James North berthwick Witches

James comes of age and assumes power

1583, age 17

Events at North Berwick begin to unfold

1590, age 24

Two influences that made James particularly suspicious of “witches”

• Long history of conspiracies and violence within his family

• Grew up in a highly charged religious environment

• James was attracted to Catholicism

James’ father

Lord Darnley, murdered when James was 8 months old

James’ Mother

Mary, Queen of Scots, after father’s murder, married James Hepburn

James Hepburn

4th Earl of Bothwell, assumed responsible forr Darnley’s death.

George Gordon

February 1589, was plotting to assist Spain in an invasion of Scotland

James’ procedures concerning witches

• Witches were believed to be actively worshipping the Devil

• Enforced the torture and interrogation of witches

• Concerned with plots against his person made by witches

Newes from Scotland

• Published in England

• Presented James as a godly Protestand who was concerned with defending his people against the same threats the English faced

• Concludes James is protected from witches due to his religion

Use of torture

• James approved the use of torture

• Torture only should be used if officially sanctioned by the Privy Council, James being personally involved ensured torture was used more widely

Torture methods

Witch’s bridle, thumb screws, ‘boots’ and cords tied around the head

Earl of Bothwell, born to John Stewart, the illegitimate son of James V and his mistress Jane Hepburn

1562

Recalled to Scotland in order to enter the service of the King

1582

Involved in a plot against the royal favourite

1583

Openly criticises James

1587

Involved in a conspiracy against James

1589

First arrested for involvement in North Berwick plot

1591

Found guilty of witchcraft in his absence

1592

Tried and acquitted of witchcraft

1593

Mounts a final attack on James at Leith

1594

Found guilty of treason and flees to mainland Europe

1595

Dies in poverty in Naples

1612

Agnes Sampson involvement in North Berwick

• Unlikely that she knew Bothwell, confessed that he had asked her to divine how long James would live and what would happen after his death

• Confessed she was encouraged to send her familiar to kill the king

Bothwell’s arrest

15 April 1591 and held at Edinburgh Castle

James’ dislike for Bothwell

It appeared to James’ that Bothwell had set him up in the storms, since as admiral he should have been able to warn James

24 July 1593, Bothwell enters Holyrood Palace with associates, seeking a pardon from James. James attempts to flee and claims they could never take his soul

James seemed to fear Bothwell not as an assasin or traitor, but as a magician

Attempts to punish Bothwell

April 1591, Bothwell summoned before the Privy Council to explain himself

Escapes in June 1591

Royal Proclamation that he is in leagues with the Devil

Stripped of all titles and declared an outlaw

Bothwell’s attack on Holyrod Palace

27 December 1591, repelled by James’ guards, escapes, goes into hiding

James’ pursuit of Bothwell

April 1592 James hears Bothwell resides at Dundee, Bothwell was found guilty by now but he escapes.

Bothwell makes further attempt to capture the king

June 1592, Bothwell escapes but some of his supporters are captured

Bothwell’s supporters are charged but Bothwell continues to evade capture

July-October 1592

Bothwell’s visit to Holyrod Palace

24 July 1593

Convinced James of his innocence

Bothwell cleared of original charges in August

Bothwell’s trial

1593

Bothwell persuades James of his innocence

Fills Edinburgh with his armed supporters

Is acquitted by the jury

James is fearful of Bothwells influence

James withdraws his pardon, and exiles Bothwell

Bothwell’s last attampt at an uprising

Joins a group of rebels in Linlithgow

Attack the King’s forces in Leith in March 1594, unsuccesfully

Bothwell withdraws to the English Border

Bothwell guilty of treason

1595

Initial arrests of suspected witches

November 1590

Initial trials begin for suspected witches

January 1591

Gilly Duncan

Originally employed by David Seaton

The original accused witch

Hanged

John Fian

Executed by strangulation and burnt

John Grierson

Died in custody

Agnes Sampson

Executed by strangulation and burnt at Castle Hill in Edinburgh

Barbara Napier

Due to be executed on 11 May 1591, friends insisted she was pregnant and execution was delayed.

