So the witch craze was worse north of the border. Scotland was more superstitious than England. The Catholic attempt to blow up Parliament with James inside in 1605 probably did little to soften his views on religion. It’s no surprise people were more used to such supernatural practices in their daily life. Then add to that the healing ‘spells’ people used in lieu of medicine. Look at these ‘magical’ aspects of Catholicism. As he says, “When Catholics prayed to the saints and angels for assistance, or held ritualistic incantations to “exercise” demons, King James likened this practice of Necromancy” (2016: xi). He highlights the importance of religious relics to the faith, such as bones or fragments of cloth associated with them. Warren points out the inherent supernatural nature of Catholicism. James order the main suspect, Agnes Sampson, to Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh for questioning.ĭuring questioning, Agnes allegedly repeated what James had said to Anne (in private) on their wedding night.ĭæmonologie, in forme of a dialogue, divided into three Bookes via the British Library They included strapping severed body parts to dead cats and tossing them into the sea. Under torture, the suspects admitted to all sorts of spells. Some 70 people ended up dragged into the affair. People accused them of the witchcraft that raised the storm. With this flying around in his head, James decided the storms he’d encountered were created by witches.Ī group of women were rounded up in North Berwick. They first burned a witch at the stake in 1571.Īccording to Jimmy Fyfe, around 2000 witches stood trial in Denmark. It led to witch hunts around the country. The Danish witch-hunts went back to their conversion from Catholicism to Lutheranism in 1536.Ī Lutheran bishop painted Catholics as witches to cement the country’s conversion. It’s possible that James’ first trip to Denmark started his obsession with witches. The Catholic Church also came under fire in Scot’s book for encouraging superstitious beliefs. After doing so, that neighbour could make accusations to ease their own guilty conscience. Scot pointed at neighbours turning away an old woman in need. This was an era in which people were encouraged to be charitable. And he included non-magical reasons for things happening. He offered psychological causes for ‘magical phenomena’. Yet Scot’s goal was debunking belief in witchcraft and magic. It’s hardly surprising that suspicion often fell on old women. He’d described witches as being old, pale, wrinkled, deformed and miserable. Reginald Scot had already published his witchcraft text, A Discoverie of Witchcraft, in 1584. He didn’t buy into it enough to make them the true villains of the play.īut Daemonologie wasn’t the first book about witches. Shakespeare may have just been paying lip service to witchcraft to curry favour with King James. Macbeth and Banquo encounter the witches, by Théodore Chassériau via Wikimedia Commons
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