In the early months of 1677, fourteen-year-old Annabell Stewart, a single girl of middling social standing from Pollokshaws, found herself at the centre of a severe judicial inquiry in Renfrew. As the daughter of Jonet Mathie, Annabell was drawn into a legal process that formalised charges of *maleficium*—the practice of harmful magic—and attendance at alleged witches’ meetings. Between the 7th and the 27th of January, she provided multiple confessions while held within the confines of the Paisley Tolbooth, providing the authorities with the narrative evidence necessary to secure a conviction in her trial on the 14th of February.
Following the pronouncement of a guilty verdict, the legal proceedings regarding Annabell entered a complex phase shaped by the concerns of the Privy Council regarding her youth. Although the initial sentence was one of execution, her age prompted an intervention; the presiding judge ultimately commuted the capital punishment. By the 4th of April, 1677, records indicate that Annabell had been moved from Paisley to Glasgow. There, she was placed under the supervision of ministers, intended to serve as a period of spiritual guidance rather than the finality of the scaffold.