The Queen of Elphame was invoked, under various names, in Scottish witch trials. The forms "Queen of Elfame" (sic.) ("Elphane", also "Court of Elfane") occur in documents from the trial of
Alison Pearson (Alesoun Peirsoun) in 1588, and emendation to "elf-hame" was suggested by the editor,
Robert Pitcairn. Alison was carried off to Elfame on a number of occasions over the years, where she made good acquaintance with the Queen. But rather than the Queen herself, it was mostly with her elfin minions that Alice engaged in specific interactions, with William Simpson, Alison's cousin or uncle being a particularly close-knitted mentor, teaching her medicinal herbs and the art of healing, which she then profited from by peddling her remedies to her patients, which included the
Bishop of St. Andrews. The elfin folk from this world would arrive unexpectedly, allowing her to join in their herb-picking before sunrise, and brewing their salves (
sawis) before her eyes. But they were often abusive, striking her in a manner that left her bereft of all her powers ("poistee" or "poustie") on her sides, rendering her bedridden for twenty weeks at a time. The form "Queen of Elphen" occurs in the 1598 witchcraft trial indictment (ditty) and confession of Andro Man (
Andrew Man) of
Aberdeen. Andro Man confessed that as a boy he saw "the
Devil" his master "in the likeness and shape of a woman, whom [he] callest the Queen of Elphen," and as an adult, during the span of some thirty-two years he had carnal relations with the "Quene of Elphen" on whom he begat many
bairns. Further down however, the Devil whom he calls "Christsonday" is the (husband), though "the Quene has grip of all the craft". Andro Man further confessed that on the
Holy Rood Day (
Ruidday in harvest) the Queen of Elphen and her company rode white horses (
quhyt haiknayes) alongside the Devil (Christsondy) who appeared out of snow in the form of a . She and her companions had human shapes, "yet were as shadows", and that they were "playing and dancing whenever they pleased." Bessie Dunlop in 1576 confessed that the dead man's spirit she had congress with (Thom Reid) was one of "the good neighbours or brownies, who dwelt at the Court of Faery (Elf-hame)" ("gude wychtis that wynnitin the Court of Elfame.."), and they had come to take her away, but she refused to comply thereby angering Thom. When interrogated, Bessie denied having carnal relations with Thom, though he once took her by the apron and "wald haif had hir gangand with him to Elfame." Bessie was informed that the queen had secretly visited her before, and according to Thom, when Bessie lay in bed in child-birth, it was the "Quene of Elfame" who in the guise of a stout woman had offered her a drink and prophesied her child's death and her husband's cure. And indeed, it was at the behest of this Queen who was his master that Thom had come to Bessie at all. The Queen's
shape-shifting magic extends to her own person. Andro Man's confession also noted that "she can be old or young as she pleases". Marion Grant, of the same
coven as Andro Man, witnessed the queen as a "fine woman, clad in a white walicot." Similarly,
Isobel Gowdie's confession described the "Qwein of Fearrie" as handsomely ("
brawlie") clothed in white linen and in white and brown clothes, and that providing more food than Isobel could eat.
Robert Sempill in a ballad (1583) on the bishop
Patrick Adamson refers to
Alison Pearson participating in the fairy ride. The
Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue also, in giving the entry '''' "Fairy-land," and gives Sempill's ballad as an example in usage. For oght the kirk culd him fobid, He sped him sone, and gat the thrid; Ane carling of the Quene of Phareis, That ewill win geir to elphyne careis; Through all
Braid Abane scho hes bene, On horsbak on Hallow ewin; And ay in seiking cetayne nyghtis, As scho sayis with sur [our] sillie wychtis. — R.S., '
Legend of the Bischop of St. Androis Lyfe, callit Mr Patrick Adamsone alias Cousteane", Poems 16th Cent. in:
Scottish Poems of the XVIth Century, pp. 320–321 Robert Jamieson also noted the ballad under the etymological explanation of
seelie meaning "happy." The ballad thus mention the Queen of Fairies,
elphyne meaning Elfland (
Fairyland), and seelie witches in a single passage. In 1801, John Leyden identified the Scottish queen of the fairies with
Nicneven, the "gyre-carlin," or
Hecate. This was accepted by authors such as Sir Walter Scott, but has baffled later scholars; Nicneven is, properly, a witch in the 16th-century poetry of
Alexander Montgomerie. She is a worshipper of Hecate and a separate person from the "Elfe Queene," who also appears in the poem. == Ballads ==