Witches of Scotland

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Witches of Scotland was a campaign for legal pardons and historic justice for the people, primarily women, convicted of witchcraft and executed in Scotland between 1563 and 1736. A formal apology was made on 8 March 2022. The aim was also to establish a national memorial for the convicted from the Scottish parliament. [1]

Contents

Led by Claire Mitchell QC and writer Zoe Venditozzi, the campaign was launched on International Women's Day in 2020, [2] and gained significant media coverage in 2021. [3] [4] [5] [6] The podcasts published by the campaign include contributions from Carolyn Jess Cooke, Sara Sheridan, Julia Campanelli, Julian Goodare and Alice Tarbuck. [7]

Historical background

In Scotland the Witchcraft Act remained in law till 1736. Witchcraft was a capital crime and punished by strangulation and burning at the stake. Claire Mitchell QC provides evidence that Scotland executed five times as many people per capita as anywhere else in Europe. [8] An estimated 3837 people were accused, 2558 of whom were killed. [2] [9] 84% of the convicted were women.

The campaign website describes King James the VI of Scotland's involvement in what they describe as "Scotland's satanic panic". James considered himself an expert in witchcraft and wrote Daemonologie.

Aims and accomplishments

The founders view the campaign as a women's rights issue due to the extreme discrepancy in the number of women convicted versus men. [1] They see the pardoning and memorializing of these women as a statement against misogyny in the world today. [1] [10] [11]

The campaign has three specific goals: a pardon for those convicted, a formal apology from the Scottish government, and a national memorial. [1]

Pardon

The campaign seeks a legal pardon in order to acknowledge that those convicted of witchcraft were victims of injustice, and not criminals. In the background to their petition, Mitchell cites the Historical Sexual Offences Act 2018, as well as the Scottish Parliament's intent to pardon miners convicted during the 1984 miners strike, as precedent for righting historical wrongs in this manner. [1]

A member's bill to clear the names of those accused was planned by SNP MSP Natalie Don. [12] [13] It received the support of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in December 2021, [8] [14] and a consultation was launched in June 2022. [15] Don believes that the increasing number of female Members of Scottish Parliament in recent years has been a positive factor in the progress of the bill. [11]

Apology

The campaign sought an apology from the Scottish government, with the reasoning that many victims of the witch hunts were only accused, not convicted; a pardon could not be granted to these individuals. Mitchell states that a "public statement of regret" is necessary for these individuals for whom even the allegation of witchcraft was irrevocably damaging. [1] Nicola Sturgeon offered a formal apology on International Women's Day 2022. [16] [12]

Remembering the Accused Witches of Scotland (RAWS), a related organization, additionally secured an apology from the Church of Scotland for its role in the persecution. [17]

Memorial

The campaign seeks to obtain a national memorial to those affected by the witch trials. [1] RAWS identified a potential site for the memorial in Kelty, Fife - a central location for many of the trials. [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Witch-hunt</span> Search for witchcraft or subversive activity

A witch-hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. Practicing evil spells or incantations was proscribed and punishable in early human civilizations in the Middle East. In medieval Europe, witch-hunts often arose in connection to charges of heresy from Christianity. An intensive period of witch-hunts occurring in Early Modern Europe and to a smaller extent Colonial America, took place about 1450 to 1750, spanning the upheavals of the Counter Reformation and the Thirty Years' War, resulting in an estimated 35,000 to 50,000 executions. The last executions of people convicted as witches in Europe took place in the 18th century. In other regions, like Africa and Asia, contemporary witch-hunts have been reported from sub-Saharan Africa and Papua New Guinea, and official legislation against witchcraft is still found in Saudi Arabia and Cameroon today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isobel Gowdie</span> Scottish woman who confessed to witchcraft at Auldearn near Nairn during 1662

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Berwick witch trials</span> Scottish witch trials in 1590

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paisley witches</span> 1697 witch trial

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Witch trials in early modern Scotland</span>

In early modern Scotland, in between the early 16th century and the mid-18th century, judicial proceedings concerned with the crimes of witchcraft took place as part of a series of witch trials in Early Modern Europe. In the late middle age there were a handful of prosecutions for harm done through witchcraft, but the passing of the Witchcraft Act 1563 made witchcraft, or consulting with witches, capital crimes. The first major issue of trials under the new act were the North Berwick witch trials, beginning in 1590, in which King James VI played a major part as "victim" and investigator. He became interested in witchcraft and published a defence of witch-hunting in the Daemonologie in 1597, but he appears to have become increasingly sceptical and eventually took steps to limit prosecutions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Scottish witch hunt of 1649–50</span>

The great Scottish witch hunt of 1649–50 was a series of witch trials in Scotland. It is one of five major hunts identified in early modern Scotland and it probably saw the most executions in a single year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Witchcraft in Orkney</span> Overview of witch persecution in Orkney, Scotland

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pittenweem witches</span>

The Pittenweem witches were five Scottish women accused of witchcraft in the small fishing village of Pittenweem in Fife on the east coast of Scotland in 1704. Another two women and a man were named as accomplices. Accusations made by a teenage boy, Patrick Morton, against a local woman, Beatrix Layng, led to the death in prison of Thomas Brown, and, in January 1705, the murder of Janet Cornfoot by a lynch mob in the village.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Aitken (witch)</span>

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.

