Английская Википедия:Bute witches

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Шаблон:Use dmy dates

black and white engraving showing old castle and tolbooth
Rothesay Castle and tolbooth Шаблон:Circa 1680

The Bute witches were six Scottish women accused of witchcraft and interrogated in the parish of Rothesay on Bute during the Great Scottish Witch Hunt of 1661–62.Шаблон:Sfnp The Privy Council granted a Commission of Justiciary for a local trial to be held and four of the womenШаблон:Sfnp – believed by historians to be Margaret McLevin, Margaret McWilliam, Janet MorrisonШаблон:Efn and Isobell McNicollШаблон:Sfnp – were executed in 1662;Шаблон:Sfnp a fifth may have died while incarcerated.Шаблон:Sfnp One woman, Jonet NcNicoll, escaped from prison before she could be executed but when she returned to the island in 1673 the sentence was implemented. Шаблон:TOC limit

Background

The early modern period saw the Scottish courts trying many cases of witchcraftШаблон:Sfnp with witch hunts beginning in about 1550.Шаблон:Sfnp Prior to the fervent activity in 1662, generally the numerically small, tightly-knit, population of islanders on Bute did not encounter the scale of witch hunting experienced throughout the rest of Scotland.Шаблон:Sfnp Records indicate the only instances of formal witch persecution on the island took place between the 1630s and 1670s although the documents may be incomplete.Шаблон:Sfnp In 1630 after a group of women – their names and the exact number are not known – confessed to witchcraft, they were confined in the dungeon of Rothesay Castle without food or water and starved to death.Шаблон:Sfnp

A strong belief in fairy traditions and folklore persisted in Scotland during the seventeenth century despite being subjected to nearly a hundred years of vigorous oppression.Шаблон:Sfnp The Kirk session in Rothesay heard a complaint against Jeane Campbell in 1660 as it was claimed she went with the fairies who had instructed her how to make spells; she was also accused of applying "a salve to rub on her breast, which was good for comforting the heart against scunners [afflictions]."Шаблон:Sfnp It was discovered she suffered from indigestion so the local minister allayed the fears of his congregation regarding her involvement in witchcraft.Шаблон:Sfnp The following year she was brought before the session again after she used the cure on others; she was discharged but informed she would be deemed a witch if she repeated the offence.Шаблон:Sfnp Ten years earlier, in 1650, another woman, Finwell Hyndman from Kingarth, was interviewed as she went missing for a day every three months; when she returned she had such a repugnant smell no one could approach her and it seemed she had been on a long journey.Шаблон:Sfnp As she offered no adequate reason for her absence, she was "bruted for a witch or (as the commone people calls it) being with the fayryes".Шаблон:SfnpШаблон:Efn

In common with other European witch trials, major Scottish witch hunts occurred in batches;Шаблон:Sfnp historians offer differing opinions as to why this should happen but generally agree that military hostilities and political or economic uncertainty played a part coupled with local ministers and landowners determined to seek convictions.Шаблон:Sfnp The execution of King Charles I took place in 1649 and an extensive witch hunt started that year.Шаблон:Sfnp Charles II was declared the monarch of Scotland in 1660; most historians connect the Great Scottish Witch Hunt of 1661–62, the last but most severe wave of prosecutions, with the Restoration.Шаблон:Sfnp The hunt started in small towns and villages near Edinburgh during April 1661Шаблон:Sfnp spreading to Bute with a succession of accusations and trials beginning in early 1662.Шаблон:Sfnp Some of the charges, including those against Margaret McWilliam, concerned events that had happened over twenty years before.Шаблон:Sfnp

Events leading up to the trials

The series of events on the island in 1662 were initiated following disagreements between neighbours, a common scenario for the instigation of witchcraft cases.Шаблон:Sfnp John McFie accused his neighbour Margaret McWilliam of witchcraft.Шаблон:Sfnp He alleged she caused him to suffer pains resembling those of giving birth; the ailment started shortly after he had an altercation with her and continued for three months.Шаблон:Sfnp McFie also claimed she was responsible for the sudden death of one of his children a few hours after the child became ill.Шаблон:Sfnp McWilliam had been regarded as a witch by the community for more than thirty years;Шаблон:Sfnp the women who confessed to witchcraft that starved to death in Rothesay Castle in 1630 claimed she was a witch and she had been imprisoned in 1631.Шаблон:Sfnp

Investigation

The first recorded statement given by any of the accused women was from Janet Morrison at her home on 15 January 1662.Шаблон:Sfnp

Aftermath

Jonet NcNicoll escaped from the tolbooth in Rothesay during 1662 and fled to Kilmarnock where she lived for the next twelve years.Шаблон:Sfnp She returned to the island in 1673 and was executed for the 1662 conviction alongside another woman, Mary NcThomas, who had been found guilty of incest and charming.Шаблон:Sfnp These two executions were the last recorded cases of witch persecution on the island.Шаблон:Sfnp

References

Notes

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Citations

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Bibliography

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Шаблон:Witch Hunt

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