Trial Details
T/LA/1 Isobell Young
- Name of the accused
- Isobell Young
- Associated case
- C/EGD/160 (5/2/1629)
- Trial process type
- Central Court
| associated trials | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| trial reference | accused | trial type | trial year | trial place |
| no recorded trials | ||||
Pre-trial actions
| commissions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| commission body | type | date | seal | notes |
| Privy Council | Investigation | 18/12/1628 | None | Her son James Smith was ordered to bring her to Edinburgh for examination on 13/1/1629 |
| Privy Council | Justiciary | 13/1/1629 | None | None |
| previous commissions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| commission body | date | |||
| no recorded prior commission | ||||
| appeals | ||
|---|---|---|
| central authority | reason | appeal date |
| no recorded appeals | ||
| complaints | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| type | date of complaint | lodged at | appeal date | complainent | involvement |
| no recorded complaints | |||||
| move to higher legal authority | |
|---|---|
| moved to | date of move |
| Presbytery | 22/4/1624 |
| denunciations | |
|---|---|
| denuncation date | dated |
| 22 April 1624 | Depositions taken at Dunbar Presbytery |
| 27 January 1619 | Deposition from a healer given at Duns |
| imprisonments | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| incarceration date | central trial imprison | prison | location | moving |
| 13/2/1629 | yes | Tolbooth | Edinburgh | no |
| tortures | |
|---|---|
| date of torture | torture type |
| no recorded tortures | |
| ordeals | |
|---|---|
| date of ordeal | ordeal type |
| no recorded ordeals | |
| confessions | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| central trial confession | date | location | notes |
| no recorded confessions | |||
other information
- Pre-trial notes
- A healer, Alexander Fortune, testified before the session at Duns about a strange wound she had that would not heal on 17 January 1619. Her case was examined in front of the Dunbar Presbytery 22-29 April 1624, five years before her trial. 11 January 1629 the Tyninghame minister was assisting Mr. John Home, minister of Dunbar with Isobell's case. She was interrogated on 26 Jan 1629 by members of her commission.
- watched?
- no
- watch date
- no information
- arrested?
- no
- arrest date
- no information
- fled?
- no
- date absconded
- no information
- action dropped?
- no
- action dropped date
- no information
- action dropped by
- no information
- trial action body
- no information
- confronting suspects?
- no
Trial phase
- trial date
- 4/2/1629
- trial place
- no information
place of trial
- settlement
- Edinburgh
- parish
- no information
- presbytery
- no information
- county
- no information
- burgh
- no information
verdict
- verdict
- Guilty
- defence
- yes
- female accusers
- 13
- male accusers
- 25
- recorded as high status?
- yes
- order for central judiciary trial
- yes
- judiciary trial date
- no information
- circuit court (mixed central and local)
- no
- circuit name
- no information
- local court with central representatives
- no
- trial notes
- Very complicated defence pleadings. Case carried over to next day. I found another order for central justiciary trial dated 13/2/1629. On 22 Jan 1629 the trial date was set for 15 days.
| persons associated with the trial | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| name | title | office | occupation | involvement | witchpricker? | notes |
| Livius | None | None | None | Cited authority | no | I (LEM) think this is Livy the Latin historian cited in 1629. |
| Thomas Smith | None | None | None | Defence | no | Involved in trial in 1629. |
| David Prymrois | Mr | None | advocate | Defence advocate | no | Involved in cases and trials in 1628-9, 1632 and 1639. Name might also be spelled Primrose. |
| Laurence MacGill | Mr | None | advocate | Defence advocate | no | Involved in trials in 1629 and 1634. |
| Aristotle | None | None | None | Cited authority | no | Used to argue about the laws of nature in 1629. |
| Durand | None | None | Author | Cited authority | no | Author of De Questionibus, which was cited in Isobel Young's trial in 1629. |
| Jean Bodin | None | None | Author | Demonologist | no | Noted political writer who wrote a much used book on demonology. Cited in 1629 and 1645. |
| Robert Muir | None | None | None | Chancellor of Assize | no | Involved in trial in 1629. Name also spelt Mure. Place of residence may have been Papple? |
| Thomas Hope | Sir of Craighall | Lord's Advocate | advocate | Prosecutor | no | Involved in cases and trials in 1628-34, 1643 and 1645. |
| George Fletcher | Mr | Lord Advocate's substitute | Advocate | Prosecutor | no | Involved in trials in 1629 and 1661. |
| John Smith | None | None | None | Defence | no | Involved in trial in 1629. |
| James Smith | None | None | None | Defence | no | Involved in trial in 1629. |
Post-trial phase
- sentence
- Execution
- executed?
- yes
- execution date
- no information
- execution place
- Castle Hill
- execution method
- Strangle & Burn
- post trial notes
- She was ordered to be executed, don't have a record of the execution
| other named witches | ||
|---|---|---|
| name | trial link | accused link |
| Jonet Lyndsay | T/LA/2 | A/LA/2536 |
| Margaret Grintoun | T/LA/331 | A/LA/2680 |
| Margaret Melrois | T/LA/5 | A/EGD/148 |
| Jonet Achesoun | T/LA/7 | A/EGD/937 |
| Katharine Gray | T/LA/9 | A/EGD/326 |
Mentioned as a witch
| mentioned as a witch | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| type | name | mention date | fate | linked trialdate | trial link | notes |
| no mentions | ||||||