# data[].attributes.body
Scenes during the mass witch hunts

# data[].attributes.body
scene illustrated during witch thunt

# data[].attributes.body
Illustration of Margaret Aitken revealing other "witches" to the hunters. To save her own life.

# data[].attributes.body
Illustration of the Scottish parliament area in the 16th-17th century

# data[].attributes.body
Claimed "witches" were tied to a pole and set on fire

# data[].attributes.body
Portrait of King James VI of Scotland

# data[].attributes.body
In 1597, Margaret Aitken was on trial for being a witch. Named the Great Witch of Balwearie, she was arrested in Fife in April of 1597. Under torture, she pleaded guilty to the charges of witchcraft but managed to save her life by swearing her ability to recognize other witches. Allegedly to save her life, she accused innocent women as well to save herself from death. This moment is historically significant as it shows the lengths women took to survive.

# data[].attributes.body
In 1563(1 year before Shakespeare's birth) the Scottish Parliament criminalized witchcraft. Which meant being a witch was a capital offence(punishable by death).

# data[].attributes.body
In Shakespeare's lifetime, two major witch hunts lasted from 1590-1591 and 1597. witch hunts were periods where there was an increase in executions of alleged witches.

# data[].attributes.body
The witch trials were a byproduct of the ongoing famine and illness that plagued the region. Everyone blamed the causes on superstitious beliefs such as the witches. The people believed that executing claimed witches would allow them to earn god's favor to end the famine and illness.

# data[].attributes.body
During the witch trials, some people claimed other people were witches as they had something to gain from their death such as money and land. This was historically significant as it showed the irrational thinking and corruption that plagued a superstitious nation at the time.

# data[].attributes.body
Historically significant as when we look back most of the claimed "witches" were women who were of a lower class, may have had disabilities, or had ill manners. This shows the discrimination, oppression, and hysterical thinking that was present during Shakespeare's time.

# data[].attributes.body
King James VI married a princess from Denmark who feared black magic and other dark superstitious beliefs. On the way back to Scotland the royalties experienced poor weather conditions. The king blamed those of the Occult for practicing dark arts to sabotage his trip back. Leading King James VI to create a campaign to get rid of the witches. 70 people were accused of being witches and thus were tortured and punished to death.

# data[].attributes.body
By the late 16th to early 17th century(majority of Shakespeare's life) in Scotland, there were approximately three to four-thousand tortured and executed under the claim of being "witches".

# data[].attributes.body
Those accused of witchcraft were mostly women such as widows and any women who didn't have any support and couldn't defend themselves.

# data[].attributes.body
The King of Scotland and England at the time was King James IV and he had a great interest in witchcraft. He even wrote a book on that matter. In an attempt to win the favor of the new king, Shakespeare included witches in Macbeth.

# data[].attributes.headline
Witchcraft in Scotland during Shakespeare's time

# data[].attributes.subject
Witchcraft in Scotland during Shakespeare's time