Scottish witches names on Ancestry

An updated post from a previous year, which may be of interest for Hallowe'en...

In 2016 Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) released a special Scottish collection just in time for Hallowe'en.

Scotland, Names of Witches, 1658
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=61099
Source: Names of Witches in Scotland. Wellcome Library, London, England.

About Scotland, Names of Witches, 1658

The passing of the Scottish Witchcraft Act in 1563 made witchcraft, or consulting with witches, capital crimes in Scotland. It is estimated that between three and five thousand women were publicly accused of being witches in 16th and 17th century Scotland, a much higher number than neighbouring England. Some men were also accused of witchcraft during this period, however, the number of women persecuted was far larger.

The outbreak of witch-hunting in the years 1658-1662, the period in which this list of names was created, is generally agreed to represent the high water mark of Scottish persecution.

Within this collection, you will be able to find details of the accused's name and resident town.

(Image: Wellcome Library)

There is a bit more on the book's release on Scottish Legal news at http://www.scottishlegal.com/2016/10/27/book-listing-those-accused-of-witchcraft-in-17th-century-scotland-digitised/

Incidentally, I've noticed that the University of Edinburgh's Survey of Scottish Witchcraft website at http://witches.shca.ed.ac.uk (also https://www.shca.ed.ac.uk/Research/witches/) appears to be down - here's hoping it issn't permanent. There is more about the project at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survey_of_Scottish_Witchcraft

UPDATE: The site is back up!

Chris

My next 5 week Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers course starts November 2nd - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. My book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is now out, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.