Meg Dow

Meg Dow
DiedApril 1590
Castlehill, Edinburgh
Cause of deathCapital punishment (strangled and burnt to death)
Years active1580s
Known forScottish woman executed for witchcraft and infanticide

Meg Dow or Margaret Dow (died 1590), was a Scottish woman executed for witchcraft. She was charged with infanticide and witchcraft in April 1590 and was subsequently executed at Castlehill, Edinburgh.[1] The Survey of Scottish Witchcraft database lists her age at the time as 9 years old.[2]

Castlehill, Edinburgh

Biography

Dow was from Gilmerton south east of Edinburgh. She was charged with the 'crewell murdreissing of twa young infant bairns," by magic[3][4][5] and was questioned on 14 April 1590 and again on 20 April 1590.

Justice Depute, James Wardlaw, was the advocate prosecuting the case.[6] The central trial began on 28 April 1590 with Thomas Craig and James Wardlaw investigating. [7]

Dow told the trial that she had met "a meikle black man" on the road between Dalkeith and Edinestoune when she was carrying "the sark of a dying child". This was at 12:00am.[7]

She confessed that “the Innemy”, Satan, had marked her by biting her little finger and causing it to bleed conspicuously.

Death

Dow was convicted and her sentence was to be executed along with another accused, Janet Pook.[8][9]

She was 'wirreit [worried, strangled] at ane staik' and 'thairefter hir bodie brunt in asses' for the crimes of child murder, sorcerie and witchcraft at Castlehill, Edinburgh on 28 April 1590.[8][4][10][11]

References

  1. ^ Levack, Brian P. (2013-10-28). Witchcraft in the British Isles and New England: New Perspectives on Witchcraft, Magic, and Demonology. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-53883-4.
  2. ^ "Survey of Scottish Witchcraft database - Meg Dow".
  3. ^ Linton, E. Lynn (Elizabeth Lynn); Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture. NcD; Leona Bowman Carpenter Collection of English and American Literature. NcD (1861). Witch stories. Duke University Libraries. London : Chapman and Hall.
  4. ^ a b Dalyell, Sir John Graham (1834). The Darker Superstitions of Scotland: Illustrated from History and Practice. Waugh and Innes.
  5. ^ Stoker, Bram; Mackay, Charles; Godwin, William; Scott, Walter; Upham, Charles Wentworth; Michelet, Jules; Ashton, John; Williams, Howard; Mather, Increase (2022-11-13). The Book of Witchcraft. DigiCat.
  6. ^ "Survey of Scottish Witchcraft database - The Trial of Meg Dow".
  7. ^ a b "Survey of Scottish Witchcraft database - Case investigation of Meg Dow".
  8. ^ a b Normand, Lawrence; Roberts, Gareth (2000). Witchcraft in early modern Scotland: James VI's Demonology and the North Berwick witches. Exeter studies in history. Exeter: University of Exeter press. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-85989-388-6.
  9. ^ Walker, David Maxwell (1988). A Legal History of Scotland: The sixteenth century. W. Green. ISBN 978-0-567-09711-8.
  10. ^ Naphy, William G.; Roberts, Penny (1997-11-15). Fear in Early Modern Society. Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-5205-7.
  11. ^ Club, Maitland (1833). Criminal Trials in Scotland: From A.D. 1488 to A.D. 1624, Embracing the Entire Reigns of James IV. and V., Mary Queen of Scots, and James VI. William Tait.