Witch Hunting: Scotland

Question 1

North Berwick Witch Hunts: Causation

Answer 1

Witchcraft in Scotland Before 1590:

• Before 1563: Witchcraft usually dealt with in Ecclesiastical Courts
• Witchcraft Act 1563: Criminalised Witchcraft, called for death in all cases of Witchcraft

Religious Situation in Scotland:

• 1560s: Calvinists seized power and began to try and remove Catholicism
• Scottish Reformation: Presbyterians looked to God and the Kirk for authority, rather than Government
• Kirk: In 1580s put pressure on Government to create a ‘Godly State’ by prosecuting Witches

Scottish Legal System:

• Courts: 3 main ones were Court of Judiciary (Highest Court), Circuit courts and Regality Courts
• Regality Courts: Able to try serious crimes, ran by landowners and locals, Judicially Autonomous- high conviction rates
• Torture legal in Scotland if authorised by Privy Council, often ways to get around this e.g. sleep deprivation, or used illegally

Socio-Economic Issues:

• Largely Rural: small communities, many living on the verge of poverty and working as Subsistence Farmers (Only growing enough to feed their families, little to sell)
• Brian Levack: Suggests crop failures and famine led to ‘a general sense of anxiety’

Witchcraft Cases 1563-90:

• No major increase in trials after Witchcraft Act 1563
• Attitude often lenient to people accused, people would normally have to publicly repent
• More relating to Maleficarum than Diabolical Pact

Impact of James VI:

• King of Scotland, hated Catholics, paranoid because of many assassination attempts over the years
• Married Anne of Denmark, her ship faced storms on the way to Scotland which ‘witches’ took credit for, believed that James’ book Daemonologie was thought of during his time in Denmark with Anne- although Denmark didn’t really believe in the Diabolic Pact
• James believed the Devil wanted to destroy him so tried to persecute his followers- Witches.

Question 2

North Berwick Witch Hunts: Events

Answer 2

Gilly Duncan:

• November 1590: Maid Gilly Duncan arrested for suspected Witchcraft because David Seaton (a deputy bailiff she worked for) was suspicious of the fact that she was frequently absent from the house overnight
• Confessed after torture and discovery of Devil’s mark on her neck
• Confessed to having sold her soul to the Devil and being one of over 200 Witches who had gathered in Auld Kirk on Halloween
• Named over 70 accomplices, Examples include: Dr John Fian, Agnes Sampson, Euphane MacCalzean, Barbara Napier and Lord Bothwell- Said Bothwell had plotted to kill the king by Witchcraft and Poisoning

East Lothian Trials 1590:

• James got involved after hearing stories of plots to kill him, at least 3 Witches killed before he got involved
• James ordered main suspects- Sampson, Fian, Napier, MacCalzean and Duncan- to be sent to Edinburgh to be questioned

Agnes Sampson:

• Had a long-established career as a healer, fortune-teller and midwife
• Had 53 Witchcraft charges brought against her
• Sampson apparently took James to one side and shocked him by reciting the intimate words he and Anne had spoken on their wedding night
• Confessed to the indictments against her and meeting with the Devil

Torture and Execution:

• Sampson and Dr Fian were tortured in order to extract confessions
• Sampson found guilty on 27 January 1591 and executed next day
• Dr Fian convicted 26 December but not executed until late January, denied everything he had confessed to under torture

Trials of MacCalzean and Napier:

• MacCalzean: A-Typical Witch > Wealthy and Married
• MacCalzean: charged with treasonable Witchcraft against James and with attending 4 Witches Sabbats
• MacCalzean: found guilty 15 June 1591, her sentenced said that she had to be burned alive (people normally strangled first)
• Napier: Convicted for consulting with Witches to harm the king but acquitted of attending convention on halloween
• Napier: Acquittal overruled by James

Bothwell:

• Accused of plotting against James and ordering Witches to use magic against him
• Imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle and trial set for 6 May but postponed due to lack of evidence
• Bothwell set to be released on June 19 and given liberty on condition he went into exile, Bothwell fled 2 days before release date
• Privy Council denounced him and Bothwell continued to pose threat to James e.g. 1593 Coup where he took over Government and tried to clear his name
• Acquitted of Witchcraft charges but exiled

Question 3

North Berwick Witch Hunts: 1591-97

Answer 3

Witchcraft Persecution 1591-7:

• James convinced Devil hated him and he set about convincing subjects of the evil in their midst:
• Commissioned Newes From Scotland pamphlet informing Scots of events in 1590-91, designed to increase fear of witches
• 1591: James declared evidence from usually unreliable witnesses, e.g. women, admissible

1591 Commission:

• Privy Council established special commission to enquire into Witchcraft cases, using Torture if necessary
• Christina Larner: Thought commission was the ‘most decisive instrument in the maintenance of prosecutions’
• Brian Levack: Thought influence on hunts was limited e.g. commission limited because it only gave power to 6 commissioners, Privy Council’s created it in response to requests to prosecute from particular areas

1592 Kirk-State Commission:

• Joint body of commissioners from Kirk and Government, toured country addressing number of social and religious issues
• Promoted Witch-Hunts because it sent commissioners round Scotland with authority to empower local leaders to prosecute Witches

1597 Witch-Hunt:

• At least 400 people tried and around 200 executed
• Margaret Aitken: Arrested in 1597 and pleaded guilty under torture, able to escape execution by offering to help identify witches
• Margaret Aitken: Many people tried and executed were picked by her, eventually discredited

1597 Privy Council Order:

• Aitken Scandal may have prompted James to change policy
• Privy Council recalled all Commissions of Justiciary it had granted to local authorities
• Privy Council now considered each request for a commission to hold a Witchcraft trial
• Privy Council issued commissions only to groups of 3 or 4 men to prevent individuals acting prejudicially

Question 4

Witch-Hunts: 1649-1650 & 1661-1662

Answer 4

1649-50 Witch-Hunt:

• Hunt followed a poor harvest in 1649
• Political and Religious turmoil resulting from defeat of Scottish Army in 2nd English Civil War
• Rise of radical Kirk Party, which wanted to create a ‘Godly State’ through rooting out Witches and other offenders
• Kirk’s Party ended when Oliver Cromwell marched into Scotland and new Government supervised Witch trials more closely

1661-2 Witch-Hunt:

• At least 660 tried for Witchcraft
• Privy Council or Parliament approved all of the trials
• Same judges and Same witch mark searchers often used
• Ended when Privy Council limited commissions of justiciary and cracked down on torture
• 2 Witch-Hunters prosecuted by Council for fraud in their work of pricking Witches