In the early autumn of 1562, the royal burgh of Stirling became the setting for a formal judicial inquiry concerning a local woman named Jonet Lindsay. According to the administrative records preserved in the burgh’s archives, the case was brought to the attention of the authorities on the 1st of September. While the sparse nature of the documentation common to this period often obscures the granular details of the accusations themselves, the inclusion of Jonet in the municipal ledger underscores the gravity with which the civic leadership treated such matters during the mid-sixteenth century.
As a figure recorded within the *Extracts from the records of the royal burgh of Stirling*, Jonet occupies a distinct place in the archival history of early modern Scotland. Her appearance in these documents serves as a primary marker of the legal mechanisms active in Stirling during this time, reflecting a moment when local magistrates asserted their jurisdiction over the perceived spiritual and social transgressions of their citizens. For Jonet, this record remains the surviving testament to a profound intervention by the state in the course of her life, marking the specific date upon which she was formally entered into the annals of the Scottish witch trials.