Agnes Finnie

Agnes Finnie, widow of James Robertson, ran an apparently profitable business without evidence of male intervention. She sold fish, eggs, cakes, salt and other consumer goods. While she was central to her community, she also generated a great deal of friction. Many were displeased with the quality of her goods and her prices. But the main source of tension was her determination to collect on goods bought on credit and cash loans. Agnes Finnie also cursed in response to social slights, such as when her godchild was not given her name. For over 25 years she responded to her neighbours' complaints with curses, threats and sometimes physical abuse. Her daughter, Margaret Robertson, seems to have acquired her mother's style as she was twice charged with flyting (scolding).

Agnes Finnie was arrested in June 1644. Officials searched her house for wax images, pictures, toads or other witchcraft implements, but found nothing incriminating. After being investigated before the Edinburgh Presbytery, she was placed in the Tolbooth. She complained to the Privy Council about mistreatment and languishing in prison. She was tried on 20 December 1644. Unable to get a confession, corroborating testimony from another witch or any real evidence of demonic involvement, the investigating authorities went to trial solely on the basis of misfortunes allegedly caused by her after curses and quarrels. Her words are exemplary of those attributed to other witchcraft suspects and women charged with slander or flyting. Some of the phrases included: 'Thow sall nevir eat moir in this worald', 'I gar the devill tak ane byt of the said Bessie', 'Weill, gif I be ane witche, ayther ye or yours sall have better cause to call me soe', 'The devill ryd about the toun with yow and all yours', and 'the devill blaw yow blind' {Selected Justiciary Cases, pp. 638–44). Her language was enough for the jury to convict. She was executed on Thursday, 6 March 1645 on the Castle Hill of Edinburgh.