Ramsele witch trial

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.

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 received payment for "Having burned one warlock and four witches". It is most likely that they were beheaded before they were burned, as no known witch in Sweden, with the exception of Malin Matsdotter, was burned alive.

The real witch-hunt came to Sweden late, and didn't break out until 1668. It then reached its peak with the Torsåker witch trials. Witch trials were known in Sweden before 1668, but they were few and often ended with an acquittal or a mild sentence, not execution, such as the case of Brita Pipare Stockholm in 1593. This is one of the few known examples of a "mass trial" of sorcery in Sweden before the great witch hunt in the 1670s; before 1668, there are few examples in Sweden of witch trials where more than two people were executed at the same time. Another example is the Finspång witch trial in 1617, where seven women were executed.

See also

* Elin i Horsnäs
* Märet Jonsdotter

References

* Alf Åberg, "Häxorna" (The Witches).
* Bengt Ankarloo, "Satans raseri".
* http://www.solace.miun.se/~blasta/herdamin/ramsele.pdf


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Witch trial — * Salem witch trials 1692 1693, Salem, Massachusetts, United States * Torsåker witch trials 1675, Torsåker, Sweden * Ramsele witch trial 1634, Ramsele, Sweden * North Berwick witch trials 1590, North Berwick, Scotland * Bideford witch trial 1682 …   Wikipedia

  • Bideford witch trial — A plaque commemorating the executions on the wall of Rougemont Castle in Exeter. The Bideford witch trial resulted in the last ever hangings for witchcraft in England. Temperance Lloyd, Mary Trembles and Susannah Edwards were tried in 1682 in the …   Wikipedia

  • Doruchów witch trial — The Doruchów witch trial, was a witch trial which took place in the village of Doruchów in Poland in the 18th century.[1] It was the last mass trial of sorcery and witch craft in Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth. The trial allegedly resulted in the …   Wikipedia

  • Mora witch trial — The Mora witch trial, which took place in Mora, Sweden, in 1669, is the most internationally famous Swedish witch trial. Reports of the trial spread throughout Europe, and a provocative German illustration of the execution is considered to have… …   Wikipedia

  • Witch-hunt — Witch trial redirects here. For the song by Rush, see Fear series. For the novel by Ian Rankin, see Witch Hunt (novel). A witch hunt is a search for witches or evidence of witchcraft, often involving moral panic, mass hysteria and mob lynching,… …   Wikipedia

  • Witch trials in the Early Modern period — Punishments for witchcraft in 16th century Germany. Woodcut from Tengler s Laienspiegel, Mainz, 1508. The Witch trials in the Early Modern period were a period of witch hunts between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries,[1] when across Early… …   Wikipedia

  • Witch trials in Early Modern Europe — The period of witch trials in Early Modern Europe came in waves and then subsided. There were early trials in the 15th and early 16th centuries, but then the witch scare went into decline, before becoming a big issue again and peaking in the 17th …   Wikipedia

  • Salem witch trials — Salem Witches redirects here. For the minor league baseball team, see Salem Witches (NEL). The central figure in this 1876 illustration of the courtroom is usually identifie …   Wikipedia

  • Basque witch trials — Francisco de Goya s Witches Sabbat, 1798 The Basque witch trials of the 17th century represent the most ambitious attempt at rooting out witchcraft ever undertaken by the Spanish Inquisition. The trial of the Basque witches at Logroño, near… …   Wikipedia

  • Northern Moravia witch trials — Memorial to Kryštof Lautner, a victim of the trials. The memorial is situated in Mohelnice, in the place where he was executed. Northern Moravian witch trials, also known as Boblig witch trials was a series of witch trials which occurred in the… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”