Margaret Bane

Margaret Bane also called Clerk (1542 – 25 March 1597), was a Scottish midwife and alleged witch, one of the prominent victims of The Great Scottish Witch Hunt of 1597.

Margaret Bane was a midwife and cunning woman who was reportedly widely famed with a clientele with connections from the peasantry to members of the nobility. She was accused of witchcraft in 1567, but managed to avoid a trial. She was accused a second time in 1596, but was acquitted. During the Great Scottish Witch Hunt of 1597 she was pointed out by eight women accused of sorcery as their accomplice. She was accused of several charges, such as having killed her former spouse by transferring the labour pains from a woman to him, of having been witnessed to perform magic rituals by a loch, and of having predicted the sex of an infant prior to birth: the fact that her sister Janet Spaldarge was burned for sorcery in Edinburgh also contributed to the charges, as did her great knowledge within midwifery. She confessed that her sister Janet had taught her magic and made her a follower of the Devil. Despite being protected by powerful connections, such as Lady Ross of Auchlossan, who bribed clerks to hide the previous charge, she was trialled, judged guilty and executed by burning at Aberdeen in March 1597.

References

• Elizabeth Ewan, Sue Innes & Sian Reynolds, The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women: From the Earliest Times to 2004