Suicides in Shetland During Earl Patrick's Reign

The story of Earl Patrick Stewart’s rule over Orkney and Shetland in the late 16th and early 17th centuries is one of oppression, greed, and cruelty. Among the many horrors attributed to his reign is an unsettling increase in suicides, particularly among Shetland’s small landowners, or udallers. This tragic pattern reveals not only the heavy toll of his misrule but also the broader societal pressures faced by Shetland’s people during a time of intense economic and political instability.