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…
In the first post about Katarina Jagellonica, we got to know her as a Polish princess. In 1562 she married duke Johan of Finland, brother to the Swedish king Erik XIV. They had a dangerous…
After Erik XIV and Karin Månsdotter had been driven from the throne, Erik’s brother Johan was proclaimed king in January 1569. In July of the same year, he and his wife Katarina were crowned king…
Even though there had been cases with people being convicted of witchcraft in Scandinavia throughout the Middle Ages, the hysteria didn’t reach the north until the 16th century. It started in Denmark, probably due to…
In the early Christendom, the consensus among the clergy was that witchcraft and sorcery didn’t exist in the sense that later became dominant – that meaning the connecting to Satan and devils. In the early…
In the first post about Karin Månsdotter, we learned how the bar maid was secretly married to the king, Erik XIV while pregnant with their second child. Let’s continue: As Karins stomach grew, so did…