Maud Galt was a lesbian accused of witchcraft in Kilbarchan, Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Witches' Well, Edinburgh</span> Monument to accused witches in Edinburgh

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Survey of Scottish Witchcraft</span>

The Survey of Scottish Witchcraft is an online database of witch trials in early modern Scotland, containing details of 3,837 accused gathered from contemporary court documents covering the period from 1563 until the repeal of the Scottish Witchcraft Act in 1736. The survey was made available online in 2003 after two years of work at the University of Edinburgh by Julian Goodare, now a professor of history at the University of Edinburgh, and Louise Yeoman, ex-curator at the National Library of Scotland, now a producer/presenter at BBC Radio Scotland, with assistance from researchers Lauren Martin and Joyce Miller, and Computing Services at the University of Edinburgh. The database is available for download from the website.

Louise Yeoman is a historian and broadcaster specialising in the Scottish witch hunts and 17th century Scottish religious beliefs.

Violet Mar was a Scottish woman accused of plotting the death of Regent Morton by witchcraft.

Margaret Barclay, was an accused witch put on trial in 1618, 'gently' tortured, confessed and was strangled and burned at the stake in Irvine, Scotland. Her case was written about with horror by the romantic novelist Sir Walter Scott, and in the 21st century, a campaign for a memorial in the town and for a pardon for Barclay and other accused witches was raised in the Scottish Parliament.

Claire Mitchell is a Kings Counsel working in Scotland. She has a particular interest in constitutional, human rights and sentencing questions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Duchill</span> Scottish woman executed for witchcraft in 1658

Margaret Duchill was a Scottish woman who confessed to witchcraft at Alloa during the year 1658. She was implicated by others and she named other women. She was executed on 1 June 1658.

Witch trials took place in the Principality of Catalonia in Spain between the 14th-century and 1767. Witch trials were comparably uncommon in Spain, and most of them took place in Catalonia and Navarre. While witch trials were uncommon in the rest of Spain, the witch trials in Catalonia had similarities with the witch trials in the rest of Western Europe, and are therefore a separate chapter in the context of witch trials in Spain. Around 400 women were prosecuted for witchcraft in Catalonia.

The persecution of accused witches in Aberdeen began during the Aberdeen witch trials of 1596-1597 when forty-five women and two men were accused of the offence in the city with 22 women and one man executed for having been found guilty of being witches.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "PE01855: Pardon and memorialise those convicted under the Witchcraft Act 1563". external.parliament.scot. 18 March 2021. Archived from the original on 25 October 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  2. 1 2 "About". Witches Of Scotland. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  3. ↑ Andy Philip (September 2021). "Mercy for 'witches': Holyrood hears plea for Queen to pardon thousands of Scottish women". Press and Journal. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  4. ↑ Bryce, Tracey. "A pardon, An apology. A memorial: Campaigners urge pardon for Scots women executed for witchcraft". The Sunday Post. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  5. ↑ Howard, Sally (24 October 2021). "Why the witch-hunt victims of early modern Britain have come back to haunt us". the Guardian. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  6. ↑ "Scottish Parliament asked to right 'terrible miscarriage of justice' by pardoning thousands of witches". www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  7. ↑ "Podcast". Witches Of Scotland. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  8. 1 2 "Women executed 300 years ago as witches in Scotland set to receive pardons". the Guardian. 19 December 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  9. ↑ Goodare, Julian; Yeoman, Louise; Martin, Lauren; Miller, Joyce (2010). "Survey of Scottish Witchcraft - Introduction to Scottish Witchcraft". www.shca.ed.ac.uk. doi:10.7488/ds/100 . Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  10. ↑ "Why learning the truth about Scotland's 'witches' is vital to society today – Lawrence Normand". www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  11. 1 2 "Pardon for Scots convicted of witchcraft not a 'waste of time' and will send message on misogyny". The National. 26 June 2022. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  12. 1 2 "Nicola Sturgeon apologises to people accused of witchcraft". BBC News. 8 March 2022. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  13. ↑ "Witch apology would 'send powerful signal'". BBC News. 7 January 2022. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  14. ↑ English, Paul. "Scotland prepares pardon for the 'witches' it executed". The Times . ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  15. ↑ "MSP launches consultation on Bill to pardon thousands convicted of witchcraft". The National. 22 June 2022. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  16. ↑ "Nicola Sturgeon issues apology for 'historical injustice' of witch hunts". the Guardian. 8 March 2022. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  17. 1 2 "Failure to pardon women persecuted as witches in Scotland 'prolongs misogyny'". the Guardian. 22 June 2022. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
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