Kate McNiven, also called Kate Nike Neiving or Catharine Niven, was a nurse and accused witch who served the House of Inchbrakie in the Parish of Monzie, near Crieff in Scotland. The date of her death is disputed, ranging from the 16th to 18th century. [1] Louisa G. Graeme, a descendant of the Inchbrakie family, noted in 1903 that no authentic record of McNiven's death existed, and the story has "caused endless discussion and argument". [2]
According to local legend, Kate McNiven was a reputed witch who lived in a cave and had served as nursemaid to the Laird of Inchbrakie when he was young. She was a healer and, in one version, was rumored to sometimes take the form of a bee. Found guilty of witchcraft, she was sentenced to die by strangling and burning on the Knock of Crieff, near her cave. The Laird attempted to stop the execution but failed. As she died, Kate cursed the local town of Monzie and its officials, who were involved in her murder, so that they would never grow or prosper. However, she spat out a small blue stone - in some versions, this was pulled from a necklace she was wearing - and gave it to the Laird of Inchbrakie. She promised him that as long as he and his descendants kept it on their land, they would always have heirs to hold the property. [3] Graeme describes the stone as a "moonstone sapphire" and claims that generations later it was removed from the house by mistake, and as a result the property was gradually sold away. Graeme mentions multiple locations around Monzie named for McNiven, such as "Kate McNiven's Yett," "Kate McNiven's Craig," and "Kate McNiven's Well." [4]
The first known mention in print is from 1818. This uses the name "Catharine Niven," gives no date, and does not include the curse on Monzie. [5]
McNiven's date of death is often set in 1715 during the Witch Hunts, twenty years before the Witchcraft Act of 1735 abolished these executions. This would make her the last witch burnt in Perthshire. However, this date was probably an invention by the Rev. George Blair for The Holocaust, his 1845 poetic adaptation of McNiven's story. Blair gathered as much information as possible, but fictionalized the details due to the lack of sources. [1]
A Calendar of Cases of Witchcraft in Scotland 1510-1727 dates McNiven's death around 1615, stating that "Her date is uncertain." [6] [7] John L. Wilson also dated the execution to 1615 and noted its similarities to the case of John Brughe. [8]
Alexander Porteous rendered her name as Kate Nike Neiving and placed her death in 1563. [9] He may have been influenced by reading about Brughe's case.
John Brughe of Fossoway, on trial in November 1643, was said to have learned witchcraft from a widow, Neane VcClerith or Nikclerica. She was the niece of "Nikneveing that notorious and infamous witche in Monzie.” At this time, it was said "Nikneveing" or "Nik Neiving" had been burnt at the stake eighty years before, placing her death in the 1560s. [1] [10]
This has also been compared to a case from May 1569, in St. Andrews, where "a notabill sorceres" named Nic Neville or Nicniven was burnt to death. [1] [11] This case was referenced in the letters of Sir John Mure, who mentioned the trial of "Niknevin" (ongoing at the time) and said that some thought she would be executed while others did not, and she was considered dangerous. She refused to admit any kind of guilt, stating that she had been accused by doctors who were jealous of her skill in healing. Mure added that she was a hundred years old and defended herself cleverly. [12]
Alexander Montgomerie's satirical Flyting (c. 1585) describes a witch named Nicneven who rides at the head of a wild procession of witches. Oddly, in some copies of the manuscript she sends an infant foundling to "Kait of Creif," which some readers have connected to Kate and the location of Crieff. Scholars such as Alison Hanham and Jennifer Simpson have debated whether Montgomerie's Nicneven was inspired by a real woman burnt for witchcraft around the 1560s. [13] Alternately, C. K. Sharpe proposes that Catharine Niven, due to her reputation as a witch, was given the name Niven after "the Fairy Queen". [5]
Isobel Gowdie was a Scottish woman who confessed to witchcraft at Auldearn near Nairn during 1662. Scant information is available about her age or life and, although she was probably executed in line with the usual practice, it is uncertain whether this was the case or if she was allowed to return to the obscurity of her former life as a cottar’s wife. Her detailed testimony, apparently achieved without the use of violent torture, provides one of the most comprehensive insights into European witchcraft folklore at the end of the era of witch-hunts.
The North Berwick witch trials were the trials in 1590 of a number of people from East Lothian, Scotland, accused of witchcraft in the St Andrew's Auld Kirk in North Berwick on Halloween night. They ran for two years, and implicated over 70 people. These included Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell, on charges of high treason.
The Paisley witches, also known as the Bargarran witches or the Renfrewshire witches, were tried in Paisley, Renfrewshire, central Scotland, in 1697. Eleven-year-old Christian Shaw, daughter of the Laird of Bargarran, complained of being tormented by some local witches; they included one of her family's servants, Katherine Campbell, whom she had reported to her mother after witnessing her steal a drink of milk.
Queen of Elphame or "Elf-hame", in the folklore belief of Lowland Scotland and Northern England, designates the elfin queen of Faerie, mentioned in Scottish witch trials. In ballads and contemporary texts, she is referred to as Queen of Elphane, Elphen, or the Fairies. She is equivalent to the Queen of Fairy who rules Faërie or Fairyland. The character as described in witch trials has many parallels with the legends of Thomas the Rhymer and Tam Lin.
Nicneven,Nicnevin or Nicnevan is a witch or fairy queen from Scottish folklore. She is often said to be the same figure as the Gyre-Carling or Hecate, but some scholars disagree with this. It is debated whether the name originally referred to a real woman or a mythical goddess.
In folklore and literature, the Fairy Queen or Queen of the Fairies is a female ruler of the fairies, sometimes but not always paired with a king. Depending on the work, she may be named or unnamed; Titania and Mab are two frequently used names. Numerous characters, goddesses or folkloric spirits worldwide have been labeled as Fairy Queens.
Bessie Dunlop, Elizabeth Dunlop or Elizabeth Jack, was a Scottish farmer's wife from Ayrshire who was burned at the stake at Edinburgh for the crime of sorcery, witchcraft, and incantations. Her case was unusual in the amount of fine detail related in her testimony and the lack of anything but positive or neutral outcomes of her recorded ministrations and actions. Her admission to the use of a familiar spirit and association with the fairies were the main cause of her conviction and her death sentence.
Dalmusternock (NS455417) was a dower house built and occupied by William Mure after his marriage and prior to inheriting the family seat of Rowallan Castle. The property is located near Fenwick, in the Barony of Rowallan, lying 3 miles north of Kilmarnock and 18 miles south of Glasgow, Parish of Fenwick, East Ayrshire, Scotland. The estate is recorded as Dalmunsternoch circa 1654; Dalmasternock circa 1747; Dalmusterknok 1775
The 1594 trial of alleged witch Allison Balfour or Margaret Balfour is one of the most frequently cited Scottish witchcraft cases. Balfour lived in the Orkney Islands of Scotland in the area of Stenness. At that time in Scotland, the Scottish Witchcraft Act 1563 had made a conviction for witchcraft punishable by death.
Witchcraft in Orkney possibly has its roots in the settlement of Norsemen on the archipelago from the eighth century onwards. Until the early modern period magical powers were accepted as part of the general lifestyle, but witch-hunts began on the mainland of Scotland in about 1550, and the Scottish Witchcraft Act of 1563 made witchcraft or consultation with witches a crime punishable by death. One of the first Orcadians tried and executed for witchcraft was Allison Balfour, in 1594. Balfour, her elderly husband and two young children, were subjected to severe torture for two days to elicit a confession from her.
Elspeth Reoch was an alleged Scottish witch. She was born in Caithness but as a child spent time with relatives on an island in Lochaber prior to travelling to the mainland of Orkney.
Janet Wishart, was an accused witch from Aberdeen who became known as the Great Witch of Scotland. Wishart was an important figure in the great Scottish witchcraft panic of 1597 as her family were the focus of the trials in Aberdeen where 22 women and one man were found guilty of witchcraft.
Margaret Aitken, known as the Great Witch of Balwearie, was an important figure in the great Scottish witchcraft panic of 1597 as her actions effectively led to an end of that series of witch trials. After being accused of witchcraft Aitken confessed but then identified hundreds of women as other witches to save her own life. She was exposed as a fraud a few months later and was burnt at the stake.
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. The Privy Council granted a Commission of Justiciary for a local trial to be held and four of the women – believed by historians to be Margaret McLevin, Margaret McWilliam, Janet Morrison and Isobell McNicoll – were executed in 1662; a fifth may have died while incarcerated. 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.
Marie Lamont, also referred to as Mary Lawmont (1646–1662), was executed for witchcraft during the reign of Charles II just after Witchmania had peaked in the United Kingdom. Her youth at the time of her execution made her case unusual.
Euphame MacCalzean was a victim of the North Berwick witch trials of 1590–1591.
The Witch trials in Denmark are poorly documented, with the exception of the region of Jylland in the 1609–1687 period. The most intense period in the Danish witchcraft persecutions was the great witch hunt of 1617–1625, when most executions took place, which was affected by a new witchcraft act introduced in 1617.
Elspeth McEwen or McKewan or Elizabeth MacEwan of Balmaclellan was the most famous convicted witch in Galloway and the last to be burnt at the stake there.
Violet Mar was a Scottish woman accused of plotting the death of Regent Morton by witchcraft.
Katherine Campbell was a maidservant accused of theft and witchcraft during the last major witch hunt in Scotland, the Paisley witch trials.