North Berwick

• Gilly Duncan


  Believed to have healing abilities, visited the sick at night, maidservant of David Seaton who tortured her to get a confession
• David Seaton found a Devil's mark on Gilly Duncan's throat


  This led her to confess she was a witch
• Gilly Duncan confessed


  She named other witches, leading to over 100 women being named
• Gilly Duncan's confession


  Led to a fear across the country and more witch-hunts such as in Aberdeen where 86 were accused
• There is not much evidence that James was interested in witches before 1590
• James' wife tried to set sail to Scotland 3 times but storms prevented her


  James then travelled to Denmark and was met with similar storms
• Storms in Denmark


  Some people attributed them to witches, leading to suspected witches being arrested, naming others and then being executed
• Witchcraft in Denmark was not very serious and not many people were executed, and trials were much more fair
• Christian ministers and Bishops encouraged people to speak up if they suspected someone of witchcraft
• Witchcraft trials in Denmark were also based on secretly following Catholicism
• Agnes Sampson


  Old and well educated woman (midwife and healer), officials found a Devil's Mark and tortured her, accused of causing the storms, recited the words that James said alone on his wedding night, accused other people
• Agnes Sampson's perceived role


  Leader of the coven
• John Fian


  Schoolmaster accused alongside Duncan, 20 counts of witchcraft (dismembering babies and flying), accused of links with the Devil, arrested and tortured by command of the King, involved with the Sampson case
• John Fian's refusal of confession


  Led to the intensification of enthusiasm
• James and torture

  Relatively inexperienced (24 in 1590), dysfunctional childhood, became very paranoid, grew up religiously conflicted, approved the use of torture, advised the legal authorities on methods of torture, arranged for jurors to be tried when they acquitted a suspected witch, personally interrogated people
• James' involvement


  Made the use of torture more widespread, may have sparked other people to become enthusiastic
• Earl of Bothwell


  Agnes Sampson named him to be involved with witchcraft, James also feared him, strongly denied the accusations and escaped multiple times, tried to reconcile with the King, was then acquitted, 1 month later the King withdrew his pardon and he was exiled
• The high-profile nature of the Earl of Bothwell case


  Meant that more people would have heard about it, he gained suspicion in other countries, making the case more worldwide
• Judicial procedures


  1. October 1591 - 5 judges were given commission to torture at will

  2. 1596 - James stated that requests of cases of witchcraft were to be sent to the Privy Council not the King, they then gave permission to Sir William Steward to investigate cases of witchcraft

  3. 1595 - authorities in Edinburgh tortured a suspected witch for 2 days alongside her family

  4. 1597 - daemonologie published

  5. 1597 - the next big witch-hunt took place in Aberdeen
• Lack of strong central control


  Relations broke down between the monarch and the Kirk in 1592 and conflict broke out in 1596, no instructions from central government so local officials led the hunts, difficult for government to maintain control beyond Edinburgh and very few reports made it to the Privy Council, lesser communications meant that the government didn't know what was happening outside of Edinburgh, may have led to more trials based on feuds and disputes rather than actual evidence
• Role of James


  Published daemonologie in 1597, took personal roles in trials such as North Berwick, showed how to identify witches, involvement of Bothwell's trial in 1593, involvement in the Stirlingshire Panic 1597
• If James did not take a personal interest

  Trials and witch-hunts may have never become so widespread