# data[].attributes.body
It was much more common for people to believe in witchcraft during this time, witches were believed to be with the devil. They were rumoured to have the abilities of flying, disappearing and changing into animals.
The beliefs were so serious that anyone suspected of being a witch would be taken, tortured and brutally killed.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The three witches in 'Macbeth'

Macbeth and Banquo meet the three witches.

Illustration from 'The Picture Shakespeare: Macbeth', 1901.
[NLS reference: [Am].5/5]

'Nobody would believe such folly now-a-days, except low and ignorant creatures such as those who consult gipsies in order to have their fortunes told'.
- Sir Walter Scott writing in 'Tales of a grandfather' about the three witches in 'Macbeth'.

Shakespeare's witches

Written between 1603 and 1607, 'Macbeth' was one of the first plays Shakespeare produced during the reign of the newly crowned King James I of England (James VI of Scotland).

Although James had acceded to the Scottish throne as an infant in 1567, he only became king of England in 1603 after the death of Queen Elizabeth I, who had failed to produce an heir. This union of the crowns ensured that from 1603 the king was simultaneously King James VI of Scotland and King James I of England.

In writing 'Macbeth' it is likely that Shakespeare was keen to win the favour of the new king of England. This might explain the inclusion of witches in the play, as James had a great interest in the subject, as shown in his book 'Daemonologie'.

How did Shakespeare's audience view witches and witchcraft?

In Shakespeare's time most people believed in witches, the devil, evil spirits and magic. In both England and Scotland, women (and men) suspected of being witches were arrested and questioned, often after being tortured into providing a confession. Witches were generally sentenced to be hanged in England. In Scotland they were generally strangled before their corpse was burnt at the stake.

People accused of witchcraft would not usually have made predictions so the witches in Macbeth are unusual. They use their evil magic to trick Macbeth with their half-true predictions.

We do not know what Shakespeare's own attitude towards witchcraft or magic was. He may have wanted them to represent real witches, or evil in human form. Either way, the witches are powerful figures who play a vital role in how the play unravels.

Modern portrayal

Modern play directors often find it difficult to deal with the witches because most people nowadays do not believe in witchcraft in the same way as Shakespeare's audience would have done. They also want to avoid the cliché of Halloween-style witches on broomsticks. A few directors choose to make them invisible, or even leave them out of the play altogether.

The 'weird sisters'

Shakespeare called the witches 'weird sisters', a term that he picked up from the Scottish chronicles narrating the story of the historical Macbeth.

They were a hybrid of the everyday village witches who committed magical harm - though such witches did not tend to make prophecies. Arguably, the attributes of the village witch were bolted on to the 'weird sisters'.

In Shakespeare's Scottish sources they were 'fate women', not witches at all. Yet during this period 'weird' was not a standard English word, and it is not clear that Shakespeare even knew what it meant. In Scots it meant 'fate'. The word 'weird', with its modern meaning, entered standard English through Shakespeare's play.

What is the witches' role?

The witches are not characters in the way that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are. There is hardly anything to distinguish between the three of them. However, they serve several purposes:

They set the mood of the play by their meeting in the very first scene.

They represent pure evil. We see how spiteful they are in Act I scene 3. One of them is prepared to torment a sailor just because his wife wouldn't share her chestnuts.

Their predictions and advice make Macbeth commit the murders that drive the plot of the play. They encourage his ambition and make him think he cannot fail.

They are entertaining - even though in a horrifying way. Starting the play with them would catch a Shakespearean audience's attention.

In Act IV scene 1 the witches summon the spirits to show to Macbeth. For this they perform a spell, throwing all kinds of disgusting or frightening things into their cauldron. This scene normally follows an interval and it draws the audience back in to the play. It also shows just how foul the witches are.

Suggested activity and questions for discussion

Read these scenes to remind yourself of the witches:

Act I scene 1

Act I scene 3

Act III scene 5

Act IV scene 1

What are some of the characteristics that stand out to you?

How would you choose to represent the witches if you were portraying them in a modern tv adaptation, film or song?

How would you make them believable to a modern audience?

Here are some of the magical ingredients. The difficult words are highlighted in bold and explained below.

Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake:
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and howlet's wing

Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witches' mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravined salt-sea shark,
Root of hemlock, digged I' the dark;
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat, and slips of yew,
Slivered in the moon's eclipse;
Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips,
Finger of birth-strangled babe,
Ditch-delivered by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab.
Add thereto a tiger's chawdron
For the'ingredience of our cauldron.

