Jón Rögnvaldsson (died 1625) was an alleged Icelandic sorcerer. The

bailiff A bailiff (from Middle English baillif, Old French ''baillis'', ''bail'' "custody") is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. Bailiffs are of various kinds and their offi ...

Magnus Björnsson had been educated in Copenhagen where he read about witch persecutions from an event in 1487. He had brought this book with him to Iceland. In 1625 he heard a rumour that ghosts had made a boy ill and killed several horses. He evidently made the assumption that this had been caused by unknown witches, who needed to be exposed. The sick boy pointed out Jon Rögnvaldsson. During the search of his house an arch of paper with Icelandic

runes Runes are the letter (alphabet), letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, a ...

written on it was found. Jon admitted to having written them. Jon's brother, the poet Thorvald Rögnvaldsson, testified in his defense that although Jon might have attempted to use

rune magic There is some evidence that, in addition to being a writing system, runes historically served purposes of magic. This is the case from the earliest epigraphic evidence of the Roman to the Germanic Iron Age, with non-linguistic inscriptions and the ...

, so called '' Galdrar'', he had neither the strength nor the intelligence to succeed. But Magnus Björnsson judged Jon as guilty of sorcery and sentenced him to death. He was one of the first people to be executed for sorcery in Iceland. Iceland, which was under the jurisdiction of the union of Norway and Denmark, had kept the old

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

customs alive. Christianity was weak and magic was admired. The Protestant church and the authorities in Copenhagen strongly disapproved of this and in 1564 a new law about "decency" was issued from Copenhagen to the island. The priests in Iceland were ordered to trace down everything unchristian. The popular magician

Jón lærði Guðmundsson Jón lærði Guðmundsson (1574–1658; ) was an Icelandic autodidact, poet, and alleged sorcerer. His poetry gives insight into contemporary Icelandic folklore. Guðmundsson, who lived in Strandir, was considered a great master of magic in 17 ...

, famous for making an Arabic pirate ship in search of slaves turn from the island, had been accused of sorcery by the authorities several times but been acquitted every time. In 1630, the union Denmark-Norway's witch law from 1617 was proclaimed on Iceland. Between 1625 and 1686, Iceland was to see 120 witch trials. The majority of people accused of sorcery on Iceland were male; only ten women were accused, and of these, only one was burned alive. Women were normally drowned, while men were burned. In 1678, the widow Thuridur Olafsdottir and her son were burned at the stake accused of having made the wife of a priest sick by magic, after the son had claimed that his mother could walk on waterfalls by use of ''galdrar''. The most famous Icelandic witch trial took place in 1656, when a man and his son were burned at the stake for sorcery after a conflict with a priest.

References

* Jan Guillou, Häxornas försvarare, Piratförlaget 2002 () (in Swedish) * Ólína Þorvarðardóttir: Brennuöldin. Galdur og galdratrú í málskjölum og munnmælum. Háskólaútgáfan. Reykjavík, 2000 {{DEFAULTSORT:Rognvaldsson, Jon 1625 deaths Icelandic people executed for witchcraft Jon Rognvaldsson People executed by Denmark–Norway People executed by Norway by burning Year of birth unknown 17th-century executions by Norway

See also

References