Ancient Lothian: Historic Edinburgh and South-East Scotland

¤ witchcraft trials
a documentary guide
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Woe be to thee, O Edinburgh! For the last of thy plagues shall be the worst!
— King James VI (allegedly) in St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh

Scotland is famous for its witchcraft trials. But in at least one sense, the story really gets under way in Lothian, when Parliament passes the Witchcraft Act of 1563, in Edinburgh — the native and capitol city of the nation's most enthusiastic witch-hunter, King James VI. His own response to this law comes in his Commission for Examination of Witches in 1592, formulated in his palace at Holyrood House. This can be read as a reaction to the most notorious case of his reign (that of the so-called "North Berwick Witches"), which was popularised abroad in the curious pamphlet, Newes from Scotland (c.1591). But the East Lothian witchcraft trials weren't the only ones that left documentary evidence behind. It'll take me a while to transcribe them all, but here's a goodly start:

1: The Key Texts
The Scottish Witchcraft Act
Edinburgh Parliament (1563)
Commission for Examination of Witches
Holyrood Palace (1591)

2: Sixteenth Century Cases
Alesoun Peirsoun (Edinburgh, 1588)
Meg Dow & Jonet Pollok (Edinburgh, 1590)
Newes from Scotland, Anon. (c.1591)
Alesoune Jollie (Edinburgh, 1596)
Patrik Hering (Linlithgow, 1597)
Bessie Aiken (Edinburgh, 1598)
3: Seventeenth Century Cases
Issobel Greirsoune (Prestonpans, 1607)
Geillis Johnnstoun (Dalkeith, 1609)
Manie Halieburton (Dirleton, 1649)
Jonet Watsone (Dalkeith, 1661)
Christiane Wilsone (Dalkeith, 1661)
Jonet Paistoun (Dalkeith, 1661)
Hand-Made in West Lothian, Scotland