Try re-arranging some of the lines to come up with a new rhyming pattern or use some of your own words to come up with a modern version. Try creating a version using Scots words.

Read the lines out loud. The rhythm of this spell is different from the verse in the rest of the play. The spell has four beats to the line instead of five, making it a pounding chant.

Identify where the beats are in each line. Try chanting it while you beat out the time.

Themes in focus - Witches in Scottish literature

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Macbeth and Banquo meet the three witches. Illustration from 'The Picture Shakespeare: Macbeth', 1901.[NLS reference: [Am].5/5] 'Nobody would believe such folly now-a-days, except low and ignorant creatures such as those who consult gipsies in order to have their fortunes told'. - Sir Walter Scott writing in 'Tales of a grandfather' about the three witches in 'Macbeth'.

# data[].attributes.body
Everyday experiences that we may face today, were considered witchcraft in Shakespeare's time. Any inconveniences would be considered witchcraft and cursed. For example, if one's food did not grow in their garden, it means the witch got to it.

# data[].attributes.body
The stereotypical witch was a women who lived alone, with pets to complete tasks for her, old and poor.
It was not believed that witches even had any powers during this time, apart from being with the devil.

# data[].attributes.body
When an individual was suspected of witchcraft there would be a variety of torturous punishments waiting for them.
These punishments may include, crushing their thumbs, crushing their heads, piercing cheeks and tongues, shackling them to walls and much more.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
As the panic of witchcraft swept over Northern Europe, witches in Scotland were not something to be feared. Scotland had its fair share of healers and herbalists, however, these people (who were also known as witches in Scotland) weren't seen as evil beings working with the devil.

Many of them were sought out to help people alleviate their ailments or in some cases to keep superstitious sailors safe at sea. This all changed when King James IV went to Denmark in 1590.

When sailing to Scotland, Princess Anne of Denmark (destined to take the throne next to King James VI) ran into an intense storm that almost capsized her boat. The unruly weather forced her to retreat back to Denmark.

Not wanting to lose his queen-to-be, King James headed to Copenhagen to retrieve Anne so they could make the journey back to Scotland together.

However, on the way, his ship was also met by vicious storms. When he finally arrived at Kronborg Castle in Denmark, he was swallowed up by the witchcraft hysterics which were rife throughout the country.
Check out the Everything is Spooky in the Dark Podcast Episode - Witches in Scotland
Witches in Scotland - Witch Hysteria

The witch hysteria which consumed Europe was largely due to a single book written by Heinrich Kramer called The Malleus Maleficarum - The Witch Hammer. This became something of a guidebook for capturing and killing witches.

During King James' stay at the castle, two women were arrested for witchcraft. After much interrogation, they ultimately confessed to being responsible for conjuring up the storms that Anne's ships ran into. They claimed Satan told them to do in order to murder her.

King James VI was terrified of suffering a violent death. He was convinced he was being tormented by witches.

Upon returning to Scotland, King James' paranoia of witchcraft grew and with his increasing suspicions, he authorized the persecution and torture of all suspected witches as part of the Scottish witch trials, also known as the Great Scottish Witch Hunt.

Accusing Witches in Scotland

Those accused of being Scottish witches were generally healers, herbalists, midwives and poverty-stricken old women. People believed the witches of Scotland sank ships, injured and murdered innocent people, and brought famine and disease to Scotland.

Paranoia and superstition ran deep within Scotland, so much so that the Scots believed a woman's body was at the height of vulnerability to bewitchment during childbirth. To avoid being bewitched, only the midwife and pregnant woman would be in the room during childbirth.

The midwife would tape up the windows and doors to keep the evil spirits out. Unfortunately, if the baby was stillborn or the mother had issues, the midwife would be accused of witchcraft.

History of Witchcraft and Witches in Scotland

Once James returned to Scotland, David Seaton (a deputy bailiff from a town near Edinburgh) started suspecting his housemaid, Geillis Duncan (also spelled Gillis Duncan) of witchcraft.

Thanks to the books and TV show , Geillis Duncan is now one of the most well-known witches in Scotland. Little do people know that the character in the books and show is actually based on one of the real witches in history. Want to read more books set in Scotland? check out the post here.

