Witches of Scotland

My online course today about researching Scottish ancestors was excellent. We had a number of eminent genealogists from Scotland speaking to us live in what were for them the very early hours of the morning. I learned a great deal and now need lots of time to follow up some of the things I heard about.

One of the slightly different sessions was about the witches of Scotland and a wonderful volunteer group called 'Remembering the Accused Witches of Scotland'. This group is working towards recognition of the huge injustice done to the women accused of witchcraft.

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have identified over 3,800 cases of witchcraft accusation in Scotland between 1563 and 1736. The numbers peaked between 1590 and 1662 when there were five large-scale witch hunts
 
84% of those accused were women and half of those whose ages are recorded were over 40. However, contrary to popular belief, the majority weren’t particularly poor, nor were they healers or midwives. The outcomes of many cases are unknown but the tentative estimate is that two thirds of accused witches in Scotland were executed.

The truly horrifying fact that I learned was that women in some parts of the world are still accused of being witches and are punished or executed as a result.