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This thesis has been based on a detailed examination of the ten thousand two hundred letters which form the extant 17th century correspondence in His Grace the Duke of Hamilton's archives, and of approximately ten thousand household, building and estate accounts in the same Collection. A Calendar of the letters forms the appendix to the thesis; a Calendar of the accounts is in preparation. The exact period under consideration is 1625-1712, from the succession of the 1st duke to the family titles until the death of his grandson the 4th duke. It has often been assumed that in the society of seventeenth century Scotland there was a great gulf between the anglicised peerage and the rest of the population, that the leading members of the Scottish aristocracy enjoyed a high standard of living in England while their fellow-countrymen remained at home in comparatively primitive conditions. The present survey suggests that this view is inaccurate. The dukes of Hamilton were Scotland's premier peers, and the 1st and 2nd dukes did spend a large part of their adult lives in London. Nevertheless, they retained strong links with their own estates which they visited frequently. After the Civil War, the family became once more firmly based at Hamilton. They had their children educated locally, married their daughters into the Scottish peerage, and formed the focal point of the local community. Their houses were large, their furniture fine and their gardens well laid-out, but in this they were no different from their contemporaries of a similar status. A comparison with the family papers of other Scottish peers shows that they shared a common standard of living and indeed a common outlook. It would therefore seem probable that throughout the seventeenth century the Scottish peerage remained an integral part of Scottish society, living at home in a manner similar to that of the gentry and richer merchants, and relying to a large extent on local loyalties. Only towards the end of the period, with the coming of union with England and the emergence of a party political system, did the situation begin to change.

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The subject of this study is the earls and earldom of Mar c.1281-1513. Chapter 1 provides a description and analysis of the internal structure and administration of Mar, detailing the lands contained within each of Mar’s lordships and their respective caputs. This is supplemented by a breakdown of the Mar rental yields between 1435 and 1565, sourced from various accounts contained within the Exchequer Rolls. Chapter 2 charts the political development of the early earls and earldom of Mar between c.1281 and 1388. It is argued that the earldom suffered from extended periods of absentee lordship, instigating a decline in the earldom’s fortunes and importance, only interrupted by a brief revival between 1388 and 1435. Chapter 3 is concerned with the fortunes of Mar under the control of Mar’s only female countess to rule in her own right, Isabella Douglas, sister of James Douglas, 2nd earl of Douglas and Mar. The chapter draws particular attention to her attempts to consolidate her authority in the wake of debates surrounding the Douglas inheritance after 1388, and her response to Albany Stewart interference in her earldom between 1402 and 1404. In doing so, it presents an alternative interpretation of Countess Isabella’s role in the coup of 1404 led by Alexander Stewart, son of Alexander Stewart lord of Badenoch. This chapter also explores the issue of female authority, and argues that the proactive policies of Countess Isabella have been largely ignored in the historiography of the period. Chapter 4 provides an assessment of the earls and earldom of Mar from 1435-1513. Building on the examination of the career of Alexander Stewart, earl of Mar contained in chapter 3, this chapter explores the political ramifications of his death and the attempts by both the Erskines and the Lyles to secure their Mar inheritance. Their decision to court the Forbes family in a bid to secure local support for their claims highlights the hitherto underemphasized importance of this family as the font of local authority, and draws attention to the effect of Stewart’s death on the exercise of local lordship in Mar. Taken together, these four chapters will challenge current perceptions of Mar’s geographical development and political decline between c.1281 and 1513.

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No description available.

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Les conflits de rang sont en France aux XVIIème et XVIIIème siècle une source abondante de contentieux. Si leur dimension sociale et symbolique a été étudiée, leur dimension juridique a moins retenu l’attention. Une approche phénoménologique des rangs, des préséances, des hiérarchies, des conflits dont ils sont l’occasion et de leurs voies de règlement en montrent la nature conflictuelle, juridique et judiciaire. A l’examen, les cérémonies et les actes où s’exprime la puissance publique (audiences publiques des souverains, lits de justice, entrées royales et principales cérémonies de l’information), révèlent le caractère constitutionnel avant la lettre de cette matière, la perméabilité entretenue entre le signe de l’autorité, que l’on peut résumer par le rang, et l’autorité elle-même. En regard, les éléments de doctrine contemporains, pour précieux qu’ils soient, laissent perplexe. Pauvre ou silencieuse, la doctrine semble pécher par prudence. L’autorité du précédent y est tacitement reconnue tandis que la puissance discrétionnaire d’un souverain démiurge indiscrètement exaltée. Cependant, l’époque n’est pas pour autant privée de toute pensée des rangs adéquate à son objet. La littérature contemporaine montre que la hiérarchie constitue pour le public cultivé de l’époque un schème fondamental, une structure implicite du discours. Ce que la doctrine s’efforce de taire et que les sources contemporaines révèlent est le travail concurrent de deux matrices à l’oeuvre dans l’Etat royal à l’âge classique, la contradiction croissante entre la souveraineté et la hiérarchie. / Conflicts of rank in France in the 17th and 18th centuries were an abundant source of litigation. If their social and symbolic dimensions have already been studied, their legal dimension has attracted less attention. A phenomenological approach to ranks, precedencies, and hierarchies, as well as their ensuing conflicts and subsequent outcomes reveal their contentious, legal and judicial character. Upon examination, the ceremonies and acts during which public authority (the sovereigns' public audiences, parliamentary sessions presided over by the king, royal entrances, and the main ceremonies of information) expressed itself reveal a constitutional character before the very existence of such a document, as well as the permeability maintained between the sign of authority - as assumed by rank - and the authority itself. On the other hand, the elements of contemporary doctrine, as precious as they may be, remain perplexing. Poor or lacking, doctrine seems to be exceedingly cautious. The authority of the precedent is tacitly recognized whereas the demiurge sovereign's discretionary power indiscreetly exalted. However, the era was hardly lacking in any adequate thought as to ranks. The contemporary literature shows that the hierarchy constituted a fundamental scheme or an implicit structure of discourse for the educated public at the time. What doctrine seeks to silence and what contemporary sources reveal is the competition of two matrices at work in the royal State of the Classical Age, the growing contradiction between sovereignty and hierarchy.