Dr Ashlyn Cudney (BA, MLitt, PhD, AFHEA)
Thesis title: Social Control and Disciplinary Bias: Bute, 1648-1702
PhD supervisors:
Background
I was born and raised in the United States and moved to Scotland to pursue postgraduate study. I studied History and Anthropology at DePauw University in Indiana before completing a MLitt in Early Modern History at the University of St Andrews, and PhD in History at the University of Edinburgh. My doctoral thesis focused on social control, gender, and legal culture on the Island of Bute between 1642 and 1702, examining how marginalised people experienced authority and justice in early modern Scotland.
My research explores the intersections of law, religion, gender, and ethnicity, with particular interest in how ecclesiastical and secular institutions defined and enforced social norms. I have published on topics including gendered violence, witchcraft, and religious persecution, and I am currently preparing two monographs: The Godly Isle: Gender, Justice, and Social Control in Seventeenth-Century Bute and Island Logic: Witchcraft and Authority in Seventeenth-Century Scotland. I am also developing a new project on transactional sex and informal economies in early modern Scotland.
I am currently the Academic Director for the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) in London, where I oversee curriculum design, academic programming, and faculty support. Alongside my administrative work, I continue to teach and supervise in early modern history, with a focus on gender, legal culture, and public history. I have previously taught at the University of Edinburgh across a range of undergraduate levels, including medieval and early modern surveys, and have developed bespoke academic programmes that integrate archival research, site-based learning, and creative assessments.
Qualifications
PhD- History
- Dissertation Title: 'Social Control and Disciplinary Bias: Bute, 1642-1702'
MLitt Early Modern History- University of St Andrews (2018-2019)
- Dissertation Title: 'Women's Religious Offences in the Dunfermline Kirk Session Records, 1640-1689'
BA- DePauw University (2015-2018)
- Majors- History and Anthropology
Undergraduate teaching
Tutoring-
Medieval Words: Journey through the Middle Ages- Fall 2024
Themes in Scottish History since 1560- Fall 2023
Transitions Course- Lothians Equal Access Programme for Schools, Fall 2023-Spring 2024, Fall 2024-Spring 2025
Early Modern History: A Connected World- Spring 2023, Spring 2024
The Historian's Toolkit- Fall 2022, Fall 2023
Legacy and Public History: Remembering Trans-Atlantic Slavery in Edinburgh- Sutton Trust, Summer 2022
The History of Edinburgh: From Din Eidyn to Festival City- Spring 2022
Introduction to Historiography- Fall 2021
From Reformation to Revolution: An Introduction to Early Modern Europe, c 1500- c. 1800- University of Nottingham, Fall 2021, Spring 2022.
Program Development-
Scotland: Past & Present- Council on International Educational Exchange, Spring 2025
Public History of Scotland since 1707- Institute for Study Abroad, Summer 2024
Lecturing-
Scotland Past and Present- Council on International Educational Exchange, Spring 2025
Public History of Scotland since 1707- Institute for Study Abroad, Summer 2024
Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, 2025
EUSA Teaching Awards Nominee 2024: Student Tutor of the Year
EUSA Teaching Awards Nominee 2023: Student Tutor of the Year
Research summary
I am a historian of early modern Scotland whose research focuses on the intersections of gender, justice, belief, and authority. My work explores how religious and secular institutions enforced discipline, how marginalized individuals navigated structures of power, and how cultural norms were constructed and contested through everyday practices. I use an intersectional, data-driven approach that integrates legal, religious, and social history with gender theory, criminology, and critical social analysis.
My doctoral research underpins two monographs currently in preparation. The Godly Isle: Gender, Justice, and Social Control in Seventeenth-Century Bute examines how kirk sessions and secular courts functioned as tools of patriarchal authority on the Island of Bute. Drawing from over 1,000 court cases, it analyzes the gendered and status-based mechanisms through which social order was maintained. The book investigates how women, especially poor, unmarried, and otherwise marginalized women, were disproportionately subjected to discipline for perceived sexual, moral, and social deviance. It also explores how these women resisted and subverted disciplinary structures. Through close analysis of disciplinary patterns, local governance, and ecclesiastical ideology, The Godly Isle contributes to broader debates about early modern social regulation, religious discipline, and gendered authority.
My manuscript, Island Logic: Witchcraft and Authority in Seventeenth-Century Scotland, explores a series of witchcraft trials on the Island of Bute during the 1662 panic. Located on the Highland Line, Bute occupied a contested cultural space where Gaelic traditions met Lowland religious and legal authority. This study investigates how witchcraft accusations were entangled with broader anxieties about ethnicity, language, and belief, and considers how cultural difference may have shaped both suspicion and prosecution.
