Poor Relief and the Church in Scotland, 1560-1650

by John McCallum

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781474474788
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	06/04/2020
Series:	Scottish Religious Cultures
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)

About the Author

John McCallum is a senior lecturer in History at Nottingham Trent University, and a specialist in the religious and social history of early modern Scotland. He is the author of Reforming the Scottish Parish (2010), editor of Scotland’s Long Reformation (2016), and has published various other pieces on aspects of Scottish Reformation history.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; Conventions; Abbreviations; List of Tables; Map; Introduction; Chapter 1. Ideas, Attitudes and Ambitions; Section I: The Development of Kirk Session Poor Relief; Chapter 2. Urban Beginnings and Developments, c. 1560-c. 1610; Chapter 3. Poor Relief Beyond the Main Burghs, c. 1590-c. 1650; Chapter 4: Poor Relief under Stress; Section II: The Nature of Kirk Session Poor Relief; Chapter 5. The Mechanics of Relief; Chapter 6. Who Were the Poor? The Recipients of Relief; Chapter 7. Who Was Deserving? Decision-Making and Discrimination; Chapter 8. Beyond the Kirk Session: Mixed Economies of Relief; Conclusion; Appendix: Equivalent Values from Wages and Prices; Bibliography

What People are Saying About This

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.

Elizabeth Ewan

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.

Editorial Reviews

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.

Scottish Church History - Catherine McMillan

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.

Social History - Alan MacDonald

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.

The Scottish Historical Review - Neil McIntyre

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.

Journal of British Studies - Jamie McDougall