Seaton claimed that Geillis would sneak out at night and suddenly obtain magical healing powers. This was enough proof of witchcraft for him and he proceeded to torture her to extract a confession.

The persecution was brutal and included thumbscrew torture, called pilliwinks. This involved slowly tightening a screw-like instrument to gradually crush the victim's thumbs. Geillis refused to confess, so she was also tormented by wrenching - crushing her head with a rope.

After all this torture, Seaton found a "devil's mark" on Geillis' skin. She finally broke, confessed to witchcraft, implicated several others and spent a year in The Old Tolbooth Prison before she was executed.

The Scottish Witchcraft Act of 1563

Witchcraft became a capital offence in Scotland during the reign of Mary Queen of Scots when the Scottish parliament passed the Scottish Witchcraft Act in 1563. This meant that the Scots could legally hunt, torture and execute people as witches.

Witch Torture and Witch Tests

As torture to obtain confessions was legal in Scotland, the torture endured by those accused was barbaric. It didn't end with the horrific witch torture Geillis Duncan endured mentioned above.

Other methods included shackling accused witches to cell walls and refusing to let them sleep for days. This sleep deprivation would cause the victim to hallucinate until they became hysterical.

Many torture implements were used, such as the scold's bridle - essentially a muzzle to hold the tongue in place and prevent an accused witch from speaking. Other torture methods include removing fingernails and piercing their cheeks and tongues with four-pronged iron forks.

credit: wikipedia.com
Witch Pricking Needles

One of the most common witch tests in Scotland was known as witch pricking. This involved pricking the skin of suspected witches with a bodkin (a sharp needle). If the area did not hurt or bleed when pierced, it was deemed a sign of the devil's mark - absolute proof that the suspect was a true witch.

The devil's mark was thought to be branding issued by the devil to bind their deal as a commitment of servitude to Satan. If someone was discovered bearing the mark, it was considered a sure-fire sign they were a witch.

Many descriptions were given of the supposed devil's mark. It could be anything as simple as a mole or skin lesion. Tattoos were also associated with the Pagan religion and were largely considered devil's marks.

Witches in Scotland were brutally punished. Records suggest nearly 4000 people were accused of witchcraft in the country, with 2/3 of those being executed.

Scottish Witch Confessions

Suspected witches in Scotland all confessed to witchcraft before facing the ultimate punishment of death. Why would any of these innocent people confess to something they weren't responsible for?

Confessing, whether or not they were guilty, was the only way they could put an end to the suffering forced upon them on a daily basis. It's also possible some suspects genuinely believed what they were being told was true, even though they thought they were innocent before the torture began.

Others likely gave false confessions to put an end to the horrendous torture those accused of being Scotland witches were made to endure.

Were Scottish Witches Burned at the Stake?

After people were accused and tortured, innocent witches were then sent to witch trials in Scotland. Unlike most criminal trials, the Scotland Witch Trials permitted the torture of suspected witches for as long as possible to extract a confession.

Accusors were even known to bring in children as character witnesses. Those accused of witchcraft were always found guilty and ordered to suffer one final punishment. Death.

Witches in Scotland were burned at the stake. And as brutal as this is, the executors had at least some sympathy and strangled the accused to death first.

The idea was that, even after death, the witches were still a threat and their bodies could be possessed by the devil if they weren't set aflame.

Accused witches were also executed by placing them in wooden barrels studded with nails, before pushing the barrels down the cobbled road of the Royal Mile. Once the barrel stopped, it would be lit on fire, ensuring the witch inside was definitely dead.

Witch pools were also used. These were places where suspected witches were lowered into the water in ducking stools.

If the suspect drowned, it meant they were innocent and would go to heaven. If they lived, it confirmed they were witches and they'd suffer more torture and torment before being burned at the stake.

Witchcraft Act 1735 - Witches in Scotland

In 1735, the Parliament of the Kingdom of Great Britain passed a law making it a crime in Scotland to accuse any other human being of possessing magical powers or practising witchcraft. This new law abolished the hunting and executions of witches in Scotland.

Historical Witchcraft Places to Visit in Scotland

Calton Hill - Edinburgh

Calton Hill was one of the locations where witches were burned at the stake. One of the most high-profile innocent witches was Janet Douglas, Lady Glamis of Glamis Castle.

Evidence against her was found by torturing her servants, who confessed that their mistress was involved with witchcraft.

Janet was tortured, and on July 17th, 1537, she was burned at the stake on the north side of Calton Hill. She was executed even though she was of noble blood, therefore, proving no one was safe.

