Daemonology and Divine Right

The Department of History at The University of Texas
DAEMONOLOGIE AND DIVINE RIGHT:

THE POLITICS OF WITCHCRAFT
IN LATE SIXTEENTH-CENTURY SCOTLAND
__________________________
A History Honours Thesis
Presented to
The Department of History
at The University of Texas
__________________________
In Fulfilment of the Requirements
for History Honours
Under the Supervision of
Dr. Brian P. Levack
John E. Green Regents Professor in History
_________________________________
by
Allegra Geller
May 2013
The Department of History at The University of Texas
ABSTRACT
This thesis examines the connection between the personal and political ideologies of
King James VI of Scotland, his personal involvement in the two mass witch panics which took
place during 1590-1 and 1597, and the writing of his treatise, Daemonologie, all of which
occurred at a time of religious, social and political turmoil during the late sixteenth century.
King James believed in the theory of divine right, and that he was accountable only to
God. This belief led to conflict between James and his Kirk, with the Presbyterian ministers
overtly questioning his ability to rule effectively. The witch-hunts which occurred in 1590-1
reflect James reaction to this conflict, and illustrate his ability to manipulate the existing events
in order to further his own aims; namely to reinforce his divine right to rule, as well as assert the
legitimacy of his throne.
James treatise, Daemonologie, which is unique in that it is the only work of its kind
written by an early modern European monarch, reflects both his involvement in the witch trials,
as well as his personal views regarding kingship. Ultimately, James involvement in the trials
and the writing of Daemonologie served to affirm his authority by underlining his belief in his
God-given right to rule, and legitimized his unstable regime by reinforcing his authority over
both the Kirk and his government.
During the course of this research, numerous sixteenth-century documents, including
personal correspondence, trial records and contemporary accounts were examined in order to
determine the many intricacies connecting James, the witch trials, and Daemonologie, as well as
the complex nature of their relationship.
This thesis is organized chronologically, with
individual sections highlighting the events which gave rise to the witch panics, the political
climate at the time, the trials, and Daemonologie itself.
2
Dedicated to the memory of

His Majesty
King James VI of Scotland and I of England,
whose Machiavellian machinations inspired my research.
The state of monarchy is the supremest thing upon earth;

for kings are not only God's lieutenants upon earth, and sit upon God's throne,
but even by God himself they are called Gods.
- King James VI & I
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to thank, first and foremost, my advisor and mentor, Dr Brian P. Levack, for his ongoing support throughout my undergraduate studies. His wealth of knowledge, advice, and
encouragement has been essential to the completion of this thesis. It has been an honour and
a privilege to learn from him.
I am deeply indebted to Dr Owain Wright for the countless hours he has spent reading my
work and offering suggestions. I would also like to thank my family and friends for their
incredible tolerance.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I.
INTRODUCTION
II.
DIVINE RIGHT THEORY OF KINGSHIP AND ROYAL ABSOLUTISM
10
III.
THE EARL OF BOTHWELL AND THE POLITICAL CLIMATE OF THE LATE

SIXTEENTH CENTURY
15
IV.
THE KING AUTHOITY ATTACKED
20
V.
THE NORTH BERWICK WITCH TRIALS
28
VI.
DAEMONOLOGIE
47
VII.
CONCLUSION
61
I.
INTRODUCTION
Scotland played an unenviable part in the great witch panic which swept like an epidemic over
Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It suited with the stern, uncompromising
Puritan temper to tear this accursed thing from the heart of the nation, and offer it, bleeding and
palpitating, as a sacrifice to the Lord; accordingly we find the witch-trials of Scotland conducted
with more severity than elsewhere, and with a more gloomy and savage fanaticism of faith.1
Witchcraft persecutions were infrequent in Scotland until the late sixteenth century. It
was at this time that King James VI took a personal interest in witchcraft and demonology and
became actively involved in witchcraft trials during 1590-1, and again in 1597. 1590 saw the
dramatic rise of witch-hunts, with witches being accused of plotting to murder the king. The
trials of 1590-1, which became known as the North Berwick witch trials, resulted in
approximately seventy accused witches being put to death. The second mass witch-hunt, which
took place a mere six years later, saw upward of two hundred executions.
Jamess existing fear of witchcraft escalated rapidly after he sailed to Norway in 1590 to
meet his bride, Anne of Denmark, whose ship had been attacked by severe storms while
attempting to reach Scotland. Jamess ship was also subjected to storms, both while sailing to
Norway, and then again, when he and Anne set sail for Scotland six months later. 2
After the
king returned to Scotland, the witch panics arose with the confession of witchcraft by a
maidservant in North Berwick named Geillis Duncan. 3 Under interrogation, Duncan accused
others of witchcraft, including a woman named Agnes Sampson who in turn confessed that
E. Lynn Linton, "The Witches of Scotland," in Witch Stories (London: Chatto and Windus, 1883), 16.
P.G. Maxwell-Stuart, "The Fear of the King is Death: James VI and the Witches of East Lothian," in New
Perspectives on Witchcraft, Magic and Demonology: Witchcraft in the British Isles and New England, ed.
Brian Levack (New York, NY: Routledge, 2001), 367.
3
Louise Yeoman, "Hunting the Rich Witch in Scotland: High-Status Witchcraft Suspects and their Persecutors,
1590-1650," in The Scottish Witch-Hunt in Context, ed. Julian Goodare (Manchester, UK: Manchester
University Press, 2002), 107.
witches were conspiring against the king. Further confessions, including those of attempting to
murder James and his bride while they sailed home from Denmark, and of making pacts with the
Devil were extracted, using torture as part of the criminal process. 4 Convinced that witches in
North Berwick were holding secret meetings and conspiring with the Devil for the purpose of
harming Gods people James became intimately involved in the trials, to the extent of
personally examining accused witches.5
King James VI of Scotland and Anne of Denmark.
Due to James personal involvement in the North Berwick trials, and the assertion of his
legitimacy and God-given divine right to rule, the concept of politically motivated sorcery
resulted in witchcraft being legally defined as treason.6
James politicized witchcraft by
perpetuating the view that the Devil was determined to destroy the established order of Scotland.
Stuart Macdonald, "The Devil in Fife Witchcraft Cases," in The Scottish Witch-Hunt in Context, 35.
Lauren Martin, "Witchcraft, Quarrels and Women's Work," in The Scottish Witch-Hunt in Context, 78.
6
Brian P. Levack, Witch-Hunting in Scotland: Law, Politics and Religion (New York, NY: Routledge, 2008), 41.
This politicization enabled the king to neutralize the political power of the volatile fifth Earl of
Bothwell, whom James both feared and perceived as a threat to his royal authority, by having the
Earl charged with witchcraft. Politicization also gave rise to the use of torture to extract
confessions during interrogations.
In October 1591, James Privy Council established six
commissioners to enquire into witchcraft cases, advocating the use of torture to force
confessions, which caused a dramatic escalation in the number of accusations and resulted in
full-blown witch panics.7
The witch-hunts took place against a background of social, religious and political turmoil,
in which James reign was anything but secure. The Presbyterian-controlled Church of Scotland
was embroiled in an on-going conflict with the king over his adamant belief in divine right and
his claim that the Kirk had no authority over him, as he had been chosen by God to rule. 8 The
Presbyterian ministers persistently questioned the kings authority and ability to rule his realm
effectively. The North Berwick witch-hunts of 1590-1 reflect James reaction to the conflict and
the attacks on his authority. They illustrate the kings brilliant manipulation of the events in
order to further his own aims, namely to reinforce his divine right to rule, and the legitimacy of
his throne.
During the final years of the sixteenth century, famine, repeated harvest failures, and an
outbreak of plague increased social tensions within the kingdom, causing further instability. The
king, his council and the Kirk collectively wanted to re-establish unity and harmony within the
realm, and witch-hunting became an effective means to achieve their common goal. 9 The witchhunts that occurred during 1597 reflect this shared desire for stability and unity. As this later
7
Lawrence Normand and Gareth Roberts, Witchcraft in Early Modern Scotland: James VI's Demonology and
the North Berwick Witches (Exeter, UK: University of Exeter Press, 2000), 88.
8
In 1560, the Scottish Reformation formally severed any ties between Scotland and the Roman Catholic
Church.
9
Julian Goodare, "The Scottish Witchcraft Panic of 1597, i The Scottish Witch-Hunt in Context, 53.
panic developed, the Scottish people, from the lower levels of society to the upper echelons
became largely disillusioned and criticized the king for the excesses of the trials. Despite being
opposed by some members of his Privy Council, James exerted his authority to ensure the
perpetuation of the 1597 prosecutions. In this way, he facilitated another major panic over
treasonable witchcraft thought to be directed at the king personally. 10
Towards the end of the 1597 panic, James published a treatise, Daemonologie, in which
he expressed his views on necromancy, sorcery and witchcraft, and his belief in a widespread
conspiracy of witches in league with the Devil. The belief in a large-scale collusion of witches,
and his involvement in the witch panics validated the kings belief in his divine authority to rule
and reinforced the legitimacy of his reign.
Although the writing of Daemonologie was
undoubtedly influenced by his involvement in the 1590-1 North Berwick witch trials and was
written as a response to the witch panics, the treatise was not published until 1597, largely as a
result of the negative public sentiment regarding the 1597 trials.
James inherent belief in divine right, as well as his driving need to assert both his
legitimacy and royal authority, significantly affected not only late sixteenth-century witchcraft
policy and procedure in Scotland, but also gave rise to the creation of Daemonologie, which is
unique in that it remains the only work of its kind written by an early modern European monarch.
The complex connection between James overtly questioned authority, his unorthodox
involvement in the witch trials and his personal beliefs regarding kingship are thus reflected in
both the witch trial records and the text of Daemonologie. Ultimately, James involvement in the
trials and the writing of his demonological treatise served to affirm his authority by underlining
his belief in his God-given right to rule, and legitimized his unstable regime by reinforcing his
authority over both the Kirk and his government.
10
Ibid, 62.
II.
DIVINE RIGHT THEORY OF KINGSHIP AND ROYAL ABSOLUTISM
The State of MONARCHIE is the supremest thing vpon earth: For Kings are not onely GODS
Lieutenants vpon earth, and sit vpon GODS throne, but euen by GOD himselfe they are called
Gods Kings are iustly called Gods, for that they exercise a manner or resemblance of Diuine
power vpon earththey make and vnmake their subiects: they haue power of raising, and
casting downe: of life, and of death: Iudges ouer all their subiects, and in all causes, and yet
accomptable to none but God onely.11
it is the distinguishing mark of the sovereign that he cannot in any way be subject to the
commands of another, for it is he who makes law for the subject12
The Divine Right of Kings is a version of absolutist theory which claims that anointed
monarchs, having been placed upon their thrones through the will of God, are subject to His
authority alone, and not to that of any on earth. Both divine right theory and royal absolutism
played a significant part in the North Berwick witch panic, and together with James personal
involvement in the trials, contributed to both the politicization of witchcraft and to the writing of
Daemonologie. The scriptural basis for the doctrine of divine right can be found in the Books of
Proverbs and Romans:
By me kings reigne, and princes decree iustice. By me Princes rule, and Nobles,
euen all the Iudges of the earth.13
Let every soule submit him selfe vnto the autorite of ye hyer powers. For there is
no power but of God. The powers that be are ordeyned of God. Whosoever
therfore resysteth power resisteth the ordinaunce of God. And they that resist shall
receave to the selfe damnacion.14
In accordance with the divine right theory of kingship, James believed that he was given
the right to rule by the will of God, and not by the people. Ergo, his subjects, including the
11
King James VI & I, "A Speech to the Lords and Commons of the Parliament at White-Hall, on Wednesday the
21 of March. Anno 1609," in The Political Works of James I, ed. Charles Howard McIlwain (Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1918), 307-308.
12
Jean Bodin, Les Six Livres de la Rpublique (Aalen, Germany: Scientia Verlag, 1961), 134.
13
Proverbs 8: 15-16, King James Bible (1611).
14
Romans 13:1-2, William Tyndale translation (1536).
10
government and Kirk, owed next to God, a natural and humble obedience to him as their king,
and that he was institute and furnished by the goodness and sufferance of Almighty God with
plenary, whole and entire power.15 Intellectual support for Jamess philosophy can be found in
numerous histories, chronicles, and law tracts. Fourteenth-century French jurists also asserted
that the king was emperor in his realm (rex in regno sue est imperator) and as such, was
answerable only to God.16
Royal absolutism is a political theory that places kings above the law, and holds that
kings have the right to enact laws without the approval of their representative assemblies. In
defence of royal absolutism, the sixteenth-century French political philosopher Jean Bodin
argued that coronation oaths did not necessarily equal an obligation to maintain the existing law.
In his 1576 treatise on government, Les Six Livres de la Rpublique, Bodin states, I say, that,
notwithstanding all these oaths, a sovereign prince can change the laws, or annul them and quash
them, once they have ceased to be just.17 By this rationale, James would have the authority to
declare what laws were in fact just or unjust, including laws pertaining to treason and by
extension, witchcraft. This is further reflected in Rpublique, with Bodins claim that the Law
depends on him who holds the sovereignty, since he has the ability to obligate all his subjects but
no capacity to obligate himself.18
The politics of the witch panics of the late sixteenth century and Jamess beliefs are
inextricably connected, in that as political ideology goes the Scottish witch-hunt coincided
exactly with the period spanned by the doctrines of the divine right of kings and the godly
15
William L. Sachse, English History in the Making, Vol 1. (Lexington: Blaisedell Publishing Co, 1967), 187.
John Cramsie, "The Philosophy of Imperial Kingship and the Interpretation of James VI and I," in James VI
and I: Ideas, Authority and Government, ed. Ralph Houlbrooke (Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2006),
43.
17
Bodin, Rpublique, 134.
18
Ibid.
16
11
state.19 Essentially, an attack on James, as an anointed king, was synonymous with an attack on
God. James argued that none but God had the power to make and unmake kings, and by 1588
had defined his kingship as a unity temporal and spiritual imperium within an Old Testament
tradition of theocratic power.20 The witch-hunts reflected his inherent belief in his God-given
right to rule, and perfectly vindicated his virtue, his relationship to God, and his concern for his
people.21 While divine right ideology legitimized James unstable regime by reinforcing his
kingly authority, the moral cleansing of the witch hunts demonstrated its effectiveness.22
Jamess adherence to divine right theory is also reflected in News from Scotland, a
pamphlet which gives an account of the North Berwick witch trials of 1590-1, and focuses on a
supposed demonic conspiracy against the king. News has the distinction of being the first work
printed in Scotland or England which is singularly about Scottish witchcraft. 23 Printed near the
end of 1591, News is an anonymous narrative that draws upon the North Berwick pre-trial
examination records, and claims to be a true discourse of the examinations as they were taken
and uttered in the presence of the kings Majesty. 24 The pamphlet is the primary source for the
details of the torture used to force confessions, the gruesome specifics of which are elucidated
extensively within the text. The most sensational aspect of the work is the account of the Devil
and his alleged preaching from the pulpit in the North Berwick Kirk on All Hallows Eve, to the
witches gathered there for a meeting, or convention.
News from Scotland was written and published during the North Berwick witch trials to
serve urgent political ends and was instrumental in highlighting the political relevance of the
19
Christina Larner, Enemies of God: The Witch-Hunt in Scotland (London, UK: Chatto & Windus, 1981), 198.
Ibid, 46-48.
21
Ibid, 198.
22
Ibid, 58.
23
Normand and Roberts, Witchcraft in Early Modern Scotland, 290.
24
News from Scotland, in Witchcraft in Early Modern Scotland, 310.
20
12
trials.25 The pamphlet, which claims that James was the Devils greatest enemy, emphasizes the
kings divine association with God. Ultimately, News aimed to establish the truth of the witches
conspiracy, the Devils personal involvement, and the kings response to treason, and to assert a
notion of kingship that flows from these.26 The pamphlet also uses as much of the stories of
real people as it needs to achieve its aim of demonstrating the real and on-going threat presented
by witches to royal power, a threat that is spiritual, theological and political. 27
News from Scotland woodcut, depicting the storm during the crossing from Denmark
and the Devil preaching at the North Berwick kirk.
As a work of colourful, sensational and violent propaganda, News from Scotland

