Nisbet,Alisone
Case Reference: C/EGD/170
| Case Ref | C/EGD/170 |
|---|---|
| Accused | Alisone Nisbet |
| Case Start Date | 1/7/1630 |
| Case Date | 4/8/1632 |
| Common Name | Nisbet,Alisone |
|---|
| Type | Primary | Secondary |
|---|---|---|
| Unorthodox Religious Practice | — | ✓ |
| Folk Healing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Maleficium | — | ✓ |
| Midwifery | — | ✓ |
| Neighbourhood Dispute | — | ✓ |
Notes: Mostly healing attempts gone wrong. She seems to have been targeted also for her known adultery with a minister's servant. Her repeated adultery (to which she confessed) did not help her case. She was also accused of being part of Lady Samuelston's plot to kill her husband. A midwives competition for clients was the setting for one the accusations against her. The pregnant woman chose her and she then did an elaborate ritual which got her into trouble.
| Elphane/Fairyland | — |
|---|---|
| Food/Drink | — |
| Verbal Formulae | ✓ |
| Ritual Acts | ✓ |
| Familiars | — |
| Shape Changing | — |
|---|---|
| Dreams/Visions | — |
| Unorthodox Religious Practice | ✓ |
| Sympathetic Magic | ✓ |
| Riding Dead | — |
Notes: Scratching used against her! She walked withershins, southwards, and three times, involved in helping relieve the pain of childbirth. She tried to cure her brother using South running water and by burning his things. She was seen walking on Samuelstone's land and therefore being a part of Lady Samuelston's plot to kill her husband. She was accused of doing a midwifery ritual that got her into trouble. To ease the pain after childbirth she brought in a big pan of water, threw salt on a fire and rubbed the patient. She then dipped her fingers in the water and sprinkled it over the patient three times while uttering words. The words spoken were 'banes to the fyre and soule to the Devill'. St Peter's day was supposedly 29 June.
Ritual Objects
- Water
- Salt
- Wheat
Religious Motifs
- Baptism Imagery
- Three
Harm
| Human Illness | — |
|---|---|
| Human Death | ✓ |
| Animal Illness | ✓ |
| Animal Death | ✓ |
| Female Infertility | — |
| Male Impotence | — |
Methods
| Aggravating Disease | ✓ |
|---|---|
| Transferring Disease | ✓ |
| Laying On | — |
| Quarreling | ✓ |
| Cursing | ✓ |
| Poisoning | — |
Healing / Other
| Removal of Bewitchment | — |
|---|---|
| Recognised Healer | ✓ |
| Healing Humans | ✓ |
| Healing Animals | — |
| Midwifery | — |
| Property Damage | — |
| Weather Modification | — |
Disease Notes: Helped in childbirth, but transferred the disease to the midwife, who died. She was accused of sending problems to the whole town of Hilton.
Other Maleficia Notes: Revenge for firing her lover.
- Revenge
- St Peter's Day
- Sorcery
- Murder
- Adultery
- Scratching
| Name | Title | Involvement | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adam Bellenden | Mr | Commissioner | |
| William Cockburn | Sir | Commissioner | |
| John Hamilton | Sir | Commissioner | |
| Thomas Hope | Sir of Craighall | Commissioner | |
| John Scott | Sir of Scotstarvet | Commissioner |
| Source | Reference | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| SJC | v1, p. 210-213 | Also found in the High Court Record Index, no. 1 for 25/7/1632. |
| RPC | 2nd S, v4 p. 152, 166 | |
| Books of Adjournal | JC2/7 fos. 68v-69v | |
| RPC | 2nd S, v3 pp. 583-584, 603 | |
| RPC | 2nd S, v4 p. 56 | charges against the masters and landlords in the Merse for bringing in their tenants to bear witness and to be confronted with John Neill and Elie Nesbitt. |
| Edinburgh Town Treasurer's Accounts | ECA, Town Treasurer's Account, vol. 5 (1623-36), 1631-2 4 Aug. p. 892 | |
| Process Notes | JC26/10 'Alison Nisbet' bundle | Her bundle had fifteen items in it, with lots of details of accusations, a dittay, witness statements and pre-trial procedural stuff (lists of assize members and witnesses, etc.). |
| Trial Ref | Date | Year | Verdict | Sentence | Execution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T/LA/25 | 25/7/1632 | 1632 | Guilty | Execution | Yes |