From confession to declaration: changing narratives of parricide in eighteenth-century Scotland

Abstract

‘From Confession to Declaration: Changing Narratives of Parricide in Eighteenth and Nineteenth-Century Scotland’ by Katie Barclay explores how Scottish people explained incidents of parricide in Scotland between 1660 and 1830. Drawing on popular culture—notably James Hogg’s Confessions of a Justified Sinner—and court records, Barclay argues that across the centuries this ‘unimaginable’ crime was explained by combining competing—and not always compatible—variables, notably previous bad character, mental illness and overwhelming anger. These explanations drew attention away from the tensions that arose between adult children and their parents in a patriarchal system that demanded obedience from those who wished—and in some cases were actively encouraged—to be ‘independent’.