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Förgörning To Trolldom: A History Of Danish Witchcraft And Magic, Cole M. Robert

Honors Theses

Numerous historical texts have evaluated European witchcraft trials and beliefs to discover the political, social, theological, economic, and cultural factors that led to the persecution of accused witches. These texts largely focus on the trials in Continental Europe, predominantly Southwestern Germany, with scant mentions of the trials in northern Europe. The Danish witchcraft trials in the early seventeenth century are significant to the greater history of witchcraft because they were highly concentrated yet resulted in relatively few executions. This paper seeks to determine the origins of the Danish witch trials and to explain why the death toll was restrained, with …