In June 1614, Annas Erskine, a woman of upper social standing and the daughter of the heir apparent of Logie in Perth, became the subject of a significant judicial proceeding. Her case, recorded under the reference C/EGD/153, moved beyond the local jurisdictions of Perth and was brought to Edinburgh on 22 June 1614. While the administrative particulars suggest this was not a standard sitting of the High Court, the proceedings were nonetheless placed under the authority of the Privy Council. Throughout the legal process, Annas was repeatedly named as an accomplice in the testimony of others, including Gilbert Campbell, Jonet Irving, and the brothers George and Johnne Kirk, whose own trials became inextricably linked with hers.
The culmination of these proceedings arrived swiftly on the same day the trial was recorded. Following the verdict of guilty, the court issued a sentence of execution. Unlike many accused in such trials who faced burning at the stake, Annas was subjected to a beheading at the Mercat Cross in Edinburgh. The records confirm that this sentence was carried out, marking the finality of a case that highlights the complex intersection of social status, local witness testimony, and the centralized judicial apparatus of early seventeenth-century Scotland.
