Pittenweem witches
The Pittenweem witches were five Scottish women accused of witchcraft in the small fishing village of Pittenweem in Fife on the east coast of Scotland in 1704. Another two women and a man were named as accomplices. Accusations made by a teenage boy, Patrick Morton, against a local woman, Beatrix Layng, led to the death in prison of Thomas Brown, and, in January 1705, the murder of Janet Cornfoot by a lynch mob in the village.
Cornfoot's murder was investigated by members of the aristocracy appointed by the Privy Council two weeks after the killing. Subsequently, four men were held in custody and charges were to be brought against the burgh bailie. The release of the four accused men was authorised by Patrick Cowper, the local minister, who had been involved with the initial witchcraft allegations and the torture and confinement of the alleged witches. Despite instructions from the Privy Council that another committee should look into the events, no suspects were ever prosecuted for the murder.
Two of the accused women, Layng and Nicholas Lawson, were imprisoned again in 1708–1709 after charges of witchcraft were levelled against them by Cowper and another local minister. They were released in April 1709 and pardoned after Queen Anne issued an Act of Indemnity. Another of the accused women, Janet Horseburgh, sued the bailies responsible for her incarceration; she received an apology and monetary recompense.
Events
In early March 1704 Beatrix Layng approached Patrick Morton, a 16-year-old working in his father's
The Sadducismus debellatus pamphlets, written by
Like Layng, Cornfoot had a reputation for casting spells and threatened anyone she was quarrelling with; Lawson, a farmer's wife, had previously been approached by other locals seeking advice about witchcraft.[2] Horseburgh, the widow of a seaman who had been a local magistrate,[12] was widely believed within the community to be a witch.[2] Academic Stuart Macdonald describes the stereotypical witch in Fife as a woman who was elderly and poor;[13] one 18th-century publication described Layng as a "very poor woman who had married meanly"[5] but although she was by no means wealthy, her husband was a tailor and the treasurer in Pittenweem.[5] Likewise Horseburgh did not live in a state of poverty.[5]
Cornfoot confessed after being beaten by the local Presbyterian Minister, Patrick Cowper, in Pittenweem Tolbooth.[14]
Investigation
After Morton named the women, Cowper and the local bailies immediately sought them out and imprisoned them[15] in Pittenweem Tolbooth.[16] While they were incarcerated the women were tortured and beaten.[15] They were forcefully kept awake – Layng claimed it was for five days and five nights[13] – and constantly pricked by a group of men intoxicated by alcohol.[17] Cowper carried out some of the beatings, attacking Cornfoot with a walking stick.[18] The beatings were vicious and later described by one letter writer as "The ministers have used a great deal of barbarous severities to extort confessions from those poor unhappy creatures."[17] Layng finally confessed after the women were taken into Morton's bedroom where, despite being blindfolded, he was able to identify and name them all as responsible for his ailments.[19]
Layng, who was charged with
Adam admitted to not only having a pact with the Devil but also having
The four women who had confessed – Adam, Cornfoot, Layng and Lawson – were interviewed at the kirk session on 29 May, each re-affirming their statements and reiterating the names of others.
The costs of keeping the women imprisoned in the tolbooth at Pittenweem were becoming prohibitive; on 12 August, after payment of five hundred marks, all the women except Cornfoot were released on bail.[28] In September Morton was summoned to give evidence to the Privy Council but he had fully regained his health and displayed no symptoms of being possessed.[28] Adam was questioned by the Privy Council in October and freed.[28] In November, Layng, Lawson, Horsefoot and Wallace were released after paying a fine of £8 each;[25] but the last of the accused,[d] Cornfoot, was kept in solitary confinement in the tolbooth by Cowper.[25] One of the prison guards, who perhaps felt sorry for her, put her in a cell with a window low enough for her to escape so she also gained her freedom.[32]
Lynching
![line drawing of a group of men placing boulders on top of a man pinned under a door](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/Giles_Corey_restored.jpg/300px-Giles_Corey_restored.jpg)
After escaping, Cornfoot made her way to the home village of
Cornfoot's lynching had taken place with unequivocal support from Cowper – members of his family had participated
The murder was investigated by a committee of five members of the aristocracy, including the Earl of Rothes, chosen by the Privy Council a fortnight later.[49] The Privy Council ordered Sir James Stewart to act on the committee's report it received on 15 February and start legal proceedings against five people plus anyone else who had been involved in Cornfoot's lynching; they were to be tried in Edinburgh.[50] Charges were also to be levelled against the burgh magistrates for "suffering such tumults and rabbles and other such outrages to be committed within their burgh".[50]
Four locals had been identified by the committee as witnessing Cornfoot being killed and being involved in her mistreatment although the three main perpetrators, who had by then left the area, were an Orcadian, a man from Burntisland and a Sea captain's son. A schoolboy, two Englishmen and another person were also implicated but had absconded.[51] The committee determined that Bailie Cook, whose residence the mob had seized Cornfoot from, should carry a significant amount of the blame.[49] Four males suspected of being present at the murder were held in custody but were released by Cowper in defiance of the Privy Council's instruction for them to be taken to Edinburgh for trial.[50]
