In the spring of 1662, the legal machinery of the Scottish witch trials turned toward Eyemouth in Berwickshire, focusing its scrutiny upon Adam Robertson. A man of fifty years, Adam occupied a position of middling socioeconomic status within the burgh, earning his living as a maltman. His case, formally registered under the reference C/EGD/1406, saw him drawn into the turbulent judicial environment of the mid-seventeenth century, where allegations of witchcraft were processed with increasing bureaucratic rigor.
The gravity of the proceedings against Adam is evidenced by the significant financial surety demanded by the authorities to ensure his presence at trial (T/JO/830). The court required his adult son to pledge a substantial sum of 2,000 merks, a heavy burden that underscores the precariousness of Adam's situation. This requirement serves as a rare surviving window into the social and economic pressures placed upon the families of the accused, binding his kin directly to the legal obligation of his appearance before the judges.