Maddy Pelling and Anthony Delaney investigate one of Europe’s bloodiest witch hunts: Scotland’s North Berwick Witch trials of 1591. In this extraordinary case, fears escalated all the way up the social hierarchy to the King himself, James VI. A wild storm in the North Sea had nearly killed James and his new wife Anne of Denmark, fuelling his fascination with the intellectual study of demonology. A maelstrom of terror brought together the King’s paranoia of a conspiracy against him with local rivalries and misfortune, twisting together the fates of individuals from maidservants to magistrates, in the hunt for scapegoats.
Maddy and Anthony meet at Edinburgh’s Holyrood Palace, the place where the King himself interrogated one of the alleged witches, Agnes Sampson, a local healer and midwife. This was a remarkable moment when different worlds met, king and commoner, captured through the accounts of her confession.
But who were the accused, and how were their confessions extracted? Maddy and Anthony travel through this area of Scotland and examine the records to understand how the fear of witches spread through entire communities, and how the women and men of North Berwick were tragically caught up in the terror.
If you'd like to hear more from Anthony and Maddy, check out their podcast for History Hit: 'After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal'. https://podfollow.com/1705694900/view
Up Next in Women's History Month
-
Versailles: Palace of Science
Versailles, the magnificent royal palace near Paris, home to a grandiose monarchy that was swept away in the Revolution. But there was another side to Versailles - this was also a Palace of Science.
In this special film, Dr. Maddy Pelling visits the Science Museum in London to explore a remarkab...
-
Going Medieval: Those Who Work
In the Medieval period, peasants made up roughly 80% of the European population (70% were serfs). In the first episode of Going Medieval, Dr Eleanor Janega visits Denny Abbey, a former Benedictine monastery in Cambridge to explore the lives of those who devoted their lives to working the land.
-
Going Medieval: Those Who Earn
Whilst the majority of people who worked in the Medieval Period were peasants, a significant community of merchants and tradesmen existed, the majority of whom belonged to one of the most powerful and influential groups in medieval Europe - the Guilds. Guilds were associations of artisans and mer...
15 Comments