Johanne Nielsdatter or Johanne Nilsdatter (died 1695), was a Norwegian woman who was executed for witchcraft. Her execution is the last confirmed execution for witchcraft in Norway.

Life

She was from

Kvæfjord Kvæfjord ( sme, Giehtavuotna) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms og Finnmark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Central Hålogaland. The administrative centr ...

in present-day

Troms og Finnmark Troms og Finnmark (; sme, Romsa ja Finnmárku ; fkv, Tromssa ja Finmarkku; fi, Tromssa ja Finnmark, lit. Troms and Finnmark in English language, English), is a Counties of Norway, county in Northern Norway, northern Norway that was established ...

. Almost nothing is known about her. She was arrested in March and put on trial in April. During her imprisonment, Niels Nielsen Rasch was responsible for her upkeep, and she was likely cared for by his daughter

Gertrud Rask Gertrud Rask (167321 December 1735) was the first wife of the Danish-Norwegian missionary to Greenland Hans Egede and was the mother of the missionary and translator Paul Egede. Life in Norway Gertrud Rask (the parish register records her as Gj ...

. She was accused of having renounced her baptism, religion and her God to Satan in exchange for a personal demon named Knut and the ability to use magic. She admitted to have caused sickness and death on others and to have caused a boat to sink by affecting the weather through magic. She was judged guilty as charged and sentenced to be executed by burning. Johanne Nielsdatter is the last person confirmed to have been executed for sorcery in Norway. She was not the last to be executed by burning, however, as this execution method was used for bestiality until at least 1757. During the 18th century, there were more witch trials in Norway, but they either did not result in death sentences, or the documentation of them are missing and the verdict is unknown. Such was the case in the cases of

Birgitte Haldorsdatter {{Expand Swedish, topic=bio, date=September 2022 Birgitte Haldorsdatter or Birgit Haldorsdaater (''fl.'' 1715) was the last person confirmed to have been sentenced guilty of witchcraft in Norway. She was prosecuted charged with having performed a ...

Brita Alvern Brita Alvern ({{fl., 1729) was an alleged Norwegian witch. She was accused of sorcery in 1729, in one of the last witch trials in Scandinavia. As the documentation of the trial is incomplete, it is unknown whether she was executed or not. Her trial ...

and

Siri Jørgensdatter {{Expand Swedish, topic=bio, date=September 2022 Siri Jørgensdatter (1717-?) was a Norwegian peasant girl, one of the last people confirmed to have been prosecuted for witchcraft in Norway. She was interrogated by the authorities in Oppland on t ...

. The law against witchcraft was abolished in 1842.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nielsdatter, Johanne People executed for witchcraft People executed by Norway by burning 1695 deaths 17th-century Norwegian people 17th-century executions by Norway Executed Norwegian women People from Kvæfjord Witch trials in Norway