In the summer of 1661, Agnes Bowie, a resident of Gilmerton in the parish of Liberton, near Edinburgh, was drawn into the rigorous machinery of the Scottish judicial system. Her case, documented under the reference C/EGD/432, identifies her by a surname that historical records occasionally rendered as "Cowie," though it is clarified in the archives as Bowie. At this time, the legal proceedings surrounding witchcraft were intensifying across the Lothians, and Agnes was brought before the authorities in Edinburgh to answer for charges that would eventually lead to a formal trial.
The legal process for Agnes moved with the somber finality characteristic of mid-17th-century jurisprudence. Following her appearance before the court—recorded under trial references T/JO/423 and T/JO/432—the proceedings concluded with a conviction. On June 28, 1661, the sentence was carried out; Agnes was executed by burning, marking the end of her life within the context of the early modern witch trials that shaped the history of the region.