Abstract
dc:description.abstractThis thesis comprises a study of the people labelled ‘Egyptians’, or Gypsies, in early modern Scotland. Between the 1570s and the eighteenth century, Gypsies were sporadically subjected to intense persecution and stigmatisation by Scottish authorities, yet nevertheless maintained their way of life at society’s margins throughout the period. In historiographical terms, Scottish Gypsies have also proven academically marginal, both in relation to the extant literature on early modern Scotland, and that addressing Europe’s Gypsies, Roma, and Travellers. This thesis uncovers the experience of Gypsies in early modern Scotland through the examination of legislation, proclamations, criminal court records, church court records, and printed works concerning Gypsies that have been little-studied since the nineteenth century. By considering the reception and treatment of Gypsies, it also offers a fresh perspective on some of the most debated aspects of early modern Scottish history, including the growth of central authority, the impact of the Protestant Reformation, and the decline of feuding. The thesis introduction outlines the historiographical and methodological issues involved in studying such a socially and historically marginal group, and is followed by two sections, each comprising three chapters. The first section, ‘Receiving Gypsies’, offers an overview of how Scottish elites perceived Gypsies during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, analyses the range of policy initiatives enacted in regard to Gypsies, and considers how such perceptions and policies were shaped by the Reformed Kirk. The second section, ‘Gypsy Lives’, examines the social ties forged between Gypsies and non-Gypsies during the seventeenth century, the impact of Atlantic imperialism and nascent racial discourses upon Gypsies following Charles II’s Restoration of 1660, and concludes with a survey of the social and economic lives of the Gypsies themselves over the entire period.
Degree
thesis:*- Name dc:type.qualificationname
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Level dc:type.qualificationlevel
- Doctoral
- Grantor dc:publisher.institution
- University of Cambridge
- Year dc:date.issued
- 2024
Author and committee
dc:creator, dc:contributor.*- Author dc:creator
-
- Tyson, Thomas
- Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
-
- Jackson, Clare
Subjects
dc:subject × 8Rights
dc:rightsIdentifiers
dc:identifier.*- DOI dc:identifier.doi
- https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.117811
- OAI identifier oai:identifier
- oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/383435