EDINBURGH, Scotland – Back in March, on International Women’s Day, Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, gave an apology to everyone who suffered under the Witchcraft Act, stating that:
“At a time when women were not even allowed to speak as witnesses in a courtroom, they were accused and killed because they were poor, different, vulnerable or in many cases just because they were women. It was injustice on a colossal scale, driven at least in part by misogyny in its most literal sense, hatred of women. Today on International Women’s Day, as first minister on behalf of the Scottish government, I am choosing to acknowledge that egregious historic injustice and extend a formal posthumous apology to all of those accused, convicted, vilified or executed under the Witchcraft Act of 1563.”
The Scottish establishment has, however, now gone further: Natalie Don, MSP for Renfrewshire North and West, has launched a new consultation into witchcraft convictions and would like to see an official pardon for all those convicted of witchcraft. Current estimates suggest that this was around 2,500 people, 85% of whom were women.
Women being hanged for witchcraft, Newcastle, 1655. “A. Hangman, B. Bellman. C. Two sergeants. D. Witchfinder taking his money for his work.” [public domain]
Persecution was particularly strong in Scotland in comparison to England and Wales, and took place at a rate of more than 5 times the European average of executions.
An official pardon is not a new concept: campaigners have been seeking it for 200 years. Miss Sturgeon has said that parliament may also choose to legislate in due course and there have been calls for a national monument in commemoration of those who died.
Ms. Don told television station ITV:
“The recent formal apology from the first minister on International Women’s Day was welcomed by campaigners in Scotland and recognised around the world as a statement of intent. It was a powerful and incredibly important first step in righting the historic wrong of ‘witchcraft’ accusations, arrests and executions.
“My Member’s Bill will hopefully be the next step towards that and, if passed, it will make clear that the people convicted of witchcraft all those years ago should never have faced the injustice of being labelled as criminals. By issuing official pardons for all those convicted of witchcraft, we will be sending a strong message to the wide world – some parts of which, women still face prosecution for being accused of witchcraft – that Scotland recognises what happened to these people as a deplorable miscarriage of justice.
“It is also about influencing the gendered and patriarchal attitudes which, unfortunately, still exists in our society today – and making it clear that Scotland does not tolerate discrimination in any way.”
The Witches of Scotland campaign group said: “We are absolutely delighted to see Natalie Don’s Bill reach this stage and are hopeful that this will bring about some posthumous justice to the thousands of people who were executed by the state during the witch hunts. This will also signal to other countries around the world where accusations of witchcraft are a very real and current issue that this is not acceptable in the modern day.”
The North Berwick Witches meet the Devil in the local kirkyard, from a contemporary pamphlet, Newes from Scotland [public domain]
The Wild Hunt reached out to Priestess Ness Bosch, who has been involved in a recent event at Paisley in June together with the Renfrewshire Witch Hunt 1697, and prior to the event, she gave us the following statement:
“The Renfrewshire Witch Hunt 1697 is a charity that works to keep alive the memory of the events occurred in 1696/7 where a girl, Christian Shaw, accused 35 people of witchcraft, 7 of them locals from Paisley: Margaret Lang, John Lindsay, James Lindsay, John Reid, Catherine Campbell, Margaret Fulton, and Agnes Naismith. They were tortured and put to their deaths at the Gallow Green (where the charity is working to develop a memorial garden), in the west end of the town. The story tells that Agnes Naismith cursed everyone present in the execution and their descendants. This was the last execution for witchcraft that took place in western Europe.
To honor the memory of the seven citizens from Paisley found guilty, on June the 10th, Renfrewshire Witch Hunt 1697 will be holding an event, on the Anniversary of the execution (June 10th 1697).The event wants to mark the First Minister and the Church of Scotland [‘s] public apology and pardon for those innocent victims of the Scottish Witch Hunts. Invitations to the event were sent to politicians and personalities of the city. Also to members of the Interfaith and other residents of Paisley, including members of the local Pagan community.
As part of the event, Ness Bosch, a renowned Pagan Priestess who lives in the West of Scotland and who works to give visibility to the pagan community in the country through different projects, will celebrate a cleansing ritual to try to release some of the energies generated by the injustice of the crimes and a blessing to honor those executed. There will also be music, poetry and a floral offering.”
The event was held as planned, and following the ritual, Natalie Don and Deputy Provost Cathy McEwan laid a wreath. Stephen McLaughlin, project assistant for Renfrewshire Witch Hunt 1697, told Scots paper the Daily Record that: “We are looking to get funding to add to the garden and make it more of a public space as well as a memorial to what happened there.”
In her initial apology, Nicola Sturgeon outlined the importance of this gesture:
“Firstly, acknowledging injustice, no matter how historic is important. This parliament has issued, rightly so, formal apologies and pardons for the more recent historic injustices suffered by gay men and by miners.
“Second, for some, this is not yet historic. There are parts of our world where even today, women and girls face persecution and sometimes death because they have been accused of witchcraft.
“And thirdly, fundamentally, while here in Scotland the Witchcraft Act may have been consigned to history a long time ago, the deep misogyny that motivated it has not. We live with that still. Today it expresses itself not in claims of witchcraft, but in everyday harassment, online rape threats and sexual violence.”
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