Witch trials in Denmark

The Witch trials in Denmark are poorly documented, with the exception of the region of Jylland in the 1609–1687 period.

In the Köbenhavnske recess from 1547 it was stated that a testimony from a criminal was not a legal ground for a death sentence, and that torture was prohibited prior to a guilty verdict.

With some exceptions, such as the famous Copenhagen witch trial (1589) and the Køge Huskors (1608–1615), only the documentation of the region of Jylland from the period of 1609 to 1687 are preserved well enough to enable a proper investigation.

However, the island of Bornholm was not Danish at that time, and the first witchcraft executions in Denmark proper were, therefore, Karen Grottes and Bodil Lauritzen in 1540.

In 1543, a large witch trial in Malmö, centered around Gyde Spandemager, attracted attention.

[2] In October 1617, the witchcraft act Trolddomsforordningen af 1617 was introduced in Danish law, which made witch persecutions much easier and which was accompanied with an instruction by the king to local authorities and parish vicars to make use of it by investigating any suspected sorcery in their parishes.

[1] After the witch panic of the 1620s, the cases became fewer, likely because the prime victims during the great witch hunt had been marginalized people considered odd and reputed to be involved in sorcery, and that this category had been killed and fewer people of this kind was left to direct sorcery accusations toward.

[2] According to the Witchcraft Act, a death sentence could only be issued for the crime of Devil's Pact, and such a confession could only be attained by use of torture, which was forbidden prior to a guilty verdict.

However, in practice, the judges adjusted to the common view and sentenced people to death on the grounds of sorcery alone.

In 1636, Anne Pedersdatter Kasteføll was burnt at the stake in the middle of the main square in Ystad ('Ydsted'in the sources) in Scania.

On 16 November 1636, the Scanian County Court (Skaanninge landsting) issued the verdict that she should burn at the stake for being a 'throldquinde'.