Burgesses of fourteenth-century Scotland: a social history

Abstract

The history of the burgesses of fourteenth-century Scotland has been confined largely to a study of the development of the political representation of the Third Estate. However, sources do exist for a more detailed examination of their lives and their relations with the rest of the kingdom. Within the burgh, urban excavation is revealing new evidence about the material life of the burgh inhabitants: their houses, their diet, their industrial activities. Land grants and burgh records reveal the functioning of the institutions of burgh government and the responsibilities of those who acted as officials in the burghal administration, Investment in land, both urban and rural, overseas trade and royal service all provided opportunities for the burgesses to increase their wealth and brought them into contact with the rest of the kingdom. Grants to the burghs of common agricultural land helped maintain the links of the burgesses with the lifestyle of their rural neighbours, while the purchase of country estates by individuals gave them an entree into the landowning classes. Trading commissions and the burgh markets and fairs brought together the burgesses with country people, the church the nobility and the royal household. Administrative and financial services by individual burgesses to the church, crown and nobility underlined the importance of the burgesses to other social groups within the kingdom. The sense of community felt within the burghs and between the burghs was echoed an a national level as the burgesses proved themselves to be an integral part of the community of the realm.