Christence (Christenze) Akselsdatter Kruckow (circa 1558 – 26 June 1621) was a Danish noblewoman who was executed for witchcraft after having been accused twice.
When the witch trial had been arranged on Nakkebølle, Christence Kruckow had left and moved back to her birth family.
[2] The royal council decided that the case against Christence Kruckow, as a member of the nobility, was not to be pursued further and the two noble families were encouraged to reconcile on the king's wish.
In 1611, rumors were circulating in the city of Ålborg of strange diseases and speaking cats and pigs in the cemetery, which resulted in a witch trial in 1612.
Kruckow was the neighbor of the priest of the church of Vor Frue Kirke, and when his wife became mentally ill in 1618, he claimed that she had been bewitched.
Several women were arrested, confessed their guilt and pointed out Kruckow as one of them, but the authorities did not wish to accuse a member of the nobility.
Kruckow admitted that she had cursed the bridal bed of Anne Bille years before, and that she had disliked the wife of the priest.
The case against Kruckow was again complicated because of her noble birth, since she had the privilege to appeal to the king and be judged by the royal council.
[8] Christence Kruckow donated 1.000 daler in her will to scholarship for poor students, which came to be known as the Legatum Decollatæ Virginis ('The Legacy of the Decapitated Virgin'), which was functioning until the 20th-century.