Witch Trials: How James VI Began Britain’s Murderous Century: A Century Of Murder Documentary
Four-hundred years ago, innocent people by the masses were killed as an obsession to stamp out “evil” swept across the British Isles with James I of England/ VI of Scotland at the helm. Women were being accused of witchcraft. The amazing Dr. Suzannah Lipscomb investigates the events of this dark period in a documentary titled Witches: A Century Of Murder.
James VI and I was King of Scotland as James VI from July 24th, 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from March 24th, 1603 until his death in March of 1625. James became concerned with the threat posed by witches and wrote Daemonologie in 1597, a dissertation inspired by his personal involvement that opposed the practice of witchcraft.
A visit to Denmark sparked James’s interest in the study of witchcraft, which he considered a branch of theology. He attended the North Berwick witch trials, the first major persecution of witches in Scotland under the Witchcraft Act 1563. Several people were convicted of using witchcraft to send storms against James’s ship, most notably Agnes Sampson. James personally supervised the torture of women accused of being witches.
In today’s post, I am sharing the full two episode documentary mini series starring historian Suzannah Lipscomb which can be found on YouTube and also can be found on the U.S version of Netflix. I am not sure if it is available on U.K Netflix or not. Let me know in comments if it is! Thank you!
EPISODE ONE:
EPISODE TWO:
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so interesting! I visited Salem Massachusetts years ago and with their witch trial history made it an interesting, and pretty creepy, experience
I have always been fascinated by the Salem Witch trials. Now imagine European which hunt in 16 century. It’s even crazier and more gruesome. Those poor women!
When you think about it, it is gaslighting with a vengeance. Imagine how many times women have stood trial in America for things their narcissists set them up for or for crimes they actually committed but on behalf of a narcissist. It is still happening just in different ways. I saw a statistic years ago from DOJ that said the majority of women behind bars were there for men. Two different things but interesting nonetheless. Gaslighting back then wasn’t about a man breaking up with you but a woman having a village intruder – on behalf of the church, trying to make her believe something she didn’t do. Preposterous! I saw this documentary and it is a good one.
Yes it really is eye opening isn’t it? Also, you hit it on the nail about narcissism. It’s always greed, manipulation, and power that make up the evil of this world. That is for sure!
I always find witch trials and the mass panic that usually accompanies them very interesting. Thank you for this overview of James I contributions to this long, ugly and for adding a documentary to my watchlist!
It’s really worth watching. You learn so much about King James, and those involved in making it a mass panic and how easily people can be manipulated. It is very informative and eye opening. It’s a bit gruesome what these women go through. It’s terrible.
Witches A Century of Murder is on Netflix in Australia, if anyone wanted to know. Definitely a thing to watch.
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