Also from the link:
"At least 91 people, both men and women, were found guilty of sorcery and burned at the stake or tortured to death.
The number may not be as large as elsewhere in Europe, but in northern Norway’s sparsely populated landscape it touched a disproportionately large chunk of the population.
About a third of these trials were specifically targeting Norway’s indigenous Sami population who arose suspicion by practicing traditional healing rituals."

Sounds like another example of Christianity driving out religious "competitors" so to speak, who were possibly practicing a pre-existing folk religion. Interesting also about the ethnic difference between the colonizers and the indigenous.

The photo in the article isn't great.




and then the long piece outside

The reflected flame is also interesting. Thanks for this also.

Last edited Wed May 6, 2015, 02:17 AM - Edit history (1)

Bit of a language barrier on the other article I read, but yes, I think that's what it is.

I liked the mirrors and the fire/chair in the center.
Chair has a 'you don't want to be this poor bastard' vibe to it.

that was a necessary component of the "inquisition" into the matter of witchcraft. Great art piece on multiple levels.

very interesting story.

The radically conservative catholic clergy of africa have managed to rekindle witch killings in regions where it was dying out. As the growth of the RCC is being driven in large part by africa these days, Rome just plays along.

in Africa as well.

I doubt we'll ever see one in the Holy See.

No shit. Hard to believe we have a few vocal DUers who think there's nothing wrong with exorcisms.

Imaginary friends. Imaginary enemies. I'm seeing a common thread.

in the seventeenth century, more than 500 years after the Christianization of the country. Natural scientific curiosity should lead us to searching for explanations of these time and place particularities

Barons, witch hunts and miscarriage of justice in 17th Century Finnmark
By Ole Lindhartsen
... If residence is deemed the cause of the distribution of witch accusations in Vardø and Kiberg alone, we find that of 137 cases in the county in total, there were as many as 39 cases spread amongst panics and single processes in this area. If you add villages like Store and Lille Ekkerøy, Vadsø, Syltevik, Makkaur, Hamningberg and Andersby, the combined number of cases in this area was 98, of which 57 were panics. These locations are, as I see it, in the vicinity of Vardø, despite the distances being great in a European context. The greatest distance is found between Vardø and Andersby, namely 80 km. So the Finnmark Cases show a great concentration of cases in the geographical vicinity of the central power’s administrative centre, Vardø. In other words, living in or around Vardø was dangerous ... The district system was made so that the barons could live off their lands, and it can be roughly stated that a district with a poor returns on all levels also meant poor income for the baron ... The barons in the worse districts could have used the witch processes to show the central powers in Copenhagen their brilliant administrative abilities and right-mindedness in the universal battle against evil. They could in other words have displayed themselves as the elaborate long arm of theology. Then they could hope for an allocation to districts in “nicer” parts of the twin kingdoms, and thus an increased income. Such speculations have a relatively solid foundation in actual conditions. There is absolutely no doubt that every time a new baron was instated in Finnmark in the period 1619-1665, there was a new wave of persecution. This couldn’t possibly be a coincidence ... Immediately after the hiring of John Cunningham (Hans Kønig) in 1619, the first witchcraft panic commenced in 1621, probably with preliminary studies in 1620. This included charges against 10 women. The name of the next baron was Jørgen Friis, who was appointed in 1651. He “debuted” with charges against 17 women. The third baron during the witch persecution period was Christopher Orning, who “ruled” in the period 1661-1665. The greatest witchcraft panic lasted from 1661 to 1663, with 28 women being targeted, whereof 6 were little girls ... In Finnmark we have the following ranking of lower count material: 1) shipwrecks, 2) death of people, 3) human illness. In the Finnmark processes, there’s also a very particular category, namely that of injury to the baron, which here arrives at a split fourth place together with death of cattle ...

What's your point? That this is a geographic peculiarity?

Please. The Abrahamic faith insists that demons and witches are real in the sense of actual supernatural powers. Small surprise some gullible people somewhere and at times will either embrace it, or use it as a weapon against other people.

The Abrahamic tradition provided the weapon.

he has no point.

In England, for example, executions for witchcraft are very largely a seventeenth century phenomenon -- but England was christianized a thousand years earlier

Hmm...

I wouldn't want to sit on that chair. And that's not even the full horror of how they did it.