AYRSHIRE-L Archives

Archiver > AYRSHIRE > 1999-04 > 0924251829


From: "Paul F. Burton" <>
Subject: Kirk session records
Date: Fri, 16 Apr 1999 09:37:09 +0100


The kirk session was, for a long time, the guardian of morality in the
parish (sometimes the only guardian), and often sought to regulate the
behaviour even of non-members of the Church of Scotland. It could act on a
wide range of "offences", but since 'fornication' was one with very obvious
results, it tends to be the one most often encountered in the records.

There are various schools of thought as to why the sessions were so
concerned (and I suspect that we can't dismiss Jill's suggestion of a
prurient interest on the part of some elders!. An article on women and
religion in Scotland (I have details if anyone is interested) reports a
woman who had an illegitimate child in 1850 and who was to be called before
the session. She threatened to wreck the session by pointing out one elder
who was "known to frequent bawdy houses in Aberdeen").

(a) They had a welfare role, and establishing who the father was meant that
some measure of support for the woman and the child could be set up, even
if the couple did not marry;
(b) They were genuinely concerned about sexual morality and the importance
of the family;
(c) There was a concern about the role and place of women in society,
though this changed over time from woman as the downfall of man (cf.
Genesis) to the need to protect women.

I believe a study of the records has been made to identify these, but as
far as I know it has still to be published.

Paul

>
>Session books have been an eye-opener to me as to how obsessed the kirk
>elders were about people's sexual life outside of marriage. Some even
>asked 'how many times?' and 'where?'. I wonder if at least some of them
>(the elders) might actually have enjoyed the compearing!
>
>HTH!
>Jill McKenzie
>Glasgow, Scotland
>

This thread: