Scottish Studies Zoom Talk
A Brewing Storm:
Alewives in sixteenth-century Inverness
an online talk by Dr. Elizabeth Ewan
Saturday, January 14, 2023
A recording of this event is available on YouTube at https://youtu.be/ofa-gIJd0gk
This talk looks at the lives of the brewsters and alewives as they appeared in the surviving town court records of Inverness, 1556-86, and examines what they can reveal more generally about women's contributions to urban society. It describes the colourful life of Elspeth Barnet, a domestic servant who went on to spend her adult life in the brewing trade. From earning her living and breaking the rules while doing so, brawling with customers and other townspeople, assisting other brewsters, supporting her husband when he also got into trouble, and even being banished from the town on occasion, Elspeth Barnet demonstrates the assertiveness and agency of women in early modern Scottish towns.
Elizabeth Ewan recently retired as Professor of History and Scottish Studies at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. She researches medieval and early modern Scotland with a particular interest in gender history, urban history, and crime.