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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 October 2011
At the time of the Reformation in the 1560s Scotland and the Netherlands already had long-established commercial links. Scots soldiers fought in the wars that ravaged the Low Countries and much of northern Europe in the two centuries after Calvinism gained a foothold. Goods, people, and ideas were readily exchanged in the North Sea basin. With the foundation in 1575 of the avowedly Protestant University of Leiden, academic and intellectual intercourse were added to trading ties. By the mid-seventeenth century Leiden had an international reputation for legal and medical education. Expatriate Protestant churches were established in the early seventeenth century, notably the Scots kirk, Rotterdam. There were nineteen English and Scottish religious communities in the Dutch Republic by the end of the seventeenth century.
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7. The crowns of Scotland and England had been united in 1603 and their Parliaments in 1707 but Scotland's distinctive legal code was preserved even after the latter date.
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10. Feenstra, “Scottish-Dutch Legal Relations,” 130. The peak of Scottish enrollments had come in 1676-1725, with more than 400 young men in each of the quarter centuries.
11. We hear nothing of George Young's mother in any of the documents. She may have been dead but there is no chance of tracing her because, first, we do not know where she died and, second, Scottish women retained their maiden names after marriage. Thus, without her surname, we can never find her. Margaretha's mother is mentioned.
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14. SRO CC8/6/17, doc. 12.
15. Later evidence described him less flatteringly as “the common porter or runner of errands to the students.” SRO CC8/5/9, 126.
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17. Neither this nor the second alleged letter survives. It may either have been a forgery or, if genuine, based on a misunderstanding or misrepresentation of the nature of the relationship.
18. No such letters survive among the court documents consulted. Jean-Pierre mentioned that he had given the alleged letter of consent back to George when they set out for Colchester. Conceivably it was appropriated by George senior at a later stage. However, given the latter's reaction to the news of his son's marriage, it is more likely that the letters were forgeries.
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29. Maarten Prak in his study about the elite of Leiden states that since parents could threaten their children with financial sanctions, youngsters often chose spouses who had the approval of their parents. See Gezeten burgers. De elite in een Hollandse stad, Leiden 1700-1780 (Utrecht, 1985), 182Google Scholar. See also Kooijmans, Luuc, Onder regenten. De elite in een Hollandste stad, Hoorn 1700-1780 (Utrecht, 1985)Google Scholar; Jong, J. H. de, Met goedfatsoen. De elite in een Hollandse stad, Gouda 1700-1780 (Utrecht, 1985)Google Scholar.
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37. Renier, Gustaaf J., The Dutch Nation: An Historical Study (London, 1944), 162–77Google Scholar. An old man like George Young senior, Geraldo seems to have possessed a similarly vicious and obdurate personality.
38. van der Heijden, “Secular and Ecclesiastical Marriage Control,” 42; Roodenburg, Herman, Onder Censuur. De kerkelijke tucht in de gereformeerde kerk van Amsterdam, 1578-1700 (Hilversum, 1990), 17–27Google Scholar; Kloek, Els, Wie hij zij, man of wijf. Vrouwengeschiedenis en de vroegmoderne tijd (Hilversum, 1990), 78–121Google Scholar.
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40. As Smith notes, “habit and repute” did not constitute marriage but only gave grounds for believing that a couple might be married. See “Sexual Mores,” 49; Ireland, Ronald D., “Husband and Wife: Post-Reformation Canon Law of Marriage…” in An Introduction to Scottish Legal History, Stair Society 20 (Edinburgh, 1958), 82-89 at 88–89Google Scholar.
41. Houston, Robert A., “Women in Scottish Society, 1500-1800,” in Scottish Society, 1500-1800, ed. Houston, Robert A. and Whyte, Ian D. (Cambridge, 1989), 118–47CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
42. Quoted in Smout, “Scottish Marriage,” 216. Ireland, “Post-Reformation Canon Law of Marriage,” 84-85.
43. Macfarlane, Marriage and Love, 127; Stone, Road to Divorce, 125.
44. De Groot, Inleidinge, vol. 1,5, 17. Manon van cler Heijden has evidence from seventeenth-century Rotterdam to substantiate the fact that minor children could sometimes marry without consent, van der Heijden, “Secular and Ecclesiastical Marriage Control,” 56.
