Of Kings and Midwives: the First Witch Hunt in Scotland

In this episode, we travel to Scotland to take a look at the first “panic year” of 1590-1591 that resulted in the first witch hunt in Scottish history. Looking specifically at the case of Agnes Sampson, who was known as the Wise Midwife of Keith, we see how this first hunt for witches captured the attention of the king himself, as James VI became convinced that witches directly threatened his life by conjuring a storm at sea. Because of this, King James brought all the more attention and credibility to this witch hunt as he personally sat in on the trials and participated in the questioning of the accused, including a respected old widow and midwife who spent her final days suffering horrific pain and humiliation under the scrutinizing eyes of her king. Sources:Ray J. Defalque and A.J. Wright, “In the Name of God: Why Agnes Sampson and Eufame McCalyean were burned at the stake,” Bulletin of Anesthesia History Vol. 22, Issue 3 (July 2004). Julian Goodare, “Women and the Witch-Hunt in Scotland,” Social History, Vol. 23, No. 3 (Oct. 1998). Brian P. Levack, ed., “The Trial of Agnes Sampson, 1591,” The Witchcraft Sourcebook, second edition (Routledge, 2015).Michael Lynch, ed., “Witch-hunts,” The Oxford Companion to Scottish History (Oxford University Press, 2007). Lois Martin, A Brief History of Witchcraft (Running Press, 2010). Written and recorded by: Kenyon PayneTheme music: "Southern Gothic" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Outro music: “D´vil,” anrocomposerAdditional featured music:“Inside the Walls,” MeeGiStudio“Dark Storytime,” JoelFazhari“Dark Piano,” BrunoMagic“Sinister Night,” SoulProdMusic“Tragedy and Grief,” Ashot_DanielyanBy Kevin MacLeod(incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/:“Skye Cuillin”“Interloper”“Invariance” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.