Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The project has created a database containing all people known to have been accused of witchcraft in early modern Scotland. There is information on where and when they were accused, how they were tried, what their fate was, and on a wide range of themes relating to social and cultural history. The information was gathered through a survey of secular and ecclesiastical records, central and local. A total of nearly 4,000 people accused of withcraft in Scotland were found between 1563 and 1736 - the period in which witchcraft was a secular crime. After duplicates recorded in previous surveys had been deleted, this makes almost 1,500 new cases of witchcraft accusations.

Main Topics:

Biographical and social information about accused witches in early modern Scotland; cultural and sociological patterns of witchcraft belief and accusation; community, ecclesiastical and legal involvement in investigation and trial of witchcraft suspects; national and regional variations, chronology and geography.

Purposive selection/case studies

Compilation or synthesis of existing material