{"id":157387,"date":"2022-03-16T14:35:06","date_gmt":"2022-03-16T18:35:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=157387"},"modified":"2022-03-18T17:50:29","modified_gmt":"2022-03-18T21:50:29","slug":"a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/16\/a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft\/","title":{"rendered":"A Memorial for Those Accused of Witchcraft"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Colors extracted, using a traditional recipe, from maritime sunburst lichen the author collected from the wildlife corridor along Elleb\u00e6kstien in K\u00f8ge. Fabrics from left to right, top to bottom: handwoven tussah and mulberry silk, wool, silk charmeuse, silk-rayon velvet, cotton, and linen. Photograph by Johan Rosenmunthe.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

A LOGBOOK TO REMEMBER 16 WOMEN OF WHOM 13 WERE BURNED ALIVE, TWO COMMITTED SUICIDE, AND ONE MANAGED TO ESCAPE, 1612\u20131615 AND 2021, REWRITTEN, GATHERED, DREAMED BY A WOMAN, AGE 34, THAT\u2019S TO SAY ME, A STAR AMONG ALL THESE RESPIRING STARS WE CALL PEOPLE<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Johanne Tommesis, burned, August 24, 1612<\/span>
\nKirstine Lauridsdatter, burned, September 11, 1612<\/span>
\nMette Banghors, burned, December 7, 1612<\/span>
\nVolborg B\u00f8dkers, escaped and convicted in absentia, June 7, 1613<\/span>
\nAnnike Christoffersdatter, burned, June 14, 1613<\/span>
\nAnne Olufs, burned, June 26, 1613<\/span>
\nKaren Eriks, suicide in prison, August 30, 1613<\/span>
\nMaren Muremester, burned, 1613<\/span>
\nMaren of Ringsbjerg, burned, 1613<\/span>
\nMaren Bysvende, suicide in her well after receiving a summons to appear in court, 1613<\/span>
\nKirsten V\u00e6verkvinde, burned, 1613<\/span>
\nBirgitte Rokkemager, burned, September 18, 1615<\/span>
\nElse Holtug, burned, November 6, 1615<\/span>
\nMette Navns, burned, 1615<\/span>
\nJohanne Muremester, burned, 1615<\/span>
\nMagdalene, S\u00f8ren Skr\u00e6dder\u2019s wife, burned, 1615<\/span><\/p>\n

WHERE: K\u00f8ge, Denmark<\/span><\/p>\n

MARCH 3, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

All morning, K\u00f8ge has been shrouded in fog. I took the train here. I\u2019ve walked down N\u00f8rregade. All the stores are closed because of the pandemic. Still, a few people are out. It\u2019s about ten o’clock. I haven\u2019t been here since December, the day before everything shut down for the second time. For years now, I\u2019ve been reading and thinking about those accused of witchcraft in K\u00f8ge. Not with any objective in mind\u2014it\u2019s been a kind of hunger. I want to understand what time is, what four hundred years of time is.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the side of the house on the corner of N\u00f8rregade and the town square is a commemorative plaque: here happened the k\u00f8ge holy terror, 1608\u20131615<\/span>. It isn\u2019t a memorial for the burned but for those who burned them. The plaque was put up in 1911 when K\u00f8ge Museum opened in the building across the street. It was supposed to be a kind of promotion for the museum. The women who were accused of witchcraft and murdered (or committed suicide) aren\u2019t mentioned.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first time I visited here was August 2019, and everything was on the verge of withering. I was three months pregnant and I came to visit these women\u2019s graves. It was only as I was standing in the town square, the wind rolling against my face and my hair swept up\u2014I could hear the cries of seagulls\u2014that I realized there were no graves because the women had been burned. What did they do with the ashes? The site of the fires is now occupied by Norske L\u00f8ve, a former hotel; now I think that normal people live there\u2014anyway, there\u2019s a buzzer by the door.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since that day, I\u2019ve visited K\u00f8ge regularly. I go there to approach the ones who are not <\/span>mentioned by the plaque. I pass by the river that runs through the town like a live wire, crossed by a number of small bridges. I\u2019ve read about so many women in the archives who\u2019ve drowned themselves and their children here. I walk down towards the roundabout, past Blegdammen and to the corner of Kongsberg All\u00e9. Here lies the narrow green corridor, traversed by the stream, where those accused of witchcraft are said to have gathered.<\/span><\/p>\n

