An amazing woman, and a sad story we still see repeated today. I'm reminded of the story of a Wiccan in S.C. who had some neighborhood punks shooting into her home's windows from the street. When she called the cops they asked 'You're the witch right? Uh, huh. We'll send someone when we can.", and three hours later they did.
Perhaps she knew that we would read her words, all of these centuries later, and see her for the bright, creative human being that she was. I hope she would take some solace knowing that we of the future see her condemnation as unjust, stupid and evil.
Its a nice thought, but I cant make myself believe it. It seems more likely to me that her words were coerced or forced and she was manipulated into confession. I imagine she was saying whatever she thought she needed to in the short term to appease her interrogators with no thought to future readers who had no power to save her. Poor woman.
I know you're not posting in good faith but I do want to underline two things, in case anyone else is reading this who is similarly dismissive as OP:
- they did kill her
- she was clearly not a witch, given that they do not exist
And given the dearth of warlock or wizard trials, it is safe to say that this was clearly motivated by sexism - viewing women as far more likely to be agents of Satan, just as Eve handed Adam the apple.
Witch did not imply woman in former centuries. For example, if you take a look at the "witches" executed during the Salem witch trials, many of them are men, including the alleged ringleader; George Burroughs, George Jacobs, John Proctor, John Williard, and Samuel Wardwell were all convicted and executed for witchcraft. Others were also tried and punished or imprisoned until trial. This holds true in Europe as well.
Your narrative doesn't really work well at all here for other reasons either - some of these were powerful men who were accused by women or slaves, not representatives of the patriarchy.
> she may have been one of the 300 or more executed. The Privy Council in Edinburgh granted a commission to try her, but there is no record of her death.
They may have killed her. It sounds like they probably did.
To Isobel. Slàinte,a ghràdhachadh nan sìthichean