Poor Relief and the Church in Scotland, 1560-1650
This book sets out the importance of charity in Scottish Reformation studies. Based on extensive archival research involving more than thirty parishes, it sheds new light on the practice of poor relief in the century following the Reformation.
John McCallum challenges the assumption that charitable activity was weak and informal in Scotland by uncovering the surviving records of welfare work carried out by the church. And he skilfully demonstrates that kirk sessions were key welfare providers in early modern Scotland and provided effective relief to a range of people who struggled in poverty. In addition to the analysis of specific parish activities, readers gain a rare insight into the lives of the poor Scots who looked to the church for assistance in the early modern era.
Key Features- Challenges conventional interpretations which stress secularisation in the development of welfare
- The first analysis of the practice of poor relief and experiences of poverty in pre-modern Scotland
- Based on extensive archival research involving over thirty Scottish parishes
- Provides a new interpretation of the nature and effectiveness of pre-modern welfare provision
- Extends Scottish Reformation studies into new territory by considering charity for the first time
AcknowledgementsConventionsAbbreviationsList of TablesMapIntroductionChapter 1. Ideas, Attitudes and Ambitions
Section I: The Development of Kirk Session Poor ReliefChapter 2. Urban Beginnings and Developments, c. 1560-c. 1610Chapter 3. Poor Relief Beyond the Main Burghs, c. 1590-c. 1650Chapter 4: Poor Relief under Stress
Section II: The Nature of Kirk Session Poor ReliefChapter 5. The Mechanics of ReliefChapter 6. Who Were the Poor? The Recipients of ReliefChapter 7. Who Was Deserving? Decision-Making and DiscriminationChapter 8. Beyond the Kirk Session: Mixed Economies of Relief
ConclusionAppendix: Equivalent Values from Wages and PricesBibliography
With Poor Relief and the Church in Scotland, John McCallum has produced one of the most important books on the social history of early modern Scotland in the last twenty years. This is an essential piece of research for historians of poor relief and religious reform in Scotland and Europe... McCallum has made a valuable contribution to international research on premodern forms of welfare, as well as offering up a groundbreaking analysis of a vital feature of early modern Scottish society.
This work is well-researched and draws on an impressive range of Kirk and local records. It offers a new lens from which to assess the success of the Scottish Reformation as it reconsiders the importance of the Kirk Session in Scottish society. This book will be of interest for postgraduate students and researchers of early modern Scotland.
McCallum's findings are patently significant for the study of the poor and poor relief in Scottish history, but they also broaden the scope of Scottish Reformation studies and contribute to more general conversations about social and economic systems in early modern Europe. Poor Relief and the Church in Scotland, only the second instalment in EUP's new series Scottish Religious Cultures, is an important and timely work and one that is sure to spur further scholarship.
This book is an excellent example of that enriching turn in Scottish ecclesiastical history that has swept away so many lazy characterizations of Reformation Scotland in general and its church in particular. It is an absorbing study, clearly and engagingly written and its findings are firmly placed within the context of scholarship on Scottish, English and European poor relief.
It will come as no surprise to those already familiar with McCallum's work that he has produced another study of exceptional depth and quality... it can be stated confidently that McCallum has produced what is set to become the definitive text on early modern Scottish poor relief for a generation.
This excellent study fundamentally challenges traditional views of early modern Scottish poor relief as ineffectual due to lack of state supervision. It demonstrates the vital role of the kirk sessions at the heart of poor relief, flexibly providing care for the local community they knew best.
