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The Witchcraft Act was passed by Mary’s first parliament in 1563.

Under the Scottish Witchcraft Act 1563, both the practice of witchcraft and consulting with witches were capital offenses. It was the Witchcraft Act that initially allowed for widespread prosecutions and executions of people across Scotland.

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The first legitimate use of the Witchcraft Act was in 1568 Potentially the new Regent, Sir William Stewart attempted to conjure some divine favor from above and cleanse Scottish society from the abominable events that led to the end of Mary’s rule. The attempted prosecution was a trial run for establishing political and religious authority through a prosecution of witchcraft.

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In 1568 Sir William Stewart was executed because of the belief he was practicing witchcraft, his execution sparked witch hunts from 1568-69 although they didn’t gain much traction compared to other witch hunts in Scotland and were considered unsuccessful. These witch hunts eventually led King James to institute a policy of crimen exceptum.

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-Crimen exceptum is an exceptional crime that was not subject to typical judicial procedures or standards of proof.

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In 1990 over 70 people from East Lothian Scotland were accused of witchcraft. The confessions of the witches were given after being tortures in a building called old tooth and King James VI attended the trials.

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After North Berwick witches were accused of attempting to sink King James' ship with his new wife and were eventually executed wide-spread witch hunts began in Scotland from 1990-97. These witch hunts resulted in judicial statute rearrangements and inspiring James' treatise Daemonologie.

An estimated 4,000 people were persecuted for witchcraft during this time period 75% of the accused were women.

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In 1597, King James VI of Scotland published a compendium on witchcraft lore called Daemonologie. It was a treatise on diabolism or the nature of the demonic pact and was a warning to readers of the dangers of witchcraft and was written to serve as an accusation against the practice of witchcraft.

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During the witch trials in Scotland majority of the witches executed were women, why was that?

Many believe women were targeted because of their social and economical position at the time and the witch hunts were about persecuting the powerless and society’s most marginal members and even when men were accused of witchcraft it was because they had links to women who were also being accused or executed, it is important to note that during this time women were witches and witches were women.

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Witchcraft and its Connections to Religion 

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Witchcraft and its Connections to Religion 

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The witch trials happened during a period where Northern Europe’s institutions of both spiritual, temporal, and religious power were shifting largely because of the Protestant reformation. As the state was urging people to accept the new faith of Protestantism. The panic of witchcraft and witches helped the protestants gain power as the religion could make commitments to protect citizens from 'Satan's evil' when the religions fighting for control made these commitments the idea of witchcraft became even more popular resulting in more trials and deaths.

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During the witch trials misogyny was ingrained into culture and it was believed women were more open to corruption and were easier targets of the devil. Then when the idea of witchcraft became more popular and there was a social panic women often bore the brunt of it as they were seen as less powerful and the devil could have easily corrupted their minds into using witchcraft. The idea that women were more easily corruptible has direct relations to misogyny as men were never seen as week as women so it was hardly ever thought that a man would be the one doing the witchcraft.

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There were an estimated 4,000-6,000 trials in Scotland, at the time of the trials Scotland's population was less than a quarter of England's population yet had 3 times the amount of trials. The atmosphere in Scotland during the trials was tyrannical the Kirk and state were executing witches everywhere and they were willing to execute anyone they saw as different, disabled, or a woman.

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https://docs.google.com/document/d/19BqhSUekToeSlYPNhAF0tGGScLuMUp14txL_2thmYnI/edit?usp=sharing

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-03/the-witch-hunts-of-scotland-mapped.

Bridget Marshall

Associate Professor of English. “Most Witches Are Women, Because Witch Hunts Were All about Persecuting the Powerless.” The Conversation, 26 Feb. 2021, theconversation.com/most-witches-are-women-because-witch-hunts-were-all-about-persecuting-the-powerless-125427.

Mackay, Neil. “The Scottish Witch Hunts: When Our Nation Went Mad.” HeraldScotland, HeraldScotland, 27 Oct. 2019, www.heraldscotland.com/news/17996342.scottish-witch-hunts-nation-went-mad/.

“North Berwick Witch Trials.” Historic UK, www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofScotland/North-Berwick-Witch-Trials/.

“Source 2.” National Library of Scotland, www.nls.uk/learning-zone/literature-and-language/themes-in-focus/witches/source-2/.

“Why Europe's Wars of Religion Put 40,000 'Witches' to a Terrible Death.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 7 Jan. 2018, www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jan/07/witchcraft-economics-reformation-catholic-protestant-market-share.