This thesis is an examination of the belief and practice of popular magic, specifically related to charmers, in the presbyteries of Haddington and Stirling between the years 1603 and 1688. It is the first study of either locality which concentrates on identifying the difference between charmers and witches, and considers the practice of the former in the broader context of seventeenth-century attitudes towards health and disease of both orthodox medical practitioners and the wider population. The thesis examines charmers and their healing practice in reference to theories of power, popular and elite culture, the church and gender, and reveals new information about seventeenth-century society. The principles and practice of charmers are then compared to orthodox medicine and popular magic, and the recorded healing treatments and rituals have been examined and analysed in close detail. A comparative analysis has been made of the two localities which assesses and contrasts patterns of witchcraft and charming accusation on a parish level. By using evidence contained in kirk records, supplemented by secular court material, it has been shown that all levels of society identified differences between the practice and intent of charmers and witches. Accusation and prosecution of witches was influenced more by local elites, and by elite demonological theories, than accusations of charming. Importantly, the devil was not a feature of charming accusations. Due to the overt nature of charming, differences in its perception and acceptability were highlighted by the less severe penalties which were ordered by the kirk. The dilemma for the church and society was that the church had, to an extent, surrendered its practical healing role with the abandonment of pre-Reformation ritual. The emphasis on personal piety and prayer for the relief of mental and physical suffering did not appear to offer sufficient comfort for the rest of society.

This study looks broadly at the composition of the Scottish peerage in James VI's reign, and specifically at a subset, of the Scottish aristocracy who bore the titles of viscount or better between the years 1587 and 1625. Eighty-five subjects are identified, and classified according to the age of their titles, their religious leanings and the geographical regions from which their titles and powers were drawn, to form anumber of distinct groups---the established nobility, new peers, Protestants, Catholics (both overt and conforming), peers from the highlands and isles, peers from central Scotland, and peers from the Anglo-Scottish border region. / A social analysis of the total body of these peers and its sub-groupings is undertaken, and focuses on patterns associated with their birth, descent, education, succession, marriage, fertility and death. Where appropriate, the results are compared with data available from studies of the contemporary English aristocracy. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

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This thesis explores the commercial links between Scotland and France in the long seventeenth century, with a focus on the Scottish mercantile presence in France’s Atlantic ports, particularly during periods of domestic and international upheaval. This study questions long-held assumptions regarding this relationship, asserting that the ‘Auld Alliance’ continued throughout the period, despite the widely held belief that it ended in 1560. Such assumptions have led scholars largely to ignore the continuing commercial relationship between Scotland and France in the long seventeenth century, focusing instead on the ‘golden age’ of the Auld Alliance or the British relationship with France in the eighteenth century. Such assumptions have been fostered by the methodological approaches used in the study of economic history to date. While I acknowledge the relevance of traditional quantitative approaches to economic history, such as those pioneered by T. C. Smout and which continue to be followed by historians such as Philipp Rössner, I follow alternative methods that have been recently employed by scholars such as Henriette de Bruyn Kops, Sheryllynne Haggerty, Xavier Lamikiz, Allan Macinnes and Steve Murdoch. These scholars have pioneered methodologies that prioritise private sources, allowing us to delve into the motivations and actions of the individuals who actually effected trade, be they merchants, factors, skippers or manufacturers. The core of my research has therefore entailed the discovery and use of previously untapped archival material including account books, letter books and correspondence, which illuminate the participation of these individuals in international trade. Such a study, while filling a specific gap in our understanding of Scotland’s overseas relations, applies a more social methodology to this topic, suggesting that scholars’ approaches need to be fundamentally altered if we are truly to understand the whole picture of Scotland’s, or indeed any nation’s, commercial relationships or wider economic position.

Throughout the seventeenth century, numerous Scots became convinced that the major political and religious upheavals of their age signified the fulfillment of, or further unfolding of, the vivid prophecies described in the Book of Revelation which foretell of the final consummation of all things. To date, however, an in-depth analysis of the evolution of Scottish apocalyptic belief during the seventeenth century has never been undertaken. This thesis utilizes a wide variety of source material to demonstrate the existence of a cohesive, persistent, and largely conservative tradition of apocalyptic thought in Scotland that spanned the years 1588 to 1688. Chapter One examines several influential commentaries on the Book of Revelation published by notable Scots during the decades either side of the Union of Crowns. These works reveal many of the principal characteristics that formed the basis of the Scottish apocalyptic tradition. The most important of these traits which became a consistent feature of the tradition was the rejection of millenarianism. In recent years, historians have exaggerated the influence of millenarian ideals in Scotland during the Covenanting movement which began in 1638. Chapter Two argues that Scottish Covenanters consistently denounced millenarianism as a dangerous, subversive doctrine that could lead to the religious radicalism espoused by sixteenth-century German Anabaptists. Chapter Three looks at political and religious factors which led to the general decline of apocalyptic expectancy in Scotland during the Interregnum. It also demonstrates how, despite this decline, Scottish apocalyptic thinkers continued to uphold the primary traits of the apocalyptic tradition which surfaced over the first half of the century. Lastly, Chapter Four explains how state-enforced religious persecution of Scottish Presbyterians during the Restoration period led to the radicalisation of the tradition and inspired the violent actions of Covenanter extremists who believed they had been chosen by God to act as instruments of his divine vengeance in the latter-days.