MARCH 6, 1613<\/strong><\/p>\n

There lived in K\u00f8ge a godforsaken witch by the name of Mette Banghors.<\/span><\/p>\n

This woman, at the behest of Satan and her companions, went out to the stream located immediately outside of town and conjured the devil with the intention of leading him to the house of Hans Bartski\u00e6r.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then she aimed to conjure him in the likeness of a rat.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then Satan answered that he wouldn\u2019t rise because, he said, “I have horns and you have none.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Then the impious witch went and placed a pot on her head, conjured him anew, and said: “Now I have three horns; now, come on up already.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Then he rose from the stream in the likeness of a rat, and she brought him to the home of the aforementioned man.<\/span><\/p>\n

This was all confessed by Satan\u2019s prisoner, after which she was burned along with many other witches who were revealed and burned.<\/span><\/p>\n

A slightly rewritten source from the footnotes of <\/span><\/em>K\u00f8ge huskors\u00a0<\/span>(<\/span><\/em>The K\u00f8ge Holy Terror<\/span>)<\/span> by Johan Brunsmand, with an introduction and notes by Anders B\u00e6ksted (Ejnar Munksgaard, 1953)<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

MARCH 7, 1500 or 1700<\/strong><\/p>\n

To be Insensible to Torture<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Write these lines on a small piece of paper, which you will then swallow:<\/span><\/p>\n

Dismas et Gestas damnatur potestas.<\/span><\/i>
\nDisma et Gestas damnatur.<\/span><\/i>
\nAd astra levatur.<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When you are to be tortured, say: \u201cThis rope is so soothing against my limbs, as the Holy Virgin\u2019s milk to Our Lord.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Spell from <\/span><\/em>The Grand Grimoire<\/span>\u00a0(exact date of publication unknown).<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Peder Resen\u2019s map of K\u00f8ge, 1677. From K\u00f8ge huskors<\/em> by Johan Brunsmand.<\/p><\/div>\n

