bounces in glee

Okay, so. Macbeth is very much a piece made for James I. James I really, really believed in witches. He also believed that he was a target for witches, to the degree that he deeply suspected that witches were trying to prevent his marriage, leading to the North Berwick witch trials. He wrote a book on the subject, Daemonologie, that was republished when he took the English throne in 1603.

To what degree other people believed in witches... It wasn't universal, but many did, and Macbeth was right in the height of English/Scottish witch hunts. The shift to Protestantism actually made it a bit worse, in the view of most historians, coinciding with new witchcraft laws from James I in 1605. There is actually a hoax regarding a young girl named Anne Gunter whose father coached her, that got up to the Star Chamber and James himself. It fell apart and she and her father were charged. (This actually might have been gossip that was swirling about as Shakespeare wrote Macbeth, lining up with the usual dates of his writing/performance.)

Some research materials... https://www.bl.uk/shakespeare/articles/witchcraft-in-shakespeares-england https://ahr-ashford.com/king-james-and-the-era-of-the-witch-trials/

So let’s attack this from multiple angles.

If you were Christian, witches were real. Saul visits the Witch of Endor in the first book of Samuel. Exodus 22:18 says they shouldn’t be tolerated (not suffer a witch to live). Witches were real; the Bible notes so.

If you knew history, witches were real. Shakespeare used Raphael Holinshed's 1587 The Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Banquo and Macbeth meet witches just like in the play, and in both versions they vanish after giving the 3 fold prophecy. Holinshed describes them as “the weird sisters, that is (as ye would say) the goddesses of destinie, or else some nymphs or feiries, indued with knowledge of prophesie by their necromanticall science, bicause euerie thing came to passe...” (Chronicles, Book V: Scotland, 268). Now, the accuracy of this historical document is...not the best, but it was known at the time and Shakespeare definitely used it for King Lear and Cymbeline.

And Holinshed was important for someone else too. It’s a roundabout way here but indulge me. Holinshed notes that “Banquho the thane of Lochquhaber, of whom the house of the Stewards is descended, the which by order of linage hath now for a long time inioied the crowne of Scotland, euen till these our daies...”

Tradition said that Banquo’s children married into the Stuart line, rising to the ruling classes and royalty of Scotland. That’s why Holinshed and Shakespeare note his prophecy as “Thou shall get (beget) kings, though though be none.” He doesn’t get to be king, but his descendants will be.

Thanks to Henry VII’s line of succession rules, Edward’s eschewing them, Lady Jane Gray, Mary I, and Elizabeth I being all dead lines, the Crown went to the next male heir: James VI of Scotland, descendant of Banquo.

[Shakespeare actually makes Banquo more nice in his version; Holinshed notes Banquo actually helped].

And this is the meat of the question: King James VI/I (depends on where you’re counting) was fascinated by witchcraft. King James wrote a 1597 primer on witchcraft/sorcery called Daemonologie. He wrote a history of witchcraft and why society should not let it flourish. And he was part of that too. In 1590, there were witchcraft trials in Scotland that accused 70 people. There was a pamphlet written about the trials which showcased examples of Faustian deals and the like that was eventually published in the Daemonologie. James VI was fascinated with it and wanted, as king, to ensure society wouldn’t fall.

While researching for this, I saw that Parliament actually enacted a few Witchcraft Acts where being a witch was a capital punishment. And one of the acts was in 1604, right after James VI/I ascended. And speaking of the Bible, guess who had his hand in that too? Hint hint: KJV.

So if you were religious, loyal, or a historian, you knew witches existed. And they could be among you. Your king certainly thought so, your church did too. Whether or not people were actively afraid as much as James was is unknown, but it was a truth universally acknowledged that they existed.

P.S. The username relevancy is just a bonus for me.