efficaciously illustrates Jamess God-given power, which through his personal involvement in
25

Ibid, 299-300.
27
Ibid.
26
13
the witch trials, is proven to be greater than that of the witches and their diabolic master. 28
Politically, the pamphlet supports James divine right to rule, by ostentatiously hailing him as the
Devils greatest adversary on earth.29 Thus, politics are symbolized by the king, while all
opposition to his kingship and legitimacy are symbolized by the Devil. This is reflected in the
sensationalist recounting of the North Berwick witch trials, which states that the witches
demanded of the Devil why he did bear such hatred to the king, who answered, by reason the
king is the greatest enemy he hath in the world. 30 Of further political significance is the absence
of any mention within the pamphlet of the Earl of Bothwell, who at the time News was written,
had already been accused of conspiring with witches against the king. This glaring omission
serves to affirm the pamphlets political tactics which avoid mentioning the turmoil caused by
Bothwell, and focus, instead on the Devil.
Ultimately, News was published to demonstrate the threat posed by witches to James
royal authority, while extolling the kings ability to face and defeat the powers of evil. The
kings legitimacy as well as the ideology of divine right is also firmly established in News, which
claims that while the reader may not believe that King James would put himself in the presence
of dangerous witches, as Gods anointed, he was divinely protected.31 News from Scotland
concludes with a dramatic statement which highlights James as being chosen by Gods divine
will, claiming that it is well known that the King is the child and servant of God, and they (the
witches) but servants to the devil; he is the lords anointed, and they but vessels of Gods wrath;
he is a true Christian and trusteth in God.32
28
Ibid, 290.
Ibid, 306.
30
News from Scotland, 323.
31
Ibid.
32
Ibid.
29
14
III.
THE EARL OF BOTHWELL AND POLITICAL CLIMATE OF THE LATE SIXTEENTH

CENTURY
The first day of the Parliament the king had an harangue, wherein he layed to Bothwells
charge that he sought his destruction, first by witchecraft, both when he was in Denmarke, and
when he was at home, as the depositiouns of the witches would testifie, that he might succeed to
the crowne33
Numerous Acts of Parliament were to have a significant effect on the witch panics which
occurred at the end of the sixteenth century. The 1563 Witchcraft Act became law following the
initial successes of the Reformation movement due to a power vacuum in the area of social
control previously covered by ecclesiastical courts.34 Ensuring that witchcraft was formally
incorporated into criminal law, the statute passed in 1563 set in motion a complex legal
machine.35 After 1563, the General Assembly treated witchcraft as one of the contentious
issues between them and secular authorities. 36 This was greatly significant during the last
decade of the sixteenth century, when accusations of witchcraft would become a prop to the
main political purpose.37
In 1584, King James VI obtained an Act to be passed, declaring that the Sovereigns of
Scotland were, by themselves and their councils, judges competent to their subjects in all
matters.38 In 1592, an Act of Parliament forbade the future transfer of church lands into
temporal lordships, except in the case of men who were already lords of Parliament. This is
significant in that it would have made it impossible for the government to use permanent
possession of church lands as reward for loyal service, and therefore would have resulted in the
33
David Calderwood, The History of the Kirk of Scotland, Vol 1. ed. Thomas Thomson (Edinburgh: Wodrow
Society, 1842), 160.
34
Larner, Enemies of God, 66.
35
Goodare, ottish Wit h raft Pa i , .
36
37
Ibid.
38
Acts of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland (Edinburgh: John Greig, 1843), 102.
15
weakening of the aristocracy. 39 This Act was necessary to assure the condemnation of the Earl
of Bothwell, who was integral to the politicization of the witch panics. The Act would ensure
that after Bothwell was declared a traitor, his land would be forfeited to the Crown, and his heirs
disinherited in order to prevent any collusive transfer or property. 40
Francis Stewart Hepburn, the fifth Earl of Bothwell was charged with witchcraft in 1591,
for allegedly conspiring with witches against the king. James cleverly used Bothwells purported
involvement with witches to assert royal authority, outmanoeuvring and finally exiling his most
unpredictable rival.41 A long-standing troublemaker with a penchant for violence, Bothwell
harboured a deep hatred towards James trusted advisor, Chancellor John Maitland. Predictably,
this caused factional strife within the Stuart court. It is worthy of mention, that if James had
drowned on the crossing between Scotland and Denmark, Bothwell would have had a tenuous,
but nevertheless legitimate claim to the throne. 42
Bothwell was accused of plotting against James by East Lothian witches in 1591, and it
was rumoured that he had been sent a letter by accused witch Barbara Napier on 27 April 1591.
The letter supposedly encouraged the earl to show that the charges against him had been
invented by his enemies. The accusation of complicity between Bothwell and Napier stemmed
from a tenuous chain of relationship that stretches the limits of credibility, as Barbara Napier was
an acquaintance of the wife of the eighth Earl of Angus, while the Earl of Bothwell was Angus
brother-in-law. 43
39
Maurice Lee, John Maitland of Thirlestane and the Foundation of the Stewart Despotism in Scotland
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1959), 252.
40
Ibid.
41
42
Ibid, 40.
43
Ibid, 39.
16
Regardless of credibility, the rumours nevertheless resulted in Bothwell being proclaimed

