Networks of debt and credit formed a cornerstone of the early modern economy.
Nearly all members of society participated in these networks, including women.
In northwestern Europe, the resulting debt litigation, and what this can tell us
about women's economic roles within and outwith the home, has been well
documented and discussed by a number of historians. Yet similar roles played
by women in Scotland have received far less attention, particularly for much of
the period between 1560 and 1700. This is despite extensive runs of sources with
evidence relating to a greater variety of women than many comparable English
sources. In these Scottish sources, the roles of not only widows are visible, but
also the roles of female domestic servants and married women. The presence of
married women in these debt cases, and evidence that they were actively
transacting debts both with and largely independent of their husbands, is
perhaps the most important aspect to highlight of the records consulted for this
study, as in the majority of similar records for this period in northwestern
Europe the presence of married women was hidden due their husbands bearing
the legal responsibility for their actions. With this veil lifted in some of the
Scottish sources, this study is able to engage with women of all marital statuses
and so present as clear an image as possible of women's economic roles in the
Scottish towns of Edinburgh, Haddington, and Linlithgow between 1560 and
1640. No studies of debt and credit have yet focussed on these three
communities in the early modern period, despite the significant volume of
extant records which exist for these communities and allow for the fullest
examination of women's networks of debt and credit yet conducted in Scotland.
This thesis will use evidence taken from debt cases, testaments, and a tax
survey to first determine the reasons for which women contracted debts and
then use these reasons to explore and assess the role of women in work. These
roles include the import, export, and sale of ready-made merchandise, the
production and sale of ale, beer, and lace, the rental of property, and the lending
of money. It will also explore how female domestic servants emerged and
functioned in debt and credit networks, particularly with regard to Edinburgh
and its large population of female servants. Further, this thesis brings to light the
various marital and social statuses of the women who performed these activities,
and proves that whether married, widowed, or never-married, women were
vibrant participants in the debt and credit networks that spanned social divides
during this period
