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Demons, Devilry and Domestic Magic: Hunting Witches in Scotland

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Witchcraft and Folk Belief in the Age of Enlightenment

Part of the book series: Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic ((PHSWM))

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Abstract

There are never any easy answers in history, but on the topic of folk belief and the persecution of witches, there are hardly any at all; “indeed it is difficult to think of any historical problem over which there is more disagreement and confusion.”2 Theories as to why the European witch-hunts took place are plentiful, but satisfactory explanations are in short supply. It is no longer convincing to blame men, or the patriarchal system, or the religious upheavals of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, nor to suggest that witch-hunts were a consequence of warfare, famine and disease, or the social and political impact of state-building, or the rise of capitalism. While all of these developments, and many more besides, contributed to the overall story of the witch-hunts in Europe, no single event or episode was, or could be, fully responsible. There was, essentially, not one cause but many, and so it is necessary to adopt, as Brian Levack has aptly suggested, a “multi-causal approach” to this particular subject.3 Why did witch-hunting occur in some places and not in others, or why did some individuals face prosecution while others did not, are just a couple of the potential questions that defy explanation. It is not even fully understood why witch prosecutions began to rise in the fifteenth century, proliferated in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and then petered out in the eighteenth century. There are, therefore, no “answers,” as such, only questions.

Witches are chiefly employed in plain mischief by hurting persons or their goods … But they sometimes work mischief under a pretence or colour of doing good; as when they cure diseases, loose enchantments and discover other witches. All their designs are brought about by charmes or ceremonious rites instituted by the Devil.

William Forbes, Institutes of the Law of Scotland (1730)1

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Notes

  1. Brian Levack, The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe (1987; 3rd edn, Harlow: Pearson Education, 2006) 2.

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  3. Eugenius included night-flying, weather magic and the desecration of the Eucharist among those punishable crimes. In 1440 he denounced Felix V before the Council of Basel for his toleration of stregule (witches) and Waudenses (Waldensian heretics). Jonathan Durrant and Michael D. Bailey, Historical Dictionary of Witchcraft (2nd rev. edn; Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2012) 69;

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    Lizanne Henderson

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Henderson, L. (2016). Demons, Devilry and Domestic Magic: Hunting Witches in Scotland. In: Witchcraft and Folk Belief in the Age of Enlightenment. Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137313249_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137313249_4

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