as the leader of a mass conspiracy of witches. He and the said witches were accused of using the
black art of witchcraft as a political means to subvert the true Protestant religion and commit
treason against King James.44
George Marioribancks, burgess of Edinburgh, wrote of the
sensational accusation in his Analls of Scotland From the Yeir 1514 to the Yeir 1591, in which he
recorded that,
In the yeir heirafter, 1591, ther wes a bruit [rumour] of maney vitches in
Scotland, quherof [whereof] ther was diuers taken and execute. Francis, Earle of
Bothuell, was bruitit [rumoured] to haue conferitt with some vitches for the kings
slaughter.45
In being accused of witchcraft, Bothwell would become a symbol of the Devil, and
therefore, complicit with all opposition to the kings legitimacy and divine authority. Clearly
illustrating this symbolic connection, a royal proclamation of 25 June 1591 against Bothwell
began by immediately aligning the earl with the Devil:
Proclamation against FRANCES, sumtyme ERLL BOTHUILL, that
nothwithstanding of his Majestys clemency, &c. in superceding, as of befoir, the
pronounceing of dome [judgement] agains him, in hoip [hope] of his coverioun,
penitency and amendment, quill [will] now that his hienes, percaving that he hes
gevin him self ower altogidder in the handis of Sathan. 46
The proclamation further referred to the Earl of Bothwells supposed involvement in the
mass conspiracy of witches aligned against James, and stated that the earl was guilty of
tressonabill conspiracie aganis his Majesteis awin person, had consultatioun with
nygromanceris, witcheis, and utheris [otherwise] wickit and ungodly personis.47
44
Ibid, 44.
George Marioribancks, Analls of Scotland From the Yeir 1514 to the Yeir 1591 (Edinburgh: Andrew Balfour,
1814), 55.
46
Criminal Trials in Scotland 1488-1596, ed. Robert Pitcairn (Edinburgh: William Tate, 1839), 259.
47
The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, Vol IV A.D. 1585-1592, ed. David Masson (Edinburgh: H.M.
General Register House, 1881), 643-644.
45
17
In 1592, another proclamation against Bothwell, who by this time had fled Edinburgh,
made it a treasonable offence to ressett [shelter], suplee [allow to pass], intercommoun or shaw
him or his compliceis conforte or relief.48
James notion of a personal Satan as an integral element of the ideology of the witch-hunt
was a direct result of his fear of the earl and of the threat of Bothwells political violence. The
unpredictable and often explosive earl terrified the King and filled him with an unquenchable
hatred which resulted in James energies being henceforth directed towards punishing him for
his alleged crime.49 The accusations culminated in Bothwells being elided with the devil, and
with witchcraft then seen as the type of all political and religious opposition: witchcraft is
politicized, and politics demonized.50
James perceived Bothwell as an imminent threat to his reign and attempted to use the
crime of witchcraft to eliminate him, and as such, the charge of witchcraft against the earl was
purely political. Bothwells chief accuser, the alleged magician Ritchie Graham, was executed
on 28 February 1592. Graham went to his horrific death of strangulation and burning, insisting
to the bitter end that Bothwell had conspired against the king; Upon Tuisday, the last of Februar,
Richard Grahame the great sorcerer was wirried [strangled] and burnt at the Croce [Cross] of
Edinburgh. He stood hard to his former confession tuiching [relating to] Bothwells practice
against the king.51
Despite James political manipulations, Bothwell was acquitted of the witchcraft charges
in August 1593. Not only was James unable to effectively subvert Bothwells political influence
at that time, but no assize of nobles was willing to judge the earl guilty of the crime of
48
Register of the Privy Council, IV, 748-749.

Lee, John Maitland, 230.
50
51
Calderwood, History of the Kirk, 148.
49
18
witchcraft. The general disbelief of Bothwells involvement in the nefarious arts is evident in a
letter written to the nobility in his defence, sometime between in June and July 1591, which
stated that Since justice is perverted by fear and force and craftthe charge against Bothwell is
an incredible and unnatural accusation.52 Ultimately, the earls supposed involvement in a
widespread witchcraft conspiracy against the king was eclipsed by the danger he posed to royal
power and safety.53
The difficulty in prosecuting Bothwell, despite the desire of the king that he be severely
punished, was due to the weakness of evidence against him as well as the obvious reluctance of
the aristocracy to allow one of their ilk to be punished for such a crime.54 Bothwells trial
concluded with his acquittal on 10 August 1593 with the statement, The assize in a vote acquits
the Earl Bothwell of the whole dittay above written, and that touching [relating to] the
destruction of his majestys person by witchcraft as is particularly above deduced.55 Although
Bothwell was exonerated, James aims were ultimately achieved.
Bothwells power was
effectively neutralized by the king in February 1595, when the earl was excommunicated and
exiled from Scotland. 56
I Defe e of Earl Both ell: To the No ilit

, The Warrender Papers, Vol II, ed. Annie I. Cameron
(Edinburgh: University Press, 1932), 154.
53
54
55
The Trial of the Earl of Both ell, August
, in Normand and Roberts, Witchcraft in Early Modern
Scotland, 287.
56
52
19
THE KINGS AUTHORITY ATTACKED
IV.
Therefore, sir, as I have diverse times before told you, so now again I must tell you, there are
two kings and two kingdoms in Scotland; there is Christ Jesus the King of the Church, whose
subject king James VI is, and of whose kingdom he is not a king, nor a lord, nor a head, but a
member. Those whom Christ has called and commanded to watch over his church, and govern
his spiritual kingdom, have sufficient power from him to do this, both severally and jointly, the
which no Christian king should control57
The late sixteenth-century witch hunts developed during a time of political turmoil and
instability within the kingdom. The kings involvement with witchcraft, which began in 1590,
occurred amid a series of challenges to, and attacks upon his royal authority. Prominent among
these was a power struggle between the king and the Kirk that reached back to 1578, when after
an eleven-year regency twelve-year old James ascended the throne and assumed full power as
King of Scotland.58
In 1584, James exercised his royal authority and encouraged his Parliament to pass the
Black Acts, which asserted his supremacy over the Kirk.59 Many Presbyterian leaders, including
the zealous minister Andrew Melville, were adamantly opposed to the blatantly Erastian Acts
and vociferously attacked the new legislation.60 Twenty ministers, including Melville, fled to
England after the passing of the Black Acts, and did not return until 1587. 61 Although a marked
amelioration between James and his ministers would occur later, largely due to the cooperation
required between king and Kirk in order to prosecute witches, at the onset of the late sixteenthcentury witchcraft trials, Jamess authority was nevertheless overtly questioned by his ministers.
57
Thomas McCrie, The Life of Andrew Melville, the Scottish Reformer (Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of
Publication, 1840), 76.
58
59
Ibid.
60
A.R. MacDonald, "The Subscription Crisis and Church-State Relations, 1584-1586," Records of the Scottish
Church History Society, 25 (1994), 222-255. Note: Erastia is refers to the idea that the church should
be entirely under the control of the State, as per the doctrine of the sixteenth-century Swiss theologian
Thomas Erastus.
61
20
Numerous episodes occurred in which he was admonished or reprimanded, even from the pulpit
at the Little Kirk. 62 These incidents likely contributed to James adamant assertion of his
authority and right to rule, resulting in his becoming personally involved in the 1590-1 witch
trials, as well as their continuation in 1597. It is also highly possible that the overt assailment
directed towards both his dignity and royal authority influenced the writing of his treatise,
Daemonologie.
The authority of the king was attacked on numerous occasions during 1591. During an
adultery trial on 13 January 1591, the Earl of Bothwell forcibly removed a witness who could
depone [testify] most in that mater from the Tolbooth, with the king sitting in the meane tyme
with the Lords of the Sessioun in the Tolbuith and threatened the witness with the gallows. 63
David Calderwood, in his History of the Kirk of Scotland, later referred to Bothwells blatant
disregard for both the kings authority and his presence in the Tolbooth, remarking that Manie
enormiteis were committed, as if there had beene no King in Israell; so contemptible was the
kings authoritie, and that through his owne default, wanting due care and courage to minister
justice.64
The Presbyterian ministers were particularly vehement in their contempt for James and
his insistence on the royal supremacy over the Kirk. In March 1574, the General Assembly of
the Kirk had declared its authority by claiming that its right to exist came directly from God, in
effect establishing itself as a sovereign religious institution, separate from and superior to the
temporal power of nobles and crown.65 This declaration would later directly conflict with
James personal belief in his God-given right to rule, which included his supremacy over the
62
The Little Kirk refers to the Parish Church of St. Cuthbert in Edinburgh.
Calderwood, History of the Kirk, 117. Note: The Tolbooth was a primary municipal building in which the
court house and jail were located.
64
Ibid.
65
63
21
Kirk, and would lead to a long conflict between king and Kirk, in which each were determined to
assert control and dominance over the other.
On 8 June 1591, the king was confronted by a group of irate ministers in the Chancellors
lodging.
They boldly voiced their dissatisfaction with his treatment of their ecclesiastical
offices, claiming that the king had givin suche occasioun of contempt of our ministrie.66 James
responded to the verbal assault by stressing his God-given right to soverane judgement of all
things within this realme.67 One of the ministers, Mr. Robert Pont, refused to acquiesce, and
with great insolence replied that There is a judgement above yours, and that is Gods, putt in the
hand of the ministrie.68
As he firmly believed in his right to rule over the Kirk and all its
ecclesiastics, it is not difficult to imagine that such disregard for his royal authority would have
incensed the king.
James was in attendance in the Little Kirk on 6 June 1591, when during his sermon, Mr.
Robert Bruce openly criticized the king before all who were present, declaring that the instability
and turmoil within the realm was a result of the contempt that the people of Scotland felt towards
him. Bruce questioned, what could the great disobedience of this land meane now, whill the
king was present; seing as reverence was borne to his shadow when he was absent? then
answered his own question by boldly stating that:
it meant an universall contempt of the subjects: therefore willed the king to call
to God, before he ather eate or drinke, that the lord would give him a resolutioun
to execute justice upon malefactors, although it sould be with the hazard of his
life. Which, if he would interprise courageouslie, the Lord would raise enew to
assist him, and all these impediments would vanish away. 69
66

