The Protracted Reformation in the North

Abstract

When persecuting those accused of some kind of witchcraft and magic in the Nordic countries in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the crime they allegedly had committed was labelled trolldom (sorcery). The correct historical legal term for the criminal was therefore trollkvinne (sorceress) and trollmann (sorcerer) respectively -trollfolk (sorcerers) in the plural. The modern German umbrella term hexe (witch) was first introduced in Denmark-Norway, Iceland and Sweden-Finland towards the very end of the seventeenth century and is thus not used in any legislation against sorcery-related practices, and very seldom used in the trial accounts. The Nordic distinction between trolldom and hekseri can in other words be compared to the English distinction between sorcery and witchcraft. However, in all the Nordic countries they continued using the old word for the crime instead of adapting the modern word of witchcraft even during the early modern period. In German speaking countries the new word for the crime was Hexerei, which gradually, but not entirely, replaced the old word of Zauberei and focused on the devil's pact: "…einem Pakt mit dem Teufel". 1In old legal documents from the Nordic countries, sorcerers, or trolls as they are popularly referred to, are described as beings that people should not get in touch with. For example, the ancient Norwegian Christian statutes from the eleventh and twelfth centuries contain a clear ban on consulting such trolls or seeking knowledge from them. Furthermore, in Norway's and Iceland's first land laws from 1274 and 1281 respectively such encounter was perceived as a very serious breach of law that carried the strictest penalty. The law forbids anyone to, "sit outside to wake up trolls". 2 In the text below, I am, however, comfortable by using the words