Witchcraft and Folk Belief in the Age of Enlightenment by Lizanne Henderson

Mary's son, James, wrote Daemonologie in 1597 after his involvement with the North Berwick witch trials in 1590 and the Great Scottish Witch Hunt of 1597, a nationwide hunt that started in Aberdeen. The parliament of Mary, Queen of Scots, passed the Scottish Witchcraft Act in 1563, making convictions for witchcraft subject to capital punishment. The early modern period saw the Scottish courts trying many cases of witchcraft and witch hunts began in about 1550.

The Confession of Isobel Gowdie, a 1990 work for symphony orchestra, was composed by James MacMillan as a requiem for her. Gowdie is commemorated outside academia by songs, books, plays and radio broadcasts. Since the confessions were transcribed by Robert Pitcairn and first published in 1833, historians have described the material as remarkable or extraordinary and scholars continue to debate the topic in the 21st century. It is unclear why she came forward or was initially arrested but she may have suffered from ergotism. Modern day academics characterise Gowdie, who was illiterate and of a low social status, as a talented narrator with a creative imagination. A combination of demonic and fairy beliefs, the narratives were used by Margaret Murray as the basis for her now mostly discredited theories about cults and witchcraft. Lurid information concerning carnal dealings with the Devil were also provided. The four confessions she made over a period of six weeks include details of charms and rhymes, claims she was a member of a coven in the service of the Devil and that she met with the fairy queen and king. Her detailed testimony, apparently achieved without the use of violent torture, provides one of the most comprehensive insights into European witchcraft folklore at the end of the era of witch-hunts.

Scant information is available about her age or life and, although she was probably executed in line with the usual practice, it is uncertain whether this was the case or if she was allowed to return to the obscurity of her former life as a cottar’s wife. Isobel Gowdie was a Scottish woman who confessed to witchcraft at Auldearn near Nairn during 1662. According to the historian Emma Wilby several aspects of witchcraft included in Gowdie's confessions are seen in Peter Binsfeld's 1592 drawing.

Witchcraft and Folk Belief in the Age of Enlightenment by Lizanne Henderson