The Construction of Witchcraft in Early Modern Denmark, 1536-1617

“In her latest study of witchcraft, law, and authority structures, Louise Nyholm Kallestrup, professor of history at Southern Denmark University, carefully and insightfully leads readers through the radically altered landscape of witchcraft attitudes and trials of the post-Reformation Danish empire, culminating in the Witchcraft Act of 1617. It is a world filled with change, where the Pope is seen as the Antichrist, the Second Coming is imminent, and a very real Devil is understood to be a physical, not just a metaphysical, enemy who, in the words of the Bible, 'prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour' (1 Peter 5:8). And it a world in which the interests and powers of the authorities, ecclesiastical as well as royal, converge, but at the same time, they also rely heavily on the cooperation of the peasant classes. Through the detailed study of selected trials from throughout the empire, from Djursland in eastern Jutland to Norway to both sides of the Øresund, as well as of such political events as the ill-fated wedding voyage of Anna of Denmark and the victorious Kalmar War, Kallestrup skillfully demonstrates the important influence of the apocalyptic propaganda being spread through the medium of the parish churches, the significant role of the emerging image of the ideal Lutheran woman and its antipode, the lustful, disobedient witch, and the belief by the authorities that they were able to cleanse the land of such 'ungodly creatures.'"

Stephen Mitchell, Harvard University, USA

“This is an exciting and very readable book which offers new insights into the history of the early modern Danish witch-trials. Louise Nyholm Kallestrup points to the importance of the Danish Witchcraft Act of 1617, which defined witchcraft as a crime against God, to this history. However, unlike previous scholars, who have mainly looked at what happened after 1617, Kallestrup explores the period from 1536 to 1617 to explain how the Act came into being and what role the ‘godly’ Lutheran King, Christian IV, played in this process. She uses a wide range of sources (including church wall-paintings and morality plays about ‘evil women’ as well as court records and religious texts) and places particular emphasis on the benefits gained from analysing the history of witchcraft using the concepts of experience and epiphany. The book will be essential reading for scholars interested in the history of early modern witchcraft, religion, and gender.”

Alison Rowlands, Professor in European History, University of Essex, UK