Episode 28: Exploring 16th Century Witches and Witchcraft with Marion Gibson

Halloween is coming up a few days from now, and it seems like a good opportunity to explore the origins to the holiday, which began as a religious celebration. Of course, since then it’s grown into a fun night of candy and costumes for us here in the US, but for William Shakespeare, ghouls, ghosts, and witches had real life implications.

While king of Scotland, James VI became convinced witchcraft was an active danger to him personally, and in order to prevent that danger, he conducted witch trials that began in 1591. James was convinced that a coven of powerful witches was conspiring to murder him through magic, and that they were in league with the Devil. In 1597, after the Scotland witch trials concluded, James published his study of witchcraft, called Demonology. When he then became king of England in 1603, that book was published in London. James I’s fascination with witches was so well known that many historians believe Shakespeare composed Macbeth just two years later, and included the famous three witch sisters, specifically for James I.

To help us understand this part of Shakespeare’s life and exactly what the state of witchcraft was in Shakespeare’s life, as well as the influence of this part of society on the plays we have from Shakespeare, we welcome Marion Gibson as our guest today.