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.
Many towns and villages in Norway depended on fishing, so accusations of storms and drownings were common when hunting witches. And catastrophes were always handy to blame on witchcraft – such as the great fire in Oslo in 1624 which three women were executed for having caused by sorcery.
The witch hunt was especially intensive in the north of the country, one reason being the presence of the Sami people (which I will return to in a later post), who had their own, non-Christian religion and traditions and were therefore easily blamed for using sorcery.
Vadsø in northern Norway was repeatedly affected by the witch hysteria. In 1651 a woman named Gunhild Åmundsdotter was charged with using witchcraft and in turn accused several women.
They were convicted of turning themselves into birds and flying over ships making them sink. They confessed during torture and more and more women were accused. 13 women were executed before the authorities had to step in and demand higher evidentiary requirements.
Ten years later however, 20 women were executed after young girls had accused them of bringing them to meetings with the Devil.
As in Denmark, the majority of the accused and condemned were women, mostly poor and powerless. In Iceland however, the situation was different – both regarding witchcraft and sorcery as such, and who was accused of using it.
We’ll explore that in the next post!
Sources:
Harrisson, Dick. Häxprocesserna
Harrison, Dick. Ondskans tid