Mary Craig, professional researcher and Borders Solidarity activist, takes a cultural/historical look at one of the darker moments in Scotland’s past. Mary’s book ‘The Border Burnings’, published by Border Voices, is out on 29th October.

THE PERSECUTION OF WITCHES - SCOTLAND 1600-1700

     BBC Scotland are about to launch their new History of Scotland series this November and it will be interesting to see what events they choose to portray. What is unlikely is that they will cover, in any detail, the persecution of witches in the 17th century.  This was a period of Scottish history that is not for the faint hearted.  Nonetheless, it is the story of what happened to the ordinary people of Scotland during an extraordinary time.

     Whenever witchcraft is mentioned most people have a similar reaction: they know about healers and broomsticks, that 9 million women were burnt to death and that it all happened a long time ago. None of this truly reflects the Scottish experience and however unpleasant to hear, the victims of the  persecution surely deserve the truth.

     The reality in Scotland seldom if ever involved riding on broomsticks but neither did 9 million die across Europe. The true figure is closer to 100,000 - which is horrific enough - and while the majority were women, around 35% were men. What might also be surprising is that this was not a horror from the Dark Ages but happened in the 17th century. In fact the last witch executed in Scotland died in 1722 in the very century of the Scottish Enlightenment. 

     The 17th century was a time of great upheaval in Scotland. The repercussions of the Reformation were still being played out and the countryside was riven by war. Scotland was also to see famine and plague stalk the land on several occasions.

This combination of war, famine and plague served to unsettle the Church of Scotland (the Kirk) which felt itself under attack from all sides.  Armies, whether Royalist or Parliamentarian, rode through the countryside while the King in London attempted to impose his form of worship on his northern Kingdom. The new faith was truly being tested.  Covenanters took up arms while the Kirk took up their bibles.  Buffeted by war, famine and plague, the Kirk developed a siege mentality seeing the Devil and all his works everywhere. Turning to scripture, Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live, (Exodus 22:18), they started persecuting ‘witches’ with a zeal unsurpassed across Europe.

     They drew on common European beliefs about witches and women. It was generally held – as a matter of religious belief as well as common belief - that women were basically bad: that their frailty made them easier prey to the Devil. They were considered lustful and deceitful. With witches this was taken to extremes and they were thought capable of enticing men with sex and luring them from their duties both spiritual and temporal.

     The Kirk believed themselves to be God’s elect and in their minds, the more Godly they were the more the Devil would attack, unleashing a legion of witches against them. Perversely the more witches the Kirk persecuted, the more Godly they were proved to be.

      Every one in 17th century Scotland knew that witches existed, but proving that was a difficult matter. The Scottish courts accepted four proofs of witchcraft: having a history of bad behaviour, being named by another witch, confession of witchcraft and bearing the Devil’s mark on the body.

    The Devil’s mark was thought to have been made when the Devil had laid his hands on a follower. It was thought that the mark was insensitive to pain and would not bleed if pricked. To prove this a suspect would be pricked or ‘brodded’ with a long steel bodkin to test whether or not they felt pain. Professional witch prickers soon appeared. Although most were driven by religious belief, as they were paid by how many witches they uncovered, abuses soon arose and some victims were brodded to death.

     Confession were also sought and torture used to ‘bring a witch to confession’. Witchcraft was the only offence where torture was routinely applied to suspects regardless of age and gender. Torture included the ‘boots’ which crushed the feet and the ‘pilliwinkles’ that crushed the fingers. Both were legal until 1661 but even after the law was changed were still occasionally used. Most local courts in rural areas, under direction of the Kirk Minister, would apply torture even when the correct permission to do so had neither been applied for nor received. In other instances courts would simply go far beyond what was permitted.

     Sleep deprivation and walking were not considered torture and were extremely commonly used. The accused would be kept awake for days and walked up and down until their feet were bloody and pulped. The combination was an extremely effective means of obtaining a confession.

     A suspect could also be named or ‘delated’ by another witch. This had initially been problematic as women were not allowed to give evidence in court. However, as the accusation of another witch could be paramount in securing a conviction, in 1591, Parliament, under pressure from the Kirk, passed an Act that allowed women to give evidence - but only in witchcraft cases.

     Although some witches were sent to the courts in Edinburgh most were tried locally. Before 1563 the crime of witchcraft was tried by the ecclesiastical courts, however the churches had been putting increasing pressure on the secular courts to help them in this matter. The 1563 Witchcraft Act gave the secular courts the right to investigate and prosecute. However, the investigation would continue to be lead by the Kirk and they would also select the jury and decide the sentence. Court officials, such as  Magistrates, were also subservient to the Kirk. The 1649 Act of Classes and the 1681 Rest Act gave the Kirk a veto over those allowed to hold office including court officials and required those individuals to acknowledge the supremacy of the Kirk of Scotland.  

      Trials were usually quick affairs and a guilty verdict usually resulted in a death sentence. Those with money and influence however, could often be acquitted or when found guilty be given a reduced sentence of excommunication and a fine. At the height of the witch persecutions the death sentence was almost inevitable for most ordinary women and men.  

The execution of convicted witches was almost always by being worriet, that is throttled, and then the dead body burnt. The witch would be paraded through the town or village in a hair shift to the site of the execution. The witch would then be forced to their knees and a rope was placed round the neck and tightened. Once dead, the body was burned. Burning was usually at the stake or occasionally in a tar barrel. During the execution the local Minister would preach a sermon exalting that one of the Devil’s own had been consigned to the flames. Attendance at an execution was compulsory, including children, as a lesson in the power of God over the Devil.

     Any children of the executed witch, including babies, were left to fend for themselves unless taken in by a family member. This was rare however as most would be too afraid of condemnation from the Kirk to help the child. The Kirk in the 17th century had a duty of care over orphaned children and paid for their maintenance until they were able to work and provide for themselves. This largesse was denied to the children of executed witches. While the estate of witches was used to pay the costs of the trial and execution, any remaining monies was forfeit to the Kirk.

     As the century wore on, the legal profession became more concerned with the rigour of the proofs presented in the courts.  It was not that the existence of witches was generally doubted, but the problem was how to prove a mainly invisible crime. A few voices dared to doubt the existence of witchcraft and to prove them wrong the courts had to be beyond reproach, while lawyers did not want the law ridiculed. For both spiritual and temporal reasons therefore, the procedures of investigation and trial were tightened. The law changed in 1736 effectively removing witchcraft from the secular courts. The Kirk remained convinced of the wickedness of witches and women and proclaimed their continuing belief in witchcraft in the Assembly of 1773.

     17th century communities had a genuine fear of witches. Terrible things happened, plague and famine and war and death, that, in communities saturated with religion and superstition, were explained as the workings of the Devil. What must be remembered is the role of the Kirk in taking that genuine fear and turning it into a mass hysteria that saw ordinary women and men worriet and burnt.   

     Witches were, of course, persecuted, tortured and burned across Europe and in the New World, by, in both Catholic countries and in countries where a reformed faith dominated, but Scotland was notorious throughout Europe as the most cruel and merciless in its treatment of witches. It was considered to be so ruthless that many individuals would stand in awe of the Scottish authorities and, when plagued with witches themselves, would plead with their own governments to follow the Scottish example.

     Scotland dragged more individuals per head of population to trial and execution than any other European country. Some 3,837 were tried and while the records are incomplete it would appear that the vast majority were executed. Many others died in gaol due to torture and ill-treatment and some were so despairing of hope that they committed suicide.

     This is not a glorious part of Scotland’s history but is it the reality of what happened to ordinary women and men. That such horror could be perpetrated as a result of irrational fear and persecution should never be forgotten.