A popular tourist town was once the site of one of Europe’s bloodiest witch trials
North Berwick in Scotland is now best known as a seaside town that’s perfect for a family getaway – but this wasn’t always the case, and the village actually has a rather dark history. In the years before King James VI of Scotland inherited the English throne too, he oversaw a rather brutal witch trial that would go down in history as one of Europe’s bloodiest.
Visitors to North Berwick may miss the signs still present today, but those looking carefully while visiting St Andrew’s Church may spot a memento mori of a skull and bones, a tribute to those executed on false charges of witchcraft. From 1590 to 1592, between 70 and 200 individuals, mostly women, from North Berwick and its surrounding towns were accused of being witches and subsequently put on trial, tortured and executed.
The events began when the King’s betrothed, Anne of Denmark, the sister of King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway, was unable to travel from Norway to Scotland due to stormy weather. This led to James making the treacherous crossing to Norway in 1589.
The royal couple tied the knot in Oslo before journeying back to Scotland. However, terrible storms once again delayed their journey.
During this time, there were a number of witch trials going on in nearby Germany, and the combination of this and storms leaving the Royals marooned sparked an interest in witch trials in Demark-Norway.
This led to a number of women being tortured, causing them to confess to being guilty of sorcery in raising storms that menaced Queen Anne’s voyages. At least two of these women were later burned at the stake for this.
After returning to Scotland, King James became obsessed with the belief that there were witches in Scotland who were also involved in this conspiracy. The existence of a conspiracy between Scottish and Danish-Norwegian witches was sparked following the confession of Gillis Duncan (or Geillis Duncan), who was the servant of David Seaton, who began to expect that she was a witch.
Seaton had Duncan tortured after accusing her of exhibiting sudden healing abilities. After being tortured, likely with thumbscrews and searching for a witchmark, she eventually confessed to witchcraft, naming a number of other individuals and linking the witches to the storms.
Other accused witches included Agnes Sampson, a respected elderly woman in North Berwick and Dr John Fian, a local schoolmaster. Like Gillis Duncan they were both tortured, with Sampson having her head and body fully shaved, and was fastened to the wall of her cell by a scold’s bridle. She was also kept without sleep.
While Dr Fian had his fingernails forcibly extended, and then iron pills were inserted, like Duncan, he was also tortured with the use of thumbscrews.
Both Fian and Samson confessed following their tortures, with Sampson confessing to having attended witch sabbats with 200 witches, including Giellis Duncan, while Dr Fian’s confession implicated Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell, in the conspiracy.
Bothwell was then arrested on accusations of witchcraft and attempting to use sorcery to kill the king, he was held at Edinburgh Castle, but then escaped on 22 June 1591.
While the true number of individuals tortured and executed during the North Berwick trials is unknown, it’s estimated that 4,000 people were burned at the stake for witchcraft in Scotland during the Early Modern period.