Scotland's witch-burning shame: It's right to recognise our awful history – Brian Wilson

Having written here previously about Scotland’s world leadership in burning ‘witches’, I welcome the statement by Nicola Sturgeon as a step towards acknowledging a terrible evil.

More than 4,000 peope were accused of being 'witches' in Scotland between the 16th and 18th Centuries (Picture: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Precisely why Scotland went about this with such enthusiasm, at five times the rate of anywhere else in Europe, remains worthy of study. And I would disagree with those who say “it was a long time ago, so forget it”.

Though it was indeed a long time ago, it wasn’t half as long ago as Bannockburn. The fact that several centuries later, Scotland was still burning thousands of people alive creates historical perspective.

It was under the pre-1707 Scottish Parliament that almost all the human conflagrations were authorised which provides a clue to why getting rid of it was no great social loss. Within a century, Scotland was in the midst of the Enlightenment.

More important than apologies is the ongoing question of how history is taught. History in the hands of politicians is a dangerous weapon. Recognising how our society evolved, warts and all, is essential to interpreting its modern condition, whatever one’s conclusions.

The book from which I learned about Scotland’s witch-burning (and much else) was Tom Johnston’s History of the Working Classes in Scotland. As Johnston wrote in his preface: “It is an abiding and indisputable truth that a people which does not understand the past will never comprehend the present nor mould the future.”

That maxim led me to believe in the politics of ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ – for divisions of wealth, land, power, prejudices all have their roots in history rather than geography.

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