In February 1641, Agnes Muircone was brought before the authorities in Elgin to answer to accusations of witchcraft. While the sparse documentation surrounding her case offers limited insight into the specific allegations leveled against her, historians have noted that she is likely the same individual identified in records from 1644 as Agnes Muresone. The overlap between these two entries suggests a recurring entanglement with the local judicial system during a period of intense scrutiny regarding perceived supernatural activities within the region.
The available administrative records for Agnes reflect the bureaucratic framework through which such trials were conducted in seventeenth-century Scotland. Although the lack of comprehensive primary documentation leaves the precise nature of the charges against Agnes obscured by the passage of time, her appearance in the records highlights the ongoing preoccupation of Elgin’s magistrates with matters of occult practice. By examining these fragments, we gain a glimpse into the precarious position of women like Agnes, whose lives were brought under the formal jurisdiction of the kirk and the civil courts during this tumultuous era.