Couper,Marable

Case Reference: C/EGD/963

Case Summary
Case RefC/EGD/963
AccusedMarable Couper
Case Start Date
Case Date7/7/1624
Common NameCouper,Marable
Characterization
TypePrimarySecondary
Maleficium
Neighbourhood Dispute

Elphane/Fairyland
Food/Drink
Verbal Formulae
Ritual Acts
Familiars
Shape Changing
Dreams/Visions
Unorthodox Religious Practice
Sympathetic Magic
Riding Dead

Notes: She had 'ane great bag lyk ane fwynes bledder' [A great bag like a faune's bladder] on her lap which she claimed was her guts which a woman had trampled out with her knees. [Is this some reference to the shamanistic removal of organs?] She seems to imply that she was being bewitched and was trying to find the witch who was plagueing her husband and her household. Some tried to appease the person she believed to be the culprit with ale after she asked for alms and said the person would heal.

Ritual Objects
  • Ale
  • Bannock

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: Accused of taking the profit off of someone's cow. Cursing and quarrelling about cattle. Dispute over a borrowed 'Killtreis' when grinding cornes. The usual quarrel, curse, harm.

Other Maleficia Notes: accused of flyting. And made sarcastic comments about the Devil. People refered to her 'as ane banished witche'

Property Damage Types
  • Crops
  • Ale
  • Animals
  • Meal
  • Buildings

  • Midsummer
  • Harvest
  • Saint Magnus Day
  • Beltane
  • Candlemas
  • Fastings eve
  • Halloween

  • Superstition
  • Sorcery

  • Counter-magic
  • Protective magic
  • Appeasement

SourceReferenceNotes
RPC2nd S, v8 pp. 355-360See also Abbotsford Club, Miscellany/Vol. 1 [series 11], Edinburgh 1837. The project did not check this printed primary source.
Trials (1)
Trial RefDateYearVerdictSentenceExecution
T/LA/1103 7/7/16241624 GuiltyExecution Yes