Trial Details
T/LA/326 Agnes Williamsone
- Name of the accused
- Agnes Williamsone
- Associated case
- C/EGD/434 (27/1/1662)
- Trial process type
- Central Court
| associated trials | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| trial reference | accused | trial type | trial year | trial place |
| T/JO/1712 | Mareon Quheitt | Local Court | no information | |
| T/JO/1713 | Elspeth Tailyeor | Local Court | no information | |
| T/JO/1789 | Margaret Bartilman | Local Court | no information | |
| T/JO/1790 | Jonet Carfrae | Local Court | no information | |
| T/JO/1791 | Christiane Deanes | Local Court | no information | |
Pre-trial actions
| commissions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| commission body | type | date | seal | notes |
| Parliamentary | Justiciary | 3/4/1661 | None | Petition to parliament from Earl of Haddington. He claimed that witchcraft was increasing in his lands and had imprisoned the suspects. He also claimed that two of them were accused of robbery as well. |
| Privy Council | Justiciary | 7/11/1661 | None | resulted from a petition from the Earl of Haddington saying that she had been in jail there for 8 months and needed to be tried to spare the public expense. |
| previous commissions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| commission body | date | |||
| no recorded prior commission | ||||
| appeals | ||
|---|---|---|
| central authority | reason | appeal date |
| From the Earl of Haddington | 3/4/1661 | |
| complaints | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| type | date of complaint | lodged at | appeal date | complainent | involvement |
| Other | 7/11/1661 | Privy Council | John Hamilton | ||
| move to higher legal authority | |
|---|---|
| moved to | date of move |
| no recorded move to higher legal authority | |
| denunciations | |
|---|---|
| denuncation date | dated |
| no recorded denunciations | |
| imprisonments | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| incarceration date | central trial imprison | prison | location | moving |
| None | no | None | Haddington | yes |
| None | yes | Tolbooth | Edinburgh | no |
| tortures | |
|---|---|
| date of torture | torture type |
| no recorded tortures | |
| ordeals | |
|---|---|
| date of ordeal | ordeal type |
| 1661 | Searching |
| confessions | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| central trial confession | date | location | notes |
| no | 20/5/1661 | Edinburgh | None |
| no | 1649 | None | None |
other information
- Pre-trial notes
- She confessed to Judges Commissionate on 20/5/1661. Someone drew up a memorandum outlining the case in 1662. The confession was disputed and presented as extrajudicial. Earl of Haddington said she was a burden to his tenents while awaiting trial, presumably because they had to watch and ward her. She is also listed in process notes in the Privy Council from 1649
- watched?
- no
- watch date
- no information
- arrested?
- yes
- 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?
- yes
Trial phase
- trial date
- 27/1/1662
- trial place
- no information
place of trial
- settlement
- Edinburgh
- parish
- no information
- presbytery
- no information
- county
- no information
- burgh
- no information
verdict
- verdict
- Not Guilty
- defence
- yes
- female accusers
- 3
- male accusers
- 9
- recorded as high status?
- yes
- order for central judiciary trial
- no
- judiciary trial date
- no information
- circuit court (mixed central and local)
- no
- circuit name
- no information
- local court with central representatives
- no
- trial notes
- Found her not guilty of the substantive charges, but guilty 'by repute and delation'. On 28/1/1662, justice was postponed until 3/2/1662. We have the trial text in JC2 (i.e. High Court Books of Adjournal) and in draft form in JC26/28. The rest of the group were not tried with her at the High Court - they may have had a local trial.
| persons associated with the trial | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| name | title | office | occupation | involvement | witchpricker? | notes |
| Andrew Birnie | Mr | sometime substitute to lord's advocate | Advocate | Prosecutor | no | Involved in trials in 1661-2. |
| Nathaniel Fife | Mr | None | advocate | Defence advocate | no | Involved in cases in 1661-2. Was defence advocate. |
| William Weir | None | None | merchant | Chancellor | no | Involved in case and trial in 1629. |
Post-trial phase
- sentence
- no information
- executed?
- no
- execution date
- no information
- execution place
- no information
- execution method
- no information
- post trial notes
- None
| other named witches | ||
|---|---|---|
| name | trial link | accused link |
| Margaret Bannyntyne | T/JO/1039 | A/EGD/1926 |
| Elspeth Baillie | T/JO/1034 | A/EGD/1342 |
Mentioned as a witch
| mentioned as a witch | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| type | name | mention date | fate | linked trialdate | trial link | notes |
| no mentions | ||||||