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Ramsele Witch Trial
The Ramsele witch trial, which took place in 1634, is one of the few known Swedish witch trials before the great witch mania of 1668–1676. Background In the year of 1634 a man and several women were put on trial in the city of Ramsele in Ångermanland in Norrland in Sweden. This was during a period of starvation, and they were accused of having stolen milk from their neighbors. The man was said to have stabbed a knife in a wall and, uttering "terrible prayers," milked the wall through the knife. It had been claimed that the women had used small animals, hares and undefined creatures to milk cattle in their neighbor's barns. The women were pointed out by Barbro Påvelsdotter from Sandviken, who was the first to be arrested, and confirmed to have been with her to Blockula. Unfortunately, few records exist about this trial. In 1635, the vicar, Mr Elias, complained about the economic loss he had suffered because of the witches spells, and in 1636, the executioner Håkan of Säbrå ...
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Ramsele
Ramsele () is a locality situated in SollefteÃ¥ Municipality, Västernorrland County, Sweden with 968 inhabitants in 2010. Since the 1960s, the population has decreased from 1563 to 968. It is situated by the river Faxälven about 70 km north-west of SollefteÃ¥. The oldest known name of the town is "Rannasild", according to a local book about the area. Later it was known as ''Hrafnasil'', a name which probably originated from Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ..., and literally meant 'Calm water of ravens'. The oldest evidence of settlement is a church from the late 13th century. References Populated places in SollefteÃ¥ Municipality Ã…ngermanland {{Västernorrland-geo-stub ...
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Ã…ngermanland
Ångermanland ( or ) is a historical province (''landskap'') in the northern part of Sweden. It is bordered (clockwise from the north) by Swedish Lapland, Västerbotten, the Gulf of Bothnia, Medelpad and Jämtland. The name is derived from the Old Norse ''anger'', which means "deep fjord" and is a reference to the deep mouth of the Ångerman River (''Ångermanälven''). In earlier times the province was known, in medieval Latin, as Angermannia. Administration The traditional provinces of Sweden, while remaining culturally and historically important, no longer serve as administrative or political entities. The heartlands of Ångermanland lie in today's Västernorrland County, with the remainder of the traditional province now forming part of Västerbotten and Jämtland Counties. Heraldry The heraldic description of the arms of Ångermanland is: ''Azure three Salmons naiant Argent finned Gules, the middle one counternaiant'', which heraldic meaning is that the rivers have spaw ...
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Norrland
Norrland (, "Northland", originally ''Norrlanden'' or "the Northlands") is the northernmost, largest and least populated of the three traditional lands of Sweden, consisting of nine provinces. Although Norrland does not serve any administrative purposes, it continues to exist as a historical, cultural, and geographic region; it is often referred to in everyday language, e.g., in weather forecasts. Several related Norrland dialects form a distinct subset of dialects of the Swedish language separate from those to its south. Norrland consists of the majority of the Swedish landmass at about 60% of the land area, but only has about 12% of the country's population. Its largest city is Umeå, while the other four county seats are Gävle, Sundsvall, Östersund and Luleå. The largest non-capitals are Skellefteå and Örnsköldsvik while Kiruna is the largest town of the vast Lapland province in the far north. Sweden's highest mountain Kebnekaise and deepest lake of Hornavan are ...
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Blockula
Blockula (Blåkulla in modern Swedish, translated to "Blue Hill") was a legendary island where the Devil held his Earthly court during a witches' Sabbath. It was described as containing a massive meadow with no visible end, and a large house where the Devil would stay. Referencing Blockula nights, witches described the Devil as appearing, ''"in a gray Coat, and red and blue Stockings: He had a red Beard, a high-crown’d Hat, with Linnen of divers Colours, wrapt about it, and long Garters upon his Stockings."'' Blockula plays a major part in the witch-hunts described in Joseph Glanvill's 1682 work ''Sadducismus Triumphatus'', which detailed the Mora witch trials in an Appendix entitled: ''"True Account of What Happen’d in the Kingdom of Sweden In the Years 1669, 1670, and upwards: In Relation to some Persons that were accused for Witches; and and Executed By the King’s Command."'' Blockula is originally the same place as the island Blå Jungfrun, which was in old days ca ...
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Malin Matsdotter
Malin Matsdotter or ''Mattsdotter'', also known as ''Rumpare-Malin'' (1613 – 5 August 1676) was an alleged Swedish witch. She is known as one of few people in Sweden confirmed to have been executed by burning for witchcraft, and the only one to be executed by this method during the famous witch hunt ''Det Stora oväsendet'' (' The Great Noise') in Sweden during 1668–1676, which ended with her execution. Early life According to protocol, Malin Matsdotter was of Finnish heritage: she herself later stated in court protocol that she originally learned her prayers in the Finnish language. She was born in Österbotten in Finland (at the time a part of Sweden) and moved to the capital of Stockholm to work as a maidservant in the 1630s.Lamberg, Marko, Häxmodern: berättelsen om Malin Matsdotter, Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland, Helsingfors, 2021 In 1638 she married Erik Nilsson (1592-1668), who worked in the manufacture of nails and other metal threads, and they had two da ...
