James, having heard news from Denmark regarding…
December 1590 CE
James, having heard news from Denmark regarding the witch trials, has decided to set up his own tribunal.
Scotland by the autumn of 1590 is aflame with witch hunts, and many of those sent to trial have been questioned by the King himself.
More than a hundred suspected witches in North Berwick had very soon been arrested: many confess under torture to having met with the Devil in the church at night, and devoted themselves to doing evil, including poisoning the King and other members of his household, and attempting to sink the King's ship.
One of the accused in particular, Agnes Sampson, considered to have healing powers and having acted as a midwife for a large section of local society in the Barony of Keith, is examined by James VI at his palace of Holyrood House.
She is fastened to the wall of her cell by a witch's bridle, an iron instrument with four sharp prongs forced into the mouth, so that two prongs press against the tongue, and the two others against the cheeks.
She is kept without sleep and thrown with a rope around her head; only after these ordeals does Agnes Sampson confess to the fifty-three indictments against her.