In December 1628, the legal machinery of the Scottish witch trials turned toward the parish of Ligertwode in Berwick, focusing its attention on George Blyth. As a married man residing within the local community, George’s involvement in the judicial proceedings was marked by his appearance in the records under case reference C/EGD/1065, dated the 4th of December. The archival trail indicates that the process moved swiftly from this initial entry to a formal trial, documented under reference T/LA/609.
While the surviving records provide few details regarding the specific nature of the allegations brought against him, the documentation confirms that George was subjected to the full rigours of the seventeenth-century Scottish legal system. His case highlights the reality that, while women were disproportionately accused during this period, men like George were not exempt from the scrutiny of the courts. By charting his progression from the initial case filing to the subsequent trial, these records preserve the administrative reality of his involvement in a judicial environment deeply concerned with the perceived intersections of the mundane and the malefic.