Click2Religion - The Real King James - Chapter 4

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>THE REAL KING JAMES<br><br> <font size="4">CHAPTER 4 - NORTH BERWICK WITCH TRIALS</b></font></p> <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">Two years after his mother’s death, James VI married Anne of Denmark. Crossing the North Atlantic then was no easier than it is today. During the trip to visit Anne, James encountered a terrible storm. He was convinced it was caused by witchcraft.</p> <p>Many so-called <a href="http://freespace.virgin.net/david.howie/genuki/ELN/NorthBerwick/map.html" target="_blank"><b>North Berwick</b></a> "witches" were arrested; about 70 people were ultimately tortured, tried or <a href="http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/images/exhibitions/month/ala30_a3.jpg" target="_blank"><b>killed</b></a>. The King himself <a target="_blank" href="http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/images/exhibitions/month/ala36_tp.jpg"><b>participated</b></a> in questioning some of the accused. Jurors in one trial, who had voted for acquittal, were later tried themselves for "willful error on assize, acquitting a witch."</p> <p>By all accounts, King James approved horrendous torture for the accused. <a href="http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/exhibns/month/aug2000.html" target="_blank"><b>Agnes Sampson</b></a>, whom the <a href="http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/scotland/26598" target="_blank"><b>king questioned</b></a> at Holyrood Palace, was fastened to the wall of her cell by a <a href="http://shanmonster.bla-bla.com/witch/torture/brank1.jpg" target="_blank"><b>witch’s bridle</b></a>. That torture device was made of iron and had four sharp prongs that were forced into her mouth. Two prongs were forced against her tongue while the other two were forced against her cheeks. She was later strangled and burned as a witch.</p> <p>The North Berwick witch hunt remains <a target="_blank" href="http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~jup/witches/images/22.gif"><b>infamous</b></a> to this day. The trials, beginning in 1590, took two years. But those trials were not the last in Scotland. King James’ 1597 book, <a href="http://web.uvic.ca/shakespeare/Library/SLTnoframes/intellectual/daemonologie.html" target="_blank"><b><i>Demonology</b></i></a>, became a guide for future Scottish witch hunts. From 1590 to 1690, about 3,400 people were burned as witches in Scotland.</p> <p><a href="http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~jup/witches/images/36.gif" target="_blank"><b>King James</b></a> ceased to believe in witchcraft later in his life. But at the age of 24, while he was in the middle of questioning the North Berwick accused, he did the wrong thing even though he <i>thought</i> it was right.</p> </div> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="james_story_ch3.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>     <a href="james_story_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER</a>     <a href="james_story_ch5.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </font> </td> </tr> </table> </center> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </body>