45. Houlbrooke, Ralph, The English Family, 1450-1700 (London, 1984). 86.Google Scholar
46. Rosner, Lisa, Medical Education in the Age of Improvement. Edinburgh Students ami Apprentices, 1760-1826 (Edinburgh, 1991), 16.Google Scholar
47. SRO CC8/6/17, doc. 3.
48. Ibid., doc. 18.
49. It is also possible that George senior wanted her to raise the adherence case because this was a necessary precursor of certain types of divorce action. See Ireland, “Husband and Wife: Divorce, Nullity of Marriage and Separation,” in An Introduction to Scottish Legal History, 96.
50. SRO CC8/6/17, doc. 10. Traditionally, women in Scotland (and Holland) had retained their maiden name after marriage, though in eighteenth-century Scottish cities widows and some married women began to follow the English style of taking their husband's surname.
51. Ibid., doc. 18.
52. Houston, Robert A., “Literacy, Education and the Culture of Print in Enlightenment Edinburgh,” History 78 (1993): 373–92CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
53. Smout, “Scottish Marriage,” 219; Mitchison, Rosalind and Leneman, Leah, Sexuality and Social Control. Scotland, 1660-1780 (Oxford, 1989)Google Scholar.
54. SRO CH2/121/7, p. 229.
55. SRO JC7/18.
56. SRO CH2/122/11b, f. 204v.
57. Smout, “Scottish marriage,” 234.
58. See ibid., 207, on parental fears.
59. Topham, Edward, Letters from Edinburgh Written in the Years 1774 and 1775 (London, 1776), 38, 51, 84, 256Google Scholar.
60. Topham, Letters, 94. Leith was Edinburgh's port, then a separate town to the north of the city proper.
61. Helen, and Kelsall, Keith, Scottish Lifestyle 300 Years Ago. New Light on Edinburgh and Border Families (Edinburgh, 1986), 72Google Scholar.
62. Quoted in Jamieson, James H., “Social Assemblies of the Eighteenth Century.” Book of the Old Edinburgh Club 19 (1933): 31–91 at 41Google Scholar.
63. SRO JC6/14. Personal clothes and jewelry were classed in law as “paraphernalia” and therefore beyond the reach that husbands had over most of their wives’ other moveable property.
64. SRO CH2/121/11, p. 429.
65. Narrative of the Life of Nicol Muschet of Boghall, Containing a Particular Account of His Many Attempts to Murder His Wife… (Edinburgh, 1816), 14Google Scholar.
66. SRO CC8/6/15.
67. SRO JC7/28, p. 87.
68. Ibid., pp. 86-164.
69. SRO CC8/6/9.
70. SRO CC8/6/14.
71. SRO CS234/E/1/10; Ewen, Lorna, “Debtors, Imprisonment and the Privilege of Girth,” in Perspectives in Scottish Social History, ed. Leneman, Leah (Aberdeen, 1988), 53–68Google Scholar; Hannah, Hugh, “The Sanctuary of Holyrood,” Book of the Old Edinburgh Club 15 (1927): 55–98Google Scholar.
72. Stott, “Incorporation of Surgeons,” 257.
73. SRO CC8/5/9, 127.
74. SRO CC8/6/18, doc. 16.
75. Edinburgh City Archives, annuity tax 1751; Gilhooley, James, A Directory of Edinburgh in 1752 (Edinburgh, 1989)Google Scholar; Houston, Social Change, 131. Dr. George Young lived in the “second bounds.” It and the adjacent third bounds had easily the highest average wealth of the eight into which the city was divided for taxation purposes.
