Cristian Stewart was a woman of very poor socioeconomic standing who lived as a vagabond in late sixteenth-century Scotland. In the late summer and autumn of 1596, she became the subject of intense legal scrutiny, providing a series of four confessions between August 19 and September 23. These repeated statements—three of which were recorded in a domestic setting—culminated in an indictment regarding the death of Patrick Ruthven, whom she was accused of bewitching. Her case was significant enough to draw the attention of the authorities in Edinburgh, who ordered her trial to be conducted under the signet, a mark of high-level administrative oversight.
On November 27, 1596, the trial concluded with a verdict of guilty. Cristian was sentenced to death and subsequently executed by burning. The impact of the proceedings extended beyond her, as the judicial process prompted two other women, Issobell and Margaret Stewart, to undergo purgation by oath to clear themselves of involvement in the same alleged bewitchment of Patrick. The record of these events serves as a stark illustration of the gravity with which the Scottish legal system approached accusations of maleficium during this era.