Ibid.
68
Ibid, 131.
69
Ibid, 129-130.
67
22
Such blatant irreverence directed at his person - during a sermon no less - would have
undoubtedly inflamed the king by challenging his ability to rule his kingdom, and served to
incite his belief in divine right.
Further evidence of the Presbyterian ministers audacity in addressing the king without
due respect can be discerned in an exchange between James and Mr. J. Davidson, in which the
minister brazenly berated the king, and accused him of diverse acts of negligence, including
neglect of justice, carelesse appointing of ministers of justice, placing unfit men in offices and
granting remissiouns.70
Nor was James immune from criticism by his own Assembly. 71 In a report from the sixth
session of the Commissions of the General Assembly, held on 21 May 1592, the Assembly
directed their brethrein to present their articles to the king:
to lament the daylie decay of religioun, disorder, and laike [lack] of justice
within this realm and gravelie to admonish his Majestie, in the name of the
Eternall, to have respect in time to the estate of true religioun perishing, and to the
manifold murthers, oppressiouns, and enormiteis daylie multiplied, through
impunitie and laike of justice; and to discharge his kinglie office in both, as he
would eshew the fearefull challenge of God, and turne his wrathe off his Majestie
and the whole land.72
It was not only James ministers and General Assembly who took it upon themselves to
rebuke him. A more personal admonition was delivered to the king in 1592 by one of his own
subjects, Helene Guthrie, a young woman who hailed from Aberdeen. She approached James to
admonishe the king of his duetie, as she was extremely disquietted with the sinnes raigning in
the countrie, swearing, filthie speeking, profanatioun of the Sabboth.73 Furthermore, Guthrie
prayed that desirous vice should be punished, and speciallie murther, which was cheefelie
70
Ibid, 140. Note: A remission is the dispensation of a crime and subsequent dissolution of any penalties
incurred.
71
The General Assembly was the highest authoritative body within the Kirk.
72
73
Ibid, 169.
23
craved at his hands.74 Calderwood later poignantly described the account, stating that So great
and manie were the enormiteis in the countrie, through impunitie and want of justice, that the
mindes of simple and poore young weomen were disquieted, as yee may see; but the king and
court had deafe eares to the crying sinnes.75
On 7 February 1592, the second Earl of Moray died at the hands of the sixth Earl of
Huntley, a distrusted Catholic. It was unfortunate for James and his already much-disparaged
royal image that he was implicated in the murder. As the king had long despised Moray, a
known supporter of the troublesome Earl of Bothwell, the people blamed him as guiltie, and not
without caus. For he hated the Erle of Murreythe erle was suspected to be a favourer of
Bothwell.76
Due to the disfavour and harsh criticism which resulted from his suspected
involvement, James inevitably wanted to counter this negative public opinion. In his efforts to
accomplish this, he demanded of his ministers that they cleere his part before the people, and
hastily had his innocence proclaimed throughout the realm. 77 Existing negative public sentiment
and its effect on James is evident in a letter he wrote to the Earl of Huntly, in which he
acknowledged the discord within the realm, and lamented, I have beene in suche danger and
perrell of my life, as since I was borne I was never in the like, partlie by the grudging and
tumults of the people.78
Jamess on-going struggle with his ministers, and his need to assert his authority were
plainly evident in the face of attack, particularly in aftermath of the Moray murder. On 24 May
1592, the Presbyterian ministers presented articles to the king, at which time Andrew Melville, in
defence of certain worthie men with whom James had found fault, emphatically reproached the
74
Ibid.
Ibid.
76
Ibid, 144.
77
Ibid, 145.
78
Ibid, 146-147.
75
24
king, and declared that these men sett the crowne upon his head.79 James belief in the divine
right theory of kingship and in his God-given authority to rule was never more apparent than
when he responded to Melville, stating that his crown and hereditary right to rule the kingdom
came by successioun, and not by anie man.80
That same year, the ministers of the Kirk exploited the kings known fear of the Earl of
Bothwell, and seized the opportunity to implement the Presbyterian system of church
government and advance their own political agenda. 81 James gave his consent to an Act by
which Presbyterianism was established in its integrity. 82 The Act for Abolisheing of the Actis
contrair the trewe Religioun, which ratifies and apprevis all liberties priuileges Immvnities and
fredomes quhatumeuir [whatsomever] gevin and grantit be his hienes his regentis in his Name to
ony of his prediceors to the trew and hally kirk preentlie etablihit [presently established]
within this realm, solidified the Presbyterian form of church government in on 5 June 1592.83
Although the radical Presbyterian movement had at last been firmly established, the clash
between the Presbyterian ministers ideals and those of the king, and the church-crown conflict
over which was the sovereign authority in the state caused increasing problems for the
monarch.84 Despite the ministers demands that the king punish Catholic rebels within the realm,
including the dissident Catholic earls, James was more inclined to support peace between the
two religious factions, and it was apparent that he wanted to reintegrate them into the body
79
Ibid, 159.
Ibid.
81
Normand and Roberts, Witchcraft in Early Modern Scotland, 45-46.
82
Samuel R. Gardiner, History of England from the Accession of James I to the Outbreak of the Civil War
(London: Longmans, Green and Co, 1883), 50.
83
The Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, Vol III. 1567-1592, ed. T. Thomson (London: Printed by Command of
His Majesty King George the Third, 1814), 541.
84
80
25
politic.85 Much to the dismay of his ministers, James responded to Roman Catholic activity by
downplaying and even ignoring it.86
In September 1592, James refused to persecute the Catholic earls further when they
returned from exile, and even considered restoring to them their previously confiscated estates.
Incensed by James leniency, the Presbyterian ministers sent a deputation to the king to voice
their dissatisfaction. The encounter between James and the deputation offers a clear example of
the power struggle between the king and his Kirk. The ministers relentlessly attacked the kings
authority, and questioned his ability to rule effectively, while James, in turn, continued to assert
his royal authority.
Upon the arrival of the delegation, James interrupted the group when they attempted to
speak to him, and immediately questioned their authority to meet with him without first
obtaining a warrant, finding fault with him that cam ther callit. 87 Andrew Melville did not heed
the warning, and railed against James, claiming the king had a calling to com heir be Chryst
Jesus the King, and his Kirk, and proceeded to charge the king by stating that yow and your
Esteattes in his name, and of his Kirk, That yie fawour nocht his enemies whome he hates. 88
The following month, Melville, along with the Commissioners of the General Assembly,
accosted James at Falkland Palace.89 In an astonishing display of disrespect towards the king,
and in utter disregard for the long-established protocol which dictated that no person was
permitted to physically lay their hands on an anointed monarch, Melville caught hold of the king
Goodare, ottish Wit h raft Pa i ,

.
87
James Melville, The Diary of Mr. James Melville, 1556-1601 (Edinburgh: Ballantyne, 1820), 244.
88
Ibid.
89
Falkla d pala e as o e of t o e aissa e pala es i otla d duri g Ja es reig , a d as a fa orite
retreat of the king.
85
86
26
by his sleeve, and called him Gods sillie vassall.90 He then chastised James, declaring that
there were two kings and two kingdoms in Scotland. Charging the king with attempting to
placate both the Protestants and Catholics to his own ends, Melville stated that Thair is Chryst
Jesus the King, and his kingdome the Kirk, whase subiect King James the Saxt is, and of whase
kingdome nocht a king, nor a lord, nor a heid, bot a member. 91 Such a declaration would have
assuredly been considered as a direct affront to James divine right to rule.
Andrew Melville
While none of the aforementioned incidents directly pertains to the North Berwick witchhunts, they nevertheless provide an insight into James personal ideological views, and the
instability of his reign at the beginning of the witch panics. It was during this period of political
turmoil that he not only became personally involved in the trials, but also penned his
demonological treatise. When taking this into account, it is reasonable to assume that the insults
directed towards him, as well as the numerous attacks on his authority so incensed him that he
acted with greater determination than he might have otherwise in perpetuating the 1590-1 witch
trials, as well as those five years hence.
90
91
Melville, The Diary of Mr. James Melville, 244.

Ibid, 245.
27
V.
THE NORTH BERWICK WITCH TRIALS
Two soothsayers, or wizards rather, above the miserable caste who usually bore that character,
had confessed having been the cause, by magical rites, of raising the storm by which the queens
fleet had been driven back to Norway; and that they had also consulted about doing harm to the
fleet or person of the king.92
For most witch panics in Scotland, there was no single catalyst, the exception being the
panic of 1590-1, which was orchestrated by the king to the extent that it involved treason. 93
This particular panic, known as the North Berwick witch-hunt, was unique in that it was one of
the few witch-hunts in Scotland in which members of the nobility were accused, and members of
the gentry were convicted and executed.94 It was also significant in that it was the first mass
trial since witchcraft was incorporated into the criminal law, as well as the last of the old type
of political witch-trial, in which the accusation of witchcraft was a prop to the main political
purpose.95
The specific objective of the witch trials was two-fold, in that it incriminated the fifth
Earl of Bothwell, and sought to establish the king as the Devils greatest enemy on earth.96 The
latter purpose, more than any other aspect of the trials, illustrated James belief that his authority
was vested by divine will, that he was answerable to God alone, and subsequently accorded his
throne with greater legitimacy.
The North Berwick trials were part of a larger group of witchcraft trials which began
during the autumn of 1590. Unlike other Scottish witchcraft trials at the end of the century, the
North Berwick trials are singular in that James and his Privy Council took charge of the court
92
Sir Walter Scott, History of Scotland in Two Volumes, Vol II (Paris: A. and W. Galignani, 1830), 390.
Goodare, "Witch-Hunting and the Scottish State," 137.
94
Yeo a , Hu ti g the i h Wit h,
.
95
96
Ibid.
93
28
proceedings and were closely involved with the both examination of the accused witches and
their trials.
Eminently due to the kings personal involvement, the legal records of these
particular trials are well preserved, and as such, an examination of them affords a glimpse, not
only into James own beliefs and ideology, but also into the need of the young king to assert his
royal authority.97
King James VI, c. 1590.
The political significance of the trials is illustrated in both the propaganda pamphlet,
News from Scotland, and James own treatise, Daemonologie, which arose from his direct
involvement in the proceedings. The surviving legal records involving the trials of accused
witches Agnes Sampson, John Fian, Barbara Napier and Euphame MacCalzean, in particular, are
remarkably intact, and provide a wealth of information regarding the active involvement of the
Privy Council and the king in the trials, which ostensibly began in late November 1590. The
97
James was 24 years old at the onset of the North Berwick witch trials.
29
abovementioned trials are significant in that they demonstrate the concern of the state for the
safety and security of the kings life, and the importance of the crime of treason to the
proceedings.
Jamess fear of witchcraft had increased after returning to Scotland in the spring of 1590,
with his new bride, Anne of Denmark, amid furious storms at sea. The witch-hunts began
shortly after the royal couples arrival, amid rumours that the near-disastrous storms were the
result of witchery originating in both Denmark and Scotland. 98 The first of the North Berwick
court dittays was that of accused wizard John Fian dated 26 December 1590. 99 The dittay states
that Fian had attempted to kill the king by assembling himself with Satan at the kings returning
from Denmark, where Satan promised to raise a mist and cast the kings Majesty in England as
well as for joining with Satan in a ship on the sea, when Satan said Ye shall sink the ship.100
The North Berwick panic, sparked by the confession of witchcraft by a maidservant named
Geillis Duncan, soon blazed out of control like a forest fire, with the king fanning the flames. By
the end of 1591, more than seventy men and women had been tried and burned at the stake.
Prior to 1563, the crime of witchcraft was tried in ecclesiastical courts. After the passing
of the Witchcraft Act of 1563, offenses concerning witchcraft, sorcery and necromancy were
incorporated into Scots criminal law, and transferred to the jurisdiction of the kirk and the
secular courts.101 It was under the 1563 Act that Agnes Sampson, John Fian, Barbara Napier
and Euphame MacCalzean were tried by the Edinburgh justiciary court in 1590-1.102 The North
Berwick accused witches were personally examined by the king and Privy Council, and James
E a i atio s a d Co fessio s of Geillis Du a a d Ag es a pso , De e er
, in Normand and
Roberts, Witchcraft in Early Modern Scotland, 135.
99
Christina Larner, A Source-Book of Scottish Witchcraft, ed. Christina Larner, Christopher Hyde Lee, Hugh V.
McLachlan (Glasgow: Department of Sociology, University of Glasgow, 1977), 103.
100
Larner, Source-Book, 228.
101
102
Ibid, 91.
98
30
personal involvement in the trials was due, in part, to the fact that the Crown had significantly
less power over criminal justice than civil justice, with both the offices of justiciar and sheriff
becoming hereditary in the sixteenth century, resulting in the king having control over neither
office. As the only crime outside of the authority of the justiciar was treason, Jamess only
alternative for establishing control during the witch trials was to apply his feudal right to sit in
judgment in person. 103 Accordingly, Jamess involvement in the trials, along with the fact that
torture was used extensively during the interrogations, requires that the examinations,
depositions and confessions be viewed as reflecting, at least in part, the ideas, will, and ulterior
motives of the king.
While Jamess assertion of his royal authority is evident in his highly unorthodox act of
taking control of the pre-trial examinations, it is his absolutism which is most apparent in his
advocating the use of torture to force confessions during the investigations. Established legal
procedures in Scotland held that torture was only allowed if it was first sanctioned by the Privy
Council, yet no warrant was issued for the use of torture during the examinations that took place
between December 1590 and June 1591.104
The first Privy Council warrant for torture in
conjunction with the North Berwick trials was not issued until late 1591, along with a
commission for discovery of witches, which specifically advocated the use of torture:
the personis willful or refusand to declair the veritie to putt to tortour, or sic uthir
punishement to use and caus be usit as may move thame to utter the treuth, and
generallie all and sindrie utheris thingis to do and use that herin is requisite to be
done;105
As the commission had been passed on 6 October 1591, the use of torture during examinations
which had taken place prior to that date was, therefore, an illegal act. Despite the lack of legal
103

