In April 1568, the legal machinery of the Scottish Reformation era turned its attention toward Bessye Brodye, a resident of Arbroath and St Vigeans in the county of Forfar. The surviving documentation, filed under case reference C/LA/3378, marks the formal commencement of proceedings against her during a period when the newly established kirk sessions and civil magistrates were increasingly preoccupied with the pursuit of sorcery. As the judicial process moved forward, Bessye was brought to trial under the administrative reference T/LA/2246 to account for the serious allegations levelled against her.
The records provide a stark framework of these proceedings, situating Bessye within the complex jurisdictional landscape of mid-sixteenth-century Forfar. While the archives do not preserve the specific testimony or the exact nature of the diabolical acts attributed to her, the existence of both a formal case file and a subsequent trial record highlights the gravity with which the local authorities viewed her situation. For Bessye, this transition from an accused individual to a subject of trial represents a definitive moment in the application of the Witchcraft Act of 1563 within her local parish, documenting a judicial encounter that has remained part of the historical record for over four centuries.