MARCH 13, 1608\u20131615<\/strong>
\nA HISTORY OF THE K\u00d8GE HOLY TERROR, IN BRIEF<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot going on in K\u00f8ge in 1607. According to the tax records of the time, many wealthy citizens live in the town. Business is good, and many ships are arriving in the harbor. King Christian IV frequently travels to visit the town. Copenhagen\u2019s status as the capital isn\u2019t yet set in stone but the king is in the process of centralizing power with a series of initiatives and so on. In K\u00f8ge\u2019s town center, on the corner of K\u00f8ge Square and N\u00f8rregade, live the wealthy merchant couple Anna and Hans Barski\u00e6r. They have a large household with plenty of children, a foster son named Jacob, and a staff of house-keeping servants. They are a powerful and well-respected family, what people call pillars of the community. Strange and scary things start to happen in Anna and Hans\u2019s house. The animals are behaving oddly and one by one the children are falling ill, speaking of eerie fellows who visit them at night, and before long, there\u2019s an eruption of full-on possessions: Satan is speaking from their mouths, wicker bassinets are levitating, and folks are swelling up when they visit the house and see Satan everywhere.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The suspicion arises that these unexplainable events must be the work of witchcraft. Hans and Anna hire a prosecutor by the name of Mads Hansen, who, at the couple\u2019s behest, starts trial proceedings against a series of women who are believed to have led Satan into Anna and Hans\u2019s house, and therefore, to have caused all these terrible things. The first woman Mads Hansen summons to appear in court is Johanne Tommesis, another wealthy and well-respected woman in town, who lives a stone\u2019s throw from Anna. Johanne is known to be a hotheaded woman prone to lashing out at people on the street, and the land registry also includes records of Johanne\u2019s husband having charged Anna and Hans because Anna had a go at Johanne one day when Johanne was out buying beer. There was, in other words, bad blood between them. But Johanne doesn\u2019t give in without a fight, and in the end, the court must obtain a letter from the king to put Johanne away once and for all. She sits in the prison cellar for four months until she finally confesses (probably under torture) that yes, she\u2019s behind all the nuisances in Hans and Anna\u2019s house\u2014because she\u2019s sent Satan after them with witchcraft\u2014and then she names two other women who were also involved, Mette Banghors and her own maid, Kirstine. After confessing to everything, Johanne is burned at the stake.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In Denmark, witch trials work by first getting the woman to confess that she\u2019s a witch; only then does the court begin their interrogation to bring all her sins to light. This was termed the embarrassing interrogation<\/em>, a euphemism for torture. The idea is that by confessing, one can cleanse oneself of all sin and therefore still be able to go to heaven after being burned. So, it\u2019s only after Johanne has been sentenced to death that she recounts all the terrible witchcraft that she\u2019s brought about and names the others who were involved. This is all happening at the end of September 1612. Before the year turns, Kirstine and Mette are also sentenced and burned, and each of them cites more women from town and the surrounding area, and so it goes until 1615. After Mette\u2019s execution, Mads Hansen resigns as prosecutor and Hans Bartski\u00e6r dies of illness (it\u2019s difficult for me to figure out which happens first), but the witch trials proceed, and the children are still levitating and screaming Satan\u2019s name in Anna\u2019s house.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

During an interrogation of Mette Banghors, it is revealed that the horrible happenings in the house on the corner of the square and N\u00f8rregade will only come to an end once every witch who helped to summon Satan is dead. In other words, the town needs to be completely purged before they will be set free. In January and February of 1613, they start with Annike Christoffersdatter and Volborg B\u00f8dkers. In the meantime, Volborg has managed to escape (nice going, and good for you), probably because her husband bailed her out. In other words, she is yet another wealthy woman. Annike, however, is imprisoned at the start of the year and burned in June. It appears that, the same year, both Maren Muremester and Maren of Ringsbjerg (who is maybe Maren of Eg\u00f8je\u2014one of these Marens must be Maren of Eg\u00f8je, whose name I\u2019ve run into, but hopefully it\u2019ll become clear with time, as I start to understand the material better) are burned. Maren of Ringsbjerg, who is named in K\u00f8ge, is brought before the court in Tryggev\u00e6lde Len and then taken by Christian IV to Christiansborg Palace, and this is where my trail ends, but I\u2019m not done following it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The same year, 1613 still, two women commit suicide in relation to the case. Karen Eriks in jail, where she was locked up based on accusations of witchcraft, and Maren Bysvende, who drowns herself in her own well after receiving a summons. Between 1613 and 1615, Anne Olufs, Kirsten V\u00e6verkvinde, Berit Rokkemager, Else Holtug, Johanne Murmester, and Magdalene (who I have very little information about\u2014I only know that she was S\u00f8ren Skr\u00e6dder\u2019s wife) are burned, too. Two years later, Christian IV issues a statewide decree on witchcraft that declares all forms of magic (white and black) punishable by burning. Subsequently, the number of witch trials in Denmark explodes. The same year, Anna Barski\u00e6r marries a wealthy merchant, Cort Ricther, now the magistrate of K\u00f8ge. Well, at least I think so. All this is four hundred years ago, and agreeing on history is a challenge.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Figure of the number of witch trials in Jutland, 1609\u20131687, from Jens Christian V. Johansen\u2019s Da dj\u00e6vlen var ude <\/em>(When the Devil was out there<\/em>) (Odense Universitetsforlag, 1991). Sketches on the figure are mine.<\/p><\/div>\n

