In April 1568, Betie Wobster, a resident of the parish of Coupar in Angus, became the subject of a formal legal inquiry under the witchcraft statutes of early modern Scotland. Her case, documented in the records of the Justiciary Court as C/LA/3389, identifies her as a woman living in the immediate vicinity of Coupar, Perth. At a time when the implementation of the 1563 Witchcraft Act was beginning to consolidate the state’s involvement in the prosecution of maleficium, Betie was brought before the authorities to answer for charges pertaining to the occult.
The proceedings against Betie reached the trial stage under the designation T/LA/2257. As with many cases from this period in Angus, the archival trail provides limited insight into the specific depositions or testimonies brought against her, focusing instead on the procedural machinery of the judicial process. Betie’s inclusion in these records situates her within a broader pattern of 16th-century litigation that sought to regulate perceived spiritual and supernatural transgressions within the Scottish Borders and Lowlands. While the ultimate outcome of her trial remains obscured by the passage of time, the documentation confirms her status as one of the many individuals caught within the expanding legal framework of mid-16th-century Scottish justice.