In the spring of 1659, Mareone Guild, a married woman of middling socioeconomic status residing in the East Lothian town of Tranent, found herself ensnared in a significant legal proceeding. Her husband, a local cordiner, remained in the background as Mareone faced serious charges involving attendance at a witches’ meeting. The legal process moved with relative speed; records indicate that she provided formal confessions on three separate occasions between April 22 and April 27, 1659. The consistency of these depositions suggests a rigorous examination process, common to the Haddingtonshire judicial proceedings of the period, culminating in the formal record of her case under reference C/EGD/349.
The web of accusations surrounding Mareone was extensive, reflecting the communal nature of such trials in seventeenth-century Scotland. She was explicitly named as an accomplice by a wide circle of women, including Elspeth Fouller, Cristian Cranstoun, Janet Crooks, Jonet Thomson, Barbara Cochrane, Janet Watson, and Elspeth Robertson. This network of alleged associates points to the interconnected social environment in which the accusations unfolded. While her initial trial concluded in the late seventeenth century, the historical record indicates that her name and the circumstances of her case continued to appear in judicial documentation well into the eighteenth century, with notations referencing proceedings in 1685 and 1721.