Louise Yeoman (born 1968) is a historian and broadcaster specialising in the Scottish witch hunts and 17th century Scottish religious beliefs.

Career

Yeoman completed a PhD at the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

on the subject of the

Covenanters Covenanters were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. It originated in disputes with James VI and his son ...

. She worked for a year at the National Archives of Scotland and for a short time at Glasgow University Library. In 1992 she became curator of early modern manuscripts and cataloguer of the Wodrow Collection at the

National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS; ; ) is one of Scotland's National Collections. It is one of the largest libraries in the United Kingdom. As well as a public programme of exhibitions, events, workshops, and tours, the National Library of ...

. In 1996 she was curator of the Library's Jacobite exhibition ''A Nation Divided''. In 1996-97 she was seconded to BBC Scotland as writer and presenter of the BBC TV series ''Stirring Times.'' From 2001 to 2003 Yeoman was co-director of the

Survey of Scottish Witchcraft The Survey of Scottish Witchcraft is an online database of witch trials in early modern Scotland, containing details of 3,837 accused gathered from contemporary court documents covering the period from 1563 until the repeal of the Scottish Witchc ...

alongside

Julian Goodare Julian Goodare is a professor of history at University of Edinburgh. Academic career Goodare studied at the University of Edinburgh in the 1980s, afterwards engaged as a postdoctoral fellow. He lectured at the University of Wales, and at the Univ ...

. In 2014, interest in

Lilias Adie Lilias Adie ( – 1704) was a Scottish woman who lived in the coastal village of Torryburn, Fife, Scotland. She was accused of practising witchcraft and fornicating with the devil but died in prison before sentence could be passed. Her intertid ...

's story encouraged Yeoman and Douglas Speirs, an archaeologist at

Fife Council Fife Council is the local authority for the Fife area of Scotland and is the third largest Scottish council by number of councillors, having 75 elected council members. Councillors make decisions at its regular council meetings, or at those of ...

, to look for her burial site. Using 19th-century historical documents, they found a seaweed-covered slab of stone exactly where the documents described: in a group of rocks near the Torryburn railway bridge lay "the great stone doorstep that lies over the rifled grave of Lilly Eadie", and a rock with "the remains of an iron ring". Yeoman is now a producer and presenter at

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scottish national radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same name from 23 N ...

, where she works on programmes including Time Travels and the Witch Hunt podcast series with Susan Morrison. She has spoken out about the courage of accused Scottish witches such as Adie. Yeoman has spoken out in support of Scotland acknowledging the women killed as accused witches: “Do I think there should be a national statement that we think the witch hunt was wrong and we are sorry? Yes. Do I think there should be a national memorial? Yes, and local memorials.”

Publications

* ''

, 1563-1736''. J Goodare, L Yeoman, L Martin, J Miller. (University of Edinburgh. School of History, Classics and Archaeology, 2010).
''Reportage Scotland: Scottish History in the Voices of Those Who Were There''
(Luath Press, 2005). *"Hunting the rich witch in Scotland: high status witchcraft suspects and their persecutors, 1590–1650", in J. Goodare, ed., ''The Scottish Witch-Hunt in Context'' (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002), . *Witchcraft in early modern Scotland: James VI's 'Demonology' and the North Berwick witches, Scottish Historical Review 81 (212), 267-269 (2002). *Normand and Roberts (eds.), Witchcraft in Early Modern Scotland, Scottish Historical Review 81 (2), 267-269 (2002). *Satan's conspiracy, magic and witchcraft in 16th century Scotland, HISTORY 87 (288), 606-606 (2002). *Archie's Invisible Worlds Discovered-spirituality, madness and Johnston of Wariston's family, RECORDS-SCOTTISH CHURCH HISTORY SOCIETY 27, 156-186 (1997). *The Devil as Doctor: witchcraft, Wodrow and the wider World, Scottish Archives 1, 93-105 (1995). *Heart-work: emotion, empowerment and authority in covenanting times (University of St Andrews, 1991).

References

External links

Dr Louise Yeoman's Google Scholar record
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yeoman, Louise Living people 1968 births 20th-century Scottish historians 21st-century Scottish historians 20th-century Scottish women writers 21st-century Scottish women writers Scottish broadcasters Scottish archivists Scottish women curators Alumni of the University of St Andrews BBC Radio Scotland presenters Historians of Scotland People associated with the University of Glasgow Historians of witchcraft