In the early winter of 1591, legal proceedings were initiated in the port town of Leith against a woman identified in the records as Marioun Linkup, whose surname was also recorded as Lenchop. On the 27th of January, Marioun was brought before the authorities to face an accusation of witchcraft, a period during which the Scottish legal landscape was increasingly preoccupied with the investigation of maleficium and perceived diabolical pacts. As an inhabitant of Leith, a bustling centre of trade and maritime activity within the shadow of Edinburgh, her life became subject to the formal rigours of the Justiciary Court records under case number C/LA/2897.
The documentary trail for Marioun concludes with the documentation of her trial, filed under reference T/LA/933. While the specific testimonies or the final verdict rendered by the court do not survive within this particular archive, the existence of these records confirms her movement through the judicial system of late sixteenth-century Scotland. By documenting her name and the legal steps taken against her, these files preserve Marioun’s place in the history of the Scottish witch trials, serving as a formal testament to the gravity with which the contemporary state viewed her alleged transgressions.