In the spring of 1568, the legal records of Forfarshire document the case of Agnes Peramorris, a resident of Arbroath and St Vigeans. At this time, the judicial mechanisms surrounding allegations of witchcraft were beginning to formalize within the Scottish courts, prompted by the Witchcraft Act of 1563. Agnes found herself subject to these proceedings during a period when local sessions and secular authorities were increasingly attentive to suspicions of maleficium—the harm traditionally attributed to those accused of practicing witchcraft.
The documentation archived under reference C/LA/3371 and the subsequent trial entry T/LA/2239 confirm that Agnes was formally brought before the authorities in April 1568. While the specific nature of the charges brought against her remains obscured by the brevity of the surviving entry, the fact of her trial reflects the precarious social and legal landscape for women of the period in the burgh of Arbroath. The case of Agnes remains a significant entry in the historical register, marking her as one of the many individuals caught within the expanding administrative reach of the early modern Scottish witch trials.