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Brown, J.J.

English

The early seventeenth century has been regarded by
historians generally as a period of social, political and
economic change throughout Europe. Scotland between 1600
and 1638 -a time of relative economic and governmental
stability frcm the ascension of James VI to the throne of
England to the Wars of the Covenant - was not immune from
these changes. Many of them were influenced by a group of 300
of the wealthiest merchants of Edinburgh. These man directed
the political future of the burgh, serving on the town council
at parliament and as the burgh's representatives, at the
Convention of Royal Burgns. In economic terms the elite
effectively dominated the import and export trade of the country.
They were involved in the traditional Scottish market-areas of
the Baltic and the Low Countries but also expanded trade into
England and France. The elite developed new business practices;
they invested in urban property, purchased grain futures, became
involved in business partnerships, shipowning, moneylending and
through it the wadsetting of rural property. They also developed
small scale manufacturies and through their use of factors in
foreign cities linked themselves to the mainstream European
economy in an unprecedented fashion. By the late 1630s the
elite experienced economic contractions. They were overburdened
by constant taxation, 'disappointed by the failure of attempts at
commercial union with England and alienated from the crown. The
attitudes and reactions of the burgh's wealthiest merchants were
to prove crucial in a society on the brink of social chaos and
revolution

Brown, James Johnston

Edinburgh Research Archive

The social, political and economic influences of the Edinburgh merchant elite, 1600-1638

Brown, J.J

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https://era.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/1842/6860/1/356399.pdf

The social, political and economic influences of the Edinburgh merchant elite, 1600-1638.

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