This exhibition was curated by Carlie Manners (Museum Intern
2017), a Canadian student, who completed her Museum and Gallery
Studies degree with us.
The European witch-hunts spanned from roughly 1450-1750,
and saw an estimated 50,000 women and men executed under witchcraft
convictions. The grandeur of the European witch-hunts does
not make this event an anomaly. In fact, witchcraft lore has
existed in some capacity in almost every human culture throughout
history. While it holds varying definitions in each culture,
witchcraft is predominantly seen as evil and associated with the
devil. In a European context, witchcraft was largely understood as
a power that is distinguished from any physical force or natural
phenomenon understood by the society concerned. During the Early
Modern Period, the threat of witches and the devil was seen to be a
very real and imminent threat to daily life and church authority.
With this in mind, it is important to note that each country holds
their own interpretation of witchcraft beliefs, while still
subscribing to certain patterns of traditional lore.
In Scotland, the 1563 Witchcraft Act defined
witchcraft and all consultation with witches, as a crime
punishable by death. Following this, prominent literary
works Newes From
Scotland and Daemonologie were
published in 1591 and 1597 respectively, as the first works on
Scottish witchcraft. At the same time, Scotland began to see
major periods of witchcraft persecutions in 1590-1597, 1640-1644
and 1660-1663. During these outbreaks, it is estimated that one in
330 people in Scotland would be accused of witchcraft. The last
witch was executed in Scotland in 1727 and eight years later in
1735, the death penalty for witchcraft was officially
abolished.
The Dumfries and Galloway region stood as a centre for
witchcraft trials and persecutions during the
16th and 17th centuries in the
South West of the country. The study of witchcraft in South
West Scotland generally looks at Dumfries and Galloway, Wigtown,
Ayrshire and Kirkcudbright whom at times, all worked in conjunction
to bring about persecution for confirmed witches. In fact, it is
estimated that the South West of Scotland saw 158 combined cases of
witchcraft. The accusations in this area of Scotland were
predominantly concerned with troubles with agriculture, family and
neighbours. They included offenses like using magic to kill
cattle, crop damages, bewitching livestock, and cursing resulting
in death. What is seen as a unique occurrence in South
Western witchcraft is little mention of the Devil or demonology in
surviving trial documentation. Certainly, local beliefs
included the understanding of the Devil's hand in creating witches;
however the occurrence of demonic witchcraft did not hold the same
prevalence as seen within continental Europe.
Ideas regarding the behaviours of witches tended to echo a local
focus in South West Scotland. In fishing villages, witches are seen
scaring away fish and within agricultural villages witches are
bringing about crop destruction and killing cattle. In this way
witchcraft lore in the area tapped more into local anxieties than
the larger demonological mythology of witches.