I have mentioned witchcraft in Glen Esk in some of my previous articles, but I have come back to the subject in an indirect way in my recently published book Scottish Warlocks, Wizards and Magicians: A Historical Quest. Naturally the book covers the whole of Scotland, and I was disappointed while researching and writing that there was relatively little wizardry in Angus, historically speaking.
Yet the details of those male magic practitioners associated with the northern mountainous region in Angus remains fascinating on two counts. First, it poses the question: was there something culturally idiocyncratic about the glen which lent itself to witchcraft and superstitious practice? Secondly, how did the peculiar legend of Riccio find its way so far north, and what does it imply?
Here's an early draft of the passage which is included in my book:
Certain communities and districts seem to have been especially susceptible to witchcraft and related practices, though the reasons are not always easy to pin down. Glenesk and Lochlee, an upland area in Angus, remained Gaelic-speaking well into the seventeenth century and kept a reputation for standing apart from the rest of the county. Alongside other pockets of Angus, it stayed firmly Episcopalian and remained a stronghold of Jacobite sympathy into the eighteenth century. The region holds a rich body of distinctive folklore and stood in sharp contrast to the lowland parts of Angus.
In 1649, a man named John Donaldson of Lochlee drew the attention of the presbytery of Brechin and was reprimanded for charming—that is, employing spells or devices to achieve a desired result or fend off harm. That year local ministers attended 'the committee appointed by the provisional assemblie for the trial of witches and charmers'. Donaldson confessed to his wrongdoing and to "casting the Shemfur," a traditional divination method involving scissors and a sieve. He was severely censured and asked who had taught him the practice. He replied that it was a man now deceased, and when pressed further, admitted that others in Glenesk practiced the same art, naming four additional men. The presbytery was displeased with his answers, feeling he had given fuller information elsewhere.
By June of the following year, three of the named men—John Chrystison, Thomas Kyneir, and James Shanks—were summoned before the presbytery and sternly rebuked, each confessing to casting the shemfur. They were required to appear in sackcloth before the Lochlee congregation on four consecutive Sundays and would not receive absolution until the minister perceived genuine signs of repentance. They were also "strictlie inhibited to use the arte of charming in casting the Shinfur in tym with certification they shall be esteemed Sorcerers."
That same district was, in the late sixteenth century, home to Robert Murray, who came before the civil authorities in 1588. In exchange for money and plaids, he offered to cure sick anmals and humans. To do this he issued special drinks and spoke spells with a Catholic tinge: 'In nomine patris filii et spiritus sanctu'. The Earl of Argyll was investigating witchcraft in the area at the time and Murray was identified: 'he comerit to Cambellis inner chalmer quhair nane resortit bot Cambell and his wyff and tuk out of ye hous wall behind ye bed sous stringis of sindrie hewis... and cast yame in yr fyre and said y[at] is wes witche crafte...'
He too appears to have engaged in magical practices, and notably invoked the memory of David Riccio (or Rizzio), the murdered secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots, who had died twenty-two years earlier. Murray claimed some kind of supernatural link to Riccio, though the specifics remain unclear. Was there something about the local environment that fostered witchcraft and superstitious belief here? If so, the presbytery's interventions appear to have suppressed it—or at least pushed it further underground.
Robert Murray of Glenesk, the suspected Angus warlock brought before authorities in 1588, let slip an admission that he had "falselie assurit that he wes Senyeor Davie's man." This referred to David Riccio, the ill-fated secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots, who was murdered by a faction of Scottish nobles acting on the orders of her husband in March 1566. During his lifetime, Riccio had no reputation as a witch or necromancer, even among those who despised him—but the circumstances of his death, laden with dark associations, drew him posthumously into occult legend.
Riccio may have had an indirect link to a male witch known as Damiet or Damiot. In 1597, an Edinburgh woman named Jonet Stewart of the Grassmarket was accused by Andrew Pennycuick of causing his illness through witchcraft. She had learned part of her craft from the late Michael Clark, a smith from Laswaid, but also practiced healing by passing sick people through a hoop of green woodbine—a technique she said she'd picked up from an "Italian strangear callit John Damiet, ane notorious knawin Enchanter and Sorcerer." This figure remains shadowy. Some scholars propose he represents a garbled folk memory of John Damian, Abbot of Tungland, the infamous alchemist-monk from King James IV's era. A more plausible identification, though, is the French priest Jean Damiet, confessor to the queen and reputed magician, who had repeatedly cautioned Riccio about danger to his life—specifically warning of a bastard who would kill him. Riccio ignored this warning and failed to flee abroad as Damiet urged, ultimately paying with his life. He was indeed killed by a bastard, though not the one he suspected. Riccio had assumed the threat came from the queen's illegitimate half-brother, the Earl of Moray, who was abroad at the time. But the man who delivered the first of many fatal blows was George Douglas, illegitimate son of the Earl of Angus.
The perceived problem of witchcraft was obviously gathering momentum again. In this same year the Presbytery of Brechin dealt with a number of male diviners from Glen Esk. One was the charmer John Donaldson, who had already been punished by Lochlee kirk session. Called to give evidence he admitted 'charming in casting the Shemfur', which was possibly a form of divination employing shears and a sieve. Donaldson named others who also used this method: John Crystison, Thomas Bowman, Johns Shanks, Alexander Davidson. The Presbytery was unhappy with the depth and quality of his confession, 'because it is not so ample as that given his minister'.
On 6 June 1650 the 'Lochlie Charmers; Crystison, Shanks and Thomas Kyneir were sharply reprimanded for casting the Shemfur. They were ordered to appear in sackcloth before the congregation of Lochlee until the minister was satisfied that they had repented.'
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