Carol’s Reviews > Borders Witch Hunt > Status Update
Carol
is on page 139 of 224
Trials were … rapid due to the lack of any defence case. The particular nature of witchcraft trials and the fact that the prosecution case was led by the local minister rendered a defence case difficult. To defend a witch was in effect to call the local minister a liar. It was quite simply unthinkable.
— May 07, 2026 04:44PM
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Carol’s Previous Updates
Carol
is on page 163 of 224
[S]ites of Christian worship in Scotland were frequently built on sites of previous pagan worship. While this was known, and conveniently ignored, by the early church, it became a major issue at the time of the Reformation. The arrival of the Protestant church in Scotland classed everything that was not Calvinist as “Devil worship” whether this was an old belief in pagan magic or Catholicism.
— May 08, 2026 06:30PM
Carol
is on page 139 of 224
Sentence could be excommunication, banishment or exile, branding, death by burning or, as more regularly happened, death by strangulation and then burning. All witches were excommunicated, although this could be for a short period of time in some instances. Some witches, mainly those with money and influential friends, managed to be exiled.
— May 07, 2026 04:47PM
Carol
is on page 116 of 224
Even when arrested, many warlocks were given bail and allowed to wait their time until trial at home. The courts, filled with male lawyers, prosecutors and juries, did not want to believe fellow men guilty and when the accused put up a robust defence, not guilty and not proven verdicts were frequently returned.
— Apr 30, 2026 06:56PM
Carol
is on page 111 of 224
Scotland… like most European countries saw witchcraft in terms of a female crime. In contrast, most Scandinavian countries disputed the usefulness of women to the Devil. Why, they argued, if the Devil was really trying to attack the Godly would he use stupid women? In the Scandinavian witch trial records, the numbers of men accused is well over 60%… Around 16% of those tried in Scotland as witches were men.
— Apr 30, 2026 06:45PM
Carol
is on page 88 of 224
A man who lost his wife in childbirth was to be pitied while a woman who lost her husband was to be avoided. Husbands who died of natural causes, unless very old, were assumed to have been bewitched to death. Accidental death raised the suspicion that the wife had ‘caused’ the accident. And death after an illness of a relatively fit healthy male could have been the result of poison.
— Apr 28, 2026 08:47PM
Carol
is on page 82 of 224
There are very few instances of accusations of Scottish witches flying. It was considered a delusion in Scotland, although interestingly it was a relatively common accusation on the continent.
— Apr 28, 2026 08:36PM
Carol
is on page 69 of 224
Most sheriffs and baillies spent the late autumn months moving vagrants out of their jurisdictions before winter arrived. The Kirk might preach Christian charity but most merchants did not want more beggars on their streets and it was the merchants that paid the sheriff’s wages. Beggars would be rounded up, spend a night in the tolbooth before being thrown out and told never to return the next morning.
— Apr 28, 2026 08:20PM