Layng moved away from Pittenweem for a short time, but returned to her home early in 1705. In May that year she described how she had been tortured during her incarceration and, fearing the villagers might subject her to violence similar to that enacted against Cornfoot, asked the Privy Council to afford her some protection.[50] The burgh council and bailie refused to comply with the Privy Council's instructions to provide a bond to safeguard her, claiming she might be attacked at night and they would be unaware of it.[50] The Privy Council also ordered that further investigations into the incidents surrounding Cornfoot's murder should be made, appointing a committee of three noblemen to undertake the task.[50] The committee failed to attend a scheduled meeting on 9 May and, despite being reminded five months later that a report was required, no records exist to show any further investigations were made.[50] None of the culprits were tried for Cornfoot's murder.[52]
Aftermath
After the Privy Council was abolished by the Parliament of Great Britain in 1708[53] a structure of circuit courts was established in the same year with the hearing of witchcraft cases becoming part of its remit.[54] So when Cowper and the minister from the nearby parish of Anstruther East, William Wadroper, brought charges of witchcraft against Layng and Lawson again in October 1708, it was heard by the circuit court in Perth a few weeks later.[54] The two women were cautioned and released but the pair of ministers continued to bring prosecutions against them resulting in Layng and Lawson being imprisoned again in April 1709 until they could be tried on 20 May.[55] Queen Anne issued an Act of Indemnity following the Jacobite rising in 1708 that anyone due to stand trial for crimes committed before 19 April 1709 were to be acquitted, pardoned, released, and discharged so, along with hundreds of others accused of a diverse set of offences, Layng and Lawson were pardoned and set free.[55]
During 1710 Horseburgh raised an action for wrongful imprisonment against two of the bailies, William Bell and Robert Vernour.[50] An admission from Bell was issued on 28 October 1710 stating: "I am convinced of the rashness, illegality and unwarrantableness of our proceedings, having proceeded on idle stories;"[44] he also asked for forgiveness from God and Horseburgh, acknowledging he had maligned a guiltless person.[54] His apology included that he thought Morton had been "labouring under a melancholy distemper."[44] Horseburgh was awarded monetary recompense.[54]
Modern interpretations
The case was very similar to that of the Paisley witches in 1697 and another case in Glasgow during 1699.[56] The first resulted in the last mass execution of witches in western Europe,[57] but in the second the Privy Council opined there was not sufficient evidence for a trial.[4] Afflictions suffered by Morton and the adolescents making the accusations in those cases resembled ones seen in the children involved with the Salem witch trials;[58] academic, Brian P. Levack, stated that Morton's ailments "followed a script that was part of late seventeenth-century Calvinist religious culture."[9]
The historian Lizanne Henderson described the events surrounding the case of the Pittenweem witches as "one of the most extraordinary and truly horrific outbursts of witch persecution".[59] It was the last significant spate of witch hunting in Fife.[60]
Artist Carolyn Sutton produced an exhibition on thirteen accused witches in 2023, including Janet Cornfoot, called Witches in Words, Not Deeds at the Edinburgh Central Library.[61]
Proposed memorial
In March 2012, the local community council invited local residents to vote on a proposal for a memorial: one possible design was for a tall metal sculpture in the shape of a door which would have recalled the method of Cornfort's killing with heavy boulders being loaded up on a door which had been placed on her body.[62] In the event the proposal was rejected and The Scotsman reported a historian as saying that decision had been influenced by the church and "they are not budging on it".[63] It was also reported that some of the residents who were eligible to vote were descendants of the members of the lynch mob.[62]
References
Notes
- ^ Sadducismus debellatus was the title of the London edition; a version entitled A True Narrative of the Sufferings and Relief of a Young Girle was published anonymously in Edinburgh during 1698.[7]
- ^ Cowper was temporarily acting as moderator of the presbytery at the time.[27]
- ^ Levack speculates the underlying reason for wanting the trial to be held locally is probably because convictions were more likely.[23]
- ^ By this time Thomas Brown had died.[25]
- ^ This method of torture, called Peine forte et dure, was used in England but was not common in Scotland.[37] The villagers may have learned of it from the much publicised details of the Salem witch-trials.[38]
- ^ The editor, David Webster, who collated and reproduced the various pamphlets in a book during 1820, noted his suspicion that Cowper was involved in the writing of the Just Reproof essay.[47]
Citations
- ^ a b Dunbar (1865), p. 262
- ^ a b c Levack (2007), p. 148
- ^ Macdonald (2014), 4254
- ^ a b c d Levack (2007a), p. 170
- ^ a b c d e f g h Levack (2007), p. 147
- ^ Maxwell-Stuart (2004), pp. 84–85
- ^ Levack (2007a), p. 176
- ^ Levack (2007), pp. 147–148
- ^ a b Henderson (2016), p. 215
- ^ Dunbar (1865), p. 263
- ^ Cowan (2002), p. 203.
- ^ a b c Henderson (2016), p. 217
- ^ a b Macdonald (2014), 4243
- ^ Cowan (2002), p. 175.
