In the early months of 1662, the judicial machinery of the Scottish witch trials reached the Isle of Bute, ensnaring a woman of standing within her local community. Kathrine Stewart, identified in the legal records as the "good wife of Largizean," occupied a middling socioeconomic position, suggesting a life defined by the domestic responsibilities and social expectations of a married woman in the mid-seventeenth century. Her case, officially cataloged under C/EGD/1550, formally entered the court record on 29 January 1662, marking the beginning of a process that would subject her to the gravity of the Scottish criminal justice system.
Following this initial entry, the proceedings against Kathrine progressed to the trial phase under reference T/JO/1950. As a married woman of repute, her arrest reflects the pervasive anxiety of the period, which frequently saw individuals of respectable standing pulled into the orbit of witchcraft accusations. The documentation of her case provides a stark snapshot of the administrative rigor applied to such trials during the intense period of prosecution that spanned from 1563 to 1736, documenting the movement of Kathrine from her residence in Largizean to the scrutiny of the court.