In the spring of 1632, the authorities in Inverkip, Renfrew, initiated formal legal proceedings against Geillis Guill, a married woman residing in the settlement of Divert. According to case file C/LA/3257, the investigation into Geillis was officially recorded on March 29, 1632. This entry marked the beginning of a process that placed her at the center of the local judicial machinery during a period when the Scottish kirk and state were intensely focused on the identification and prosecution of perceived maleficium.
Following the initial registration of her case, Geillis was brought forward for trial under reference T/LA/1883. While the records provide a stark administrative outline of these events, they reflect the standard legal trajectory for those accused of witchcraft in early modern Scotland, moving from the localized scrutiny of a residence in Divert to the formal rigors of a court appearance. The documentation captures the specific intersection of her identity and the legal apparatus of the early seventeenth century, preserving the timeline of her encounter with the judicial system.