The Great Scottish Witch Hunt of 1661–1662

Dados Bibliográficos

ID10063276
AutoresBrian P Levack, Brian P Levacκ (The University of Texas at Austin, autor correspondente)
Ano1980
Volume20
Fascículo1
Páginas90-108
Data de publicação1980-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of British Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0021-9371 • E-ISSN: 1545-6986
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1086/385764
OpenAlexW2059824202
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas3
Referências citadas9

During 1661 and 1662 Scotland experienced one of the largest witch hunts in its history. Within the space of sixteen months no fewer than 660 persons were publicly accused of various acts of sorcery and diabolism. The hunt began to the east of Edinburgh in the villages and small burghs of Midlothian and East Lothian, where 206 individuals were named as witches between April and December 1661. The hunt did not remain restricted to that area, however, as the privy council busily issued commissions to local authorities throughout the country to try suspected witches. We do not know how many people were executed during the hunt, but the report of John Ray, the English naturalist, that 120 were believed to have been burned during his visit to Scotland suggests that the total number was substantial. It is true that some of the witches tried in the justiciary court (the central Scottish criminal court, also known as the justice court) were acquitted, and a number of those who were simply named as accomplices never actually came to trial. This should in no way, however, detract from the size and importance of the hunt. At no other time in Scottish history, with the possible exception of 1597, were so many people accused of witchcraft within such a brief period of time. Indeed, the hunt, which involved four times the number of persons accused of witchcraft at Salem in 1692, was comparable to the large witch hunts that occurred on the European continent during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

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