Case details |
| The accused |
Boyman, Janet |
| Start date | 29/12/1570 |
|---|
| End date | 29/12/1572 |
|---|
| Characterisation |
Fairies
Folk healing
Treason
Unorthodox religious practice
|
|---|
| Notes on characterisation | She predicted the death of the regent. |
|---|
Qualitative information
Non-natural beings |
| Notes | She called a spirit to help her heal, he came to her like a great blast of whirlwind. The spirit was the ghost of a woman who had taught her how to heal. It is possible that she too was a fairy? |
|---|
Appearance of Non-natural beings |
| Type of being | Notes |
|---|
| Ghost | Maggie Dewand |
| Male Fairy | |
| Spirit | appeared in a whirlwind |
Witches' Meetings |
| Notes | She was seen in a great company of women by a sick man. |
|---|
Folk Culture
| | Elphane/Fairyland | Yes |
|---|
| Specific verbal formulae | Yes |
|---|
| Specific ritual acts | Yes |
|---|
| Unorthodox religious practice | Yes |
|---|
| Sympathetic magic | Yes |
|---|
| Folk Notes | Used shirt for diagnosis. Brought the shirt to an elvish well. She charged the spirit in the name of the father, the son, king Arthur and queen Elspeth to remove the illness or take the sick man to them. She couldn't do a cure because it was past Halloween. Predicted the death of an infant because she got a blast of evil wind. She learned her curing from a woman in the Potterrow who had once cured her. She started her prayer with 'Blist Benedicite'. After she washed her hands at a holy well, St. Leonards, there came to her a man of our good neighbours. Predicted that the Regent would die. She bore five bairns while subject to the fairy for seven years and felt no pain. |
|---|
Elf/fairy elements |
| Changeling |
| Good Neighbours |
| Well |
Ritual objects |
| Herb |
| Shirt |
| Water |
Calendar customs |
| Halloween |
Religious motif |
| Holy well |
| Prayer |
| Trinity |
Diseases/Illness |
| Recognised healer | Yes |
|---|
| Healing humans | Yes |
|---|
| Notes on disease | Could heal children that were taken away with the fairy (?changelings) and many other diseases. |
|---|
Other charges |
| Charming |
| Incantation |
| Necromancy |
| Sorcery |
|
