Postgraduate Students

Former student's first monograph published

A former doctoral student has successfully published her first monograph, based on her thesis. (Published 29 February 2016)

A former PhD student in the School, Cathryn Spence (PhD in History, 2010), now teaching at Dalhousie University in Canada, has just published her first monograph, 'Women, credit and debt in early modern Scotland', as part of Manchester University Press’s Gender in History series.

The book builds on her PhD which looked at this topic in the records of three Scottish towns in the period 1560-1640. 

This book is the first full-length consideration of women's economic roles in early modern Scottish towns. Drawing on tens of thousands of cases entered into burgh court litigation between 1560 and 1640 in Edinburgh, Dundee, Haddington and Linlithgow, it explores how Scottish women navigated the courts and their communities. In particular, the book explores the role of women as merchants, merchandisers, producers and sellers of ale, landladies, moneylenders and servants.

Comparing the Scottish experience to that of England and Europe, Spence shows that women were conspicuously active in burgh court litigation and, by extension, were engaged participants in the early modern Scottish economy.

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Congratulations are also extended to Cathyrn, who has been appointed Professor of History at Vancouver Island University of Canada. She will take up the post on 1 August 2016.