In the spring of 1597, the local judicial authorities in Cushnie, Aberdeen, initiated legal proceedings against a married woman identified as Jannet Smithe. The archival record for this case, indexed as C/EGD/2135, captures a moment of intense scrutiny during a period of heightened concern regarding witchcraft within the region. While the surviving documentation does not provide the identity of her husband, it establishes Jannet’s presence within the social framework of her community at a time when ecclesiastical and secular courts were increasingly occupied with such accusations.
The formal investigation into the matter reached a definitive stage on June 4, 1597, when the case transitioned into the courtroom. The subsequent trial, recorded under T/JO/1508, marked the legal conclusion of the proceedings initiated against her. Although the specific nature of the testimony or the particular actions alleged against Jannet remain confined to the broader context of the late sixteenth-century Scottish witch trials, the records confirm that she was brought to account before the local judiciary during this period of significant legal activity in Aberdeenshire.