Witch trials in Norway
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The witch trials in Norway were the most intense among the
History
Background
The Norwegian law (Landsloven) in the 13th-century for magic, if it resulted in someone's death or injury, was the
In 1584, King
The witch trials
Between 1561 and 1760, about 860 people were put on trial for witchcraft in Norway, resulting in about 277 confirmed executions.[1] However, these figures comes from the confirmed cases of which there are documentation and as such represent only a minority, as much documentation is known to be missing.[1] The unconfirmed witch trials are estimated to be numbering at least 1,400, resulting in at least 350 executions.[1] The most well documented areas are Finnmark, Rogaland and Hordaland from the 1590s onward.
An investigation could be instigated by the bailiff with reference to public safety after rumours of witchcraft had been heard from at least three different households. An accusation from a private citizen often came after a conflict, and was usually death or illness allegedly caused by witchcraft.[1] The authorities and the clergy managed the witch trials, using instructions from international demonology handbooks. The Devil's Pacts and Witches' Sabbaths were the main definitions of a witch, but in general, the Norwegians did not include such things in their accusations, nor did the accused, who could admit to practicing folk magic voluntarily but did not associate this with Satan.[1] The authorities interrogated the accused by interpreting their testimony so that it could fit in with the witch trial handbook's definition of what a witch was, and used torture to get a confession about a Devil's Pacts and a Witches' Sabbath.[1] Torture prior to a confession was formally illegal in accordance with the Danish torture law of 1547, but was nevertheless commonly used.[1] After a guilty verdict, the condemned was interrogated again, this time to expose accomplices.[1] Death by torture or in prison was common.[1] The method of execution was often burning alive at the stake.
The majority of those accused in Norway were either poor, vagabonds, beggars and other marginalized people; or cunning folk, normally people long rumoured to perform sorcery, and 80% were women, normally a married woman or a widow.[1] The most profiled victims of the Norwegian witch hunt were Anne Pedersdotter of 1590 and Lisbeth Nypan of 1670.
Decline
After the 1670s, witch trials became more and more uncommon in Norway. The reason was that the high courts started to investigate and prevent the legal mistakes often made by the local courts handling the witch trials, such as the use of torture prior to a guilty verdict, the use of condemned criminals as witnesses and trial by ordeal, all of which were technically illegal and all of them commonly used in the witch trials.[1] When witch trials were conducted in accordance with the law after the 1670s, they became smaller and fewer, and the method of execution was also to be decapitation rather than burning.
The Norwegian law of 1687 kept the death penalty for witchcraft, and the Witchcraft Act was in fact formally in place until 1842. The last confirmed execution for sorcery in Norway was the execution of
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Ankarloo, Bengt & Henningsen, Gustav (red.), Skrifter. Bd 13, Häxornas Europa 1400-1700 : historiska och antropologiska studier, Nerenius & Santérus, Stockholm, 1987
- ^ Gunnar W. Knutsen: Trolldomsprosessene på Østlandet. En kulturhistorisk undersøkelse, TINGBOKPROSJEKTET. Oslo, 1998