Witch belief in Scottish coastal communities

Henderson, L. (2017) Witch belief in Scottish coastal communities. In: Worthington, D. (ed.) The New Coastal History: Cultural and Environmental Perspectives from Scotland and Beyond. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham, Switzerland, pp. 233-249. ISBN 9783319640891 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-64090-7_14)

Abstract

Scottish witchcraft historiography has tended to focus its attention on inland Lowland agricultural regions and farming communities. However, coastal regions and fishing villages seem also to have contributed more than their fair share of witch suspects during the era of the witch-hunts and beyond. Drawing on a select sample of witchcraft cases, confessions, and folk narratives this article asks if there was anything distinctive about witches from Scottish coastal communities, in comparison with those from inland areas? It also proposes a new categorization of the Scottish witch figure, that of the elemental witch, particularly skilled in the manipulation of the natural world, the weather and produce of the sea.

• Item Type: Book Sections
• Keywords: Scottish history, coastal history, witchcraft, witch belief.
• Status: Published
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Henderson, Dr Lizanne
• Authors: Henderson, L.
• Subjects: D History General and Old World > D History (General); D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain; G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GR Folklore; H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General); Q Science > QH Natural history
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social & Environmental Sustainability
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• ISBN: 9783319640891
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2017 The Author
• First Published: First published in The New Coastal History: Cultural and Environmental Perspectives from Scotland and Beyond: 233-249
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy