glenkite@aol.com Re: Looking for history on Gellie Duncan Jenny jenny@panix.com Thu Jul 6 13:47:22 2000 Dear Gwendallin,*p*Sorry it's taken me so long to respond. I've been dealing with the death of my 16-year old familiar, and some major computer problems.*p*Gillie (sometimes called Gillis, Geillis, or Jill) Duncan was one of the North Berwick witches -- the witches accused of trying to kill King James of Scotland in 1591. There's a pamphlet written about her trial, called "Newes from Scotland". A lengthy selection from it can be found in Barbara Rosen's book _Witchcraft in England: 1558-1618_ (I believe this book was also originally published under the name _Witchcraft_.)*p*Gillie was, through no fault of her own, the person who "started" this witch hunt. She was the serving girl of David Seaton, in Tranent, Scotland. Normally a servant lived in her master's house. But Seaton noticed that Gillie began to sleep someplace else, every other night. At about the same time, she developed notable healing skills. As the pamphlet says, "This Gillis Duncan took in hand to help all such as were troubled or grieved with any kind of sickenss or infirmity, and in short space did perform many matters most miraculous."*p*Seaton grew suspicious, as she'd never been able to heal before. He asked her where she learned this skill, and she refused to answer.*p*At this, Seaton decided she must be a witch. He gathered some of his friends and tortured Gillie. First, he applied "pilliewinks" to her -- a kind of thumb-screw that twisted the fingers until they dislocated or shattered. Gillie confessed nothing. Next Seaton had her "thrawed", meaning a rope was tied around her head, which was then violently twisted. All this torture, by the way, was quite illegal. Gillie was not accused of any crime, nor was she interogated by the authorities. Her master was acting on his own initiative, and quite illegally.*p*Despite these torments, Gillie refused to call herself a witch. Seaton ordered a bodily search, and they found a "witch's mark" on her throat. As soon as they did, Gillie confessed that her healing powers came from the Devil, and that she was a witch. (In Scotland, marks were considered proof positive of witchcraft. Therefore many people confessed after a mark was found, trying to buy the court's leniency. Or, at least, a quick and relatively painless death.)*p*Gillie was then jailed. Under questioning (and probably more torture) she accused ten other people of witchcraft.*p*As the trials escalated, King James himself became involved in the witches' interrogation. Agnes Tompson said that Gillie danced and played the Jews' harp at their sabbats. Therefore James had her summoned from jail to play before him*p*In the course of this witch-craze, 300 people were accused of witchcraft. 100 were questioned by the authorities; of these, a large but unknown number were killed. Unfortunately we've lost the verdicts for these trials (though we still have the inditements and discussions of the trial). Therefore we're not sure how many of them died.*p*None of my sources mentioned what eventually happened to Gillis. The odds are good that she was executed, but I don't believe we know for sure. Odd as it sounds, in Old and New England, people who confessed to witchcraft were often treated more leniently than those who insisted they were good Christians. Therefore there is a slim chance that she was eventually released.*p*Jenny*br* Looking for history on Gellie Duncan Glendan Duncan 251 Wed May 31 22:20:50 2000