MARCH 17, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

K\u00f8ge was a town where everyone traded, from the city councilmembers to the poor old ladies.<\/span><\/p>\n

They sold pork, beef, butter, nuts, sheepskins and lambskins, rye, barley, malt, honey, mead, wine, and beer from Germany.<\/span><\/p>\n

There were often conflicts between the traders on the square over the location of their booths, especially between the bakers.<\/span><\/p>\n

A tailor hit a poor old lady in her house and a prostitute pushed a girl from Copenhagen onto her backside.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Lovgraven, which collected the water from the gutters on Nyportstr\u00e6de and the neighboring streets, sludge piled up.<\/span><\/p>\n

The town was known for its beer. The townspeople took every opportunity to enjoy a stoup of beer or to gather around a whole barrel.<\/span><\/p>\n

I take my usual route past Blegdammen. Right before crossing the stream, an older couple walks past; she\u2019s using walking poles, a stick in each hand. \u201c<\/span>What\u2019s<\/span><\/i> not normal?\u201d she asks because she didn\u2019t hear him the first time. \u201cLife,\u201d he answers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two eager faces, the driver in a gray blazer, circle the roundabout in a white BMW with rims.<\/span><\/p>\n

There were three sets of cattle guards by the entrance to the large cemetery to prevent stray pigs from digging around the graves. Still, it was occasionally necessary to chase the pigs away, and the nightman occasionally had to remove a pig that had died.<\/span><\/p>\n

As I near the stream, I feel the almost ominous, seductive pull of the soil. The Kings of the Poor, the town\u2019s two beggar kings, dressed in red calico, made their rounds, rattling their cans for the poor.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of the poor were women and children. Many of them died on the streets. A woman died in Bastian Bartski\u00e6r\u2019s basement, another on Lovportsstr\u00e6de, and a boy in the mill. Others were taken in from the street and died soon after. The account books suggest it was the poorest of the townspeople, the people in the booths in the square, who showed mercy by taking care of the dying who lay on their doorsteps.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two women of the common poor from the booths in the town took on the task of caring for the sick in the plague house in exchange for one mark every eight days. They survived and, after eleven weeks, received five dalers and two marks.<\/span><\/p>\n

A tattered man in high spirits is sitting on the bench outside the K\u00f8ge Museum, across from the memorial plaque, the kind of person I would have called a \u201cgentleman of the road\u201d as a child, and I realize that he\u2019s known among the locals. He\u2019s talking with a lady in a purple puffer coat. The man on the bench points at the plaque: \u201cThe witch trials,\u201d he says, and reads aloud, \u201c1608\u20131615. It happened right here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve thought about that a lot,\u201d the puffer lady says, \u201cit must have been awful.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, me too. Good for us we weren\u2019t alive back then.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d The puffer lady turns to leave with her husband, pauses, and says, \u201cThey kept them in the cellar down there,\u201d and points at the small window in the wall behind the bench.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve read somewhere1<\/sup> that the K\u00f8ge Holy Terror is a story of women\u2019s daily lives. That it takes place in the home and is really about relationships between female neighbors, disputes about servants and the caretaking of children. But it is also the story of women\u2019s activity in the public space: trips to the capital to take care of business, brewing beer, and the potter\u2019s wife trading in the square.<\/span><\/p>\n

