In the summer of 1629, Donald Thomassone, a resident of Spittell in the county of Caithness, was drawn into the rigorous legal machinery of the Scottish witch trials. On 2 July 1629, the case registered under reference C/EGD/667 was formally initiated against him. At a time when the Scottish Privy Council held significant oversight over commissions of justiciary, the proceedings moved from the northern periphery of Caithness to the seat of national authority.
The legal process culminated in a trial held in Edinburgh, recorded under reference T/LA/728. As an individual facing charges of witchcraft, Donald was subjected to the formal judicial procedures of the early seventeenth century, which necessitated his presence in the capital to answer for the accusations brought against him. The documents marking his path from Spittell to the high courts of Edinburgh serve as a stark record of the bureaucratic and judicial focus placed upon him during this period.