76. Stott, “Incorporation of Surgeons,” 256-57.
77. SRO CC8/6/18.
78. Gemeente Archief Leyden, Doopregister Waalse kerk te Leyden, nr. 8.
79. SRO CC8/6/17, docs. 14, 15.
80. Houston, “The Consistory of the Scots Kirk, Rotterdam.” The Waalse kerk in contemporary Rotterdam was deemed to be rather deftig or up-market.
81. SRO CC8/6/18. doc. 16.
82. SRO CC8/6/17, doc. 13.
83. Smith, “Sexual Mores,” 50. On the earlier law, see James D. Scanlan, “Husband and Wife: Pre-Reformation Canon Law of Marriage …“in An Introduction to Scottish Legal History, 69-81; Guthrie, Charles J., “The History of Divorce in Scotland,” Scottish Historical Review 8 (1910): 39–52.Google Scholar
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85. Blécourt, A. S. de, Kort begrip van het oud-vaderlands burgerlijk recht (Groningen, 1967), 71–72Google Scholar. According to Grotius adultery could be proved by the evidence of three witnesses and the statement of the persons with whom the adultery was committed. See De Groot, Inleidinge, vol. 1, 5, 26. However, a law of 1674 in Holland prevented the adulterous party remarrying because that might encourage people to commit adultery (or desert) in order to get a divorce. The issue of collusion or deliberate adultery also exercised Scottish lawyers.
86. The Echtregelement of 1656 had been enacted by the States General but only covered the Generaliteitslanden or southern parts of the Dutch Republic. See Groenewegen, Simon van, “Introduction,” in Groot, Hugo de, Inleidinge tot de Hollandsche rechtsgeleerdheid (Amsterdam: Jan Boom, 1738), 14Google Scholar; van Apeldoorn, Geschiedenis, 183.
87. van der Heijden, “Secular and Ecclesiastical Marriage Control,” 32-33. According to Apeldoorn deserted spouses could take legal action in order to force their husband or wife to re-turn to their homes. See Geschiedenis, 195-96. See also Koorn, Florence, “Illegitimiteit en eergevoel. Ongehuwde moeders in Twente in de achttiende eeuw,” Vrouwenlevens. Jaarboek voor Vrouwengeschiedenis, 1500-1850 8 (1987): 74–99Google Scholar.
88. Groenendijk, Leendert F., De nadere reformatie van het gezin. De visie van Petrus Wittewrongel op de christelijke huishouding (Dordrecht, 1984), 81–88Google Scholar; Haks, Donald, Huwelijk en gezin in de 17e en 18e eeuw. Processtukken en moralisten ove aspecten vanhet laat 17e en 18e eeuwse gezinsleven (Assen, 1982), 70–72Google Scholar.
89. Groenendijk, De nadere reformatie, 14-18. Exchange of ideas among Protestant moralists of the North Sea basin was, of course, extensive.
90. van der Heijden, “Secular and Ecclesiastical Marriage Control,” 32.
91. Joor, Johan, “Echtscheiding en scheiding van tafel en bed in Alkmaar in de periode 1700-1810” Tijdschrift voor Sociale Geschiedenis 3 (1985): 197–230Google Scholar; Haks, Huwelijk en gezin, 175-84.
92. As noted by Bankton, Lord in An Institute of the Laws of Scotland in Civil Rights, with Observations upon the Agreement or Diversity between Them and the Laws of England, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1751), 149–50Google Scholar. Bankton also discussed Scottish marriage (105-38) and divorce (138-41). See also Macfarlane, Marriage and Love, 224-25; Phillips, Roderick, Untying the Knot. A Short History of Divorce (Cambridge, 1991)Google Scholar; Smith, “Sexual Mores,” 50. In England prior to 1858 no act of Parliament ever gave a divorce on the grounds of the husband's adultery.