I see the small woman with the baby in the sling again. She\u2019s wearing a green coat, her face still young. Her eyes look right into mine, and I see their brown color.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. The place is Marianne Johannesen\u2019s article\u00a0<\/em><\/span>\u201cK\u00f8ges udvikling mellem 1350 og 1850\u201d (\u201cThe Development of K\u00f8ge, 11350\u20131850\u201d), which I cite directly from <\/span>in the rest of this passage. The article is from <\/span><\/em>K\u00f8ge b<\/span>ys historie (The history of K\u00f8ge), published by\u00a0<\/em><\/span>Turistforeningen for K\u00f8ge og Omegn ved Victor Hermansen og <\/span>Povl Engelstoft in 1988.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Detail from Resen\u2019s map, where you can see the \u201cK\u00f8ge kag<\/em>.\u201d The kag<\/em> was an instrument of torture, closely related to the pillory, which consisted of a wooden crate and a stake that criminals were tied to and whipped. From K\u00f8ge huskors<\/em> by Johan Brunsmand.<\/p><\/div>\n

MARCH 21, 1899<\/strong><\/p>\n

To make people furious<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

If you take water lilies and let a person smell or eat them, then they will become furious.<\/span><\/p>\n

A spell from Evald Tang Kristensen\u2019s folklore collection, <\/span><\/em>Danske sagn, som de har lydt I folkemunde (Danish Legends as They Were Told by the People),\u00a0<\/span>1899.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

MARCH 22, 1613<\/strong><\/p>\n

WHAT<\/span>
\nThe case against Volborg B\u00f8dkers continues in the K\u00f8ge Town Court. Volborg isn\u2019t present, as she\u2019s fled. It\u2019s been nearly a year since the first woman in town, Johanne Tommesis, was imprisoned for witchcraft and since then, Volborg has been named a witch multiple times during the trial proceedings. Last fall, three women were convicted of witchcraft and burned on the outskirts of town (close to where Norske L\u00f8ve lies today).<\/span><\/p>\n

THE AGGRIEVED<\/span>
\nPeder Karmager<\/span><\/p>\n

THE ACCUSED<\/span>
\nVolborg B\u00f8dkers<\/span><\/p>\n

THE ACCUSATION<\/span>
\nThat Volborg B\u00f8dkers has harmed Peder and his wife and, moreover, that Volborg B\u00f8dkers, along with Johanne Tommesis, has taken evil from the well of Johanne Tommesis and led him to the house of Hans Barski\u00e6r.<\/span><\/p>\n

WHO<\/span>
\nTwenty-five citizens of K\u00f8ge take this opportunity to lay the blame on the absent Volborg for all kinds of misfortunes. All in all the largest number of accusations given in a single day during the entirety of the K\u00f8ge witch trials. It is also the only case in which the accused woman is not present. None of the witnesses sees Volborg again. One by one, they appear before the court and give their testimonies, as they become increasingly agitated.<\/span><\/p>\n

WITNESSES<\/span>
\nPeder S\u00f8rensen (juror)<\/span>
\nPeder Rasmussens (juror)<\/span>
\nMads Pedersen (skipper)<\/span>
\nHans Henriksen (potter)<\/span>
\nLudze (Christen Kjeldsen\u2019s wife)<\/span>
\nBirgitte (Niels B\u00f8dker\u2019s wife)<\/span>
\nJens S\u00f8rensen (fisherman)<\/span>
\nKnud B\u00f8dker (cooper)<\/span>
\nPeder Lagermager<\/span>
\nRasmus Jacobsen<\/span>
\nClaus Nielsen (a servant)<\/span>
\nJens Olufsen (porter)<\/span>
\nAnne Sv\u00e6rdfegers (sword maker)<\/span>
\nRasmus Ravn<\/span>
\nLaurids B\u00f8dker (Peders Karmager\u2019s yonuger brother)<\/span>
\nCasper Hansen (barber surgeon\u2019s apprentice)<\/span>
\nDaniel Hansen (acting as witness on his wife\u2019s behalf)<\/span>
\nThomas Bj\u00f8rnsen<\/span>
\nMads Jensen<\/span>
\nSvend Kjeldsen<\/span>
\nChristen Skr\u00e6dder (tailor)<\/span>
\nPeder Hugger (woodcutter)<\/span>
\nJens Feldbereder (tanner)<\/span>
\nGregers Klejnsmed (locksmith)<\/span><\/p>\n