- ^ a b Levack (2007a), p. 171
- ^ Harrower-Grey 2009.
- ^ a b c d e Levack (2007), p. 150
- ^ Hill (2013), p. 226
- ^ a b Levack (2007), p. 149
- ^ a b Henderson (2016), p. 216
- ^ Macdonald (2002), p. 44
- ^ Henderson (2016), p. 134
- ^ a b c Levack (2007), p. 152
- ^ Levack (2007), pp. 152, 154
- ^ a b c d e Levack (2007), p. 154
- ^ Levack (2007), pp. 150, 152
- ^ a b c Levack (2007), p. 151
- ^ a b c d e Levack (2007), p. 153
- ^ Levack (2007), p. 195, note 58
- ^ Levack (2007), p. 156
- ^ Larner (1984), p. 46.
- ^ Henderson (2016), pp. 213–214
- ^ Cook (1867).
- ^ a b Henderson (2016)
- ^ Henderson (2016), p. 214
- ^ a b c d e Henderson (2016), p. 213
- ^ a b c d e f g Levack (2007), p. 145
- ^ Levack (2007), p. 192
- ^ Cowan (2002).
- ^ Henderson (2016), p. 218
- ^ Macdonald (2014), 4248
- ^ Webster (1820), p. 69
- ^ Webster (1820), pp. 71–72
- ^ a b c Macdonald (2014), 4280
- ^ Dunbar (1865), p. 268
- ^ Webster (1820), p. 73
- ^ Webster (1820), p. 86
- ^ Goodare (2002), p. 1
- ^ a b Levack (2007), p. 157
- ^ a b c d e f g h Levack (2007), p. 158
- ^ Levack (2007), pp. 157–158
- ^ Henderson (2016), p. 219
- ^ Black (1993), p. 13
- ^ a b c d Levack (2007), p. 159
- ^ a b Levack (2007), p. 160
- ^ Levack (2007a), pp. 169–170
- ^ Burns (2003), p. xxxix
- ^ Levack (2007), pp. 146–147
- ^ Henderson (2016), p. 220
- ^ Macdonald (2014), 4286
- ^ edinburghcitylibraries (20 September 2023). "Witches in Word, not Deed – an exhibition at Central Library until 30 November 2023". Tales of One City. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
- ^ a b Scotsman 2012a.
- ^ Scotsman 2012b.
Bibliography
- Black, Jeremy (1993), The politics of Britain, 1688-1800, Manchester University Press, ISBN 978-0-719-03761-0
- Burns, William E. (2003), Witch hunts in Europe and America: An Encyclopedia, Greenwood Publishing Group, ISBN 978-0-313-32142-9
- Cook, David (1867). Annals of Pittenweem : being notes and extracts from the ancient records of that burgh, 1526-1793 / [edited by David Cook]. Anstruther, Scotland : L. Russell.
- Cowan, Edward J. (2002). The Scottish Witch-Hunt in Context. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-6024-9.
- Dunbar, Edward Dunbar (1865), Social Life in former days, Edmonston and Douglas
- Henderson, Lizanne (2016), Witchcraft and Folk Belief in the Age of Enlightenment Scotland, 1670–1740, Palgrave MacMillan, ISBN 978-1-137-31324-9
- ISBN 0-7190-6024-9.</ref>
- Harrower-Grey, Annette (April 2009), "Walking with witches", Scotland Magazine, no. 44, p. 68, archived from the original on 2 February 2017, retrieved 24 January 2017
- Hill, Alexandra (2013), "Decline and Survival in Scottish Witch-Hunting, 1701–1727", in Goodare, Julian (ed.), Scottish Witches and Witch-Hunters, Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 978-1-137-35594-2
- Larner, Christina (1984). Witchcraft and Religion. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. p. 46. ISBN 0-631-13447-6.
- Levack, Brian (2007), Witch Hunting in Scotland, Routledge, ISBN 978-0415399432
- Levack, Brian (2007a), "Demonic Possession in Early Modern Scotland", in Goodare, Julian; Martin, Lauren; Miller, Joyce (eds.), Witchcraft and belief in Early Modern Scotland, Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 978-0-230-59140-0
- Macdonald, Stuart (2002), "The Devil in Fife witchcraft cases", in Goodare, Julian (ed.), The Scottish Witch-hunt in Context, Manchester University Press, ISBN 978-0-7190-6024-3
- Macdonald, Stuart (2014), Witches of Fife: Witch-hunting in a Scottish Shire, 1560-1710, Birlinn, ASIN B00GQDQJ96
- Maxwell-Stuart, Peter (2004), "Witchcraft and magic in eighteenth-century Scotland", in Davies, Owen; De Blécourt, Willem (eds.), Beyond the Witch Trials: Witchcraft and Magic in Enlightenment Europe, Manchester University Press, ISBN 978-0-7190-6660-3
- Scotsman (11 March 2012a). "Villagers vote on memorial for witches". The Scotsman. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
- Scotsman (14 April 2012b). "Town rejects memorial to victims of witch-hunts". The Scotsman. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
- Webster, David (1820), A Collection of Rare and Curious Tracts on Witchcraft, Thomas Webster