Scottish woman executed for witchcraft and infanticide
Meg Dow orMargaret Dow (died 1590), was a Scottish woman executed for witchcraft. She was charged withinfanticide andwitchcraft in April 1590 and was subsequently executed atCastlehill, Edinburgh.[1] TheSurvey of Scottish Witchcraft database lists her age at the time as 9 years old.[2]
Dow was fromGilmerton south east ofEdinburgh. 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 betweenDalkeith 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.
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]
^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.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
^abNormand, 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.ISBN978-0-85989-388-6.
