, shifting patterns of opposition and obedience to the policy of the crown rather than fixed clerical parties. Opinions remained fluid and were affected by events. Historians have approached the sources with preconceptions concerning the existence of such factions and have thus tried to find what was often not there. It is also demonstrated that there was a crucial difference in royal policy on either side of the regnal union which, along with 1596, should be seen as a turning point. Prior to 1603, James VI had a firm gnp on his ecclesiastical policy as a result of direct personal involvement after 1596. Consequently, he was able to carry out a successful policy based on consensus. After his accession to the English throne, however, the indirect nature of hs contact with ecclesiastical politics caused him to lose that grip. The centralising tendency in government, which had become evident prior to 1603, accelerated and was a major factor in increased clerical opposition to royal policy during the first decade of the seventeenth century. It is, therefore, also asserted here that, contrary to the view of most historians, it was this factor and not the liturgical innovations of the second decade of the seventeenth century which brought about the loss of clerical confidence in the religious policy of James VI.