James demanded a re-trial but there is no evidence that the woman was ever executed

Effie McCalyan

Due to be burnt alive on 19 June 1591, feigned pregnancy

Execution initially delayed by a week, then lessened to being burnt after being strangulated

Before her execution, she declared her innocence

Margaret Acheson

Accused by Napier and Sampson of meeting the Devil and plotting against King James

Meg Bogtoun

Implicated by others in plotting to destroy James’ and Anne’s ships

Bessie Broune

Was accused by Sampson of dismembering a corpse at Halloween

Michael Clark

Was mentioned in Fian’s confession as someone who was present at meetings at the North Berwick Kirk

Two of the major witch-hunts in Scottish history

North Berwick hunt - 1590-1591

Witch-hunt - 1597

Number of other trials were relatively isolated

Witchcraft act passes

1563

Five Judges are named on a commission with no specified subjects. They are given commission to torture at will

October 1591

Commissions

Given by the king in mid-1592 to nobles and magistrates for the investigation and trial of witches

James proclaims the all requests for commissions be submitted to the Privy Council, rather than to the king personally

1596, Sir William Steward is given a commission bvy the Privy Council, to investigate witchcraft and other crimes in the Highlands and Islands region

Alison Balfour

Tortured for 2 days, without a warrant, by authorities in Edinburgh in 1595, as a suspected witch

Accused of being hired to poison her brother.

Her husband and son were tortured as well

This case explains why the Privy Council reduced the number of commissions after 1597

Janet Wishart

Accused of raising storms

Trialed in Aberdeen in March 1597

Executed alongside one of her accomplices

The witch-hunt of 1597

Over by October, spread beyond Aberdeenshire as far as Fife, Perthshire and Stirlingshire

Around 400 accusations, Margaret Aitken responsible for many of them.

Not officially documented, as it was mostly carried out by local authorities

It came at a time of poor harvest and plague

Margaret Aitken

Arrested as a witch in April 1597

Agreed to help the king’s agent identify witches

Friction between King James and Kirk

James believed Kirk didn’t do enough to deal with witchcraft

Relative peace between 1585 and 1592

Open conflict in 1596

No central authority on the hunts

Trials were carried out by local officials, no instructions from central government on how to carry out trials.

Difficult for the government to maintain control of proceedings far from Edinburgh, and there many trials took place on the estates of large landowners.

Daemonologie

Published in 1597 by James following the witch-hunt of that year

It is presented as a dialogue between Philomathes and Epistemon

James says Reginald Scot’s sceptical work made him want to clarify his stance on witches

Key points made by James in Daemonologie

The Devil is extremely powerful and a danger on Earth

Witches and Necromancers have an allegiance to the Devil

He describes rituals, ceremonies and gatherings that these witches would attend

James’ guide to identifying witches

Search for the Devil’s mark, acquired when renouncing baptism, widespread method of identifying witches in the 17th century

Swimming test, largely only used in England

Was James responsible for the persecutions?

Jenny Wormald agrees that James had a role in the North Berwick hunt, but that in 1597 hunts he was more of a sceptic

The miscarriages of justice affected James, and he became more interested in uncovering false witches instead of real ones.

James wants to interrogate witches personally and orders a suspect to be sent to him

September 16 1597

The Menteith family arrested the unnamed witch with the intent of her confessing and accusing the Herons.

Why did the witch-hunts have such repercussions?

James was a superstitious ruler, and the freedom he granted to the local officials allowed the hunts to be as gruesome as they did.

The monarchy was relatively weak, and Scotland had a long rivalry of clan and royal.

Weather and natural disasters: 1590-91 accusations were associated with storms, and 1597 with famine and disease.

Scotland had a well-entrenched belief in folk magic and witches and was a patriarchal society, so men were perhaps quicker to accuse women of witchcraft.

The judicial system, which included majority verdicts in jury trials and less control from central government, meant that miscarriages of justice were more likely to take place.

