On February 14, 1662, the legal mechanisms of the Scottish judicial system were set in motion against a woman identified in the records as Agnes, a resident of Gortenis on the Isle of Bute. Her case, documented under reference C/JO/3259, emerged during a period of intense judicial scrutiny regarding the practice of witchcraft in Scotland. As a resident of Gortenis, Agnes was drawn into the administrative apparatus that characterized the witch trials of the mid-17th century, where local suspicion and formal accusation frequently intersected with the authority of the regional courts.
Following the formal registration of her case, Agnes was brought before the court for the proceedings recorded under reference T/JO/1916. While the extant records are brief, they confirm the transition of her case from initial identification to the trial stage. The documentation provides a stark snapshot of the legal process in 1662, capturing the moment Agnes became a subject of the early modern justice system during one of the most concentrated eras of witch-hunting in Bute’s history.