On October 9, 1628, the legal machinery of the seventeenth-century Scottish judicial system converged upon Jonet Schitlingtoun, a woman residing in the parish of Newbattle, near Edinburgh. Her case, documented under reference C/JO/2786, identifies her alongside one other individual whose name does not appear in the extant fragment of this specific record. The proximity of these two women suggests a collaborative inquiry common to the period, where accusations often rippled outward from a single point of suspicion to encompass neighbors or acquaintances.
On that same day, the transition from accusation to formal process was marked by the recording of a confession. While the specific content of Jonet’s testimony remains absent from the archival record, the date of this confession aligns with the initial documentation of her case. Following this step, she was subject to a trial (T/JO/308), though the records provide no further details regarding the testimony presented, the specific nature of the charges brought against her, or the final verdict rendered by the court. Her experience remains a focused, singular entry in the broader landscape of the 1563–1736 witch trials, illustrative of the administrative rigor applied to such cases in the Lothians during the reign of Charles I.