On 29 November Dr William Hepburn gave a paper to the Aberdeen History seminar.

While it is well known that the Aberdeen Council Registers document the social and economic life of the burgh especially through the lens of legal activities, William Hepburn’s paper argued that these records of everyday administration also represent an expression of the town’s political culture. They capture the ideals and practices that were reinforced time and again by the governing elite over many decades.

Demonstrating some of the language analysis undertaken in the FLAG project (AHRC-DFG, 2020-2023), he argued that what emerges is a political culture underpinned by the notion of balanced and fair accounting, stemming from the burgh’s foundational transaction and the myriad transactions which remained its raison d’etre, especially for those at the heart of government: the burgesses themselves. The idea of the burgh as an upholder of fair and balanced transactions expressed through a language of order, and of community, in fact served to justify an oligarchic and near-hereditary regime.

This paper closed by indicating some new directions for expanding research questions to address other Scottish burghs records.