105
The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, Vol IV A.D. 1585-1592, ed. David Masson (Edinburgh: H.M.
General Register House, 1881), 680.
104
31
authorization, James sanctioned the use of torture during the North Berwick examinations,
asserting his belief that as an anointed king, he was above the law.
James belief in his divine right to rule can be discerned in diverse pre-trial examinations
and confessions of the North Berwick witches, beginning with the fragmentary notes detailing
the examinations of Geillis Duncan and Agnes Sampson, which occurred sometime prior to
December 1590. In the examinations, Duncans complicity in the storms which imperilled
James and Anne is recorded, with her confession to having taken part in raising storms for the
staying of the queens coming home.106
Woodcut from News from Scotland, depicting King James witnessing the trials.
106
E a i atio s of Duncan and Sampson, in Normand and Roberts, Witchcraft in Early Modern Scotland,
137.
32
Sampson was examined again on December 4 and 5, at which time the intimate
involvement of the king can be clearly determined. James personally examined Sampson, to the
extent of pointing out inconsistencies within her confession, These contraries being gathered,
his Majesty charged straitly to confess the truth, which she did after followeth. 107 This incident
illustrates James God-given power and ability to discern and extract the truth, even from
witches in the Devils infernal employ. James power over the witches, and as such, over the
Devil himself is reinforced by Sampsons claiming that she had made a vow not to confess, but
due to his Majestys speeches that had moved her she yielded, and even praised God that had
wrought a repentance in her.108 This also served to paint James as divine, with the power to
bring sinners back to God.
In an overt reflection of James power struggle with the Kirk, and his belief in his
authority to rule supreme over them, according to Agnes Sampson, the Devil claimed that the
ministers would destroy the king and all Scotland, and if he would use his counsel he should
destroy them.109 Not only does this confession at the hands of James and his council support the
kings authority, but it also openly criticizes the Presbyterian ministers.
Agnes Sampson
apparently felt compelled to ask of the Devil whether or not the king would have heirs, to which
the Devil replied that he should have lads and then lasses.110 This particular detail, which
seems out of place within the overall examination record, appears to have been included solely to
confer greater legitimacy upon James by referring to his future children, and in essence, the
continuation of the Stuart dynasty.
107
Ibid, 139.
Ibid, 146.
109
Ibid, 139.
110
Ibid.
108
33
The considerable power bestowed upon the witches by the Devil is recorded in Duncans
deposition dated 15 January 1591, in which she states that during a conversation with Agnes
Sampson regarding the kings journey to Norway to meet his bride, Sampson had claimed that
she would be there before them.111 This suggests that Sampson was a powerful enough witch
to be able to transcend the laws of nature and cover great distances, possibly by flying, and also
implies that she has the capacity of foresight.
Further evidence of the diabolical might of the witches, as well as the kings divine
power, are revealed in the depositions of Janet Stratton and Donald Robson taken on or around
29 January 1591. While describing a conversation concerning the kings planned destruction,
Stratton claimed that she asked the Devil for his assistance in the matter, to which he replied I
shall do it, but it will be long because it will be thwarted.112 Strattons confession serves the
kings motives exceedingly well on two fronts. Her apparent confidence in asking the Devils
assistance highlights her position as a witch to be reckoned with, while the Devils claim that
destroying the king will be no easy task serves to assert James own strength as a formidable
adversary of evil.
Donald Robsons confession, taken that same day, echoes this implication.
In his
account, he refers to the meeting between the Devil and the witches at the North Berwick kirk, at
which time one Robert Grierson found fault with the devil because the kings picture was not
made; who promised that it should be the next morning. 113
He claimed that Euphame
MacCalzean instructed Greirson to speer at the devil for the picture.114 A waxen image of
Depositio of Geillis Du a , De e er
a d Ja uar
, in Normand and Roberts, Witchcraft
in Early Modern Scotland, 150.
112
Co fessio s a d Depositio s of Geillis Du a , Ja et tratto a d Do ald o so , Ja uar
, in
113
Ibid, 166.
114
Ibid.
111
34
James was to be produced by the Devil and then burned for the purpose of bringing about the
kings death, but when it was not forthcoming, Greirson and Sampson openly criticized the
Devil, who then promised to fulfil their demands before the next meeting. The witches power is
implicit in their lack of hesitation to both criticize and make demands of the Devil, while James
own position of authority is alluded to by the difficulty experienced by the Devil in attempting to
reproduce the kings image.
One of the more unusual statements made during the examinations offers a particularly
interesting example of the alleged supernatural ability given to the witches by their dark master.
On May 5, Bessie Thomson confessed that she was present at the raising of the dead corpses in
the kirk and kirk-yard of North Berwick.115 The specific purpose of raising the dead is not
explained, but Thomsons gruesome claim undoubtedly served to affirm the potency of the
witches magic by drawing a parallel between their capabilities and that of God, whose power to
raise the dead is referred to in the Bible, such as in the following verse from the Book of Ezekiel,
And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I haue opened your graues, O my people, and
brought you vp out of your graues.116 In likening their abilities to those of the Almighty, the
witches power becomes a mirror in which James own divine authority, as well as his
fearlessness in confronting the forces of evil, can be viewed.
The matter of the wax image of the king and its alleged commission by the Earl of
Bothwell, is further detailed in the examinations of Bessie Thomson, Janet Stratton, Donald
Robson and Ritchie Graham which occurred between January and April 1591. These served to
politicize the witchcraft trials by incriminating Bothwell, as well as asserting James legitimacy
and ability to rule effectively. Of further import is the overt attempt which can be discerned
E a i atio s of Geillis Du a , Do ald o so a d Bessie Tho so , Ma
116
Ezekiel 37:13, King James Bible (1611).
115
, in Normand and
35
within the examinations, to implicate Barbara Napier and Euphame MacCalzean, both of whom
would factor significantly in the trials.
Thomson, Stratton, Robson and Graham confessed to being present at a meeting, or
convention of witches at Prestonpans, where the demise of James was proposed and planned
between themselves and the Devil, as well as to the existence of the aforementioned wax image
of the king.117 Duncan incriminated Bothwell, by stating that she heard my Lord Bothwell
spoken of, a claim which was further supported by Robson, who declared that the intent to
destroy James was sought to be done for my Lord Bothwell. 118 The accused also described the
wax image of the king, which was allegedly passed between all of the witches present, out of ilk
one of their hands to the other.119
Barbara Napier and Euphame MacCalzean would become central to the witch trials
between May and June 1591. Both women were accused by Robson and Stratton in the pre-trial
examinations as having attended witches meetings and of handling the wax image of James.
MacCalzean also implicated Napier, by claiming to have seen Janet Stratton at North Berwick
together with Agnes Sampson and Barbara Napier.120 Ronald in turn, gave evidence against
MacCalzean, stating that when asked about what would happen after they succeeded in causing
James death, MacCalzean answered The realm will not want a king. 121 This statement is
significant in that it implies Bothwells involvement in the conspiracy by insinuating that he will
attempt to claim the throne upon James death.
117
Prestonpans is a village in East Lothian, east of Edinburgh.

Examinations of Duncan, Robson and Thomson, in Normand and Roberts, Witchcraft in Early Modern
Scotland, 174-175.
119
Ibid.
120
Depositio s of Bessie Tho so , Ja et tratto a d Do ald o so , a d Co fro tatio of Bar ara Napier
and Euphame MacCalzean by the Depositions of Robson, Stratton and Ritchie Graha , in Normand and
121
Ibid.
118
36
Concerning James need to assert his legitimacy, the most telling part of these particular
examinations can found in Robsons May 5 confession, when upon being informed by Sampson
as to the malevolent purpose of the wax image of the king, he claims to have cried Alas, what
will come of Scotland then?122
Much like the statement made by Sampson the previous
December, in which it was prophesied by the Devil that James would beget many heirs;
Robsons exclamation serves the kings aims well by intimating that the well-being of the realm
is dependent on his continued reign.
The June 1591 deposition of Janet Kennedy is especially significant, in that it clearly
reveals James manipulation of the witch-hunts to his own end. During her examination, which
was conducted in the presence of James, Kennedy described how she witnessed Agnes Sampson
using witchcraft in an attempt to harm the king. According to Kennedy, Sampson placed an
image of James beside the fire to have made it fried, or tortured by the heat of the flames, but
that the image refused to burn.123 Sampson then claimed their efforts to be futile, and that all
was in vain they assayed against the king for nothing of their craft could do at him. 124 James
use of the examinations to assert his God-given authority is clearly evinced by Kennedys
concluding declaration that the king needs to be feared of nothing under God, for she saw by
experience at that time all that the devil might do against the king and yet took no effect. 125
The dittays of only four accused North Berwick witches have survived.126 John Fian,
Agnes Sampson, Barbara Napier and Euphame MacCalzean were all tried before the justiciary
court in Edinburgh between December 1590 and June 1591. When considering the motives of
122
Examinations of Duncan, Robson and Thomson, in Normand and Roberts, Witchcraft in Early Modern
Scotland, 175.
123
Depositio of Ja et Ke ed , Ju e
, in Normand and Roberts, Witchcraft in Early Modern Scotland,
185.
124
Ibid.
125
Ibid.
126
A dittay is an indictment against a person accused of a crime.
37
the king, it hardly seems a coincidence that the prosecutor in all four of the abovementioned
cases was Mr. David McGill, who held the position of kings advocate.127 The position of kings
advocate was a relatively new addition to the legal cornucopia, having emerged only near the end
of the sixteenth century as a result of the centralizing of royal power.128
Woodcut from News depicting John Fian practicing magic (top R)
The trials of Fian and Sampson lasted but one day each, whereas those of Napier and
MacCalzean were extensive, taking over one month to culminate. The two earlier trials involved
persons of the lower social classes - Fian was a country schoolmaster and Sampson was a village
wise woman - whereas the latter two concerned women of higher status in Edinburgh who were
127
128

