John Fian

Doctor Fian
Dr. Fian (center) showing penitence for his wicked life to his jailer and chaplain the morning before his escape from prison. From Daemonologie; Newes from Scotland (1597).
Died	27 January 1591[1] Edinburgh, Scotland
Cause of death	Execution by Burned at the Stake
Other names	John Cunningham
Criminal status	Executed
Conviction(s)	Sorcery, bewitchment (1590)
Criminal penalty	Death

John Fian (alias Cunninghame) (died 27 January 1591) was a Scottish schoolmaster in Prestonpans, East Lothian and purported sorcerer. He confessed to have a compact with the devil while acting as register and scholar to several witches in North Berwick Kirk. He was accused of bewitching townsfolk, preaching witchcraft, and, along with Agnes Sampson and others, raising storms to sink the fleet of King James VI of Scotland and his wife Anne of Denmark as they returned from Copenhagen, having been married in Oslo. He along with several other witches were arrested, examined and put to torture, in what would become known as the North Berwick witch trials.