In December 1629, the ecclesiastical and legal machinery of the Scottish Borders focused its attention upon Alisoun Pringill, a married woman residing in Hirsell, Berwick. Her case, documented under reference C/EGD/1166, reflects the standard procedural journey for those suspected of maleficium during this era. The initial developments in her matter involved a formal denunciation before the Presbytery of Duns, a critical step in the early modern judicial process where local clerical authorities examined accusations of spiritual or social transgressions before they could be elevated to a secular trial.
Following the initial proceedings at Duns, the legal records (T/LA/721) confirm that Alisoun moved into the formal trial phase of the judicial system. As a resident of the Hirsell estate, her experience highlights the intersection of local community scrutiny and the jurisdictional reach of the Presbytery. While the surviving documentation focuses strictly on these administrative milestones—her denunciation on the 18th of December 1629 and the subsequent trial—these records provide a clear, stark outline of the formal pathways through which an accused individual in seventeenth-century Berwick was processed by the state and the church.