North Berwick Witch Trials

The North Berwick witch trials of 1590–91 are among the most dramatic in British history, partly because the king himself took a personal interest. James VI of Scotland — returning from Denmark with his new queen, Anne — believed his ships had been assailed by supernatural storms, and when a servant of his chamberlain was accused of witchcraft, the case rapidly grew into something much larger.

Over a hundred people were eventually accused. The confessions described sabbats at the old Kirk of North Berwick: dances in the kirkyard, sermons delivered backwards, wax images of the king being passed hand to hand, and a coven led by Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell. Agnes Sampson — a respected midwife and healer — was among the accused. She was tortured with the bridle and deprived of sleep until she confessed, then recanted, then confessed again.

James VI interrogated Sampson personally at Holyroodhouse and was reportedly persuaded of her guilt when she whispered in his ear the exact words he had exchanged privately with his queen on their wedding night — words she could not have known by natural means. He went on to write Daemonologie (1597), a learned treatise on witchcraft that argued for its reality and the legitimacy of persecution. Among the other accused was John Fian, a schoolmaster who confessed to acting as clerk to the coven, recording its members and rituals, and to helping raise the storms against the king's fleet; like Sampson, he was eventually executed. The North Berwick trials were the direct catalyst for Scotland's century of sustained witch-hunting.