Ane Koldings also called Anne or Anna (died 1590) was an alleged Danish

witch Witchcraft traditionally means the use of Magic (supernatural), magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In Middle Ages, medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually ...

. She was one of the main suspects in the

Copenhagen witch trials The Copenhagen witch trials of 1590 was the first major witch trial in Denmark. It resulted in the execution of seventeen people by burning. It was closely connected to the North Berwick witch trials in Scotland. Background In the winter of 15 ...

the summer of 1590, which were held as a parallel to the famous

North Berwick Witch trials The North Berwick witch trials were the trials in 1590 of a number of people from East Lothian, Scotland, accused of witchcraft in the St Andrew's Auld Kirk in North Berwick on Halloween night. They ran for two years, and implicated over seventy ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The winter of 1589, Princess

Anne of Denmark Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I; as such, she was Queen of Scotland The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional fo ...

departed from Copenhagen to marry King

James VI of Scotland James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi ...

. A great storm arose, which almost caused the ship to sink. The ship of the princess eventually harbored in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. James VI joined her there, and the wedding took place in Norway instead of in Scotland, as had been planned. In the spring of 1590, after a few months at the Danish court, James VI and Anna returned to Scotland. Their voyage from Denmark was also beset by storms. The Danish court at that time was greatly perplexed by witchcraft and the black arts, and this must have impressed on the young King James. In the summer of 1590, a great witch hunt was instituted in Copenhagen. The Danish minister of finance,

Christoffer Valkendorff Christoffer Valkendorff (1 September 152517 January 1601) was a Danish-Norwegian statesman and landowner. His early years in the service of Frederick II brought him both to Norway, Ösel and Livland. He later served both as Treasurer and ''Stadth ...

, was accused by the

Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

Peder Munk Peder Munk of Estvadgård (1534–1623), was a Danish navigator, politician, and ambassador, who was in charge of the fleet carrying Anne of Denmark to Scotland. The events of the voyage led to witch trials and executions in Denmark and Scotland ...

of having equipped the royal ship so insufficiently that it had been unable to withstand the weather. He defended himself by saying that the storm had been caused by witches in the house of Karen Vaevers ('Karen the Weaver'), who had sent little demons in empty barrels who had climbed up the

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

s of the ships and caused the storm. The background to this was a confession given by a woman by the name of Anna Koldings. In May 1590, Koldings was imprisoned in Copenhagen. She had been judged guilty of witchcraft in a case unrelated to the royal fleet, and was in prison awaiting her execution. Anne Koldings was considered a very dangerous witch, and referred to as Mother of the Devil. She was treated as somewhat of a celebrity in prison and displayed to visitors: she is known to have confessed to two priests and three female visitors while in prison. Valkendorff, who was at this point blamed for the fiasco of the royal fleet, asked the Mayor of Copenhagen to question Koldings if she had been involved in bewitching the fleet. During

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...

, Koldings described how a group of women had gathered in the house of Karen, where they had caused the storm of the princess' ship by sending small devils up the keels of the ship. Koldings was executed by burning in July 1590. On her confession, her accomplices were arrested the same month. Koldings had named five other women as accomplices, among them Malin, wife of the mayor of Helsingor, and Margrethe Jakob Skrivers. All women were arrested and charged. The spouse of Skrivers unsuccessfully tried to defend her, and was instead arrested and charged himself. Karen was arrested in July. She confessed to have been one of them who, together with Koldings, attended the gathering of witches which caused the storms, which hunted the royal ship, by use of witchcraft, and named other women as accomplices. Twelve women aside from Koldings were executed for involvement in this witch trial. In September, two women were burnt as witches at Kronborg.Ethel Carleton Williams, ''Anne of Denmark'' (Longman, 1970). James VI heard news from Denmark regarding this, and decided to set up his own tribunal.

References

Other sources

* Åberg, Alf, Häxorna: de stora trolldomsprocesserna i Sverige 1668-1676, Esselte studium/Akademiförl., Göteborg, 1989 * Oluf Nielsen:
Kjøbenhavns Historie og Beskrivelse III. Kjøbenhavn i Aarene 1536-1660
' he history and description of Copenhagen volume III. Copenhagen in 1536-1660Kbh., G. E. C. Gad (In Danish) * Rune Hagen:
Blant konger og hekser
'

mong kings and witches Mong may refer to: People *A proposed original name for the Hmong people, based on the main group, the Mong community *Bob Mong (), American journalist and academic administrator *Henry Mong (), American surgeon and Presbyterian missionary *Mong M ...

(In Norwegian) * P. G. Maxwell-Stuart (2007) ''The Great Scottish Witch-Hunt: Europe's Most Obsessive Dynasty'' (Tempus)
Liv Helene Willumsen, 'Witchcraft against Royal Danish Ships in 1589 and the Transnational Transfer of Ideas', ''IRSS'', 45 (2020), pp. 54-99
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koldings, Anna 1590 deaths 16th-century births People executed for witchcraft Executed Danish people Executed Danish women 16th-century Danish people Year of birth unknown People executed by Denmark by burning 16th-century executions by Denmark Danish torture victims 16th-century Danish women Witch trials in Denmark

See also

References

Other sources