Bandits & blasphemers: crime in 17th century Scotland

Welcome to the History Extra podcast, fascinating historical conversations from the makers of BBC History magazine. What kind of crimes were most common in Scotland in the 17th century? And what can those crimes reveal about society at the time? Well in today's episode we're delving into a world of violence, vengeance, bandits and blasphemers, as historian Alan Kennedy speaks to Emily Briffitt about his recent book, Serious Crime in Late 17th Century Scotland.

He explores What exactly constituted a crime, who committed them, and how justice was pursued in a society shaped by intense religiosity and complex legal systems? Please note that this conversation contains discussion of infanticide. Thank you so much for joining me to talk about crime in early modern Scotland. To start us off, why do you think it's interesting to consider the phenomenon of crime in early modern Scotland in particular?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, in terms of of why it's interesting to study, there are there are two answers to that, I think. The first one is is the sort of intellectual answer, which I'll get to in a moment. But the second one is in some ways the more honest answer, which is it's it's frankly just interesting. One of the uh key qualifications, I think, for being a historian is you have to be nosy.

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