When Swedish king Johan III died, on November 17, 1592, his and Katarina Jagellonica’s son Sigismund became king of Sweden. He was already king of Poland, as nephew to the former queen Anna. He was…
In my previous posts about the witch trials, we have been able to read how they played out in the Nordic countries. But how did the hysteria finally end? First, we must remember that even…
At the time of the witch hunt, Finland was a part of Sweden, and the hysteria spread there too. Just as in Iceland, witchcraft was mostly considered a male activity in Finland, and so most…
After queen Katarina Jagellonica’s death in 1583, king Johan III was 45 years old and wanted to remarry. He found his new bride among the Swedish nobility – 16-year-old Gunilla Bielke. Gunilla’s father was councillor…
In a previous post I wrote about the Danish presence in England, that began with the raid on Lindsifarne in 793. After establishing a kingdom around York/Jorvik, the English eventually drove out the Vikings from…
The darkest period of the Swedish witch trials has become known as “The Great Noise”. Between 1668 and 1676, 280 people were executed as witches, a staggering amount considering that around 400 people in total…
Just like other countries, few people had been executed for witchcraft in Sweden during the early Middle Ages. In the 15th century, only a handful men had been sentenced to death for sorcery, and in…
Iceland differed from the rest of the Nordic countries (and large parts of Europe) in that most of those accused of witchcraft were men. That can be explained by the fact that although Iceland was…
In Norway the witch trials began after death penalty for witchcraft was introduced in 1584. Since Norway was a part of the Danish kingdom, the laws and the methods were similar in the two countries.…
In the previous two posts about Katarina Jagellonica, we followed her journey from Polish princess, to Swedish duchess, from luxury to imprisonment. Let’s continue our story in the fall of 1567, after Katarina, her husband…