In April 1568, Agnis Quhytelaw, a married woman residing in the burgh of Forfar, became the subject of legal proceedings regarding allegations of witchcraft. According to the extant records, Agnis occupied a position of some standing within the community; her husband was described as being “of Cany,” suggesting that the couple held a socioeconomic status that could be classified as middling, or perhaps even higher within the local hierarchy.
The case (C/LA/3369) proceeded to a formal trial (T/LA/2237) under the judicial framework of the period. While the specific nature of the accusations brought against her remains unelaborated in these surviving documents, the process itself reflects the formal scrutiny to which Agnis was subjected by the authorities of the time. The transition from the initial case file to the recorded trial marks the trajectory of her legal entanglement, providing a window into the institutional mechanisms employed in Forfar during this stage of the Scottish witch trials.