'Mony utheris divars odious crymes': women, petty crime and power in later sixteenth century Aberdeen
'Mony utheris divars odious crymes': women, petty crime and power in later sixteenth century Aberdeen
Author
Falconer, Robert
Faculty Advisor
Date
2010
Keywords
petty crime , female offenders , Scottish burgh court , Aberdonian sixteenth century crime , gender and crime
Abstract (summary)
This article examines the nature of petty crimes committed by sixteenth century
Aberdonian women and the impact they had on burgh society. The evidence presented
here challenges the notion that the burgh court charged women with a much more
narrow range of criminal activities than men. Over a period of roughly 50 years (1541-
1591), the Aberdeen Council Register and Baillie Court Books record nearly 2,000
individual convictions for a variety of criminal acts that included statute breaking,
property crimes, and acts of verbal and physical assault. This article looks at a specific
section of this evidence to argue that women used the same methods to wrong their
neighbours, challenge the authority of the magistrates and to push the boundaries of
acceptable behaviour. Even if it was not the intended consequence of their actions, the
petty crimes committed by Aberdonian women, not unlike those committed by their male
counterparts, (re)shaped their social space. The evidence suggests that individuals used
petty crimes to achieve specific goals and to establish dominance within their
environment. In many cases, such crimes, and the responses to these acts, constituted
a negotiation of social power.
Publication Information
Falconer, J.R.D. (2010) ''Mony Utheris Divars Odious Crymes': Women, Petty Crime and
Power in Later Sixteenth Century Aberdeen ', Crimes and Misdemeanours: Deviance and the
Law in Historical Perspective, 4(1), pp.7-36. Available at:
https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/handle/10026.1/8850
http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/8850
DOI
Notes
Item Type
Article
Language
English
Rights
Attribution (CC BY)
