| Actions against Witches
| | Witch trials was found sporadically in Elsinore in the time after the reformation (1564, 1571 and 1582), but after the centennial the number grew and culminated with an entensive trial in 1625-26, where no less than eight women were sentenced and burned at the stake. |
Witch Trials
Witch trials was found sporadically in Elsinore in the time after the reformation (1564, 1571 and 1582), but after the centennial the number grew and culminated with an entensive trial in 1625-26, where no less than eight women were sentenced and burned at the stake.
The witch trials connection to the changed view of man and the changes the reformation brought with it, are still subject to research and debate, but some enlightening fasct can bepointed out. The witchcraft trials almost entirely struck women from the lowest classes in society.
The Witch´s Test |
White and Black Magic
In the Middle Ages they discerned between white and black magic. The black is used to hurt others. The white magic, which is used positively for the solving of porblems, was not deemed harmful. Furthermore it was hard to discern from the medieval medicine of the magical conception of reality, which was prevalent in the Catholic church.
The reformation brought with a reaction against the reality perceptin of the Catholic church. Faith and salvation suddenly became a matter of the individual. In any ways a void ensued, where supernatural interpretations and explanations no longer existed. They were against old theories, but did nog replace them with new ones.
Witch Goya |
The Character of the Processes
In the time before the reformation the witch trials became solely a secular affair and in Denmark they created a tradition for the accusatory legal process, where there had to be a direct accusation from a civilian person.
In Christian III´s so-called Copenhagen Recess from 1547 it was established that persons, who was tainted in some way, was not allowed to bear witness and that torture was not allowed in order to force a confession.In 1576 it was decided that sentences, where people was sentenced to be burned at the stake, always had to be tried in higher court.
In 1617 Christian IV issued a proclamation on witchcraft. According to this you could be tried for witchcraft even if no one had been harmed. It was also a criminal offence to use the services of ”wise” men and women. If you had exerted witchcraft without harming anybody you could be punished with loss of property and valuables, but if you had harmed anyone the punishment was the stake.
Witches burnt at the stake |
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