Gender, Resistance and Conformity in Early Modern Scotland, 1560-1650

Abstract

The article claims that men and women in mixed marriages often subverted patriarchal norms when attempting to escape ecclesiastical censure in early modern Scotland. Ministers held husbands responsible for ensuring the conformity of their households, and they insisted that Protestant husbands bring their wives into the fold. These husbands then argued that they had no right to compel their wives in matters of conscience. Some even insisted that they had no control over their wives whatsoever. They were willing to appear failing in their patriarchal duties in order to protect their wives from the kirk, which was loath to interfere much further in marital relationships. Married women risked excommunication for their defiance, but local authorities were unable to confiscate any of their assets, which were held in trust by their husbands. Catholic women thus used the patriarchal assumptions of religious authorities as a means of undermining religious conformity.