Despite its gruesome past, Calton Hill now hosts the annual Beltane Fire Festival and is also the location of Edinburgh's Hallow's Fair Festival in the 1800s.

Castle Hill - Edinburgh

With such a sordid past when it comes to witches, it's easy to come across a site associated with Scottish witchcraft in Edinburgh. But Castle Hill stands out in particular, for all the wrong reasons. The spot, next to Edinburgh Castle, is where more witches were burned at the stake than anywhere else in Scotland.

Today, the location is occupied by a pub and hotel called The Witchery by The Castle, which got its name from Edinburgh's witchcraft history.

Most of the Witches in Scotland were burned on Castle Hill

Edinburgh witches were commemorated with the Witches' Well, constructed in 1894.

The tiny memorial has a plaque attached to it that reads, "This Fountain, designed by John Duncan, is near the site on which many witches were burned at the stake. The wicked head and serene head signify that some used their exceptional knowledge for evil purposes while others were misunderstood and wished their kind nothing but good. The serpent has the dual significance of evil and of wisdom. The foxglove spray further emphasizes the dual purpose of many common objects".

Book here: The Witchery at the Castle

Princes Street Gardens - Edinburgh

Ross Fountain in Princes Street Gardens

Once home to the vile sewage-filled Nor' Loch, Princes Street Gardens is where witches were rumoured to endure dunking. The accused witch would have her toes and thumbs bound together before she was tied to a stool and dunked in the loch.

Some people say this kind of torture of witches in Edinburgh never happened. But others argue that many suspected witches were drowned in the loch. If they didn't die in the water, they'd be tortured and burned at the stake afterward.

Witches Coven - Niddry Street Vaults - Edinburgh

If you take a ghost tour with Auld Reekie Tours in Edinburgh, you can step below the city streets and explore the Niddry Street Vaults. These vaults were once a breeding ground for criminals before one vault was transformed into a genuine witches' temple used by Edinburgh Witches.

Although the Source Coven of the Blue Dragon no longer uses the vault today because of safety reasons, the vault is still intact, so you can see what it looked like when it was used by real witches.

I recommend taking a tour with Auld Reekie Tours when you are spending Halloween in Edinburgh. If you want to visit the vaults, I recommend checking out The 17 Best Edinburgh Underground Vaults Tours post.

Address: 45 Niddry St, Edinburgh EH1 1LG, United Kingdom

Book here: Visit the Witches Coven with Auld Reekie Tours

Heart of the Midlothian - Edinburgh

Along the Royal Mile on the pavement next to St. Giles Cathedral and the Mercat Cross sits the Heart of Midlothian.

This heart marks the former entrance of Tolbooth Prison, where Edinburgh witches were held until their trials and executions. Geillis Duncan spent a whole year at Tolbooth Prison waiting to be executed for being a witch.

This part of Edinburgh also features another site associated with executions. If you walk up the Royal Mile towards David Hume's statue and Deacon Brodies Pub, you'll see golden bricks directly across the street from the Hume statue. These bricks mark the spot where people were hanged for witchcraft, amongst many other crimes.

Edinburgh Dungeons - Edinburgh

A show called "The Witches' Judgement" lets you briefly meet Agnes Finnie - a real witch accused of witchcraft in 1644. The interactive show gives you the chance to see what it was like to be accused of witchcraft back in the day.

A visit to the Edinburgh Dungeons is a funny, over the top experience, rather than a place where you can learn about actual history. If you go with the mindset that you're there for a fun trip into some of the insanities in Scotland's dark past and nothing more, you'll have a great time.

St. Magnus Cathedral - Orkney

Orkney first believed in witchcraft and supernatural creatures following the arrival of the original Norse settlers in the 8th century.

These islands shrouded in superstition were where sailors and fishermen used to buy favourable winds from a local witch, Bessie Miller.

The winds they'd purchased were filled with boiled water and charms and sold for sixpence. Before long, witch hunts began throughout the Scottish mainland and spread out to Orkney, stopping her practice.

To see where most of the Orkney witch trials took place, visit the St. Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall.

You can also visit Gallows Ha', a place of brutal executions that now features a stone memorial honouring the victims of the witch trials.