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Torsåker Witch Trials
The Torsåker witch trials took place in 1675 in Torsåker parish in Sweden and were the largest witch trials in Swedish history. In a single day 71 people (65 women and 6 men) were beheaded and then burned. Background The witch trial reached Torsåker as a result and a consequence of the great wave of witch hysteria known as stora oväsendet, which had begun to flourish over Sweden after the trial caused by Gertrud Svensdotter against Märet Jonsdotter in Dalarna in 1668. Sweden did not have separation of church and state, causing state-employed Lutheran priests to abide by government instructions. The Lutheran clergy were ordered to use their sermons to inform their congregations of the crimes committed. Thus, the rumour of the witches spread over the country, where witch-hunts had earlier been a rarity. Hornæus was ordered to perform an investigation by order of the special commission which had been created to deal with the suddenly erupted witch panic. The trials began ...
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Brita Pipare
Brita, "the wife of Jöran Pipare" (floruit 1595) was an alleged Swedish witch. Her case is a significant one, illustrating a witch trial held when the belief in witchcraft had increased, but the law still did not permit harsh persecution of magic practice. Brita is described in court protocol as "Brita, fru till Jöran Pipare" ('Brita, wife of Jöran the Flute player'). In September 1593, Brita was charged with sorcery in Stockholm alongside the cunning woman "Margareta from Norrsunda". Margareta was active as a folk magician who practiced medicine, exposed thieves and gave rest to ghosts by magic charms: however, as she denied to have used these charms to hurt any one, she was acquitted with a reprimand, as the court did not take her seriously. Brita was accused of having caused illness as well as economical damage to some of the city merchants by use of magic. She admitted to have used '' signeri'' (spells) and '' lövjeri'' (potions), but she denied to have had any dealings wi ...
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Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the Stockholm Municipality, municipality, with 1.6 million in the Stockholm urban area, urban area, and 2.4 million in the Metropolitan Stockholm, metropolitan area. The city stretches across fourteen islands where Mälaren, Lake Mälaren flows into the Baltic Sea. Outside the city to the east, and along the coast, is the island chain of the Stockholm archipelago. The area has been settled since the Stone Age, in the 6th millennium BC, and was founded as a city in 1252 by Swedish statesman Birger Jarl. It is also the county seat of Stockholm County. For several hundred years, Stockholm was the capital of Finland as well (), which then was a part of Sweden. The population of the municipality of Stockholm is expected to reach o ...
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Finspång Witch Trial
The Finspång witch trial was a witch trial which took place in Finspång Östergötland in Sweden in 1617. Between seven and nine women died as a result. It has a special place in Sweden's history as one of the very few larger witch trials in Sweden outside the period of 1668–1676, which was otherwise the time of the real witch hunt in Sweden. Also because it seems that the condemned were executed by burning, which was not the common way of execution for witch craft in Sweden. It was the biggest witch trial in Sweden before 1668, and resulted in the biggest execution for sorcery in Sweden outside of the 1668–76 witch hunt. Background The Finspång witch trial was long treated as a legend, but it now confirmed to have occurred. The witch trial does not seem to have occurred from public hysteria, but rather, it was ordered from above. Ostrogothia was during the 1610s ruled as an independent Duchy by the king's cousin John, Duke of Ostrogothia, and his consort, Princess ...
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Elin I Horsnäs
Elin i Horsnäs (died after 28 September 1611) was an alleged Swedish witch, the most famous witch in Sweden before the great witch-mania of 1668–1676, and one of few witches in Sweden to be executed before 1668. Her trial is also the most documented trial of sorcery in Sweden before 1668. First accusations Elin was a widow who lived in Småland in the beginning of the 17th century. She had long been considered a witch, and there were many stories about her. In 1591, a woman, Maretta Laressa, argued with her and called her a witch, and Elin slapped her in front of several witnesses; Maretta died shortly after. She was accused of sorcery for the first time in 1599 or 1601. The executioner Håkan put her through the ordeal by water together with two other women, whose names are unknown. She passed the test, sank and was acquitted, but the other two women were convicted and executed. It is believed that she bribed Håkan, and in view of the later events, it is seen as li ...
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Märet Jonsdotter
Märet Jonsdotter (1644 – September 1672) was an alleged Swedish witch. She is one of the most known victims of the persecutions of sorcery in her country; she was the first person accused of this in the great witch hysteria called "Det Stora Oväsendet" (" The Great Noise") of 1668–1676, and her trial unleashed the beginning of the real witch hunt in Sweden, which was to cause the death of around 280 people in those eight years. She was known by the name "Big Märet" because she had a younger sister with the same name called "Small Märet" Jonsdotter. Background and Accusation In the autumn of 1667, a little shepherd boy in Älvdalen in Dalarna, Mats Nilsson, claimed to have seen a girl lead goats over Eastern Dalälven by walking on the water at Hemmansäng by Åsen. This little boy had tended the herd of sheep with this same girl, they had had a fight, and the girl had beaten the boy up. The girl's name was Gertrud Svensdotter (Svensdotter meaning "daughter of Sven"). She wa ...
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