Towns - Scottish Medieval Bibliography

Towns and Burghs

Last updated 4 Feb 2002

These are works about burghs and towns in medieval Scotland. Their bibliographies and footnotes should give you a start on finding sources for further research and more specialized works. Note that burghs are a feature of late medieval Scotland; the oldest date only to the early 12th century. They were much smaller than their continental counterparts; the largest, Edinburgh, had a population of only about 12,600 by 1560, which was considerably more than it had had the previous century, and it was probably as much as twice as large (or more) as any other town in Scotland. Also note that towns were a feature of Scoto-Norman and later Lowland culture, not Gaelic or Highland culture; even burghs created near or in the geographic Highlands brought the Scots language and Lowland culture with them into the Gaidhealtachd — burghs were one of the mechanisms of their spread.

General Works

Ewan, Elizabeth. Townlife in Fourteenth-Century Scotland. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1990. Order hardcover from Amazon.com Order paperback from Amazon.com
This is an excellent introduction to medieval Scottish towns, especially since it considers more than just the institutional structures.

Lynch, Michael, ed. The Early Modern Town in Scotland. London: Croom Helm, 1987.
Covers 16th-17th centuries and includes the following chapters:

"Introduction: Scottish Towns 1500-1700" by Michael Lynch
"Merchants and Craftsmen in Sixteenth-Century Perth" by Mary Verschuur
"The Crown and the Burghs 1500-1625" by Michael Lynch
"The Impact of the Reformation on a Burgh Community: The Case of Aberdeen" by Allan White
"Burghs, Lords and Feuds in Jacobean Scotland" by Keith M. Brown
"Merchant Princes and Mercantile Investment in Early Seventeenth-Century Scotland" by James J. Brown
"Provincial Merchants and Society: A Study of Dumfries Based on the Registers of Testaments 1600-1665" by Winifred Coutts
"The Burghs and the Scottish Revolution" by David Stevenson
"Edinburgh in Mid-Seventeenth Century" by Walter Makey
"The Occupational Structure of Scottish Burghs in the Late Seventeenth Century" by Ian D. Whyte

———. "Towns and Townspeople in Fifteenth-Century Scotland." In Towns and Townspeople in the Fifteenth Century, edited by John A. F. Thomson, 173-89. Gloucester: Alan Sutton, 1988.

Lynch, Michael, Michael Spearman, and Geoffrey Stell, eds. The Scottish Medieval Town. Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers Ltd, 1988.
Covers the 11th-16th centuries and includes the following chapters:

Part One: Sources and Evidence

"Documentary Sources" by Iain Flett and Judith Cripps
"The Medieval Townscape of Perth" by R.M. Spearman
"Urban Buildings" by Geoffrey Stell

Part Two: The Ecclesiastical Setting

"The Emergence of the Urban Parish" by Ian B. Cowan
"The Monastic Presence: Berwick in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries" by Wendy B. Stevenson
"Glasgow: An Ecclesiastical Burgh" by Norman F. Shead

Part Three: Trade and Industry

"Workshops, Materials and Debris - Evidence of Early Industries" by R.M. Spearman
"Inland Trade: A Study of Aberdeen in the Later Middle Ages" Harold W. Booton
"Trade with Northern Europe, 1297-1540" by David Ditchburn
"Trade with the South, 1070-1513" by Alexander Stevenson

Part Four: Urban Society and Administration

"Laws and Courts in the Burghs" by Hector L. MacQueen and William J. Windram
"The Community of the Burgh in the Fourteenth Century" by Elizabeth L. Ewan
"The Guild in Fifteenth-Century Dunfermline" by Elizabeth P. D. Torrie
"The Social and Economic Structure of the Larger Towns, 1450-1600" by Michael Lynch

Pryde, George Smith. The Burghs of Scotland: A Critical List. London, Glasgow, New York: Oxford University Press for the University of Glasgow, 1965.
Basic summary of when all known burghs of Scotland were erected as Royal Burghs and/or Burghs of Barony.

Studies of Individual Towns

Torrie, Elizabeth P. D. Medieval Dundee: A Town and its People. Vol. 30, Abertay Historical Society Publications. Dundee: Abertay Historical Society, 1990.

The Scottish Burgh Survey
These books, "designed to identify which areas of Scotland's historic burghs are of archaeological interest", are excellent references for further study of the burghs concerned. As well as an historical overview and archeaological information, each includes a detailed bibliography of primary, historical, and archaeological sources, including more recent scholarship.

Dennison, E. Patricia, and Judith Stones. Historic Aberdeen: the Archaeological Implications of Development, The Scottish Burgh Survey. Aberdeen: Historic Scotland in association with Scottish Cultural Press, 1997. Order from Amazon.co.uk
Torrie, Elizabeth P. D., and Russel Coleman. Historic Coupar Angus, The Scottish Burgh Survey. Aberdeen: Historic Scotland in association with Scottish Cultural Press, 1996. Order from Amazon.co.uk
Historic Cumnock, The Scottish Burgh Survey. Aberdeen: Historic Scotland in association with Scottish Cultural Press, 1995. Order from Amazon.co.uk
Torrie, Elizabeth P. D., and Russel Coleman. Historic Dalkeith, The Scottish Burgh Survey. Aberdeen: Historic Scotland in association with Scottish Cultural Press, 1996. Order from Amazon.co.uk
Historic Dunblane, The Scottish Burgh Survey. Aberdeen: Historic Scotland in association with Scottish Cultural Press, 1997. Order from Amazon.co.uk
Historic Hamilton, The Scottish Burgh Survey. Aberdeen: Historic Scotland in association with Scottish Cultural Press, 1996. Order from Amazon.co.uk
Historic Kirkcaldy, The Scottish Burgh Survey. Aberdeen: Historic Scotland in association with Scottish Cultural Press, 1995. Order from Amazon.co.uk
Historic Melrose, The Scottish Burgh Survey. Aberdeen: Historic Scotland in association with Scottish Cultural Press, 1998. Order from Amazon.co.uk
Historic Nairn, The Scottish Burgh Survey. Aberdeen: Historic Scotland in association with Scottish Cultural Press, 1999. Order from Amazon.co.uk
Torrie, Elizabeth P. D., and Russel Coleman. Historic Stornoway, The Scottish Burgh Survey. Aberdeen: Historic Scotland in association with Scottish Cultural Press, 1997. Order from Amazon.co.uk
Historic Stranraer, The Scottish Burgh Survey. Aberdeen: Historic Scotland in association with Scottish Cultural Press, 1995. Order from Amazo.n.co.uk

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