Address: Broad St, Kirkwall KW15 1NX, United Kingdom

Book a tour of Orkney here: From John O'Groats: Orkney Islands Day Trip

St. Andrews Old Kirk - North Berwick

After King James VI returned from Denmark, he was met by incriminating stories of witches infiltrating Scotland.

Upon hearing this, he decided he had to kill the witches before they got him and became deeply involved in the initial trials which led to the North Berwick Witch Trials.

The North Berwick Witch Hunt occurred after Agnes Sampson, a midwife from Edinburgh, confessed to witchcraft directly in front of James VI. She claimed her coven met in North Berwick and they had summoned the storm to prevent Anne of Denmark from arriving in Scotland.

Why would Agnes confess to such a crime if she wasn't guilty? The torture and torment of innocent men and women were so horrible that death was a welcome escape.

North Berwick, sometimes referred to as East Lothian, became the setting for the torture and execution of 100-200 suspected witches. St. Andrews Old Kirk, which sits near the coast, just up the path from the Scottish Seabird Centre, was the favourite place for witches to summon storms. Just outside the kirk, you'll find witches' cauldrons now used as decorative flower pots.

Gallows Green - Paisley

The Paisley Witch Trials (also known as the Bargarran Witch Trials) were the last witch trials in western Europe. A total of 35 people were accused of witchcraft and 7 people were executed in Paisley as a direct result of one girl named Christian Shaw.

Christian accused one of the Shaw family servants, Catherine Campbell, of stealing a glass of milk. According to the Christian, the servant cursed her and called for the devil to haul her soul through hell.

After coming into contact with Paisley resident Agnes Naismith (an elderly woman already rumoured to be a witch) Christian was seen having violent fits and pulling out her hair. Christian's doctor couldn't find anything physically wrong with her, so he concluded she was bewitched.

Before her death at Gallows Green, Agnes Naismith cursed the crowd and whenever tragedy hit the area, the town blamed the witch's curse.

Visit the site of the Paisley executions and the Paisley Witch Memorial at Gallows Green. You'll find the memorial where the remains were buried at a crossroad junction at Maxwellton Street and George Street. The memorial is a cement and bronze circle (almost like a manhole) with a horseshoe placed on top.

Kirk of St. Nicholas - Aberdeenshire

A place where witch hunts were particularly gruesome, the 15 th-century Kirk of St. Nicholas was a prison for accused Scottish witches.

Archaeologists excavated the east kirk of the church in 2006-2007 and discovered the remains of over 2000 people.

Many of these people were buried during the Great Scottish Witch Hunt. St. Mary's Chapel in Aberdeenshire was used as a prison for suspected witches.

Inside, you'll find a ring attached to a stone pillar, once used to chain witches to the wall.

Auldearn Witches - Isobel Gowdie

Auldearn, the tiny village between Inverness and Aberdeen, is home to one of Scotland's most famous witches, Isobel Gowdie. Rumour says that Isobel admitted to witchcraft without being tortured.

Isobel, with a vivid imagination, recalled the Scottish folklore-like tales of her meetings with the devil, her coven flying around Auldearn on flying horses, shapeshifting into animals and meeting with the royal family of fairies.

Did witches in Scotland sometimes appear as fairies?

Isobel's imaginative stories of witchcraft, her coven and fairies inspired musicians, poets and writers to create magically artistic works. You can listen to the song "The Confession of Isobel Gowdie" by James McMillan to get a feel of how she influenced so many artists.

The kirkyard in Auldearn is the alleged meeting place of Isobel and the devil. Auldearn was also the location of the 1645 Battle of Auldearn, where a fight between the Scottish Covenanter army and the English Parliament took place.

Brahan Seer Monument - Chanonry Point - Fortrose

Brahan Seer (also known as Kenneth Mackenzie or Coinneach Odhar - the Scottish version of Nostradamus) was cursed with the gift of sight. He was known for predicting many of Scotland's tragedies, including the Battle of Culloden.

History says that Brahan was accused of witchcraft, however, there are no historical records to confirm he was tortured or executed. There isn't even any real proof that he ever existed. But the stories of his prophecies have become ingrained in Scottish legend and folklore.

Today, you can visit his monument on Chanonry Point, overlooking the Moray Firth where people go to view dolphins.

Bo'ness - Falkirk

Around 200m south-west of where the original Carriden Church stood is the "Witches Stone". This site is believed to be where those accused of witchcraft were burned at the stake in Bo'ness.

