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Bessie Wright
Bessie Wright (recorded 1611–1628) was a healer in Perthshire who was accused of witchcraft in 1611, 1626 and then again in 1628. Not a lot is known about Bessie Wright's early life, but she was recorded as a healer in Scone parish, Perthshire by 1611. Famed as a healer, Wright was unusual in the area for having a 'medical book' which she claimed was over 1,000 years old and had been used by her father and grandfather. While Wright claimed to be unable to read the book, her son Adam Bell read out extracts to her. The Church of Scotland was unhappy with Wright's access to this book and in 1611, William Cowper, minister of Perth, demanded that she hand it over to the Church. When Wright came into contact with the authorities again in 1626, she mentioned that her book had been taken by Cowper or Archibald Steedman, the beadle. Wright continued as a healer until 1626 when she was investigated by the Church for using unacceptable healing practices in Scone and told to stop practising ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Perthshire
Perthshire (Scottish English, locally: ; ), officially the County of Perth, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore, Angus and Perth & Kinross, Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle, Scotland, Aberfoyle in the south; it borders the counties of Inverness-shire and Aberdeenshire to the north, Angus, Scotland, Angus to the east, Fife, Kinross-shire, Clackmannanshire, Stirlingshire and Dunbartonshire to the south and Argyllshire to the west. Perthshire is known as the "big county", or "the Shire", due to its roundness and status as the fourth List of Scottish counties by area, largest historic county in Scotland. It has a wide variety of landscapes, from the rich agricultural straths in the east, to the high mountains of the southern Scottish Highlands, Highlands. History Administrative history Perthshire's origins a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scone, Scotland
Scone (; ; ) is a town in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The Middle Ages, medieval town of Scone, which grew up around the Scone Abbey, monastery and royal residence, was abandoned in the early 19th century when the residents were removed and a Scone Palace, new palace was built on the site by the Earl of Mansfield. Hence the modern village of Scone, and the medieval village of Old Scone, can often be distinguished. Both sites lie in the Provinces of Scotland, historical province of Gowrie, as well as the old county of Perthshire. Old Scone was the historic capital of the Kingdom of Scotland. In the Middle Ages it was an important royal centre, used as a royal residence and as the coronation site of the kingdom's monarchs. Around the royal site grew the town of Perth and the Scone Abbey, Abbey of Scone. Scone and Scotland Scone's association with kings and king-making gave it various epithets in Scottish Gaelic language, Gaelic poetry; for instance, ''Scoine sciath-airde'', " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Church Of Scotland
The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While membership in the church has declined significantly in recent decades (in 1982 it had nearly 920,000 members), the government Scottish Household Survey found that 20% of the Scottish population, or over one million people, identified the Church of Scotland as their religious identity in 2019. In the 2022 census, 20.4% of the Scottish population, or 1,108,796 adherents, identified the Church of Scotland as their religious identity. The Church of Scotland's governing system is Presbyterian polity, presbyterian in its approach, therefore, no one individual or group within the church has more or less influence over church matters. There is no one person who acts as the head of faith, as the church believes that role is the "Lord God's". As a pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beadle
A beadle, sometimes spelled bedel, is an official who may usher, keep order, make reports, and assist in religious functions; or a minor official who carries out various civil, educational or ceremonial duties on the manor. The term has pre- Conquest origins in Old English, deriving from the Old English ''bydel'' ("herald, messenger from an authority, preacher"), itself deriving from ''beodan'' ("to proclaim", which has a modern descendant in the English verb ''bid''). In Old English it was a title given to an Anglo-Saxon officer who summoned householders to council. It is also known in Medieval Latin as ''bedellus''. The Domesday Book refers to Beadles as ''bedelli'' or undersheriffs of manors. In religion In England, the word came to refer to a parish constable of the Anglican Church, one often charged with duties of charity. A famous fictional constabulary beadle is Mr. Bumble from Charles Dickens's classic novel '' Oliver Twist'', who oversees the parish workhouse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agnes Finnie
Agnes Finnie (died 6 March 1645) was an Edinburgh shopkeeper and moneylender who was executed for witchcraft on 6 March 1645. Biography Finnie, widow of James Robertsone, sold consumer goods, such as fish and cakes in Potterrow, Edinburgh. Finnie is documented as possessing a fiery temper and known for cursing people in the street. In June 1644, Finnie was arrested on 20 counts of witchcraft and Magic (paranormal), sorcery. While most accused witches were tried within days of their initial arrest, Finnie was held for several months in Old Tolbooth, Edinburgh, Old Tolbooth before the trial. She was tried on 20 December 1644 and executed on the Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Hill of Edinburgh on Thursday, 6 March 1645. It is estimated that Finnie was age 48 at the time of her death. During the trial, Finnie's daughter Margaret Robertsone was accused of being a witch but was never arrested. Posthumous petition for pardon Finnie is among the thousands who were accused and con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Scottish Witch Hunt Of 1597
