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Witchcraft Trials in Scotland
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False Friend: the picture below of witches offering children to the Devil has been used to illustrate the trial of Agnes Sampson in 1591. It has nothing to do with this case, however: while Agnes was a midwife, nothing in her trial or those of her associates suggests this practice. See for example the Chronology which follows. |
Contents
A paper on Macbeth, King
James and the Witches. [This was produced in 1993-94, and tries to identify the
aspects of Shakespeare's treatment of the witches in Macbeth which
correspond to the differing English and Scottish witchcraft traditions, the
elements common to Shakespeare's Macbeth and Middleton's The Witch, and
their connection with King James' experience of witch trials in Scotland.]
A paper on the woodblock illustrations of Newes from Scotland, [This was presented at a meeting of SHARP in 1995 and attempted to explore the relationships between the 1591 pamphlet Newes from Scotland, the North Berwick witchcraft trials, and the woodblock illustrations.]
A chronology of dates and reports on the North Berwick witchcraft trials of 1590-1594. [This is under construction, and was last updated on 19 January 2001. It consists of a listing, without comment, of material concerning the North Berwick witchcraft trials: extracts from the trial dittays, reports to London by the English ambassador in Edinburgh, references in the documents of the Scottish Privy Council, Edinburgh civic documents, private diaries and near-contemporary histories, and so on.]
The Earl of Bothwell's genealogy (Some notes on the ancestry and descendants of Francis Hepburn Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell, with connections to Barbara Napier etc.) Under development, but coming soon
Last updated 7 December 2004