The Three Witches

The three witches. Today, the existence of these witches may be approached with some skepticism. Other blogs and wikis on Macbeth have totally refuted the supernatural elements of the Scottish play. However, in the time of Macbeth, people tended to be more superstitious.
Sir Walter Scott does give an account of three old women in his Tales of a Grandfather who greeted Macbeth, “All hail, Macbeth-hail to thee, Thane of Glamis. All hail, Macbeth-hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor. All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King of Scotland.” Sound familiar? (If it helps any, Thane is a position now called Earl). However, in his Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft, Scott does give a more historically accurate view of the three sisters: "In the tale of Macbeth...the weird-sisters, who were the original prophetesses, appeared to the usurper in a dream, and are described as volae, or sibyls, rather than as witches, though Shakespeare has stamped the latter character indelibly upon them."
Holinshed is given credit as being the source for Shakespeare’s historical research and Holinshed does not refer to the three ladies as witches but rather as "The Weyard Sisters" ("Wyrd" being the Anglo-Saxon word for "Destiny" or "Fate") Macbeth’s inheritance of the titles of Thane are instantaneous through no effort of his own. His accession to the crown was as described by Shakespeare in the play.
Wyntoun’s Cronykil has this historical account: “His wife, impatient of long delay…gave him great exhortation to pursue the prophecy that she might be a queen, often calling him a feeble coward and not desirous of honour, since he dare not attempt with manhood and courage that which is offered to him by the benevolence of fortune, although various others exposed themselves to the most terrible jeopardy knowing no certainty to succeed thereafter…Macbeth, at the instigation of his wife…went to Inverness, where he slew king Duncan.” Wyntoun also renders Macbeth more justice than other writers, [char]it in his tyme thar wes plente Off gold and siluer, catall and fee. He wes in iustice rycht lauchfull, And till his liegis rycht awfull.