The Survey of Scottish Witchcraft

1563-1736

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

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Case Details

C/EGD/383 Christiane Wilsone

name of accused
Christiane Wilsone (alias the Lanthern)
designated title
no information
Accused Reference
A/EGD/372
Case date start
10/6/1661
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

  • maleficium (secondary characteristic)
  • Implicated by another (secondary characteristic)
  • neighbourhood dispute (secondary characteristic)
Characterisation Notes
None

Qualitative information

Non-natural beings

Notes
None
  • no information

Demonic pacts

  • no information

witches meetings

Notes
None

Meeting places

  • no information

musical instruments

  • no information

Folk culture

Notes
None

Counter strategies

  • no information

white magic

  • no information

Elf/fairy elements

  • no information

Shape-changing

  • Animal grey cat
  • Phantom Rat

Ritual objects

  • no information

Religious motif

  • no information

Calendar customs

  • no information

Diseases or illness

  • Human death
  • Quarreling
  • Cursing
Notes
threatened that a woman would remain childless; confessed to killing her brother saying that she was worthy of death for that reason, fall outs, cursing, death

Cause of witch's malice

  • Social slight
  • Revenge for being called a witch
  • Failed business interaction

Other maleficia

Damage to property

  • no information

weather modification

  • no information

Notes
None

Other charges

  • Sorcery
  • Charming
Notes
None

Plea

Claimed bewitched
no
Claimed possessed
no
Admitted lesser charges
no
No defence
no
Claimed natural causes
no
Notes
None
Case Notes
The main issue in her case was that she killed her brother, for which she expressed extreme remorse and thought she should die (lots of witnesses testified to this). She seemed to have lived with her brother at the time, more likely she lived just next door, perhaps in a semi-attached kind of house. She had many conflicts within her immediate family, her brother and a nephew.
references
name notes
Books of Adjournal JC2/11; JC2/10 fos. 10v-17v JC2/11 and JC2/10 have exactly the same text! Except the sederunt in JC2/10 doesn't say that the trial happened in Dalkeith. Also found in the High Court Record Index, no. 1 for 3/8/1661, this index did not distinguish between circuit and high court cases. This list of names was added in the margins with a modern hand, no indication of where the person got the list.
Books of Adjournal JC2/11; JC2/10 fos. 34r-41r mentioned
High Court Process Notes JC26/27/9 item 2 It’s a preliminary report with witness testimony, a preliminary dittay.
High Court Process Notes JC26/27/9 item 4 Draft of the JC2 trial
High Court Process Notes JC26/27/9 item 7 similar content as JC26/27/9 item 4, only with better hand writing
High Court Process Notes JC26/27/9 item 20 witnesses, bad handwriting, mostly repeat of info in other docs. Seems to be a draft of the Books of Adjournal text.