Ibid.
38
known to members of the nobility such as Lady Angus and the Earl of Bothwell. 129 This
evolution of the accused, from lower to upper echelon in society, served to bring the threat of
witchcraft ever closer to the political realm of the king.
The dittay of John Fian, dated 26 December 1590 is brief, with the most important items
concerning the conspiracy against James and Queen Anne. James position as the Devils foe is
stressed by dittay items six through eight, in which Fian is accused of foreknowledge of the leak
that struck up in the queens ship, for the raising of winds at the kings passing to Denmark,
and for assembling himself with Satan at the kings returning from Denmark, where Satan
promised to raise a mist and cast the kings Majesty in England. 130 Dittay item thirteen recounts
the journey of Fian and his erstwhile companions across the sea to a tryst they had with another
witch, and states that they met upon a ship, drank wine, then caused the said ship to perish with
the persons being therein.131 This item lends significant credibility to the great danger the
witches posed to the king and queen. By highlighting the ability of the witches to travel across a
wide expanse of ocean and seemingly effortlessly capsize an unknown vessel, the alleged
attempt to sink the ships carrying the king and queen is given greater validity. Thus, by way of
surviving such great peril, James position as one chosen by God, and therefore under divine
protection, is reassured. The brief trial of Fian concluded with his conviction as a common
notorious witch and enchanter.132 He was strangled and burned on the castle hill in Edinburgh
sometime in late January 1591.133
129
Ibid, 220.
The Trial of John Fian, 26 December
, i Normand and Roberts, Witchcraft in Early Modern Scotland,
228.
131
Ibid, 229.
132
133
Ibid.
130
39
The articles of Agnes Sampsons dittay reveal a litany of activities pertaining to cunning
women, such as using prayer and conjuration when she healed sick folk and of using charms to
foretell the future and prevent livestock from dying. 134 Mirroring Fians dittay, Sampsons
details her knowledge of the storms raised in an attempt to prevent the king and queen from
reaching Scotland, and that there would be a great scathe both by sea and land. 135 Sampson
was convicted of witchcraft and strangled and burned to death on 28 January 1591.136
The most compelling of the North Berwick witch trials is that of Barbara Napier. It is
within the documents and particular events pertaining to this case that the use of the trials by
James to assert his royal authority is most evident. Napiers trial commenced on 8 May 1591;
the politicization of the trial is apparent from the onset, with the accused being arraigned for
using witchcraft in an attempt to destroy the king at the Earl of Bothwells instigation. 137 Her
connection to the higher classes of society, and proximal danger posed to the king, is
demonstrated in article one of her dittay, in which she is accused of consulting with Sampson
for the help of Dame Jean Lyon, Lady Angus, to keep her from vomiting when she was in
breeding of bairn.138 Dittay item seven further illustrates her connection to the nobility, lending
greater legitimacy to the threat of witchcraft directed at the kings life. The article accuses
Napier of consulting with Sampson to bring about the death of Archibald Douglas, the eighth
Earl of Angus, who had died three years earlier.139 By drawing a connection between the
134
The Trial of Agnes Sampson, 27 January 1591, in Normand and Roberts, Witchcraft in Early Modern
Scotland, 233.
135
Ibid.
136
137
Ibid, 211.
138
The Trial of Bar ara Napier, 8-10 May 1591, in Normand and Roberts, Witchcraft in Early Modern
Scotland, 249.
139
Ibid, 250.
40
accused witch and the death of a peer of the realm, the threat to the kings life is validated, as is
his fearlessness in facing such peril.
Although she was convicted of the first five items in her dittay, which describe consulting
with witches, Napier was acquitted by her assizers of the sixth, seventh and eighth items,
including the serious charge of conspiring to destroy the Earl of Angus.
Much to the
consternation of the king, Napiers assizers considered the evidence defective.140 By not
finding her guilty of attempting to kill the Earl of Angus by witchcraft, the tenuous connection
between Napier and the alleged threat she posed to the kings life was substantially weakened.
By 10 May, Napier had not yet been sentenced, and that day a letter written by James was
delivered to Napiers assizers, demanding to know why she had not yet been executed for her
crimes, and pronouncing of the doom underwritten against the accused: 141
Whereupon no doom is pronounced against her as yet. Our will is
herefore and we charge you that incontinent after the sight hereof, ye
pronounce the doom against her for the said crimes, according to the laws
of our realm and acts of parliament; that is to say, that she shall be tane to
the castle hill of the burgh of Edinburgh and there be bound to the stake
beside the fire and worried thereat while she be dead.142
James also demanded that the assizers account for their decision of acquittal, which
although reached according to the due process of the law, was nevertheless at odds with his will,
as ye will answer to us upon your office and obedience. Whereanent these presents shall serve
you as sufficient warrant.143
140
James Taylor, The Pictorial History of Scotland, from the Roman Invasion to the Close of the Jacobite
Rebellion, A.D. 79-1746 (London: James S. Virtue, 1859), p 341.
141
Bar ara Napier, in Normand and Roberts, Witchcraft in Early Modern Scotland, 250.
142
Ibid, 251.
143
Ibid.
41
Proceedings by assize of error were unknown in Scottish jurisprudence, which did not
allow for the king to personally take over the office of judge in criminal trial proceedings.144
James was enraged at Napiers assizers for not reaching his desired decision, and for not
immediately sentencing her to death, and as such, so little did he regard the restraints of the law,
when opposed to the personal will of the sovereign, that he resolved to being the jurors to trial
before himself, on the charge of wilful error, in clearing Barbara Napier of treason against the
kings person.145
Although James had been described as having a thorough dislike of dogmatism in
others, he was also known to be the most dogmatic of men. 146 Due to this characteristic, James
was more than willing to conceive the worst of those who stood up against him.147 When taking
this into account, along with his deep-seated need to assert his royal authority, James reaction to
Napiers acquittal is understandable.
Not surprisingly, in accordance with the kings will, the accused was sentenced to be
burned in the castle hill of Edinburgh.148 According to her dittay, after pronouncing of which
doom, Napier then declared that she was with bairn, a desperate action which resulted in a
temporary stay of execution, as no execution of the said doom could be used against her while
she was delivered of her birth.149 James extreme displeasure at this turn of events can be
discerned in a letter written to his Chancellor, John Maitland, in which he gives instructions
regarding Napier and other accused witches:
144
Taylor, Pictorial History of Scotland, 341.

Ibid.
146
Samuel R. Gardiner, History of England from the Accession of James I to the Outbreak of the Civil War
(London: Longmans, Green and Co, 1883), 49.
147
Ibid.
148
Bar ara Napier, in Normand and Roberts, Witchcraft in Early Modern Scotland, 252.
149
Ibid.
145
42
Try, by the mediciners oaths, if Barbara Napier be with bairn or not. Take no
delaying answer. If ye find she be not, to the fire with her presently and cause
bowel her publicly. Let Effie Makkaillen see the stoup two or three days and upon
the sudden stay her in hope of confession if that service adverts. If not, despatch
her the next oulke anis but not according to the rigour of the doom. The rest of the
inferior witches, off at the nail with them. 150
On 7 June 1591, Barbara Napiers twelve assizers were summoned to the tollbooth,
where they requested representation by John Russell, one of Barbara Napiers prolocutors.151
Under pressure from James they rescinded their request and submitted themselves wholly to
the kings will, a decision which ultimately saved them from severe punishment. 152 The assize
of error is of especial significance to the 1590-1 witch-hunts, as by attending the trial in person,
James had gone against existing legal precedent.153 James presence provides a clear example of
the growth of his royal authority and power during the late sixteenth century.
The records of the trial of the assizers for wilful error clearly states that Napiers jurors
did manifestly and wilfully err contrar the laws and practice of the realm. 154 James presence
in the court room is also described, And they being required by the justice, his Majesty being
sitting in judgement, whether they would abide the trail of law, and of an assize for the said
crimes, as is the assizers acquiescence to his will, they refused to abide the trial of an assize
therefore, but came simpliciter in his Highness will for the ignorant error committed by them in
acquitting of the said Barbara of the crimes.155
The assize of error concluded with a magnanimous display of the kings benevolence,
and declaration of his understanding it was not wilful error they committed in acquitting in
150
Letters of King James VI & I, ed. G.P.V. Akrigg (Berkeley: University of California Press, Ltd., 1984), 112, 115.
152
Ibid.
153
Levack, Witch-Hunting, 38.
154
The Trial of Bar ara Napier s Assizers for Wilful Error, in Normand and Roberts, Witchcraft in Early
Modern Scotland, 259.
155
Ibid.
151
43
manner foresaid.156 James then reaffirmed his superior ability to discern the truth, and forgave
the assizers for their ignorance by stating that, The wise men of the assisse I will not prejudge,
neither did I ever thinke worse of them, that they were ignorant.157 Barbara Napiers assizers
were acquitted of wilful error on 7 June 1591.
The dramatic speech which was delivered to the assizers by James that day in the
tollbooth highlighted his role in the trials, including his unusual presence there, which was
described in the Calendar of State Papers Relating to Scotland as a defect in the laws.158 In his
speech, James referred to the rise of witchcraft, the enormity of the crime, its punishment
according to Scripture, and refuted skepticism by stressing the ignorance of thinking such
things were mere fantasies.159 By stating that, As for them who thinke these witchcrafts to be
but fantacyes, I remmyt them to be catechized and instructed in these most evident poyntes,
James emphasized the validity of the threat of witchcraft, and as such, the necessity of his own
involvement in the trials. 160 His desire to affirm his fearlessness in facing danger, his ability to
defeat the witches, and the essentiality of his divine presence in order to combat the forces of evil
is evident in the following excerpt:
Therefore I shew unto you that I tooke this labour upon my selfe: first, because I
see no justice in inferior judges, they being carried away eyther with feade or
favour; secondly, because I see the pride of those witches and their freendes,
which cannot be prevented but by myne owne presence. 161
The speech delivered to Napiers assizers ultimately reinforced the prevalence of
witchcraft, James authoritative, and therefore necessary role in the proceedings, and the cause
156
Ibid.
King James VI & I, "Speech to the Jury at the Witchcraft Trial, th Ju e
, in Minor Prose Works of King
James VI and I, ed. James Craigie (Edinburgh: Scottish Text Society, 1982), 191.
158
Calendar of the State Papers Relating to Scotland, 1589-1603, Vol II. (London: Longman, Brown, Green,
Longman & Roberts, 1858), 592.
159
Ibid.
160
King James VI & I, "Speech to the Jury, 190-191.
161
Ibid.
157
44
of his own interference in the matter.162
It also underlined the position of the king as a
protector of his realm against evil, stressing that he had been occupied these three quarters of
this yeere for the siftyng out of them that are guilty herein.163
The trial of Euphame MacCalzean commenced on 9 June 1591, and is of particular
relevance to the politicization of witchcraft, due to the deliberate construction of her trial as a
mirror to the larger witchcraft conspiracy against the king. As theorized by Normand and
Roberts, MacCalzeans trial reflects the intention of her examiners, which was to ostensibly use
the charges against her to represent in miniature those that the entire group of witches is
supposed to have committed against the king.164 This intent is evident in MacCalzeans dittay,
in which treason and witchcraft are most successfully combined in a cleverly constructed
analogy which parallels the charge of MacCalzeans attempt to murder her husband with the plan
to destroy the king.165
MacCalzeans dittay begins with the treasonable charge of using witchcraft with the
intent to destroy our sovereign lords person, then continues by listing a plethora of witchcraft
crimes, including plotting against her husband, Patrick Moscrop, and of seeking to destroy him
by witchcraft.166 The construction of MacCalzeans trial, and the parallels drawn between her
attempted crimes against both husband and the king, are discernible in items five and six of her
dittay. These items, which describe how Moscrop did expone himself to the seas, and construe
MacCalzeans attempts to kill him after he returned from his voyage, draw a clear correlation
162
Calendar of the State Papers, II, 592.

King James VI & I, "Speech to the Jury, 190-191.
164
165
Ibid, 218.
166
The Trial of Euphame MacCalzean, 9-15 Ju e
, in Normand and Roberts, Witchcraft in Early Modern
Scotland, 261.
163
45
between her alleged crimes and those of the collective group witches. 167 This comparison gives
credence to the North Berwick witch hunts overall, and further supports the idea that as each
individual witch possessed significant power, the threat of the mass conspiracy against James
was indeed formidable. MacCalzean was sentenced to death on 15 June 1591, and was burned
alive on castle hill ten days later, ironically the same day that the Earl of Bothwell was declared a
traitor by royal proclamation. 168
The North Berwick witch panics which began at the end of 1590 would play out with
horrific consequences over the course of the following year, involving not only members of both
the lower and upper classes, but the king himself. The surviving trial records afford a glimpse
into a complex political situation in which witchcraft became a pretext for the king to move
against the Earl of Bothwell, while simultaneously asserting his royal authority and giving
greater legitimacy to his throne. James personal involvement and manipulation of the events is
reflected in the depositions and dittays, in which the words of the accused reflect his struggle
with the Kirk, his personal belief in divine right, and his need to affirm his authority. The trial of
Barbara Napiers assizers stands out as an obvious example of James royal absolutism, in which
his skilled manipulations of the witch trials can most clearly be discerned.
The 1590-1 witch hunt became a powerful tool to serve James own political ends, but
also inadvertently contributed to the writing of his treatise, Daemonologie, which was published
six years later. The witchcraft practices described in the treatise often reflect with striking
similarity those found within the pre-trial depositions and dittays, and the emphasis placed upon
the reality and punishment of witches both validates and justifies the kings involvement in the
North Berwick Trials.
167
168
Ibid, 263.
46
VI.
DAEMONOLOGIE
The fearful abounding at this time in this country of these detestable slaves of the devil, the
witches or enchanters, has moved me (beloved reader) to dispatch on post this following treatise
of mine.169
I pray to God to purge this country of these devilish practices, for they were never so rife in
these parts as they are now. 170
The kings involvement in the 1590-1 North Berwick witch trials gave rise to his treatise,
Daemonologie, which was written hard on the heels of the examination of the witches.171
However, it was not published until the end of 1597, when it most likely appeared in response to
negativity expressed by the public over yet another witch panic which had occurred earlier that
year. 172
The text of Daemonologie not only echoes James personal experiences in the
witchcraft trials, but also reflects the influence that predominant European witchcraft and
demonological thought had on the king as he was composing his own treatise. James need to
assert his authority during a period of political instability, his personal involvement in the witch
trials, and his views on the nature of kingship became inextricably interwoven during the 1590-1
trials. As a result, Daemonologie offers an alternative perspective on the witch trails themselves,
as well as affording a glimpse into the complex mind of its author, who remains the only early
modern European monarch to have composed such a work.
The construction of Daemonologie is that of a dialogue between master and pupil Epistemon and Philomathes which reflects the literary form used by classical theologians such
169
King James VI, Demonology, in Witchcraft in Early Modern Scotland, 353.