THE FIRST TWO WITNESSES<\/span>
\nThe day\u2019s proceedings begin with two men by the name of Peder who relay that they, fourteen days prior, went to Volborg\u2019s house but that she wasn\u2019t there. They also left word with her brother-in-law, Hans Enevoldsen, that she should appear in court today. And as you can see, she hasn\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n

THE THIRD WITNESS<\/span>
\nNow Mads Pedersen, a skipper from K\u00f8ge, testifies that he, five years ago, in relation to a trip to Lu\u0308beck, sold a barrel of L\u00f8nberg salt to Volborg for ten marks. Several months later, however, Volborg unexpectedly returned the barrel and demanded her money back. Mads sent the barrel back, saying he didn\u2019t want the salt. Mads adds that he paid the porter two dalers to take it back to her house. Then Volborg\u2019s maid went to see Mads\u2019s wife and told her that if Mads didn\u2019t take the salt back, she would live to regret it. Mads describes that he, two days later, became wretched and unwell in all his limbs, such that he had no rest nor peace, neither night nor day, inside nor out. So, he sends for the priest. For four days, Mads was held in this delirium, after which his condition improved slightly, but still, it ended up costing him seven weeks on his sickbed. This, he believes, is the work of Volborg.<\/span><\/p>\n

THE FOURTH WITNESS<\/span>
\nNow, Hans Henriksen Pottemager, a potter, testifies that he, eight years ago, had agreed to build a cockle stove for Volborg but that when he arrived at her house, he saw someone else already building the very oven she had ordered from him. He was angry about the double booking but Volborg said that if he didn\u2019t relent, he\u2019d learn his lesson in good time. Three days later, Hans\u2019s wife was selling clay pots in the square when suddenly she became very ill, and many good people saw it too. They sent word to Hans, who then hurried over. A few women were already walking her home and he took her basket of pottery. But when he reached the door to his house, he too was struck by an illness so vehement he couldn\u2019t carry the basket in, and it seemed to him that all the houses were running around him. The small dogs who had run alongside him, following him home, ran over the threshold ahead of him and became sick and mad. One of them died on the street immediately and the other was later found dead in the attic. When Hans finally entered the living room, he fell into his bed and immediately became so unwell in all his limbs that his whole body floundered and flailed as if his heart was bursting out of his body. Hans had neither rest nor peace, neither night nor day, except when he lay on the cold, bare ground. He was unwell for a year and a half, and for this illness, he holds Volborg entirely accountable. But Hans isn\u2019t done testifying yet. He has another grievance to air. He recounts that Volborg came to see him last year, sometime late in September (this was around the same time the first women were burned). Volborg falls to her knees in front of Hans\u2019s wife, begging to have her child to play with, but his wife won\u2019t let go.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then Volborg asks if Hans\u2019s wife can go find her some pots to look over and maybe buy but his wife says she only has the pots laid out on the bench. Volborg isn\u2019t interested in any of them and goes her way but then returns a half hour later to buy a pan. The wife says she only has one pan for sale but Volborg doesn\u2019t want that one either, and after thinking it over while standing next to the cockle stove, Volborg leaves again. And ever since that day, Hans\u2019s wife has been bedridden. And the same week as Volborg\u2019s visit, an oven full of the potter\u2019s work was broken and ruined, even though no one had touched them.<\/span><\/p>\n

THE FIFTH WITNESS<\/span>
\nNow comes Ludze, Christen Kjeldsen\u2019s wife, and she testifies that she was at the house of Hans Pottemager and saw Volborg enter twice, and she confirms, moreover, that both Hans and his wife had suffered harm and illness.<\/span><\/p>\n

