JAMES VI, THE KING WHO HUNTED WITCHES

James VI and I’s superstitions saw thousands of ‘witches’ executed – but burning at the stake was a myth.

Once you had been accused of witchcraft in late 16th-century Britain, there was usually only one way out: the grave.

The year is 1590, and in Scotland an extraordinary event is taking place – the North Berwick Witch Trials. A group of at least 70 people, mostly women, stand accused of witchcraft.

Agnes Sampson is one of them. After enduring days of torture, she has confessed to conspiring with the devil against the King – James VI of Scotland (who will later also become James I of England). What makes this particular trial stand out is that the King is personally presiding over proceedings. Having been condemned, Sampson is lashed to a stake, where she is strangled and burned.

Over the next century, Scotland alone will see more than 3,000 people accused of witchcraft, and the hysteria will spread across Britain.The belief in magic had been part of societies across the globe for centuries, yet the persecution of witches in 16th- and 17th century Britain was unprecedented and merciless.

What was behind kings and popes becoming involved in the matter, which served to legitimise a terrifying and seemingly very real threat from witches? Historian Dr Suzannah Lipscomb, author of a new book on the subject, suggests that it was the King’s obsession that led to this panic: “he fact that we’ve got these massive witch trials in 1590-91 comes from James’s enthusiasm for witch trials; he thinks witches are treacherously attacking him.”

MAGIC AND MEDICINE

In medieval and early-modern Britain, people believed in supernatural powers that governed their lives. Many communities had ‘cunning-folk’ who could provide a love potion or healing plants. hese magical healers also provided protection from evil spirits or witches, who were believed to be in league with the devil.

Magical belief was an accepted part of everyday life across Europe. Royalty would have nativity horoscopes created at their birth to ensure they were destined for greatness. People believed that the world around them was a medieval cosmos where the signs of the zodiac ruled over corresponding parts of the body, which were governed by the planets.The Moon controlled the blood, for example, which is why physicians were required by law to calculate the Moon’s position before performing any operations.

It was a time in which superstition and religious belief went hand-in-hand. Belief in God also meant belief in the devil, and servants of the devil could manifest themselves as witches. Unexplained tragedies and events were often attributed to these dark and magical powers.

“There was no real gap between medical knowledge at the higher end of society and that at the lower end of society,” says Lipscomb. “Even Henry VIII was making his own potions and remedies, which included things like worms, gold and rose water; the making of potions was going on at the highest levels.” John Dee, a favourite of Elizabeth I, was often consulted by the Queen on astrology, to predict the future of her reign.

But the 16th century also saw a rising fear of witches, leading to accusations and executions of those supposed to be plying the devil’s iniquities.What happened to cause such an outpouring of persecution? Lipscomb proposes that we are actually asking the wrong question: “Once you get the whole picture, you start to realise the question is not why it happened, but why it didn’t happen more than it did. And it happened on a pretty big scale.”

A SPARK IGNITES

here isn’t one reason that caused a surge of witch trials, but the convergence of several that made finding a bogeyman to blame for the world’s ills an attractive proposition. Society was built on the reliance of order; the fear of witchcraft can be seen as the anxiety of a disordered and chaotic society.

England and Scotland were going through a massive religious upheaval. With the Reformation and Counter-Reformation as a backdrop, beliefs were being questioned. Poor harvests, poverty and disease were all too frequent. It’s a natural human reaction to try and find blame in turbulent times. People suffered and they wanted it to be for a purpose. Trying to explain a tragedy led to finger-pointing and the suggestions of a curse. Lipscomb defines it as making the inexplicable explicable. “Magic is something people turn to when they’re trying to control circumstances that are out of their control,” she says.

Communities would often have outcasts living on the fringes of society – women who had children out of wedlock, mentally disturbed people, or just those who had a suspicious air about them. It takes years for negative reputations to build up, but rumours and gossip were key to an accusation of witchcraft. Having the ‘devil’s mark’ would also single you out as a potential witch – these could be scars, birthmarks or moles, which were often seen as a branding from the devil.

Imagine that two neighbours quarrel and that, a day or so after their argument, the child of one of them becomes seriously ill.The parent of the child blames the neighbour for cursing them and starts talking about the years of rumours about them. Out of this, the seeds of a witchcraft accusation have been sown.

Accusations stuck easier if rumours and gossip had followed someone around for years. But Lipscomb also suggests that, among all the other factors that aided the cultivation of witchcraft accusations, having compliant governments willing to act was vital: “It’s this really complex mixture of economic factors and religious turmoil,” she says, “but then you also need authorities who are willing to listen and people who are arguing with each other.”

While many of those accused of witchcraft professed their innocence, there were some cases of guilty pleas. Torture was often used to gain a confession, but there were instances of confession without torture.

Margaret Moore was one of these. After enduring the death of three of her children, Moore admitted to making a pact with the devil to spare the life of her surviving child, and she was hanged in Ely in 1647. Many of those accused were old, lonely and poor – they may have genuinely believed that they had given up their soul to a demon, or simply wanted to avoid the humiliation and pain of a trial or torture.

Among those who lent weight to the witchcraft debate was King James VI of Scotland, for whom witchcraft had become an obsession.

JITTERY JAMES

Growing up, James was noted as having a fearful and superstitious nature. Both his parents – Mary Queen of Scots and Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley - had suffered violent deaths. His mother’s execution, in particular, haunted him throughout his life – he had experienced visions of her bloodied head years before her beheading. Raised by Protestant Scottish nobles, he was taught to condemn his mother, leading to a suspicion and antagonism towards women in general which may have fuelled his fear of witches.

James’s fascination with witchcraft can be pinpointed to his travels to Denmark in 1589. His bride was Anne of Denmark, but during her voyage to England, her ship was delayed by a storm. James, anxious for her safety, travelled across the North Sea himself with the intention of rescuing her.

Arriving safely, and marrying Anne a few days later, James considered a tricky winter voyage back but thought better of it. For the next few months, Anne and James travelled across Denmark, meeting many intellectuals and astrologers, including the demonologist Niels Hemmingsen. Witch-hunting was commonplace in Denmark and James was enthralled by lengthy debates on the occult during his time there.

By the spring, James realised he could no longer leave his duties in Scotland to others. Even though the weather had improved, a great storm threatened to derail their journey and a ship was lost. With an ignited fervour, James blamed witches for cursing his fleet, and when he eventually arrived back in Scotland, the witch hunts began.

he North Berwick Witch Trials would be the most brutal that Scotland had ever seen. James became convinced that Scottish witches had concocted an evil plot against him, and more than 70 suspected witches – including Agnes Sampson – were arrested. Many of those who confessed did so after torture was used, and a number died from the injuries sustained in their ordeals before they could be executed.

Once the trials had ended, James ensured that his account of events was spread far and wide to reinforce his people’s fear of witches. In 1597, he published Daemonologie, the only time a reigning monarch has publicly discussed the existence of witches and supernatural beings. His aim was to disprove the sceptics, and it appeared to work – accusations of witchcraft multiplied rapidly. Many of the fates of those accused are unknown, but what records we do have suggest around two-thirds of those found guilty were executed.

James had already ruled Scotland for more than 30 years when he ascended the English throne in 1603, and when he did so he set about changing the law regarding witchcraft, which he saw as too lenient.

ON TO ENGLAND

he Witchcraft Act of 1604 saw hanging become mandatory for any offences of witchcraft – even if murder had not been committed. The discovery of the devil’s mark on the accused’s body was also enough to condemn them to death. James’s influence was felt long into the Stuart period, with Lipscomb suggesting that the infamous trials at Salem can even be traced back to him.

he Gunpowder Plot against James in 1605 led to a mass hysteria, and a fear of Catholicism as well as the demonic. Catholicism relied on mystical elements and Catholic priests were vilified as sorcerers who practiced necromancy.he hunt for witches can be seen as an eradication of a superstitious religion and a cause that would unite the King with his people. The 1640s saw a resurgence in accusations against so-called witches, have been responsible for the deaths of around 300 women.

THE AGE OF SCEPTICISM

By the early 18th century, belief in witchcraft had almost died out in Britain. Authorities became sceptical and cases didn’t make it through the courts. In their place, there were rare instances of lynch mobs, where communities would put accused witches on trial themselves. In 1736, the laws against witchcraft were repealed, but fines were still imposed for those claiming to have magical powers.

The last recorded execution of a witch in Englandwas in Devon in 1685; in Scotland, it was 1722. Yet still  superstition and belief hung on in isolated and rural communities. In 1875, in Warwickshire, James Haywood was tried for the murder of Ann Tennant, who he believed to be a witch. He was found to be criminally insane and sent to Broadmoor Asylum, but his opinion of Tennant, according to court records, was also held by many of his neighbours. Witch trials do still go on in parts of the world today, including Africa and Saudi Arabia.

Magical thinking hasn’t completely left us.he Spellbound exhibition at the AshmoleanMuseum in Oxford explores how – for many of us – superstition still plays a part in our lives. From refusing to walk under a ladder and to wearing lucky underwear for an interview, they are ingrained in our society.he locks on bridges across the world show how many still believe in a magical power that can control our love lives.

Lipscomb believes lessons can be learnt from the witch trials of the past: “The vast majority of people accused of being witches were weaker or less well off, and so I think it should make us think about how we treat other people. In what ways are we persecuting people, even if they’re not wearing pointy hats?”

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WHO WERE THE WITCHES?

The word ‘witch’ conjures an image of an ugly old woman riding a broom. However, witches weren’t always female. In Britain, about 10 per cent of accused witches were men, and there were cases of clergymen being accused and executed for witchcraft. In Russia and Iceland, the majority of accused witches were male, typically undesirable vagrants who travelled from place to place. Women were overwhelmingly singled out in Britain because they were believed to be weaker and more susceptible to the temptations of the devil. Men were accused of witchcraft and tortured too – but in smaller numbers than women in Britain


WHEN FACT BECOMES FICTION

Shakespeare’s play Macbeth was inspired by James’s I personal crusade against witches, and went on to inspire the stereotypical image of the witch concocting spells and potions over a bubbling cauldron. The witches in the play even discuss raising storms to ensure a sailor’s journey is “tempest tossed” – an allusion to James’s fear that witches had caused a storm intent on killing him. The first known performance of Macbeth was in 1611 – though there’s a popular rumour that it was in 1606, coinciding with the visit of James’s brother-in-law, King Christian IV of Denmark, the potential source of James’s witchcraft obsession. The allure of witches and magic endures in literature and film – from Harry Potter and Gandalf the Grey to Doctor Strange and Nanny McPhee, it seems we are still enthralled by the idea of supernatural powers and those who wield them.

Written by Emma Slattery in "History Revealed"" UK, December 2018, issue 62, excerpts pp. 34-40.Digitized, adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.