Goodnight My Servants All: The Sourcebook of East Lothian Witchcraft

David M. Robertson

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1845300416 ISBN 13: 9781845300418

Publisher: The Grimsay Press, 2007

"A treasury of primary material about cases of witchcraft in East Lothian. This marvellous, vast compendium of transcribed documentation, with useful annotation and perceptive commentary, is a most welcome contribution to the study of Scottish witchcraft in the 16th and 17th centuries. Seasoned academic scholars of witchcraft will find much useful, challenging material - and read of witches and witchcraft cases that they have never come across before. Even with some familiarity with the cases that the author presents, it is fascinating to read different accounts given by different witnesses of the same case and the same alleged incidents. In addition to the annotated transcriptions there is a summary of James VI and I's short treatise on witchcraft, in the form of a dialogue, called: Daemonologie. And a long, closing chapter on the analysis and interpretation of witchcraft in East Lothian. I might not agree with every single claim that David Robertson makes - but I can heartily endorse the general tenor and commendable balance of his judgement. He says: 'We must avoid the "all or nothing" attitude, where either everything is true or everything is a farrago of ludicrous nonsense. We can accept what is probable, dismiss what is clearly impossible, but we should keep an open mind on the admittedly vast area in between'. That is an appropriate attitude with which to approach this remarkable and very fine book." -- from the Introduction by Hugh V. McLachlan

Review:

'It is a supreme effort. Much nonsense has been written about the Scottish witch trials; some would have you believe innocents were killed in their thousands. This is a far more sober approach to what was undoubtedly a period of mass psychosis, but in standing back and allowing the evidence to speak for itself Robertson does a great service to a subject so misunderstood.' Martin Tierney, The Herald, May 3 2008.