Ibid, 424.
171
172
Ibid.
170
47
as Plato and Cicero.173 The quarto of Daemonologie comprises three books totalling eighty-one
pages, in which James relies heavily on biblical scripture to support his arguments, though the
views of contemporary demonologists also factor significantly in the text. The first book is a
discourse on magicians and magic, while the second expounds upon female witches and
witchcraft. The third is primarily concerned with pneumatology and the punishment of witches,
a theme commonly found within fifteenth- and sixteenth-century demonological treatises. The
theme of punishing witches reflects James need to justify the witch trials while simultaneously
supporting his ability to root out evil, due to the divine power bestowed upon him by God.
Frontispiece of Daemonologie, 1597.
173
Episte o tra slates to o e ho has the k o ledge of a e pert a d Philo athes to lo er of k o ledge
(Greek).
48
Jamess intention in writing Daemonologie was to illustrate that witchcraft, demonology ,

and other such devilish arts did indeed exist, as well as to determine what exact trial and
severe punishment they did merit.174 As declared by the king in the preface of his work, the
assaults of Satan were very real, and the instruments thereof were to be punished by the most
severe means possible. 175 During the early modern period, there was an attempt to maintain
belief while fighting off scepticism among witchcraft theorists.176 One of James primary goals
in writing Daemonologie was to refute the scepticism of contemporary works, such as De
Praestigiis Daemonum (The Tricks of Demons), written by the demonologist Johann Weyer in
1563. Weyer criticized witch-hunting, claiming that witch-hunts were imprudent attempts to
punish innocent - and often crazy - elderly women, and that such hunts caused greater harm than
good in society.
Daemonologie was also written in response to the thoroughly sceptical Reginald Scot,
who in his 1584 book The Discoverie of Witchcraft, assiduously criticized the persecution of
accused witches. By attempting to discredit scepticism as it related to witchcraft, James aimed to
lend further support to the threat it posed to his person and realm. In this way, he asserted the
necessity of his involvement and use of torture in the examinations and trials, and stressed his
role as the earthly adversary of the Devil and witches, who despite their considerable unholy
power were nonetheless unable to destroy such a formidable king; a king who had been placed
upon his throne by God.
174
King James VI, Demonology, 354.

Ibid,
. Note: i stru e ts refers to the witches themselves.
176
Walter Stephens, Demon Lovers: Witchcraft, Sex, and the Crisis of Belief (Chicago: The University of Chicago
Press, 2002), 27.
175
49
Frontispiece of Malleus Maleficarum, 1669 edition.
The authors of demonological treatises were theologians first and foremost whose
interests in witchcraft and demonology were inseparable from their theological concerns. 177
Numerous works of witchcraft inquisitors, demonologists and political theorists can be counted
among the contemporary treatises which likely influenced the writing of Daemonologie.
Prominent among these is the Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of the Witches), a fifteenthcentury witchcraft treatise and manual for the detection and punishment of witches, written by
the Dominican inquisitors Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger.
177
Stephens, Demon Lovers, 9.
50
With regards to the late sixteenth-century witch panics in Scotland, it is significant that
the Malleus supports the admission of evidence given by other witches:
Also, a sorcerer is allowed to give testimony against a sorcerer in the same way
that a heretic is allowed to give testimony against a heretic, though in default of
other proofs, and always against and never for. This is also the case with his wife,
children and friends.178
The admissibility of evidence by accused witches could very well have influenced James,
both during the North Berwick witch trials, and in his writing of Daemonologie, and offers an
explanation, along with the use of torture to force confessions, for the exceedingly high number
of witches that were accused during the late sixteenth-century witch-hunts. In Book III of
Daemonologie, James clearly supports the use of testimony of accused witches. By doing so, he
justifies the admission of such evidence as being necessary to the effective trial and punishment
of crimes of treason against the king:
Philomathes: And what may a number, then, of guilty persons confessions work
against one that is accused?
Epistemon: The assize must serve for interpreter of our law in that respect. But in
my opinion, since in a matter of treason against the prince, bairns or wives or
never so defamed persons may of our law serve for sufficient witnesses and
proofs, I think surely that by a far greater reason such witnesses may be sufficient
in matters of high treason against God; for who but witches can be proves [those
who provide proof], and so witnesses, of the doings of witches? 179
The Malleus also supports the belief in, and elaborates on the Devils conspiracy to
destroy mankind, and as reflected in the third book of Daemonologie, sets out procedures so that
judges in both ecclesiastical and civil courts will always have at hand the method of conducting
178
Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, The Hammer of Witches: A Complete Translation of the Malleus
Maleficarum (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 511.
179
James VI, Demonology, 422-423.
51
trials, passing judgment and sentencing.180 Daemonologie echoes the Malleus Maleficarum at
its conclusion, stating that God will never allow the innocent to be accused of witchcraft, a
claim which justified the execution of accused witches, as well as James authorization of such
proceedings.181
There were numerous demonological works published much closer to James time, which
also likely influenced Daemonologie. Of these, the most significant is a treatise written by the
French political philosopher Jean Bodin in 1580.
James refers to Bodins treatise, De
la Dmonomanie des Sorciers (On the Demon-Mania of Witches) in the preface of

Daemonologie, stating that although he fails to mention all aspects of secrets of these unlawful
arts, those who likes to be curious in these things, should read Bodins Dmonomanie.182
Jean Bodin
180
Kramer and Sprenger, Hammer of Witches, 500.

Edward J. Cowan, "Witch Persecution and Folk Belief in Lowland Scotland: The Devil's Decade," in
Witchcraft and Belief in Early Modern Scotland, ed. Julian Goodare, Lauren Martin, Joyce Miller (New
York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008), 74.
182
James VI, Demonology, 355-356.
181
52
Bodin was an absolutist who claimed that a sovereign prince was accountable only to
God.183 His ideology, which arose due to the brutality of the French religious wars of 1562, held
that violence and chaos were destroying France, and that the problem could only be rectified by a
powerful and respected monarchy, in which the was monarch regarded as the absolute ruler of
the state. 184 This view would have strongly resonated with James, who during the late sixteenth
century, faced disrespect from his ministers and instability within his realm.
Frontispiece and title page of De la Dmonomanie des Sorciers, 1693 German edition.
183
Julian H. Franklin, Jean Bodin and the Rise of Absolutist Theory, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1973), 23.
184
Jean Bodin, On the Demon-Mania of Witches, ed. Jonathan L. Pearl (Toronto: Centre for Reformation and
Renaissance Studies, 1995), 10.
53
Bodins treatise, De la Dmonomanie des Sorciers (On the Demon-Mania of Witches)

stresses the importance of princes to suppress demon worship and to harshly punish the crime of
witchcraft. Furthermore, his declaration that It is not within the power of princes to pardon a
crime that the law of God punishes by death, such as the crimes of witchcraft, and that princes
do a great offense to God to pardon such horrible wickednesses committed directly against is
majesty, since the smallest prince avenges his injuries with capital punishment, would have
been in perfect accordance with James own views.185
De la Dmonomanie des Sorciers was written to serve as a warning to all those who read
it, in order to make it clearly known that there are no crimes which are nearly so vile as this one,
or which deserve more serious penalties. 186 This is also true of Daemonologie, in which
numerous references to Bodins work are later reflected, in particular the fourth book, which
details the handling of witchcraft cases in court. Bodin clearly advocates severe punishment for
witches and states that they deserve death, which may have influenced the increased severity of
how witches were tried and punished at during the late sixteenth century in Scotland. 187 It is
significant that Bodin advocated torture and forced confessions, arguing that the judge must get
to the truth by every means that he can imagine, a view encouraged by James during the witch
trials. 188
Book III of Daemonologie also reflects Bodins views on the investigation of witches, in
particular the criticism of those commissioners who have left unpunished the most detestable
and horrible wickedness of witches.189 This is especially relevant when one considers James
enraged reaction to the assizers of Barbara Napier upon her partial acquittal. Further influence
185
Bodin, Demon-Mania of Witches, 174.

Ibid, 37.
187
Ibid, 24.
188
Ibid, 191.
189
Ibid, 174.
186
54
of Bodins demonology is evident in Book I, Chapter VII of Daemonologie, in which James

criticizes the leniency of monarchs in punishing witches, stating that Upon custom, we see that
diverse Christian princes and magistrates, severe punishers of witches, will not only oversee
magicians to live within their dominions, but even sometimes delight to see them prove some of
their practices.190 Bodin held that defiance of an anointed monarch was treason, a crime
deserving of death, and that the laws imposed on a society by the monarch were to be obeyed
unquestioningly by all his subjects. This perfectly mirrored James own views, as the following
dialogue from Daemonologie illustrates:
Philomathes: Whether may the Prince then, or supreame Magistrate, spare or
ouersee any that are guiltie of that craft, vpon som great respects knowen to him?
Epistemon: But in the end to spare the life, and not to strike when God bids strike,
and so seuerlie punish in so odious a fault & treason against God, it is not only
vnlawful, but doubtlesse no lesse sinne in that Magistrate, nor it was in SAVLES
sparing of AGAG. And so comparable to the sin of Witch-craft it selfe, as
SAMVELL alleaged at that time.191
This dialogue refers to the Book of Samuel, and King Sauls defiance of Gods
commanded to destroy the Amelekites, a sinful people. Saul killed every man, woman and child,
but spared the King, Agag. The prophet Samuel cursed Saul for defying the will of God, stating
that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubburnnesse is as iniquitie and idolatrie: because
thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. 192 This
particular excerpt highlights James cleverness in using scripture to justify the excesses of the
witch trials. Not only does he draw a parallel between himself and a biblical monarch, and that it
is a great sin to disobey Gods command to punish witches, but he alludes to the fact that if he
were to spare even one witch from execution, it would result in his removal from the throne.
190
King James VI, Demonology, 376-377.

King James VI, Daemonologie, in Minor Prose Works of King James VI and I, 54.
192
1 Samuel 15:23, King James Bible (1611).
191
55
Accordingly, as a monarch chosen by God, the only course of action for him to take with regards
to witches was to execute them without exception. As stated in Daemonologie, witches ought to
be put to death according to the law of God.193
If De la Dmonomanie des Sorciers was the most influential of the Catholic treatises on
Daemonologie, then A Dialogue of Witches, in Foretime Named Lot-tellers and Now Commonly
Called Sorcerers, was its Protestant counterpart.
Written in 1574 by the French Calvinist
minister and theologian Lambert Daneau, Dialogue establishes some of the main themes of late
sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Protestant demonology.194
Frontispiece of A Dialogue of Witches, 1575.
193
194
King James VI, Demonology, 421.

