Copenhagen witch trials
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The Copenhagen witch trials of 1590 was the first major witch trial in Denmark. It resulted in the execution of seventeen people by burning.[1] It was closely connected to the North Berwick witch trials in Scotland.
In the winter of 1589, Princess Anne of Denmark departed from Copenhagen to marry King James VI of Scotland. A great storm arose, which almost caused the ship to sink. The ship of the princess eventually harbored in Oslo in the Danish province of Norway, James VI joined her there, and the wedding took place in Norway instead of in Scotland, as had been planned. In the spring of 1590, after a few months at the Danish court, James VI and Anna returned to Scotland. Their voyage from Denmark was also beset by storms. The Danish court at that time was greatly perplexed by witchcraft and the black arts, and this must have impressed on the young King James. [2]
At this point, the number of witch trials had been small in Denmark since the case of Doritte Nippers in 1571, when a law had been put in place, banning local courts from handling witch trials. About this time, however, the interest in witch trials had been revived because of the ongoing gigantic mass process in Germany, Trier witch trials, which was much talked about in Denmark and described in news pamphlets.[3]
The Danish minister of finance, Christoffer Valkendorff, was accused by the Admiral Peder Munk of having equipped the royal ship so insufficiently that it had been unable to withstand the weather.[4][5]
He defended himself by saying that the storm had been caused by witches in the house of Karen Vaevers ('Karen the Weaver'), who had sent little demons in empty barrels who had climbed up the keels of the ships and caused the storm.[6]