In June 1629, the life of Janet Hardie, a married woman of middling socioeconomic status residing in Fisherrow, Inveresk, was irrevocably altered by her appearance before the judicial authorities in Edinburgh. As the wife of a local skipper, Janet belonged to a community intimately tied to the maritime rhythms of the Firth of Forth. However, the nature of the accusations brought against her under case file C/EGD/633 necessitated a transition from her domestic life in Fisherrow to the rigid confines of the legal system, marking the commencement of proceedings that would culminate in a formal trial, recorded as T/LA/727.
The documentary evidence regarding Janet’s experience reveals the physical severity inherent in the investigative process of the period. To secure testimony or elicit confessions, she was subjected to the use of irons and stocks. These methods of mechanical restraint were standard instruments of state coercion during the witch trials of the early seventeenth century, designed to enforce compliance and physically contain the accused throughout the duration of the interrogation. These records underscore the gravity of the charges Janet faced and the harsh realities of the judicial procedures governing early modern Scotland.