Witch trials in Iceland
The Witch trials in Iceland were conducted by the Danish authorities (Iceland then being a Danish possession), who introduced the belief in witchcraft as well as the Danish Witchcraft Act in the 17th century, and then stopped the persecutions. Similar to the case of Witch trials in Latvia and Estonia, the witch trials were introduced by a foreign elite power in an area with weak Christianity, in order to ensure religious conformity. Iceland was uncommon for Europe in that magic as such was viewed favorably on the island, and the majority of those executed were men, which it had in common with only the witch trials in Finland.
History
Icelandic view on magic
In Iceland, magic and supernatural powers play an important role in popular folk belief. It is divided into two categories. The first category is galdur, good ("White") or bad ("Black") spells performed by galdra-masters by the help of galdrastafir (magic symbols), magic books, runes or vocally.[1] The second category is fjölkynngi which referred to wisdom or knowledge of the unknown, which was necessary to manage and use the galdur correctly, although one can exist without the other.[1] This view on magic is a part of the old Norse culture and it survives on Iceland more undisturbed Christianization than in the other Nordic countries.
The first cases
Witchcraft persecution begun after the reformation in Iceland, after a decree in 1564 which ordered all bailiffs to report all forms of heresy to the authorities, in order to establish religious conformity during the religious reformation.[1]
In the 16th century, however, witch trials in Iceland were conducted in accordance with the old definition of sorcery. In this definition, sorcery had nothing to do with the Devil: it divided magic in black magic and white magic. It regarded black magic as punishable only if it injured another person, and even then it did not result in the death penalty.[1]
A typical Icelandic witchcraft case in the 16th-century was that of a priest in 1554, who was sentenced to the loss of his office and exile as punishment for having used black magic or evil galdur from magic books in an attempt to entice a girl to sexual intercourse.[1]
In 1589 it was observed that the population of Iceland, where Christianity was weak, simply did not believe in the Christian Devil, and that consequently, Satan played a very small role in their imagination.[1]
Danish influenced witch hunt
The international Christian demonology and the Christian interpretation of magic as witchcraft connected to Satan, and the Christian definition of a magician as a witch who was able to master sorcery after a Pact with the Devil, was introduced to Iceland by the clergy (who were often Danes or educated in Denmark) in the 17th century.[1]
Belief in the Devil and the Christian definition of witchcraft spread after the publication of the first witchcraft books by Gudmundur Einarsson in 1627, and Pall Björnsson's Characther Bestiae in 1630,[1] and in 1630 Denmark introduced the Danish Witchcraft Act of 1617 on Iceland. One of the first high profile cases was that of Jón Rögnvaldsson.
Between 1604 and 1720, there were 120 witch trials on Iceland, which resulted in 22 (confirmed) executions between 1625 and 1685.[1] The most intense period of persecution took place in 1667–1685.[1]
Male dominance
The Icelandic witch trials were uncommon in Europe because almost all were directed toward men: of the 22 executed for sorcery in Iceland, 20 were men and only two women, one of whom (Galdra-Manga) unconfirmed, and only Thuridur Olafsdottir confirmed to have been executed.[1]
The reason for this was the fact that the magic openly performed in the Icelandic society had come to be associated with men.[1] Prior to Christianity, women had performed magic, but during the Catholic Middle Ages, this changed as almost only men were accepted in the convents and Latin schools on Iceland and their literacy gave them better opportunities to attain fjölkynngi ('learning').[1]
These male magicians were respectfully referred to as kunnáttumadur ('wise man' or cunning man) and many of them were heroes to the population, such as the famous Jón lærði Guðmundsson (1574-1658), who allegedly managed to turn away the attacks from Barbary slave ships from the coasts by the use of galdur and who managed to survive a number of witch trials in the 1630s.[1]
The end
In 1683, Sveinn Arnason came to be the last person executed for witchcraft in Iceland. All witchcraft executions stopped in Iceland after 1686, when a new law was passed by Denmark which stated that all death sentences for sorcery were henceforth to be confirmed by the high court in Copenhagen before they could be performed, and Copenhagen refused to confirm any more such verdicts. Klemus Bjarnason was condemned to death of sorcery in 1692, but the execution never took place, and he was transferred to Copenhagen.
