I did a deep dive into the period of Scottish witch hunting that lasted from the Witchcraft Act of 1563 until the (3rd) Witchcraft Act of 1736. Somewhere between four and six thousand people, 85% of whom were women, were accused of and tried for witchcraft in Scotland at that time, with 660 of them accused during the Great Witch Hunt of 1661-62 alone.
The research itself was fascinating, wading through scholarly papers about the politics and religion of the era, the remarkable number of healers and midwives who were accused, and the circumstances that led to such incredible fear that allowed people to justify the victimization of so many innocent people.
The contributing factors to the zeal with which the Scots went after their fellow countrywomen and (some) men are striking for appearing so unremarkable if taken alone, but threaded together they reveal a very different picture of the civilized society that was Scotland in the 16th and 17th centuries.
1. Education. Scotland is known for being one of the most educated countries in the world, with the earliest compulsory education in Europe - mandated in 1496 for the sons of nobility. In 1567, the Scottish Reformation brought Protestant-led schools into every parish in the country, cementing the new Scottish Presbyterian Reform Church as the most popular with the common man – man being the operative word (the first girls’ school wasn’t opened in Scotland until 1888). With the general populace schooled by the church, influenced by the church, and bound to the church, the local parish courts and justices, ostensibly secular, were also firmly in Presbyterian hands.
2. Politics. The Great Witch Hunt of 1661-62 came on the heels of England’s withdrawal from Scotland after Cromwell’s death. The English justices had been too “lenient” on accusations of witchcraft, and the native Scots, bloodthirsty and angry after years of occupation, were intent on eliminated the backlog of witches that the English had ignored.
3. Religion: There was a battle for power brewing behind the scenes during the entire period of Witchcraft Trials. The Scottish Presbyterian Church held the villages, but the Episcopalians were the favorite of the English nobility, and therefore got all the perks. Accusing people of witchcraft became a strategy for the Presbyterians to protect the villagers from the witches, keeping them safe from the devil and all his temptations. Of particular note is a data study that showed that the Scottish Presbyterians were substantially more active in persecuting alleged witches during periods when they were excluded from power.
The people accused of witchcraft were mostly older, poor, and female. Many were healers and midwives, some were disfigured or otherwise outcast, and most were blamed for an illness or disaster that happened to a neighbor or fellow villager. Claims of sexual promiscuity were rarely part of the initial complaints, but were often added at the urging of the interrogators. Later, court documents frequently described the accused witches as angry, primarily at the men in their communities (shocking I’m sure, when one person is being called out for sexual contact that generally takes two), and claimed that the anger was a mark of their deal with the devil.
My historian child paraphrased Mark Twain when he said that history doesn’t so much repeat itself as rhyme, and the current attacks on human and civil rights are rhyming in a big way with the Scottish Witch Trials. Accusations of “otherness” (transgender or LGBTQ+, for example) as a strategy for cementing power and manipulating the general public into feeling safe only when someone else is being attacked is an obvious one. Cutting public education budgets and pushing vouchers for religious schools as a means of controlling the content that is being learned is another. Using political upheaval to hide individual persecution in a “look, over there!” move is yet another tactic reminiscent of the Scottish Witch Trials. But the most disturbing rhyme is the parallel between vengeful Scottish Presbyterians who were most actively hunting witches when they were out of power, and the current playbook of the Republican Party.
The worst of the Republicans are MAGA extremists, and Proud Boys, and Moms for Liberty. They’re a fascist arm wielding the unearned privilege of white people who believe that worth is directly tied to the color of their skin. They are clutching at power with both hands, praising God with one fist over their hearts, and using the other fist to point to the women, the minorities, the immigrants, the gender nonconformists, the people of color, the refugees, the protesting students, the pacifists, LGBTQ+ people, the transgender kids, the liberal Democrats, the pregnant women, the DEI initiatives, the university presidents, the inclusive books, the others, while they scream “witch!”
The witch hunters weaponized fear. They cried out against the “unnatural” and declared anything of a sexual nature to be the devil’s work. People feared the attention of the accuser, not just the accused, and allowed their neighbors to be taken away in chains to keep the accuser’s gaze off of themselves. The witch hunters were the worst kinds of Christians, so certain of God’s favor that they felt justified in viewing others as less human, less worthy of respect, safety, dignity, or love.
Witch hunters do not operate well alone. They’re weak without the church or the courts or political might at their backs. They’re just people, terrified to lose the power they inherited through no merit of their own, and determined to make us look “over there, at that witch” so we don’t see their failure to lead, failure to parent, failure to make a positive difference and live a fulfilled and happy life. After the Reformation there was a purge of Presbyterians from the Scottish universities, and interestingly, by the end of the 1600s, the more educated elite no longer fervently believed in witchcraft. The power of persecution began to slip until the last woman accused of witchcraft, Janet Horne, went to her wintery grave in 1729. Janet was old and had signs of what was most likely dementia, and her witchcraft was “proven” when she made a mistake in reciting the Lord’s Prayer. If Jesus had meant for precision rather than understanding the spirit of the words, we’d still be saying the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic. And anyone who quotes the Bible as evidence for bigotry has cherry-picked precise words, taken entirely out of historical context, to prop up their hate while ignoring the overwhelming, all-encompassing message of love thy neighbor.
Janet Horne and her daughter were sentenced to death, but the daughter escaped their captors the night before the execution. Whether it was because her daughter was safe, or because her torment was ending, the last witch of Scotland is said to have faced her death with a smile at the warmth of the flames.
Janet Horne, By Edwin Morgan
In Dornoch there was a burning
With no sign of mourning
That January morning
This was the final solution
The last execution
Of an ancient persecution
For they called it witchcraft
An old woman's stitchcraft
Or a bit of leechcraft
Century of enlightenment
Still thirled to torment
Thumbscrews and judgement
Janet made a pony
Of her daughter, says the story
Rode her for Satan's glory
They tarred her and feathered her
Bound her and gathered her
Screaming and barrelled her
Burning in the peat-smoke
While the good Dornoch folk
Paused briefly for a look
Dear God were you sleeping
You were certainly not weeping
She was not in your keeping
Today there is a garden
Where a stone stands guard on
The spot she was charred on
O heart never harden!
What a wonderful way to describe the parallels between witch burning in the past and witch controlling in the present! The rhymes seem clear only if you’re looking for them, so it is people like you who point them out in such a compelling way who make a difference. I must admit that you’re “preaching to the choir,” if you’ll pardon the expression when used by an atheist. I hope there are many of us singing with you. Great essay, April.
Thank you April. I too am seeing the “Rhyming” of today’s political landscape with the Witch hunts of centuries past. It’s a very concerning time right now.