(1597) The main alleged witches directly involved in the trials were: •
Agnes Sampson •
Barbara Napier, sister-in-law of Archibald Douglas of Carshogle. •
Doctor Fian (John Cunningham) •
Euphame MacCalzean •
Geillis Duncan • Robert Grierson • Lennit Bandilandis • The Porter's wife of
Seaton • The Smith of bridge Hallis • The Wife of George Mott - Margaret Acheson • Alanis Muir • Others not named More than 100 suspected witches in North Berwick were arrested. Several confessed under torture to having met with the Devil in the church at night, and devoted themselves to doing evil, including poisoning the King and other members of his household, and attempting to sink the King's ship. David Seton's servant Geillis Duncan had been one of the first accused. Two significant accused persons were
Agnes Sampson, a respected and elderly woman from
Humbie, and Dr
John Fian, a schoolmaster and scholar in
Prestonpans. Both initially refused to confess and were put to severe torture. Sampson was brought before King James and a council of nobles. She denied all the charges, but after torture, she confessed. By special commandment, her head and body hair was shaved and she was fastened to the wall of her cell by a
scold's bridle, an iron instrument with 4 sharp prongs forced into the mouth, so that two prongs pressed against the tongue, and the two others against the cheeks. She was kept without sleep and thrown with a rope around her head. After these ordeals she confessed to the 53 indictments against her. She was finally strangled and burned as a witch. According to
Newes from Scotland, (1591), Sampson confessed to attending a
Sabbat with 200 witches, including Giellis Duncan. Dr. Fian also suffered severe torture. His fingernails were forcibly extracted, then iron pins were inserted. He was tortured with the
pilliwinks, and the
boot. Fian was finally taken to the Castlehill in
Edinburgh and
burned at the stake on 16 December. Fian's testimony implicated
Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell in a supernatural conspiracy, bringing a political element into the ongoing trials. According to
Christopher Smout, between 3,000 and 4,000 accused witches may have been killed in Scotland in the years 1560–1707.
Geillis Duncan Scottish witches were linked to storms by the testimony of Gillis Duncan (or Geillis Duncan). She was a servant of David Seaton in
Tranent, who forced her to make a confession. Apparently Duncan suddenly began to exhibit a miraculous healing ability and would sneak out of the house during the night. When Seaton confronted her, she could not explain her new ability and strange behaviour and he had her tortured. Whilst she was able to withstand many forms of torture including
pilliwinks, she eventually confessed to witchcraft when the method of searching was used (searching is where a suspected witch would be 'searched' for a blemish such as a mole or birth mark, this would then be proclaimed to be a
witch's mark) and accused many others of witchcraft. According to the contemporary pamphlet
Newes from Scotland, 1591, she named numerous individuals, both women and men: Duncan was also found to have conspired with
Euphame MacCalzean in the murder of Duncan's godfather.
Barbara Napier Barbara Napier came from a good family and had married a book dealer named George Ker in 1572. George died at
La Rochelle in 1576, and she then married Archibald Douglas whose brother Robert Douglas was the laird of Corshogill. Her family included a daughter, Janet Douglas. Gillis Duncan caused the arrest of Barbara Naper for bewitching to death
Archibald Douglas, 8th Earl of Angus. Archibald was reported to have died from a disease so strange there could be no cure or remedy. He fell ill at Langhope and died at
Smeaton near
Dalkeith on 4 August 1588. It was alleged that Euphame MacCalzean, Barbara Napier, Agnes Sampson and others had attended an assembly of witches at "
Atkynson's Haven" where an image of
James VI was given to the devil for the destruction of the king. Napier had bought charms to help her own health and to try and fix her poor relationship with
Jean Lyon, Countess of Angus who employed her and her husband. They did not work as she lost her job. When it all came to trial, Napier was accused of a practice to kill the king by witchcraft but was found guilty of only the lesser crime of conspiring with witches. James VI ordered the
Chancellor to have physicians examine her to see if she was pregnant, and if she was not, to have her burnt and publicly disembowelled. James VI wanted an appeal to overturn the first verdict, in order to better prosecute the Earl of Bothwell, and an "assize of error" was planned. James VI spoke with the jurors, who faced penalties for their former decision, on 7 June 1591, and they agreed with his views. Her fate is unclear, and it is possible that she was eventually burnt to death. The town council bought materials to build a fire for her execution and these were used on 25 June 1591 at the burning of
Euphame MacCalzean. The opinion of the 17th-century historian of the Douglas family,
David Hume of Godscroft, was that she had been released. ==Apology from Scottish government==