In addition to these book projects, my broader research explores themes of violence, deviance, and identity in early modern Britain. My article “Tides of Injustice: Gender, Power, and the Solway Martyrs’ Executions” (June 2025) analyzes the gendered nature of state violence and religious dissent in the case of Margaret Wilson and Margaret McLaughlin. Another article in progress, “Drinking to that Degree: Alcohol and Sexual Violence in Early Modern Scotland,” explores how intoxication and sexual violence were culturally constructed in legal discourse.
My next major project, Markets of Intimacy: Gender, Economy, and Transactional Sex in Early Modern Scotland, interrogates the role of transactional sexual relationships within systems of survival and social obligation. By examining how women navigated sexual exchange in pursuit of food, shelter, or security, often outside formal markets, this project reframes sex work as an economic and cultural practice embedded in community networks and patriarchal structures. I use legal records, ballads, kirk session minutes, and economic data to show how early modern Scottish society regulated and negotiated informal economies of intimacy.
Invited speaker
Historic Environment Scotland, “Title Forthcoming.” 18 October 2025: Dirleton, Scotland.
Dalkeith Palace, “Tides of Injustice; discussion & Q&A with Ashlyn Cudney, James Robertson & Iain Stewart.” 18 September 2025: Dalkeith, Scotland.
Studies in Photography, “Tides of Injustice: Gender, Power, and the Solway Martyrs' Executions.” 14 June 2025.
History Scotland Webinar, "The Bute Witchcraft Panic of 1662." 29 October 2024: Edinburgh, Scotland.
Birnam Book Festival, “Panic in Perth: Local Trials and the Survey of Scottish Witchcraft.” 26 October 2024: Birnam, Scotland.
Cambridge Workshop for the Early Modern Period, "The Bute Witchcraft Panic of 1662." 27 May 2024: Cambridge, England.
Scottish History Research Seminar, “Violence in Seventeenth-Century Bute: An Intersectional Approach.” 19 October 2023: Edinburgh, Scotland.
VOiCE Podcast, “We’ve Got History Between Us.” June 2022.
Friends of Edinburgh University Library, “University Histories: Edinburgh Slavery and Colonialism Legacy Review.” 5 April 2022: Edinburgh, Scotland.
Friends of Dundonald Castle, "Fairies, Farm and Family: Witchcraft in 17th century Dundonald." 21 October 2021: Dundonald, Scotland.
Organiser
University of Edinburgh History PhD Conference, 17 May 2022: Edinburgh, Scotland.
Papers delivered
Understanding King James VI & I: 400 Years On, "Teaching James VI & I as a Queer King." 9-11 July 2025: Glasgow, Scotland.
Witchcraft and Authority in Europe 1450-1700, "Social Control and Witch-Hunting in a Scottish Island, 1662." 11 October 2024: Copenhagen, Denmark.
Tri-University Conference, "Domestic Violence and Spousal Reconciliation in 17th Century Bute." 9 March 2024: Guelph, Canada.
Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, "Gender Bias in the Reformed Church of Scotland." 27-30 October 2022: Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Ecclesiastical History Society Summer Conference, "Gender Double-Standards in the Reformed Church of Scotland." 19-21 July 2022: York, England.
Medieval and Early Modern Studies Festival, "Establishing Paternity in Seventeenth-Century Scotland: A Case Study of Rothesay, 1660." 17-18 June 2022: Kent, England.
Newcastle University's 19th Annual Postgraduate Forum Conference, "'Discreetly and meekly': Socioeconomic Status and the Lived Experience of Religious Social Control in Seventeenth-Century Bute." 25 May 2022: Newcastle, England.
University of Edinburgh History PhD Conference, "Social Control and Disciplinary Bias: a Multi-Court Approach to Bute, 1648-1700." 17 May 2022: Edinburgh, Scotland.
Scottish Church History Society Spring Conference, "'Winn him with mildness': Marital Reconciliation in the Seventeenth-Century Kirk Session." 12 March 2022: Edinburgh, Scotland.
Island Logic: Witchcraft and Authority in Seventeenth-Century Scotland (forthcoming).
The Godly Isle: Gender, Justice, and Social Control in Seventeenth-Century Bute (forthcoming).
“Tides of Injustice: Gender, Power, and the Solway Martyrs' Executions.” In Killing Time, edited by Iain Stewart. Studies in Photography, June 2025.
“Assault in the Margins: Gendered Violence in Seventeenth-Century Bute.” In Deviance and Marginality in Early Modern Scotland, edited by Alan Kennedy. Martlesham: Boydell & Brewer. (Forthcoming- January 2025)
“Establishing Paternity in 17th-Century Scotland: A Case Study of Rothesay, 1660.” History Scotland, Sep/Oct, 2022.