The Great Scottish Witch Hunt of 1597 was a series of nationwide witch trials that took place in the whole of Scotland from March to October 1597. At least 400 people were put on trial for witchcraft and various forms of diabolism during the witch hunt. The exact number of those executed is unknown, but is believed to be about 200. The Great Scottish Witch Hunt of 1597 was the second of five nationwide witch hunts in Scottish history, the others being North Berwick witch trials, The Great Scottish Witch Hunt of 1590–91, The Great Scottish Witch Hunt of 1628–1631, The Great Scottish witch hunt of 1649–50 and The Great Scottish Witch Hunt of 1661–62. History The Great Scottish Witch Hunt of 1597 is the least documented of the five nationwide Scottish witch hunts. As with the later ones, it was conducted by local courts under the supervision of royal commissions, but in contrast to the others, it was not documented by the central authorities, and the local records are often m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Witchcraft
Witchcraft is the use of Magic (supernatural), magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. According to ''Encyclopedia Britannica'', "Witchcraft thus defined exists more in the imagination", but it "has constituted for many cultures a viable explanation of evil in the world". The belief in witches has been found throughout history in a great number of societies worldwide. Most of these societies have used Apotropaic magic, protective magic or counter-magic against witchcraft, and have shunned, banished, imprisoned, physically punished or killed alleged witches. Anthropologists use the term "witchcraft" for similar beliefs about harmful occult practices in different cultures, and these societies often use the term when speaking in English. Belief in witchcraft as malevolent magic is attested from #Ancient Mesopotamian religion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
17th-century Scottish Women
The 17th century lasted from January 1, 1601 (represented by the Roman numerals MDCI), to December 31, 1700 (MDCC). It falls into the early modern period of Europe and in that continent (whose impact on the world was increasing) was characterized by the Baroque cultural movement, the latter part of the Spanish Golden Age, the Dutch Golden Age, the French ''Grand Siècle'' dominated by Louis XIV, the Scientific Revolution, the world's first public company and megacorporation known as the Dutch East India Company, and according to some historians, the General Crisis. From the mid-17th century, European politics were increasingly dominated by the Kingdom of France of Louis XIV, where royal power was solidified domestically in the civil war of the Fronde. The semi-feudal territorial French nobility was weakened and subjugated to the power of an absolute monarchy through the reinvention of the Palace of Versailles from a hunting lodge to a gilded prison, in which a greatly expanded r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
People Convicted Of Witchcraft
The term "the people" refers to the public or common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. In contrast, a people is any plurality of persons considered as a whole. Used in politics and law, the term "a people" refers to the collective or community of an ethnic group or nation. Concepts Legal Chapter One, Article One of the Charter of the United Nations states that "peoples" have the right to self-determination. Though the mere status as peoples and the right to self-determination, as for example in the case of Indigenous peoples (''peoples'', as in all groups of indigenous people, not merely all indigenous persons as in ''indigenous people''), does not automatically provide for independent sovereignty and therefore secession. Indeed, judge Ivor Jennings identified the inherent problems in the right of "peoples" to self-determination, as i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Witch Trials In Scotland
In early modern Scotland, in between the early 16th century and the mid-18th century, judicial proceedings concerned with the crimes of witchcraft () took place as part of a series of witch trials in Early Modern Europe. In the Late Middle Ages, there were a handful of prosecutions for harm done through witchcraft, but the passing of the Witchcraft Act 1563 made witchcraft, or consulting with witches, capital crimes. The first major issue of trials under the new act were the North Berwick witch trials, beginning in 1590, in which King James VI played a major part as "victim" and investigator. He became interested in witchcraft and published a defence of witch-hunting in the ''Daemonologie'' in 1597, but he appears to have become increasingly sceptical and eventually took steps to limit prosecutions. An estimated 4,000 to 6,000 people, mostly from the Scottish Lowlands, were tried for witchcraft in this period, a much higher rate than for neighbouring England. There were major ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cunning Folk
Cunning folk, also known as folk healers or wise folk, were practitioners of folk medicine, White magic, helpful folk magic and divination in Europe from the Middle Ages until the 20th century. Their practices were known as the cunning craft. Their services also included thwarting witchcraft. Although some cunning folk were denounced as witches themselves, they made up a minority of those accused, and the commoner, common people generally made a distinction between the two. The name 'cunning folk' originally referred to Cunning folk in Britain, folk-healers and magic-workers in Britain, but the name is now applied as an umbrella term for similar people in other parts of Europe. European names Names given to folk-healers and magic-workers in Europe include: * the Danish ("wise folk")#Dav03, Davies 2003. p. 163. * the Dutch ("magic-doctors") or ("devil-banners") * the Finnish and Karelian ''tietäjät'' ("knowers") * the French ("soothsayer-healers") and ("curse-lifters") * th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
