January 1591, Edinburgh: A woman is about to be executed. Her crime? She is a witch. She’s been interrogated and tortured and now she’ll be strangled and burnt at the stake. How did the execution of this woman light the fuse on a century of witchhunts across Britain, and the state-sanctioned killing of thousands more like her? Lucy Worsley Investigates I, BBC 2023
The withhunting craze that swept the country 400 years ago began here just along the coast from Edinburgh in the small seaside town of North Berwick … This was a time when everyone believed in witchcraft. ibid.
James I/VI: What better way to prove that you are a righteous and godly king than to triumph in a face-off with witches. ibid.
A sense that something was going wrong and somebody must be to blame. ibid.