The urban community in fifteenth-century Scotland: language, law and political practice

Claire Hawes

doi:10.1017/S0963926816000766

The urban community in fifteenth-century Scotland: language, law and political practice

Claire Hawes

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Abstract

The political culture of Scotland’s late medieval towns has been neglected in recent scholarship. This paper seeks to provoke discussion through an analysis of communitarian language and its use by urban elites in the fifteenth century. The Scottish urban community, as elsewhere, could be positioned as a location, a legal construct and a group of people. This provided the burgh council with a variety of political tools which could be employed – consciously or otherwise – in order to legitimise its authority.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	365-380
Number of pages	16
Journal	Urban History
Volume	44
Issue number	3
Early online date	3 Oct 2016
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963926816000766
Publication status	Published - Aug 2017

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Arts and Humanities(all)
Social Sciences(all)

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Hawes, C. (2017). The urban community in fifteenth-century Scotland: language, law and political practice. Urban History, 44(3), 365-380. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963926816000766

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Accepted Manuscript
This article has been published in a revised form in Urban History https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963926816000766. This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. © Cambridge University Press 2016.
Accepted author manuscript, 49.5 KBLicence: Unspecified