The confessions of Agnes Sampson

Provided an explanation for the storms faced by James’ and Anne’s fleets

Sampson mentioned the King directly when she said the Devil had told her that he and Scotland would be destroyed.

The importance of North Berwick

A large number of women were accused

They were charged with fraternising with the Devil

A case of maleficium was central to the case

Why was witch-hunting more prevalent in Scotland than in England?

Scotland had a less complex system, and local officials could act with little royal interference.

Torture could only be used with the consent of the Privy Council, but Scottish monarchy was weak, and local judges allowed torture without justified cause to.

The jury system allowed a simple majority to find someone guilty, rather than a unanimous decision.

Scotland witnessed a Protestand reformation like England, but on stricter, Calvinist lines.

Scotland was relatively poor compared to England.

Scotland already had a deep belief in fairies and folk magic used for helpful purposes.

Execution rates: Geneva, Switzerland

1537-1662

Confirmed Trials: 318

Executions: 68 (21%)

Execution rates: Luxembourg

1509-1687

Confirmed Trials: 547

Executions: 358 (69%)

Execution rates: Finland

1520-1699

Confirmed Trials: 710

Executions: 115 (16%)

Execution rates: Norway

1551-1760

Confirmed Trials: 730

Executions: 280 (38%)

Execution rates: Essex, England

1560-1672

Confirmed Trials: 291

Executions: 74 (24%)

Execution rates: Scotland

1563-1727

Confirmed Trials: 402

Executions: 216 (54%)

Scottish Witchcraft Act passes

1563 under Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots - Mother of James I.

It was heavily influenced by Calvinist clergymen keen to enforce godly morals.

Gilly Duncan’s confession

Was reputed to have unnatural healing abilities, visited those who were sick and disabled and miraculously helped them

She was neither old nor isolated from her community.

She worked for David Seaton, who questioned and interrogated her, before torturing her

Seaton got Duncan to finally confess by finding the Witch’s mark on her throat.

Anne starts her first voyage to James from Denmark

1 September 1589

Her fleet was driven back by storms

The Danish admiral, Peter Munk, attributed the storms to witchcraft, as he had never seen storms as dangerous before. Munk may have blamed witchcraft, as he seemed concerned he might have been accused of negligence himself.

The influence of James’ Voyage to Denmark

Bothwell was asked by James to fetch Anne from Denmark, this trip was cancelled however, after the Chancellor rejected Bothwell’s costs as they were too expensive.

James travelled to Denmark himself, where he conversed a lot with astronomer Tycho Brahe, theologian, Niels Hemmingsen, with whom he discussed Calvinism at length.

The return to Scotland was also perilous, and a ship was lost, for which misfortuned once again the witches were blamed.

Thomas Riis argues that witchcraft accusations in Denmark largely based on localised cases of maleficium and not pacts with the Devil, and so the Journey would have had little impact on James.

The Witchcraft Act of 1563

The wording of the Act treated the existance of the witchcraft with scepticism.

Witches are referred to as abusers of the people rather than genuine Devil worshippers, as most Scots saw witchcraft as a fraudulent practice.

The Act wasn’t followed to the letter and the order of the General Assembly of the Kirk was that witches simply repent for their sins, not be executed.

Niels Hemmingsen

He may have fired James’ belief in witchcraft

Wrote a book on magic and related subjects in 1575, titled “Avoiding Magic and Superstition“.

In the book, he accepts witches being able to carry out acts of maleficium, but denies a pact with the Devil taking place.

Suspected witches have an amount of state protection until laws are passed to ensure fair trials. Torture is not allowed

1547

Further reform ensures that appeals against local court decisions could be heard in the High Court in Coppenhagen

1576

The Lutheran Bishop, Peter Palladius (1503-1560)

Encouraged Christians to report suspected witches

Reported that 52 witches were burned in just one hunt

Bessie Dunlop

Accused of Witchcraft in Ayr in 1576

Chraged with conversing with the devil, who invited her to become a Catholic.