93. In contrast with England, divorce actions were brought before the Commissary Court as often by women as by men. The middling (mostly professional) classes are also better represented than in England where most divorces were sought by the elites. Marshall, Rosalind K., Virgins and Viragos. A History of Women in Scotland from 1080 to 1980 (London, 1983), 97, 196-97, 201.Google Scholar
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95. Marshall, Virgins, 196. Perhaps there were more unhappy partners in the age of rapid population growth after 1770, but it may also be that legal changes were making it easier to secure a divorce. A similar trend is evident in England and Holland.
96. SRO CC8/6/18. The Dutch originals have all but disintegrated through damp. The translations are not included with the other loose papers.
97. SRO CC8/5/9, 113-273.
98. This was the most common ground for divorce in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Holland. Haks, Huwelijk. 208.
99. SRO CC8/5/9, 133-34.
100. Ireland, “Divorce,” 96.
101. G. Campbell H. Paton, “Husband and Wife: Property Rights and Relationships,” in An Introduction to Scottish Legal History, 99-115 at 110. Marshall, Virgins, 96, explains the complex procedure and there is an example in Walton, Consistorial Decisions, 71-72. This course of action would also imply that she was aware of the 1573 statute's provisions and that she regarded it as a viable option since her husband was in England or Ireland at the time. Furthermore, the rights of a deserted wife to material restitution were a subject of legal debate.
102. Walton, Consistorial Decisions, 81.
103. SRO CC8/5/9, 125, 134-36; Ireland, “Divorce,” 95; Walton, Consistorial Decisions, 97.
104. SRO CC8/5/9, 202-36; Walton, Consistorial Decisions, 108-9, outlines the legal precedent created. The commission to the magistrates of Leiden (December 1749) is recorded in O.R.A. Leiden, “Notulen vergadering Schout en Schepenen 1745, nr. 150-8.” The list of Leiden witnesses (March 1750) is in Dingboek V (1746-55), ff. 126-30.
105. Deposition SRO CC8/5/9, 249-51. The baptismal certificate is transcribed at 136.
106. SRO CC8/5/9, 243-44.
107. Ibid., 265-68.
108. Ibid., 264-65.
109. Stone, Uncertain Unions, 5.
110. Walton, Consistorial Decisions, 54-55.
111. On the distinction between the branches of the medical profession, see Dingwall, Edinburgh, 230-39. There were thirty-five master surgeons working in Edinburgh in 1752 and at least twenty-six physicians. Ibid., 233, 238.
112. Meikle, Henry W., “An Edinburgh Diary,” Book of the Old Edinburgh Club 27 (1949): 112–13Google Scholar. The formal booking of Edinburgh youths was rarer than that of young men coming in from outside the city. It may also be that George senior gave his son his early training.
113. SRO CC8/5/9, 132; Cameron, Charles A., History of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (Dublin, 1886)Google Scholar.
114. SRO CC8/5/9, 114. In being married and divorced young, the couple followed a pattern discovered in late eighteenth-century France. There, some 20 percent of women were married before age twenty-one but 40 percent of those petitioning for a divorce under the “liberalised” 1792 laws on marital dissolution had been married before that age. See Phillips, Untying the Knot, 79. The average marriage that ended in a divorce before the Commissary Court of Edinburgh during the eighteenth century lasted eleven to twelve years. Marshall, Virgins, 196.
115. SRO CC8/5/9, 118. See Guthrie, “The History of Divorce in Scotland,” 51, for the notional constraints on remarriage of the parties.
116. Paton, “Husband and Wife,” 110; Walton, Consistorial Decisions, 72-73.
117. SRO CC8/5/9, 249-55.
118. Ibid., 126.
119. Houlbrooke, English Family, 69.
120. Smout, “Scottish marriage,” 213-14.
121. Ibid., 214-15.
122. There is evidence that some fathers were prepared to take a gentler line with their children than did George Young. Peter A. G. Monro, ed., “The Professor's Daughter. An Essay on Female Conduct by Alexander Monro (primus),” Proceedings of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh 26. Supplement 2 (1996): 92 and passim seems to modern readers a model of moderation and sensitivity.
