In the late sixteenth century, Masie Aichesoune—also recorded as Margaret in the legal documentation of Mark Napier—resided in the burgh of Haddington. Her encounter with the judicial machinery of the Scottish state took place during the spring of 1591, a period when the regulation of witchcraft had become a matter of intensifying legal and ecclesiastical focus. The specific details of her case, catalogued under reference C/EGD/99, culminated in an official trial (T/LA/946) held on the 8th of May, marking a significant intervention by the authorities into her life and standing within the Haddington community.
The records for Masie provide a clear, if stark, administrative trajectory from the naming of the accused to the convening of the tribunal. While the archival entry is brief, it serves as a testament to the formal processes governing such proceedings at the time. By examining the documentation surrounding Margaret, historians gain insight into the administrative consistency of early modern Scottish courts, which meticulously documented the identity and the temporal progression of cases against those suspected of transgressive practices during this turbulent era of legal history.