The Names of the burgenses in the Ragman Roll

The Scottish burghs, whose foundation was promoted by David I in the first half of the 12th century, attracted not only people from various regions of Scotland, but also groups of immigrants, especially traders and craftsmen, from England, Flanders, Northern Germany and France. In the 1296 Ragman Roll—the documents collecting the homages paid and fealties sworn by Scottish nobility, clergy, landowners and burgesses to Edward I Plantagenet after the English invasion of 1296—most burghs are represented by delegations composed of twelve to seventeen members: this paper aims to analyse the given names and bynames of these men as a witness to the cultural specificity of the Scottish burghs.

Il saggio descrive il multiculturalismo e il plurilinguismo nella Scozia medievale attraverso nomi propri e soprannomi/cognomi dei borghesi che compaiono nel Ragman Roll