St. Andrews Cathedral - St. Andrews

Known as Witch Hill, the hill off North Street in St. Andrews is where witches were tied from toe to thumb and cast off into the tidal pools far below the cliffs in an area now known as Witch Lake.

If the women drowned, they were innocent. If they survived, they were carried up to Witch Hill and burned at the stake.

Fife was the site of famous Scottish witches Margaret Aitkin, The Great Witch of Balwearie, Lilias Adie and The Pittenweem Witches.

Soon their memories will be honoured in the Kingdom of Fife with The Beamer beacon - a 200-year-old lighthouse soon to be rebuilt at Torryburn as a memorial to the innocent lives lost during the witch trials.

If you're a fan of ghost tours, check out The Original St. Andrews Witches Tour to learn all about witchcraft in Scotland and the terrible fate met by many during the Great Witch Hunts of Scotland.

Daemonologie (Demonology) - The Book about Witchcraft by King James

In addition to the original book of witchcraft, The Malleus Maleficarum - The Witch Hammer by Heinrich Kramer, King James also wrote a book about witchcraft called Daemonologie.

The primary idea behind the book was to ensure people believed that witchcraft was real. But it was also designed to make sure suspected witches in Scotland were properly examined, so as to avoid convicting innocent people based on superstition alone.

However, most people misunderstood the book and used it as a guide for torturing and executing witches throughout Scotland instead.

Throughout history, several other books were written about witches in Scotland and The Great Scottish Witch Hunt. Check out my recommendations below for further reading.

Dark Tourism and Witches in Scotland

The torment and torture of witches in Scotland fall under the realm of dark tourism. Dark tourist sites exist around the world to help educate people about the atrocities that occurred in the world.

These things did happen in the past, and as horrible as they may be we must learn from them. We must never forget about the innocent lives lost. The witch memorials located around Scotland commemorate and honour the memory of the people affected by a different time.

Modern Witchcraft Celebrations in Scotland

Beltane Fire Festival - Edinburgh

I went to the Beltane Fire Festival when I first moved to Edinburgh and experienced a world of chaos, excitement and confusion one April evening on the side of Calton Hill. Some people had their faces and bodies painted, while others were dressed up in colourful outfits and balancing fire.

The festival began to celebrate the return of fertility of the land when a fire was seen as a purifier and healer. Just as they did when it first began, today people dance around and jump over fires to symbolize casting out darkness and embracing the light. In continuance, the start of summer is celebrated by lighting a huge bonfire.

Witches in Scotland - Harry Potter

Edinburgh was the place where British author J.K Rowling wrote the hugely successful book series about wizards and witches - Harry Potter. Various locations throughout the city inspired J.K. Rowling. These sites are visited by people from all over the world. How times have changed!

Descendants of Witches in Scotland

Do you have Scottish ancestry or want to find relatives that were associated with witchcraft in Scotland?

The University of Edinburgh recently released this incredible witch database that shows the names of witches, where witch executions took place and forms of torture. Check it out for more information! It is an incredible source of information for those looking for their Scottish witch ancestors.

Another source for finding out about your ancestors in Scotland is the Wellcome Library. All of the witches' names from the 1600s were recently released to the Wellcome Library, which is working with Ancestry.co.uk to help families interested in tracing back their ancestry to the time of the Great Scottish Witch Hunt.
If you love this post, please share it on Pinterest!

More Information about Dark Travels and Dark History in Scotland

You May Also Like

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As the panic of witchcraft swept over Northern Europe, witches in Scotland were not something to be feared. Scotland had its fair share of healers and herbalists, however, these people (who were also known as witches in Scotland) weren't seen as evil beings working with the devil.

# data[].attributes.body
Individuals accused of witchcraft would end up confessing even if they were innocent just to stop the torture they were facing, even if it meant death.
Some may even have confessed just because they were simply brainwashed into thinking they were guilty.

# data[].attributes.body
King James was extremely superstitious regarding witches. He was very convinced that witches were making an attempt to drown him with a storm. King James even sent them to court for it.
Witchcraft became a huge part of his life when he decided to write an entire book on it. Following this, he made witchcraft punishable by death including a series of tests to ensure they were witches.

# data[].attributes.body
King James' beliefs regarding witchcraft forced him to write a book about it. He argued, according to the bible, what witches looked like and accused them of multiple horrible things.

