Was the real Macbeth influenced in any way by “witches”?
The real MacBeth was a historical character. There is not a lot of evidence about the detail of his reign, but what there is suggests that Shakespeare rearranged and embroidered, rather than invented, the facts. Shakespeare’s source (as far as we know, his only historical source) for MacBeth was Holinshed’s Chronicle. This is often fanciful, repeating legend and rumour as fact, and does mention the meeting with …three women in strange and wild apparell, resembling creatures of elder world, whome when they attentiuelie beheld, woondering much at the sight, the first of them spake and said: “All haile, Makbeth, thane of Glammis….” etc. from which Shakespeare clearly took that episode. There is however no historical evidence supporting Holinshed’s account nor of any involvement of the Kings of Scotland at that time (the 11thC AD) with witchcraft or pagan religion of any sort. All the evidence we have suggests that MacBeth was an orthodox Catholic; which did not prevent him taking a fu
