Sawer,Jannett
Case Reference: C/EGD/783
| Case Ref | C/EGD/783 |
|---|---|
| Accused | Jannett Sawer |
| Case Start Date | 7/10/1651 |
| Case Date | 23/4/1658 |
| Age at Case | 44 |
| Common Name | Sawer,Jannett |
|---|
| Type | Primary | Secondary |
|---|---|---|
| Demonic | — | ✓ |
| Maleficium | — | ✓ |
| Implicated by Another | — | ✓ |
| Neighbourhood Dispute | ✓ | ✓ |
Notes: Definitely neighbourhood dispute, lots of quarreling over work, animals, ale purchases, stolen aqua vitae fire, rent collection. She was accused of flyting. She threatened a Kirk searcher who found her not at church on a Sunday. Another accused witch had been hired by her neighbours to stop her and in the process she implicated Sawer for witchcraft. She was denounced by Helen Gavin. She denied it all!
| Type | Text |
|---|---|
| Devil's Mark |
| Elphane/Fairyland | — |
|---|---|
| Food/Drink | — |
| Verbal Formulae | — |
| Ritual Acts | — |
| Familiars | — |
| Shape Changing | — |
|---|---|
| Dreams/Visions | ✓ |
| Unorthodox Religious Practice | — |
| Sympathetic Magic | — |
| Riding Dead | — |
Notes: horses that died on lammas were blamed on her. A woman saw four cats dancing 'as it weir dancing the reill dance', the cats went to Jannet's house. Jannett also accused a woman of stealing an ingle [fire] from the aqua vitae pot, the supposed thief suffered great pain and boils. I think this was a counter-strategy tried on Jannett. A man who was going to report her to the session for missing church on a Sunday got ill on the Monday and just before his death saw her with 'a devil out of hell'.
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: she was mentioned as taking away a woman's milk, bewitching people and animals, and killing a bairn. Quarrelling over stables, over payment to her son, rent collection, theft. She was summond to the Kirk session for stealing wort and ale.
Other Maleficia Notes: The Ship of Balfast came to Ayr for takell (it was bound for Barbados), she supposedly raised a storm to destroy it. Jannett was seen lying within the sea mark with her mouth up, sucking the air 'lyk ane adder'.
Property Damage Types
- Ship
Weather Modification Types
- Storm
- Social slight
- Lammas
- Whitsunday
- Counter-magic
| Name | Title | Involvement | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| James Chalmer | Investigator | ||
| John Crawford | Investigator | ||
| Hugh Kennedy | Investigator |
| Source | Reference | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Circuit Court Books | JC10/1 fo. 214r-215v, | |
| Process Notes | JC26/25 | Ayr Court list from 6/4/1658, and three porteous rolls. |
| Process Notes | JC26/25 | Her dittay |
| Ayr Council Records (MS in Carnegie Library Ayr) | II, 80b and 91b | |
| Scotland and the Protectorate, C H Firth | p. 382 |
| Trial Ref | Date | Year | Verdict | Sentence | Execution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T/LA/1119 | 6/4/1658 | 1658 | Guilty | Execution | Yes |