Panic and persecution: witch-hunting in East Lothian, 1628-1631
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Date
2010Author
Robertson, Elizabeth J.
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Abstract
The Project is a regional case study of East Lothian during the national witchcraft
panic of 1628-30. Events in East Lothian are considered, as are important individuals
involved with cases in the county, some of whom may also have been involved in
investigations further afield, particularly in Berwickshire. The project attempts to
catalogue events as they occurred during the development, main body and decline of the
panic. Using the evidence uncovered for this regional hunt, existing historiographical
arguments will be discussed and larger topics of enquiry will be considered. Specific
questions include: How do trial records reflect elite and common beliefs in witchcraft?
What evidence is there for the existence of belief in fairies and the witch's familiar?
Why did the panic develop and end when it did? What is the role of religious authorities
compared to their secular counterparts? Does the witch stereotype break down in a
period of intense hunting? The primary goal is to analyse events in East Lothian in order
to determine how the trials in this region reveal more about the characteristics of witchhunting
during a panic period, when trials take on a serial quality.