Agricultural History Review, Volume 73 Part 1 (2025), pp. 1–32

Testamentary and court documents indicate substantial change in the pastoral management of north-east Scotland after the late 1500s. Although sheep have been recognized previously as important to the economic wealth of the region during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the evidence presented here suggests a continuing importance from the earliest court records of the late 1400s and through the 1500s, until cattle and grain production gained in significance during the course of the 1600s. By the eighteenth century, the region was renowned for its beef and grain production. The stocking levels revealed by the court records may also be used to shed light upon contemporary arable practices in the region and to suggest the importance of topography and soils in determining late medieval agricultural practices.