Witches of Scotland & Ireland
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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 pardon and an apology was made on 8 March 2022. The aim was also to establish a national memorial for the convicted from the Scottish parliament.[1]
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[edit]
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[edit]
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[edit]
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[edit]
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[edit]
References[edit]
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^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g "PE01855: Pardon and memorialise those convicted under the Witchcraft Act 1563". external.parliament.scot. 18 March 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
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^ Jump up to:a b "About". Witches Of Scotland. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
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^ Andy Philip. "Mercy for 'witches': Holyrood hears plea for Queen to pardon thousands of Scottish women". Press and Journal. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
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^ Bryce, Tracey. "A pardon, An apology. A memorial: Campaigners urge pardon for Scots women executed for witchcraft". The Sunday Post. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
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^ 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.
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^ "Scottish Parliament asked to right 'terrible miscarriage of justice' by pardoning thousands of witches". www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
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^ "Podcast". Witches Of Scotland. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
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^ Jump up to:a b "Women executed 300 years ago as witches in Scotland set to receive pardons". the Guardian. 19 December 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
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^ "Survey of Scottish Witchcraft - Introduction to Scottish Witchcraft". www.shca.ed.ac.uk. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
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^ "Why learning the truth about Scotland's 'witches' is vital to society today – Lawrence Normand". www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
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^ Jump up to:a b "Pardon for Scots convicted of witchcraft not a 'waste of time' and will send message on misogyny". The National. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
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^ Jump up to:a b "Nicola Sturgeon apologises to people accused of witchcraft". BBC News. 8 March 2022. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
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^ "Witch apology would 'send powerful signal'". BBC News. 7 January 2022. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
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^ English, Paul. "Scotland prepares pardon for the 'witches' it executed". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
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^ "MSP launches consultation on Bill to pardon thousands convicted of witchcraft". The National. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
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^ "Nicola Sturgeon issues apology for 'historical injustice' of witch hunts". the Guardian. 8 March 2022. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
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^ Jump up to:a b "Failure to pardon women persecuted as witches in Scotland 'prolongs misogyny'". the Guardian. 22 June 2022. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
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This page was last edited on 5 April 2023, at 14:33 (UTC).
About Witches of Scotland
In 1563 in Scotland the Witchcraft Act was brought into law and remained in law till 1736. The vast majority of those accused, some 84%, were women. During this time witchcraft was a capital crime and those convicted of witchcraft were strangled to death and then burned at the stake so as to leave no body to bury.
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When accused of witchcraft, people were locked up awaiting trial and tortured to confess. Torture in Scotland was usually by way of sleep deprivation – keeping people awake until they confessed.
We know now of course that sleep deprivation makes people confused and causes them to hallucinate so it is perhaps not surprising that it was a good method of getting “confessions” from people accused of witchcraft. Other methods of torture included “pricking”- the pricking of skin with needles and bodkins to see how the person reacted to the drawing of blood and whether they bled - and the stripping and examination of the body to see if any “witches mark” could be found on them. Often these torture methods were carried out in public. Torture by crushing and pulling out nails was also used.
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The signs associated with witches (broomstick, cauldrons, black cats, black pointed hats) were actually things those of “alewives” – women who brewed weak beer in medieval times, as a method of combatting the poor water quality at the time. The sign above their door was a broomstick to let people know they could buy beer, they used large cauldrons for brewing, cats were kept to keep the mice at bay and the black pointed hats were used to make themselves easily identifiable at market. Brewing was seen as “women’s work” it was not until the craft of brewing became a profitable business that women were ousted from the role. It may have been the very process of removing women from that role by making people suspicious of their “brews” that caused the link to be made with witchcraft and the brewery symbols to become those of witches.
King James the VI of Scotland (1566 – 1625) considered himself an expert in witchcraft.
and he attended the North Berwick Witch Trials where one of the complaints was that witchcraft had been used to create storms to cause a bad crossing for James’ ship across the ocean. He was obsessed with witchcraft and wrote the book “Daemonologie” (1597) , which was a book about witchcraft and other occult matters. His obsession helped to fuel the Scottish “satanic panic”.
By 1736 it was recognised that the execution of people for witchcraft was wrong,
as indeed was the crime itself; the law was changed to “pretended witchcraft” and the maximum sentence on conviction was imprisonment for one year.
An estimated 3837 people were accused of witchcraft
and, if the known cases are to be considered a representative sample, two thirds of those were executed, some 2558 people. 84% of those accused were women and if those convicted were approximately the same split, 2148 women were executed and 410 men. Clearly these figures are an estimate, but they give an impression of how many women and men suffered this terrible injustice and lost their lives.
There are small memorials in some places in Scotland which remember those convicted of witchcraft, but like the Witches Well in Edinburgh they remember the witches, rather than represent an apology for those who lost their lives.
The witch trials of Salem are world famous : Approximately 200 people were accused and a small number, 30 were found guilty – of those convicted 14 women and 5 men were hanged. One man was crushed to death for refusing to plead and five people died in jail. Salem has, between 1711 and 2001 “reversed the conviction” of all of those killed as witches. In 1992 a resolution was passed by the Massachusetts House of Representatives honouring those who had died. In 1992 a memorial park was created in Salem for those who had died. Stone seats for each of those who were executed were set in the park.
To date, there has been no apology, no pardon and no memorial to those who lost their lives in Scotland.
It is Witches of Scotland’s campaign aim to bring what posthumous justice we can to those who were so cruelly and unfairly accused and tried as witches.
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Sources
The map of Scottish witchcraft
A source book of Scottish Witchcraft by Larner, Lee and McLachlan
Where are the Women – Sara Sheridan
Scottish Witches – Lily Seafield
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EPISODE 67 DR ANDREW SNEDDON WITCHES OF IRELAND
EPISODE 66 LORRAINE MURRAY - THE WITCHES OF INVERCLYDE
EPISODE 65 - ANYA BERGMAN - WITCHES OF VARDO
EPISODE 64 - DOCTOR MARTHA MCGILL - WITCH HUNT 1649
EPISODE 63 - JUDITH LANGLANDS SCOTT - CONFESSIONS AND LIES - WITCHES OF FORFAR PART TWO
EPISODE 62 ASSISTANT PROFESSOR JEM BLOOMFIELD
EPISODE 61 - ANNA DAY - STATUES AND MEMORIALISATION
EPISODE 60 - JENNI FAGAN “HEX” RECORDED LIVE AT AYE WRITE, GLASGOW
EPISODE 59 - EMERITUS PROFESSOR MALCOLM GASKILL
EPISODE 58 - DAVID RUDOLPH - AMERICAN INJUSTICE
EPISODE 57 - DR JAN MACHIELSEN CARDIFF UNIVERSITY
EPISODE 56 - DR LOUISE YEOMAN - HISTORIAN, AUTHOR, PRESENTER
EPISODE 55 DR. DANNY BUCK - MATTHEW HOPKINS THE WITCHFINDER GENERAL
EPISODE 54 THE APOLOGY - INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2022
EPISODE 53 - PARDONING THE WITCHES OF CATALONIA
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