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Magic in the Early Modern Period in Denmark
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Fink-Jensen, Morten |
| Copyright Year | 2016 |
| Abstract | Only circumstantial evidence attests to the existence of unlawful magic being practised in medieval Denmark. In 1080 Pope Gregor VII criticised the Danish King Harald III for holding witches responsible for misfortunes which, according to the pope, in reality were punishments sent by God. The Scanian Church Law and The Sealandian Church Law, both dating from ca. 1170, mention punish ment for homicide by means of sorcery. Town statutes from the early fourteenth century draw attention to bewitchment of persons, whereas a fifteenth-century amendment to the secular Jutlandic Law, originally issued in 1241, provides a description of procedures to be followed in cases concerning bewitchment of one’s possessions, presumably animals. How these laws were put into effect remains unknown due to lack of records. It is not until after the Lutheran Reformation of 1536 that evidence of trials against witches or sorcerers exists. In the wake of the Reformation the Danish Church actively began to combat sorcery. The concerns of the Church were directed towards sorcery and the use of, e.g., magical incantations and formulas. In his Visitation Book of ca. 1544 Peder Palladius (1503–1560), the bishop of Sealand, called for the clergy to warn the population against consulting the local healer, conjurer or midwife who used magic. In the opinion of the Church, such persons were sorcerers or witches, and the populace was to be warned that it was the duty of every good Christian to report such sorcerers to the authorities lest one risk being accused of aiding the devil. The sorcerers themselves would now, since the clear light of the Gospel had begun to shine in Denmark, as Palladius put it, get what they deserved, namely death at the stake. He reported ‘a herd of them’ to have been burnt of late in Malmö, Køge, and other towns, and in Western and Southern |
| Starting Page | 228 |
| Ending Page | 235 |
| Page Count | 8 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| DOI | 10.1163/9789004325968_031 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://brill.com/previewpdf/book/edcoll/9789004325968/B9789004325968_031.xml |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004325968_031 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
