THE NORTH BERWICK WITCHES

Trials of Johnne Feane, Agnes Sampsoune and others in Scotland

Description from The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft, Rosemary Ellen Guiley

Court transcripts from Robert Pitcairn's 'Criminal Trials in Scotland'


From Marc Carlson:

BTW, I've been trying to track down Barbara Napier.  She was Acquitted and 
Released, but the King dragged her back and convicted her AND convicted the
jury that acquitted her of some sort of malfeasance.  *Then* she pled pregnancy, and they locked her up for a few months.  She is never heard from again, so
an arguement could be made that she was or was not actually executed.

She was the wife of Archibald Douglas, who is described as an Edinburgh
"Burger", but I'm wondering if that is not the Archibald Douglas of the
family Douglas (who married a LOT of Napiers over the years) who was 
Top soldier/Captain of the Guard of Edinburgh Castle during the Regency
of the Earl of Norton (when James was a child).  The Earl was overthrown
in the early 70s and executed in the 80s, and I wonder if this was not some
hold-over from those days, if only indirectly.
Anyway, it's just supposition.

BTW, if you can find a copy, there's a book by a Melissa Scott and someone
else, called "Armor of Light" that is a historical fantasy novel about
The Wizard Earl of Bothwell, and several other "Elizabethan" characters.
It discusses the North Berwick witches, and while it leaves open the possibibility
that some of the accused were innocent, it's pretty straight forward that
Bothwell was guilty.


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joan@ucmb.ulb.ac.be