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Ankarloo, Bengt & Henningsen, Gustav (ed.), Skrifter. Bd 13, Häxornas Europa 1400-1700: historiska och antropologiska studier. Stockholm: Nerenius & Santérus, 1987
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- Witchcraft in early modern Britain
- Channel Islands Witch Trials
- Witch trials in England
- Witchcraft in Orkney
- Witch trials in early modern Scotland
- Witchcraft in early modern Wales
- Windsor Witches (1579)
- St Osyth Witches (1582)
- Witches of Warboys (1589–1593)
- North Berwick witch trials (1590)
- Great Scottish Witch Hunt of 1597
- Pendle witches (1612)
- Northamptonshire witch trials (1612)
- Samlesbury witches (1612)
- Witches of Belvoir (1619)
- Bury St Edmunds witch trials (1645, 1662, 1655, 1694)
- Great Scottish witch hunt of 1649–50
- Alloa witch trials (1658)
- Great Scottish Witch Hunt of 1661–62
- Bute witches (1662)
- Bideford witch trial (1682)
- Paisley witches (1696)
- Pittenweem witches (1704)
- Islandmagee witch trial (1711)
- Witch trials in Hungary
- Witch trials in Poland
- Kasina Wielka witch trial (1634)
- Northern Moravia witch trials (1678)
- Szeged witch trials (1728–29)
- Doruchowo witch trial (1783)
- Witch trials in France
- Labourd witch-hunt of 1609
- Aix-en-Provence possessions (1611)
- Loudun possessions (1633–34)
- Louviers possessions (1647)
- Normandy witch trials (1669–70)
- Affair of the Poisons (1679–1682)
- Trial of the Wizards of Lyon (1742–1745)
- Witch trials in the Holy Roman Empire
- Rottweil Witch Trials
- Derenburg witch trials (1555)
- Wiesensteig witch trial (1562–1563)
- Rottenburg witch trials (1578–1613)
- Trier witch trials (1581–1593)
- Pappenheimer family witch trial (1600)
- Fulda witch trials (1603–1606)
- Ellwangen witch trial (1611–1618)
- Eichstätt witch trials (1617–1630)
- Würzburg witch trials (1626–1631)
- Bamberg witch trials (1626–1631)
- Baden-Baden witch trials (1627–1631)
- Mergentheim witch trials (1628–1631)
- Esslingen witch trials (1662–1666)
- Witch trial of Fuersteneck (1703)
- Witch trials in Denmark
- Witch trials in Estonia and Latvia
- Witch trials in Finland
- Witch trials in Iceland
- Witch trials in Norway
- Witch trials in Sweden
- Põlula witch trials (1542)
- Copenhagen witch trials (1590)
- Gyldenstierne-sagen (1596)
- Køge Huskors (1608–1615)
- Finspång witch trial (1617)
- Vardø witch trials (1621)
- Akershus witch trials (1624)
- Ramsele witch trial (1634)
- Rosborg witch trials (1639–1642)
- Vardø witch trials (1651–1653)
- Kirkjuból witch trial (1656)
- Vardø witch trials (1662–63)
- Kastelholm witch trials (1665–1668)
- Mora witch trial (1669)
- Torsåker witch trials (1675)
- Katarina witch trials (1676)
- Rugård witch trials (1685–86)
- Thisted witch trial (1696–1698)
- Witch trials in Italy
- Witch trials in Catalonia
- Witch trials in Portugal
- Witch trials in Sicily
- Witch trials in Spain
- Val Camonica witch trials (1505, 1518)
- Mirandola witch trials (1522–1525)
- Navarre witch trials (1525–26)
- Lisbon witch trial (1559–60)
- Benandanti (1575–1650)
- Witches of Laspaúles (1593)
- Basque witch trials (1609)
- Terrassa witch trials (1615–1619)
- Witch trial of Nogaredo (1646–47)
in Europe
- Witch trials in the Netherlands
- Witch trials in the Spanish Netherlands
- Stedelen witch trial (1397–1407)
- Valais witch trials (1428–1447)
- Geneva witch trials (1571)
- Amersfoort and Utrecht witch trials (1591–1595)
- Bredevoort witch trials (1610)
- Roermond witch trial (1613)
- Spa witch trial (1616)
- Lukh witch trials (1656–1660)
- Salzburg witch trials (1675–1681)
- Liechtenstein witch trials (1679–1682)
- Witch trials in Virginia (1626–1730)
- Connecticut Witch Trials (1647–1663)
- Maryland Witch Trials (1654–1712)
- Witch trials in New York (1642–1790)
- Salem witch trials (1692–1693)
- Witchcraft and divination in the Old Testament (8th–2nd centuries BC)
- Directorium Inquisitorum (1376)
- De maleficis mulieribus (1440)
- Formicarius (1475)
- Summis desiderantes affectibus (1484)
- Malleus Maleficarum (1487)
- De Lamiis et Pythonicis Mulieribus (1489)
- Laienspiegel (1509)
- De praestigiis daemonum (1563)
- The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584)
- Newes from Scotland (1591)
- A Dialogue Concerning Witches and Witchcrafts (1593)
- Daemonolatreiae libri tres (1595)
- Daemonologie (1597)
- Magical Investigations (1599)
- Compendium Maleficarum (1608)
- A Guide to Grand-Jury Men (1627)
- The Discovery of Witches (1647)
- Treatises on the Apparitions of Spirits and on Vampires or Revenants (1751)