The Survey of Scottish Witchcraft

1563-1736

By Julian Goodare, Lauren Martin, Joyce Miller and Louise Yeoman, January 2003

The Survey of Scottish Witchcraft logo

Case Details

C/EGD/169 Jon Neill

name of accused
Jon Neill
designated title
no information
Accused Reference
A/EGD/158
Case date start
22/1/1630
Given case date
no information
Case commission
no information
case complaint
no information
case correspondence
no information
case chronicle
no information
other details
no information

characterisation

  • demonic (secondary characteristic)
  • folk healing (secondary characteristic)
  • folk healing (primary characteristic)
  • maleficium (secondary characteristic)
  • Implicated by another (secondary characteristic)
Characterisation Notes
All of his accusations involved folk healing. Especially transfering disease from a sick person to someone else during a healing ritual. He seems to have been caught up by Manderston, the witch hunter. Neill was accused of participating in the supposed plot to kill Sir George Home of Manderston and several other justice officials (a clerk, a bailie and a minister). He was paid for his services and seems to have been widely consulted, especially for his ability to tell whether a sick person would live or die.
additional persons
name involvement notes
George Home Investigator
George Haliburton Investigator
Adam Bellenden Commissioner
Archibald Acheson Commissioner
John Hamilton Commissioner
Thomas Hope Commissioner
John Scott Commissioner
George Rule Expert Witness
Alan Lundie Expert Witness
Thomas Ramsay Expert Witness
John Gaittis (Galt) Expert Witness
Alexander Smith Expert Witness
David Home Expert Witness
John Home Expert Witness
Alexander Kinneir Expert Witness
Matthew Carraill Expert Witness
John Ridpeth Expert Witness
James Home Expert Witness
William Cockburn Investigator

Qualitative information

Non-natural beings

Notes
None
  • Unspecified Devil

Demonic pacts

  • Servant

witches meetings

  • Witches meeting
  • Devil present
Notes
Was accused of being at several witches' meetings and asking the Devil for the power to kill Manderston and others.

Meeting places

  • Coldingham Law

musical instruments

  • no information

Folk culture

  • Specific ritual acts
  • Sympathetic magic
Notes
He was also accused of being part of supposed conspiracy to kill Sir George Home of Manderston, using a dead enchanted foil (bird) and a dead man's hand.

Counter strategies

  • no information

white magic

  • no information

Elf/fairy elements

  • Meeting at 12:00
  • Midnight

Shape-changing

  • no information

Ritual objects

  • Shirt
  • Water
  • Bird (dead)
  • Hand (dead)

Religious motif

  • no information

Calendar customs

  • no information

Diseases or illness

  • Human illness
  • Human death
  • Transferring disease
  • Laying on
  • Cursing
  • Rec. healer
  • Healing humans
Notes
He had a wide range for curing-all over Berwickshire, Berwick, Grenis (?), Paxton, Foulden, Chirnside. Accusations sprang from people getting sick and dying after a disease transfer.

Cause of witch's malice

  • no information

Other maleficia

Damage to property

  • no information

weather modification

  • no information

Notes
None

Other charges

  • Sorcery
  • Murder
Notes
None

Plea

Claimed bewitched
no
Claimed possessed
no
Admitted lesser charges
no
No defence
no
Claimed natural causes
no
Notes
None
Case Notes
Neill fled to England, and King Charles I wrote a letter to his northern justice officials to arrest him and send him back to Scotland for trial.
references
name notes
SJC VI, p. 143 Also found in the High Court Record Index, no. 1 for 26/3/1631.
SJC v1, p.169-171 None
RPC 2nd S, v3 p. 443 None
RPC 2nd S v3, p. 400, 448 None
RPC 2nd S, v3 p. 496, 584; 2nd S, v4 p. 98,125, 164-165 None
RPC 2nd S, v3 p. 513 None
RPC 2nd S, v3 p. 541, 563 None
Books of Adjournal JC2/7 fo. 1r-2r, 2v None
RPC 2nd S, v4 p. 56 charges against the masters and landlords in the Merse for bringing in their tenants to bear witness and to be confronted with John Neill and Elie Nesbitt.
RPC 2nd S, v4 p. 98, 164-165 None
Royal Letters v2, p. 423 Order of arrest in England and to be sent back to Scotland for trial. 'The Earl of Stirling's Register of Royal Letters, Relative to the Affairs of Scotland and Nova Scotia' Charles Rogers (Ed.), (Edinburgh, 1885). This reference was supplied by Aonghas MacCoinnich.
Process Notes JC26/10 a bundle with 17 items about his case, that includes information about other accused witches as well. His JC26 bundle contains a dittay, witness statements, his own statements, an interrogatory, and pre-trial procedure documents (i.e. witness summonds, etc.).
Process Notes JC26/10 'Alison Nisbet' bundle, item 13 his sworn depositions at the end this document.