Janet Boyman

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Janet Boyman (died 1572), also known as Jonet Boyman or Janet Bowman,[a] was a Scottish woman accused of witchcraft; she was tried and executed in 1572 although the case against her was started in 1570.[5] Her indictment has been described by modern-day scholars, such as Lizanne Henderson, as the earliest and most comprehensive record of witchcraft and fairy belief in Scotland.[5]

Accusations of witchcraft[edit]

Janet Boyman lived in the Cowgate of Edinburgh, and was said to have been from Ayrshire.[5] She was married to William Steill.[5] In early modern Scotland married women did not change their surnames.[6][7]

She was alleged to have predicted the death of Regent Moray who was assassinated in January 1570, and her accusation was the first to be made in connection with a political conspiracy.[2][8]

She told her interrogators that she made contact with the supernatural world at a well on the south side of Arthur's Seat a hill close to Edinburgh. There she conjured spirits who would help her heal others.[9] Sometimes she worked cures by washing the patients's shirt at the well at St Leonards.[10]

She was condemned as:

ane wyss woman that culd mend diverss seikness and bairnis that are tane away with fairyie men and wemen
a wise woman that could heal diverse illnesses and children taken away by fairy men and women.[5]

Jonet Boyman was executed on 29 December 1572.[5]

Personal life[edit]

There is little information available concerning Boyman's personal life; however the trial record shows her as living in Cowgate, a street in Edinburgh.[5] No indication is given of her age but she was married to William Steill.[5]

References[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Ronald Hutton and others, such as the Survey of Scottish Witchcraft Database, list her as Janet Boyman;[1][2] Henderson refers to her as Jonet Boyman,[3] which is the form used in the criminal records, but Janet Bowman is a further variation.[4]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ Hutton (2017), p. 219
  2. ^ a b "Janet Boyman (29/12/1572)", Survey of Scottish Witchcraft Database, University of Edinburgh, retrieved 10 March 2018
  3. ^ Henderson (2011), p. 231
  4. ^ Anderson (1877), p. 363
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Henderson (2011), p. 244
  6. ^ Jenny Wormald, Court, Kirk, and Community (London, 1981), p. 30.
  7. ^ History Workshop, What's in a Surname? Rebecca Mason
  8. ^ "Hubble bubble, toil and trouble: Scotland's dark past as a witch-hunting nation". HeraldScotland. 15 October 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  9. ^ Henderson (2011), p. 245
  10. ^ Henderson (2011), p. 246

Bibliography[edit]

  • Anderson, William (1877), The Scottish nation: or, The surnames, families, literature, honours, and biographical history of the people of Scotland, Fullerton
  • Henderson, Lizanne (2011), "'Detestable slaves of the devil': Changing ideas about witchcraft in sixteenth-century Scotland", in Cowan, Edward J.; Henderson, Lizanne (eds.), A History of Everyday Life in Medieval Scotland, 1000 to 1600, Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 978-0748621576
  • Hutton, Ronald (2017), The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present, Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0-300-22904-2
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