Isobel was a medical practicioner, the type of person that helped make life bearable for 16th-century folk
Scotland experienced intense witch hunts during the 16th and 17th centuries. Out of a population of about one million, roughly 4,000 witches were formally accused and perhaps around 2,500 were executed.
Scotland’s witch-hunts were severe, with about 2.5 executions per thousand of the population. It had about five times the European average of executions per capita. There are many reasons which help to explain Scotland’s intense crackdown on witches. In the early modern period, the country possessed a weak legal system, where the central government, at least for a time, struggled to control and reduce the number of witch trials being conducted locally, often by men who had no formal legal training. Scotland’s witch hunts also happened at a time of radical religious reform.