ABSTRACT
In the Latin Christian societies of later medieval Europe, a person’s kinship identity was determined not just by natural (blood) ties and by legal (marriage) ties, but also by spiritual ties established through the rite of baptism and through membership in guilds.1 The theories behind the creation and functioning of these spiritual ties of kinship were set out in writings of theologians, decrees of church councils, and literary works. The practical manifestations and consequences of these ties are harder to measure, but traces of them can be found in a variety of sources and from these traces it is clear that ties of spiritual kinship operated in at least some of the same ways as other forms of kinship ties. Although the sources available for a study of such ties in Scotland are limited in comparison with other areas of Europe, nevertheless, it is clear that Scottish theories of spiritual kinship were the same as elsewhere in western Europe and that Scots’ responses to these theories were consistent in general terms with broader European patterns.
