In the autumn of 1661, the name of Jean Knox appears within the judicial records of East Lothian, marking her involvement in the legal proceedings of the period. A resident of the parish of Ormiston in Haddington, Jean is documented in the administrative archives under the case reference C/EGD/1397, which identifies her as a subject of inquiry dated the 6th of September 1661. This registration places her within the wider context of the intense judicial activity concerning witchcraft that characterized the mid-seventeenth century in Scotland.
Following the initial record of her case, Jean was subjected to the formal processes of the Scottish legal system, as evidenced by the subsequent trial entry T/JO/814. While the historical record provides the essential administrative details of her residence and the date of her trial, it remains silent regarding the specific evidence presented, the testimony offered, or the ultimate verdict of the court. Consequently, Jean remains an enigmatic figure in the archival history of Haddington, a person whose life intersected with the rigorous investigative mechanisms of the local kirk and secular courts during a period of significant social and legal upheaval.