10. Toil and Trouble

Date: c.1589, possibly the 1590s

Size: H:650mm, L:645mm

Made in: Denmark

Made by: Unknown

Material: Wood, Paint

Although it may look like a toy, this ship model was actually intended as an offering to God. It was made to give thanks for survival at sea and for delivering the ship’s royal passengers and cargo from the clutches of tempest-brewing witches.

On board the real ship in the spring of 1590, King James VI of Scotland and his new bride, Princess Anne of Denmark, had been at the mercy of the powerful storms in the North Sea. The Danish and Scottish rulers concluded this could only be the work of disturbed spirits conjured by witches and a string of trials and executions followed.

Witches would continue to be associated with James VI, through the vastly popular publication about the trials, News from Scotland, and most famously in Macbeth, the Scottish play that features three ‘black and midnight hags’ at the centre of the action.

This object is from the National Museum Scotland

British Museum Blog: Toil and Trouble by Keith Thomas, Historian

But in a sieve, I'll thither sail, And, like a rat without a tail, I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do.'

Macbeth, Act 1 Scene 3

'Double, double toil and trouble;/Fire burn, and cauldron bubble./Cool it with a baboon's blood,/Then the charm is firm and good.'

Macbeth, Act 4 Scene 1

• This ship model was probably made to celebrate the marriage and safe return to Scotland of James VI and his bride, Anna of Denmark, in 1590
• Terrible storms had prevented the couple meeting and marrying earlier. The Danish Admiral Munk attributed the storms to the work of Danish witches
• Six women were tried in Denmark in May 1590 and executed for their alleged part in this plot
• At least 20 of Shakespeare's plays have overt references to witches or witchcraft, without counting the general references to bewitchment, sorcery or magic
• James I's interest in witchcraft was well known in England, not least through his book Daemonologie published in 1597 and reprinted in London in 1604

Neil MacGregor's world history explores the impact of the great age of European discovery between 1450 and 1600. Today he is with a magnificent clockwork galleon.

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Melvyn Bragg discusses witchcraft in Reformation Europe; misogynism or a sustained attempt by the Christian Church to root out the last of an ancient religion of Europe?

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