Brian P. Levack, The Witchcraft Sourcebook, (New York: Routledge, 2004), 71.
56
In the fifth chapter of the treatise, titled What punishment Sorcerers deerue to haue
[deserve to have], Daneau refers to sorcerers as fale forwearers [false forswearers] of Gods
power, traytours to the majetie [majesty] of God, a sentiment echoed sixteen years later by
James and his politicization of the North Berwick witch trials. 195 As reflected later by James
when writing Daemonologie, Daneau declared that sorcerers and witches were worthy of mot
euere punihment [most severe punishment] and emphatically stated that by the Lawe of God,
a Sorcerer is condemned to dye.196
Further influence upon James work is that of Henri Boguet, demonologist and judge in
the County of Burgundy, who was, in turn, influenced by Bodin. Boguet compiled An Examen of
Witches, a collection of trial proceedings and accusations of witchcraft in Burgundy during the
late sixteenth century. Many of the various discernible similarities between Bodin and Boguets
demonological works are reflected in Daemonologie, such as the criticism of magistrates whose
duty it is to punish felons and criminals; for if we had no more than the direct command of God
to put them to death as being His bitterest enemies, why should we endure them any longer, and
thus disobey the Majesty of the Most High? 197 Much like James Daemonologie, Examen was
also written as a response to sceptics; this is apparent in Boguets claims that, For my part I
suspect that the truth is that such people really believe in their
hearts, but will not admit
it.198
James views regarding the punishment of witches, found in the third book of
Daemonologie, mirror those within Examen, such as Boguets statements that witches never
leave the service of Satan for any punishment that is given them, except that of death, and I
195
Lambert Daneau, A Dialogue of Witches: in Foretime Named Lot-tellers and Now Commonly Called
Sorcerers (London: R. Watkins,1575), sig. K2r.
196
Ibid.
197
Henri Boguet, An Examen of Witches, ed. Montague Summers (London: John Rodker, 1929), xxxiv.
198
Ibid, xxxix.
57
shall always maintain that, on the least pretext, they should be put to death. 199 As later reflected
by James in Daemonologie, Boguet also supported the validity of testimony given by accused
witches, claiming that witches who have confessed have as a rule never laid information against
any who were not of their brotherhood, or at least were not deeply suspected. 200
The use of torture to force confessions promoted by James during the North Berwick
witch trials is reflected in Book III of Daemonologie, and closely follows the views held by
Bodin and Boguet, such as in the chapter of Examen titled The Manner of Procedure of a Judge
in a Case of Witchcraft, in which torture is advocated and judges are encouraged to use every
lawful means to induce the witch to confess the truth.201
While James belief in divine right and the need to assert his royal authority can be
ascertained within Daemonologie in the numerous parallels between the discourse and the North
Berwick trial records, the need to assert his royal authority is most evident in the texts emphasis
on the punishment of witches, which was very much a concern in 1597, as it had been in 1590-1.
In addition to the on-going discord between Kirk and King, there was famine in Scotland, as well
as an outbreak of the plague in 1597.202 Confronted by this upheaval and instability, the king
and his political factions attempted, at last, to achieve a modicum of peace and harmony within
the realm. Witch-hunting became something on which they could all unite.
On 2 February 1597, during the first stages of the witch-hunt of that year, the magistrates
of Aberdeen received a commission to try five accused witches. The majority of commissions of
justiciary were given to try specific individuals, but there also existed general commissions
which could be used to try a large number of cases within one area. These general commissions
199
Ibid, 170-171.
Henri Boguet, An Examen of Witches (Mineola: Dover Publications, Inc., 2009), 212.
201
Ibid, 217.
202
Goodare, "Scottish Witchcraft Panic," 52-53.
200
58
could facilitate mass prosecutions and in Aberdeen, once one witch started to name further
suspects, a mass panic rapidly developed. 203
The prominence of this new witch-hunt, a mere six years after the North Berwick trials, is
highlighted in a letter to William Cecil, Lord Burghley, from the English ambassador Robert
Bowes.204 In the letter dated 15 August 1597, Bowes stated that the The King is much pestered
with witches, who swarm in thousands; their confession of practices against the life of the King
and the young Prince.205 An anonymous letter of advice the following month referred to the
perpetuation of the witch trials, and referred to James as bent upon the examination of the
sorcerers.206 Echoing the North Berwick trials in 1590-1, the 1597 witch trials affirmed that the
king, and by extension, his heir, were once again in great danger, assuring that the political
significance of witchcraft was thus sustained. 207
Daemonologie was published in 1597, near the end of the witch panic, and it served to
justify the execution of hundreds of accused witches and to remind James subjects of the
immediate dangers of witchcraft. The treatise asserted James role as a divinely appointed king,
who was once again - bravely facing and rooting out the powers of evil, while effectively
conveying the kings concern for the safety of the realm. 208
Despite Jamess lofty aims regarding Daemonologie, upon its publication, public praise
for the royal author was conspicuous by its absence.209 The excesses of witch hunts of 1597 had
sparked a negative public outcry, and Jamess lack of perception regarding his subjects attitude
203
Goodare, "Witch-Hunting and the Scottish State," 127.

William Cecil served as Lord High Treasurer for Queen Elizabeth I of England, and was her chief advisor
from her accession in 1558 until his death in 1598. Robert Bowes was the ambassador of Queen Elizabeth
in the court of Scotland during the reign of James VI.
205
Calendar of the State Papers, II, 740. Note: Prince Henry Frederick, eldest son of James and Anne, was
three years old at the time of the 1597 witch panic.
206
Ibid, 741.
207
208
Ibid, 69.
209
Goodare, "Scottish Witchcraft Panic," 70.
204
59
was due, in no small part, to the fact that he lacked that intuitive perception of the popular
feeling.210
The most significant accusation during the 1597 witch panics involved one
Margaret Aitken, who was ultimately exposed as a fraud.211 Her exposure brought the 1597
witch panic, and as such, the necessity for justification of the excesses of the trials, abruptly to an
end. It would be thirty years before another witch panic would hold Scotland in its grip.
210
211
Gardiner, History of England, 49.

Goodare, "Scottish Witchcraft Panic," 60.
60
VII.
CONCLUSION
The late sixteenth century saw a dramatic rise of witch-hunts in Scotland, as accusations
of witchcraft rapidly spiralled into mass panics. James VI became personally involved in the
examinations and trials, which revolved around an alleged conspiracy of witches in league with
the Devil attempting to destroy the king. The witch-hunts occurred during a time of social,
religious and political turmoil, when James royal authority was decidedly unstable. James
politicized witchcraft by perpetuating the view that the Devil was determined to bring chaos to
his realm, and by manipulating the witch trials in order to eliminate the threat of the Earl of
Bothwell, assert his divine right to rule, and accord his throne with greater legitimacy. The cost
of James politically motivated witchcraft was high; between 1590 and 1597 close to three
hundred accused witches were strangled and burned. Many of the accused were subjected to
torture, all in the name of justice.
As horrific as the witch-hunts which took place in Scotland may seem when viewed from
a modern perspective, the events which transpired during the last decade of the sixteenth century
were not singular. The hunting of witches did not end four hundred years ago; politically
motivated witch-hunts still exist today. Throughout history, times of social crisis and turmoil
have given rise to othering, and the need to assign blame to someone or something for the
cataclysm. One has only to look at America during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries to
realize that the politicization of witch-hunts and modern incarnations of witchcraft have not
been confined to the distant past.
The mid-twentieth century saw hundreds of alleged communists tried and imprisoned in
America, as part of Senator McCarthys fanatical crusade against subversives. These modernday witch-hunts were manufactured by McCarthy for political gain, and they took advantage of
61
the American peoples fear of communism, mirroring King James own use of witch-hunts to
strengthen his reign, and his exploitation of the existing fear of witchcraft in Scotland.
Since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, modern-day witch-hunts and media propaganda not
unlike News from Scotland have generated fear and hatred towards Muslims, and perpetuated the
illusion that the stability of America is under attack by Islam, much as the established order of
James realm was purported to be threatened by the Devil.
Although the politically motivated witch-hunts which have occurred in contemporary
America are not predicated on the fear that witches possessing supernatural powers exist, the
arrests, detainment, and trials of alleged terrorists could be argued to serve the same purpose as
those of supposed witches in Scotlands dark past.
The modern War on Terror and Islamophobia, both religious-like crusades against the
other, serve to assert the legitimacy of the American legal system and the power and security of
the State. While the witch-hunts of today originate and are perpetuated by the Department of
Justice and not an anointed king, they take place in the federal courts and serve to further the
political aims of the ruling authority; ultimately, they differ very little from their predecessors in
Scotland four hundred years ago.
62
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68

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The Department of History at The University of Texas

DAEMONOLOGIE AND DIVINE RIGHT:

The Department of History at The University of Texas

This thesis is organized chronologically, with

Dedicated to the memory of

The state of monarchy is the supremest thing upon earth;

DIVINE RIGHT THEORY OF KINGSHIP AND ROYAL ABSOLUTISM

THE EARL OF BOTHWELL AND THE POLITICAL CLIMATE OF THE LATE

THE KING AUTHOITY ATTACKED

THE NORTH BERWICK WITCH TRIALS

King James VI of Scotland and Anne of Denmark.

James politicized witchcraft by

In October 1591, James Privy Council established six

Although the writing of Daemonologie was

DIVINE RIGHT THEORY OF KINGSHIP AND ROYAL ABSOLUTISM

As a work of colourful, sensational and violent propaganda, News from Scotland

Normand and Roberts, Witchcraft in Early Modern Scotland, 290.

THE EARL OF BOTHWELL AND POLITICAL CLIMATE OF THE LATE SIXTEENTH

Regardless of credibility, the rumours nevertheless resulted in Bothwell being proclaimed

George Marioribancks, burgess of Edinburgh, wrote of the

Register of the Privy Council, IV, 748-749.

Bothwells power was

I Defe e of Earl Both ell: To the No ilit

THE KINGS AUTHORITY ATTACKED

Calderwood, History of the Kirk, 117.

Goodare, ottish Wit h raft Pa i ,

Melville, The Diary of Mr. James Melville, 244.

THE NORTH BERWICK WITCH TRIALS

King James VI, c. 1590.

The first Privy Council warrant for torture in

Lee, John Maitland, 9.

He claimed that Euphame

Prestonpans is a village in East Lothian, east of Edinburgh.

Much like the statement made by Sampson the previous

Woodcut from News depicting John Fian practicing magic (top R)

Normand and Roberts, Witchcraft in Early Modern Scotland, 204.

Taylor, Pictorial History of Scotland, 341.

of his own interference in the matter.162

It also underlined the position of the king as a

Calendar of the State Papers, II, 592.

King James VI, Demonology, in Witchcraft in Early Modern Scotland, 353.

Frontispiece of Daemonologie, 1597.

Jamess intention in writing Daemonologie was to illustrate that witchcraft, demonology ,

King James VI, Demonology, 354.

Frontispiece of Malleus Maleficarum, 1669 edition.

Stephens, Demon Lovers, 9.

James refers to Bodins treatise, De

la Dmonomanie des Sorciers (On the Demon-Mania of Witches) in the preface of

Kramer and Sprenger, Hammer of Witches, 500.

Bodins treatise, De la Dmonomanie des Sorciers (On the Demon-Mania of Witches)

Bodin, Demon-Mania of Witches, 174.

of Bodins demonology is evident in Book I, Chapter VII of Daemonologie, in which James

King James VI, Demonology, 376-377.

Written in 1574 by the French Calvinist

Frontispiece of A Dialogue of Witches, 1575.

King James VI, Demonology, 421.

hearts, but will not admit

Goodare, "Witch-Hunting and the Scottish State," 127.

Gardiner, History of England, 49.

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