# data[].attributes.body
King James had encountered storms while he was travelling, of course he blamed this on witchcraft.
He captured and tortured multiple suspected witches as well as executing countless of them.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
James's obsession with witchcraft can be traced back to his childhood. The violent death of his mother, Mary, Queen of Scots, seems to have inspired a dark fascination with magic. "His Highness told me her death was visible in Scotland before it did really happen," related Sir John Harington many years later, being, as he said, "spoken of in secret by those whose power of sight presented to them a bloody head dancing in the air".

Two years after Mary's execution, another dramatic event deepened James's growing obsession with magic and witchcraft. In 1589 he was betrothed to Anne of Denmark, but she almost lost her life in a violent tempest when she set sail across the North Sea to meet her new husband. In an uncharacteristic show of chivalry, James resolved to sail across to Denmark and collect her in person. But on their return voyage the royal fleet was battered by more storms and one of the ships was lost. James immediately placed the blame on witches, claiming that they must have cast evil spells upon his fleet.

Anne of Denmark, queen consort of King James VI and I. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

As soon as he reached Scottish shores, James ordered a witch-hunt on a scale never seen before. No fewer than 70 suspects were rounded up in the coastal Scottish town of North Berwick on suspicion of raising a storm to destroy James and his new bride. Most of the suspects soon confessed - under torture - to concocting a host of bizarre and gruesome spells and rituals in order to whip up the storm. They included binding the severed genitalia and limbs of a dead man to the legs of a cat and then tossing it into the waves, whereupon "there did arise such a tempest in the sea, as a greater hath not been seen". On another occasion, Satan himself was said to have appeared to the witches and "promised to raise a mist, and cast the king into England, for which purpose he threw into the sea a thing like a foot-ball". They were swiftly convicted and put to death.

As soon as the North Berwick trials had ended, James commissioned Newes from Scotland, a pamphlet that relayed the whole saga in scandalised language aimed at intensifying popular fear of witches. But he did not stop there. With all the passion of a religious zealot, James set about convincing his subjects of the evil that lay in their midst. In 1597 James became the only monarch in history to publish a treatise on witchcraft: Daemonologie (literally, 'the science of demons') was the result of painstaking and meticulous work on James's part and must have taken years to complete. As well as to convince the doubters of the existence of witchcraft, the purpose of Daemonologie was to inspire those who persecuted witches with new vigour and determination. James described witchcraft as "high treason against God", which meant that all manner of horrors were justified in wringing confessions from the accused.

King James VI and I's treatise on witchcraft, 'Daemonologie', published in 1597. (Photo by Mary Evans Picture Library/Alamy Stock Photo)

The fact that the treatise had been written by a king made it enormously influential. It is no coincidence that cases of witchcraft multiplied at an alarming rate in his kingdom thereafter.

Upon the death of Elizabeth I in March 1603 with no direct heirs, her throne passed to James. When he travelled south to take ownership of his new kingdom, the king of Scots was dismayed to find that his English subjects were far from sharing his witch-hunting fervour. By the end of Elizabeth's reign, the number of witchcraft trials and executions in England had declined significantly. There was also a growing scepticism about the existence of witches.

This was anathema to the new king, who was determined to drown out all dissenting voices within his new kingdom. During the first year of his reign, Daemonologie was reprinted twice. This prompted a rash of similar pamphlets aimed at whipping up popular fear of witches. As part of a state-controlled printing industry, they became one of the most valuable means by which James and his government could manipulate public opinion.

But these publications were just the tip of the iceberg as far as James's crusade against witches was concerned. In his view, the English law was by no means strict enough in prosecuting the crime. Barely a year after his accession, James therefore ordered that the Elizabethan statute on witchcraft be replaced by a much harsher version. Until now, those who practised witchcraft were severely punished only if they were found to have committed murder or other injuries through their devilish arts. However, James wanted the practice of any form of magic to be severely punished, regardless of whether it had caused harm to others.

The Witchcraft Act of 1604 made hanging mandatory for a first offence of witchcraft, even if the accused had not committed murder. And if the suspected witch was found to have the devil's mark on their body, this was enough to condemn them to death. The act stipulated: "If any person or persons... shall use practise or exercise any invocation or conjuration of any evil or wicked spirit, or shall consult, covenant with, entertain, employ, feed, or reward any evil and wicked spirit to or for any intent or purpose... [they] shall suffer pains of death".

James's determination to stamp out witchcraft in all forms was brutally apparent: "All manner of practise, use or exercise of witchcraft, enchantment, charm or sorcery should be from henceforth utterly avoided, abolished, and taken away."

