Matronly and solemn in character, her attempts at healing were not always productive with varying levels of success. She usually worked in the local area around Haddington those availing themselves of her services came from a wide socio-economic status, ranging from minor gentry like Lady Edmiston, Lady Kilbaberton and Lady Roslin, through to servants, poor people as well as the spouses of skippers and the sheriff of Haddington.
Ĭoached in some of the black arts by her father, midwifery, healing, making predictions and other skills associated with being a cunning woman formed the basis of Agnes’s career since at least 1585. She was a widow with children following the death of her husband she was left in straitened circumstances. Records do not precisely indicate her age historian Peter Maxwell-Stuart describes her as middle-aged, whereas other scholars, including Brian Levack, refer to her as elderly. Modern-day texts often use an anglicised version. In Scotland and England during the sixteenth century spelling was haphazard leading to many words, places and names having several variations. BackgroundĪ resident in a little village named Nether Keith just south of Haddington, East Lothian, Agnes Sampson, Samsoune or Samson, was commonly known as the wise wife of Keith or the “wyse wyff of Keyth”.
Modern-day scholars consider that from her recorded examinations of early December 1590, the inquisitors’ initial questioning of a cunning woman takes the route of transforming her into a witch. The pamphlet, Newes from Scotland 1591 pamphlet describing the North Berwick witch trials in Scotland, detailing the confessions given by the accused witches before the King., printed in London while the trials were taking place but produced after she had been executed, gave an account of her interrogations and confessions the narrative was sensationalised and some of the content is omitted from official records.
#THE WITCHCRAFT SOURCEBOOK SECOND EDITION BIBLIOGRAPHY SERIES#
she was strangled and her body burned on Edinburgh’s Castle Hill the following day.Īgnes was a central figure in what became a major and significant series of trials King James VI took a personal interest in the ensuing events after allegations were made the coven of witches of which she was a part was plotting against his life. Transported to Edinburgh, Agnes was further interrogated, then eventually tried and convicted of witchcraft on 27 January 1591 as part of the North Berwick witch trials Series of Scottish witch trials held between 15 , who was facing similar charges in a nearby parish. After being tortured, the initial testimony she gave led to the start of the North Berwick witch trials. Young Scottish maidservant suspected of witchcraft by her employer in November 1590. She was already being held by the Haddington Presbytery under suspicion of witchcraft when she was named as an associate by Geillis Duncan Young Scottish maidservant suspected of witchcraft by her employer in November 1590. included a description of Agnes Sampson confessing that together with many other witches she travelled the seas on individual sievesĪgnes Sampson was a Scottish cunning woman, healer and midwife. 1591 pamphlet describing the North Berwick witch trials in Scotland, detailing the confessions given by the accused witches before the King. The pamphlet Newes from Scotland 1591 pamphlet describing the North Berwick witch trials in Scotland, detailing the confessions given by the accused witches before the King.
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