Similar trials were basd on accusations of hidden Catholicism.

The connection between Danish and Scottish witchcraft in North Berwick was first made

Early July 1590

Crazed woman arrived in Leith and prophesised that James would carry out noble acts.

Later that month news reached Scotland that a number of witches in Denmark had been arrested for conjuring the storms that prevented Anne from travelling.

Anna Koldings

A letter dated 23 July 1590 from a spy of the English statesman Lord Burghley stated that Admiral Peter Munk had demanded suspected witches were brought to Copenahagen, one of them being Anna Koldings.

She was interrogated and tortured, despite this being illegal in Denmark. She gave up the names of 5 other women, and all the women confessed to raising a storm to sink Anne’s ship and participating in meetings in the house of Karen the Weaver.

Koldings along with atleast 12 other women were executed.

Agnes Sampson

She was the next suspect after Gilly Duncan, and it was speculated that Duncan got her healing skill from Sampson.

King James himself interrogated at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, after officials had discovered the Devil’s mark on her.

She answered calmly and logically despite all the torture, but confessed eventually to anything that was asked of her.

Agnes Sampson’s charges

The accusations made against her are longer than the others. She was accused of:

Communicating via letters with another witch, ordering her to instruct members of the coven to raise a storm in order to prevent Anne from sailing to Scotland

Healing the sick

Discovering personal information on behalf of others

Sailing across the sea in a sieve

Calling on the Devil in the shape of a dog in order to assist her. She denied the spirits that she had met being the Devil.

Agnes Sampson’s confession

Under the torture and pressure, Agnes confessed to things even James didn’t believe, calling her a liar.

Agnes repeated then to him the exact words that had passed between himself and Anne on their first night of marriage in Oslo, and James was convinced of her powers.

Sampson seemed as the leader of a coven of witches, connected very well from North Berwick towards Edinburgh

Who was accused by Sampson?

Barbara Napier, a friend of Earl of Bothwell

Richard Graham, who also knew Bothwell and was arrested in 1590 as a magician. According to Bothwell during his trial in 1593, Richard had once tried to sell him a ring containing a familiar spirit.

Effie McCalyan, the well respected daughter of Lord Cliftonhall. She was accused of wanting to take revenge on her father in law, and using magic to transfer her birthing pains onto animals. Her servants testified against her in court.

John Fian

A schoolmaster from Saltpans, a few miles away from North Berwick.

He was arrested on 20 December 1590 and charged with 20 counts of witchcraft and high treason.

He claimed that he had renounced the Devil, but that the Devil came back and told him he could never escape.

He was able to escape for a short time, but was eventually recaptured and tortured further.

John Fians torture

His head was twisted with rope

Needles were driven under his fingernails

He was placed in the device known as ‘boots’

He refused to confess, and that made his torturers only more enthusiastic, as it was believed that if someone refused to confess, the Devil had engrained himself deeper in their souls.

John Fian’s crimes

Acting as a secretary in the coven meetings, recording the oaths of allegiance to the Devil

Giving the kiss of shame to the Devil

Falling into trances where his spirit was transported to mountains

Bewitching a man to suffer a spell of lunacy once a day

Attempting to bewitch a woman to fall in love with him, but instead bewitching a cow that followed him around everywhere he went to the amusement of his neighbours (that is very funny)

Robbing graves for body parts

Chasing Cats after the Devil had told him to collect them to use in charms

Dismembering unbaptised babies

Predicting the future to discover how and when people would die

Burning down a house in revenge

Flying through the air

Attaching magical candles to his horse, which enabled him to turn night into day as he travelled.

Why was John Fian accused?

He seems to be an unlikely witch.

There was no evidence to suggest that he knew magic or healing

He was an easy target for accusations as he was a schoolmaster who came in contact with many locals, and had affairs with a number of married women.

As one of the few well educated people, he could have been suspected by the illiterate locals of possessing some sort of hidden knowledge.