James's new subjects were eager to curry favour with him by echoing his hatred of witches. In the same year that the new Witchcraft Act was passed, Christopher Marlowe's dark morality play, The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, was published. This had first been performed in around 1588, five years before the playwright's death, and was one of the most shocking portrayals of witchcraft ever to be performed. Audiences were so aghast at the horrors that unfolded before them on stage that some claimed to have been driven mad by it, and on occasion real devils were said to have appeared on stage, "to the great amazement of both the actors and spectators".

As well as terrifying people into avoiding any dabbling with necromancy, the play also intensified their hatred and fear of witches. It can have been no coincidence that it was published in the very year that James I began his crusade against witchcraft in England.

An illustration of the 1616 cover to 'The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus'. Christopher Marlowe's first edition was printed in 1604. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Other playwrights were quick to follow suit. Ben Jonson devised a number of masques for the entertainment of the king and his court. The 'antimasque' to his Masque of Queens included the presentation of a group of witches who represented "the opposites to good fame".

The playwright had clearly done a great deal of research, for he referenced a range of current and classical demonological works as his sources. He set out detailed instructions for the staging of the antimasque, describing the entering on stage of 11 witches "some with rats on their head; some on their shoulders; others with ointment pots at their girdles; all... making a confused noise, with strange gestures". One of their number was "naked armed, bare-footed, her frock tucked, her hair knotted, and folded with vipers; in her hand a torch made of a dead man's arm, lighted; girded with a snake".

But the most famous of all the literary works inspired by witchcraft, winning widespread acclaim in its day and ever since, was Shakespeare's Macbeth. Deliberately short in length (James was known to have little patience for sitting through long plays), it is significant that the occasion of its inaugural performance was a visit by Queen Anne's brother, the king of Denmark, in 1606, given that it was James's voyage to his wife's native land that had prompted his obsession with witchcraft.

Shakespeare wove in several references to this voyage in the play, such as when the First Witch claims that she set sail in a sieve, just as one of the North Berwick witches was accused of doing. The line "Though his bark cannot be lost/Yet it shall be tempest-tossed" almost certainly alluded to James's near-death experience in 1589.

All the leaders of the English judiciary would have been present at this important state occasion, and this was exactly the sort of play that would inspire within them the same witch-hunting fervour as their royal master. The drama centred around Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, who murdered King Duncan to seize the throne of Scotland after three witches prophesied Macbeth's succession.

Whether the witches thus caused the overthrow of the natural succession or merely brought out Macbeth's inherent evil was left to the audience's imagination. Either way, the play both confirmed and introduced new elements to the stereotypical view of a witch, with her spells, familiars and inherent evil. It also spawned two of the most-quoted lines in English literary history:
"Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble."
Macbeth instilled fear among those watching that witchcraft was not just a satanic confederacy, but a conspiracy against the state. The latter notion was all too readily accepted in England at this time because the play was performed just a few months after one of the most notorious conspiracies in history: the gunpowder plot.

Within the space of three short years, England had been catapulted from the 'golden age' of the Virgin Queen into one of the darkest and most dangerous periods of its history.
Tracy Borman is author of Witches: James I and the English Witch Hunts (Vintage, 2014). To find out more about Tracy, visit www.tracyborman.co.uk. This article was first published by History Extra in 2016

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Shakespeare's Macbeth and King James's witch hunts

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The witch hunts that swept across Europe between 1450 and 1750 are one of the most controversial and terrifying phenomena in history, resulting in the trial of around 100,000 people (most of them women), a little under half of whom were put to death.

# data[].attributes.body
Women who were simply just giving birth were forced to worry for themselves and their child's life because of multiple witchcraft beliefs.
Women who gave birth to stillborn babies were instantly accused of witchcraft. Little things that were as simple as a baby having a freckle, would be considered witchcraft and be related to the "evil eye". Mothers were killed and tortured after being accused of witchcraft on their babies.

# data[].attributes.body
In 1542, a new law was passed stating that witchcraft was now a crime. Following a more strict one in 1563 and then an even worse one in 1604.
Witches were identified in court by so-called "witch marks" that are said to be placed on witches by the devil or demonic creatures that the witches have (ex. cats). The most unexpected test was throwing the witch into a lake, if they sank then they were not a witch, if she floated then they were a witch.