In the spring of 1624, the legal machinery of the Scottish kirk and state turned its attention toward the coastal burgh of Culross in Fife. On February 19, Marjorie Rowand was formally identified as the subject of a witchcraft inquiry, recorded in the judicial archives as case C/EGD/943. While the specific nature of the allegations brought against her remains obscured by the passage of centuries, her arrest marked the beginning of a formal investigative process that sought to reconcile perceived supernatural transgressions with the strict moral and legal codes of the early modern period.
Following the initial proceedings, Marjorie was brought to trial under the reference T/LA/421. As a resident of Culross—a town then defined by its bustling maritime trade and deep religious scrutiny—Marjorie faced the daunting prospect of answering to authorities regarding the evidence compiled against her. The transition from the investigative filing to the formal trial registry reflects the systematic pursuit of those suspected of diabolical pacts or maleficium during this era. The record of her trial stands as a testament to the brief but significant intersection of Marjorie’s life with the expansive and rigorous judicial apparatus of the seventeenth-century Scottish witch trials.