In the autumn of 1645, the burgh of Elgin became the setting for a formal legal proceeding against Janet Kowie. As the town of St. Giles navigated the socio-political pressures of mid-seventeenth-century Scotland, Janet was brought forward for examination under the authority of the local courts. The records dated October 9, 1645, formalize her encounter with the judicial process, marking a significant entry in the surviving documentation of the Scottish witch trials.
The specific details regarding Janet, documented under case file C/EGD/2349, emphasize her residence within the Elgin parish. While the archival record remains brief, it serves as a testament to the administrative rigor applied to such cases during this turbulent period. Though subsequent historical scholarship has touched upon the broader context of these trials, the primary entry remains a focused account of Janet’s engagement with the legal mechanisms of the era, reflecting the ecclesiastical and civil concerns that governed life in Elgin during the mid-1640s.