Laurentius Christophori Hornaeus or also known as Lars Christophri Hornæus (1645 – April 27, 1719), was a priest of the

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden () is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.5 million members at year end 2023, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sweden, the largest List ...

. He was the parish vicar of Torsåker and Ytterlännäs,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, and known for his role during the

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 ...

Life

He was born as Lars Christoffersson in

Härnösand Härnösand () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Härnösand Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden with 25,012 inhabitants in 2023. It is called "the gate to the High Coast" because of the world heritage landscape just ...

in 1645. In this time period Sweden, it was common for students and priests to use the Latinized form of their names, and their birthplace was sometimes added as a family name. Hornaeus most likely is the Latinized version of Härnösand. Lars started his theological studies in the 1660s, and in 1667 he and his brother Petrus were both studying together at the

University of Uppsala Uppsala University (UU) () is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially founded in the 15th century, the university rose to s ...

. Lars was ordained in 1672 and was then employed as an assistant or curate, to the "assistant minister" Olaus Erici Rufinius (1637–1672) in Ytterlännäs, the parish for the city of Torsåker. He was also responsible for the annex parish in the

Dal Hundred A hundred is a geographic division formerly used in northern Germanic countries and related colonies, which historically was used to divide a larger region into smaller administrative divisions. The equivalent term in Swedish is (in Uppland als ...

. Olaus Rufinius died in 1672, and Lars was appointed as the new "assistant minister" of Ytterlännäs. He succeeded as the parish vicar by the customary method of

widow conservation Widow conservation was a practice in Protestant Europe in the early modern age, when the widow of a parish vicar (or sometimes her daughter) would marry her husband's successor to the vicarage to ensure her economic support. The practice was com ...

, in which a clergyman succeeded to a parish by marrying the widow or daughter of his predecessor. In this case, Olaus Erici Rufinius was a widower when he died, and Laurentius Christophori Hornæus married Rufinius' daughter named Brita Olofsdotter Rufinia (1651–1730). The wedding took place in the

parsonage A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, pa ...

in Sunnanåker, in Ytterlännäs parish. Lars and Brita had a child: Lars Hornaeus (1682–1751) a minister, who married Elisabeth Wattrangia (1682–1743). Lars and Elizabeth had a son: Jöns Hornaeus (1715–1778), a minister who documented the witch trials of his grandfather. In 1668 a witch panic spread around Sweden, and in 1674 the witch panic reached Torsåker.Alf Åberg (1989). Häxorna. De stora trolldomsprocesserna i Sverige 1668–1676. Göteborg: Novum Grafiska AB. ISBN 91-24-16385-6 Laurentius Christophri Hornaeus presided at the

, which became the largest

witch trial A witch hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. Practicing evil spells or Incantation, incantations was proscribed and punishable in early human civilizations in the ...

in Sweden's history. Laurentius died on April 27, 1719, in Nordanåker, Ytterlännäs parish. He was buried under the old church in Ytterlännäs where a hatch in the floor between the altar and the door to the sacristy leads to his still preserved grave. Lars Larsson Hornaeus took over his father's pastorate in 1719 and led the congregation until his death in 1751.

References

* Alf Åberg (1989). Häxorna. De stora trolldomsprocesserna i Sverige 1668–1676. Göteborg: Novum Grafiska AB. ISBN 91-24-16385-6

External links

The Torsåker Witch Trial of 1675 and the Clergyman Hornaues
*
Laurentius Christophori Hornæus
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hornaeus, Laurentius Christophri 1645 births 1719 deaths 17th-century Swedish Lutheran priests 18th-century Swedish Lutheran priests People from the Swedish Empire Witch hunters Witch trials in Sweden People from Härnösand