THE SIXTH WITNESS<\/span>
\nNow comes Birgitte Niels B\u00f8dkers, and she testifies that, nine years ago, her husband Niels B\u00f8dker became very unwell in his thigh. It came on suddenly and the pain and torment spread, such that he could neither walk nor work. Back then, he suspected Volborg B\u00f8dkers of having brought this evil upon him and so, he went to her house, in the presence of the good people, to accuse her of having caused his precariousness and sorrow. As soon as he had done so, his condition improved, and the very same illness disappeared.<\/span><\/p>\n

THE SEVENTH WITNESS<\/span>
\nNow Jens S\u00f8rensen Fisker testifies that, last summer, he was taking Anne Niels Skaanings back from Copenhagen and when he reached the outskirts of K\u00f8ge, he saw Volborg B\u00f8dkers feeding her horses by the road. She asked him to come help her since it was getting late. He asked her who had taken her out here, and she answered: \u201cThat Knud B\u00f8dker\u2014he\u2019ll be sorry, that scoundrel, I\u2019ll swear to that, all high and mighty. I asked him to help me, too, and he refused.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

THE EIGHTH WITNESS<\/span>
\nNow the aforementioned Knud B\u00f8dker testifies that it is indeed true that Volborg was feeding her horses the very place Jens claimed, and that Knud drove off after declining to help her, and that he hadn\u2019t even considered Volborg would be upset. And Knud continues, recounting that he, soon after, was struck by a strange ailment in his back and loin, such that he couldn\u2019t work for more than a few hours at a time for several days, even though he considers himself of sound heart. And Knud concludes that he suspects Volborg B\u00f8dkers of having brought on his illness, as she swore him harm when he left her behind.<\/span><\/p>\n

THE NINTH WITNESS<\/span>
\nNow Peder Lagermager testifies to an event that occurred four years ago, back when a young goldsmith was living with Volborg B\u00f8dkers. One night, late in the evening, the goldsmith crawled over the board fence into Peder\u2019s yard, wearing nothing but his shirt and with a drawn sword in his hand. He was clearly ill at ease, and knocked on Peder\u2019s door, asking him, for God\u2019s sake, to let him in. But Peder wouldn\u2019t let anyone in at night, and the smith said: \u201cIf you don\u2019t let me in, they\u2019ll be the death of me.\u201d But Peder didn\u2019t dare let him in because he didn\u2019t know what was going on. So, the goldsmith crawled over the next board fence into Margrete Jyde\u2019s yard and through the archway onto the street. The following morning, Volborg came knocking on Peder\u2019s door to ask whether he had seen a young man who had come from her house last night. And Peder said yes, he had seen someone. And Volborg asked Peder to help her find him in her house, and, after looking for some time, they returned to the living room to find the very same goldsmith standing in the doorway\u2014he had just appeared. Then he said to Volborg and her girl, as he gestured to them: \u201cMay God forsake You for last Night, You have made me a poor Man, You and Your girl have given me a cursed Night, You and Your maidservant are of the same Kind, You ought to have been burned in Fire ten years ago.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

THE TENTH WITNESS<\/span>
\nAll this is confirmed by the witness Rasmus Jacobsen, who recounts that both he and his mother saw the gates to the backyard and the door to the street open that night.<\/span><\/p>\n

THE ELEVENTH WITNESS<\/span>
\nAnd Claus Nielsen, one of Niels Andersen\u2019s servants, testifies that he, the same morning, saw the aforementioned goldsmith enter Niels Andersen\u2019s living room in nothing but his shirt and bare legs with a drawn weapon in his hand, and strongly laments that Volborg B\u00f8dkers had him lie there, and that Volborg and her girl brought him with them to the Old K\u00f8ge Cemetery at night, where they dug peat2<\/sup> from under their feet, and said many words that he didn\u2019t pay heed to; however, the young smith laments that they gave him a wretched night.<\/span><\/p>\n

THE TWELFTH WITNESS<\/span>
\nAnd now, Jens Olufsen Vognmand testifies, and merely adds that his earlier testimony stands true in this case as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

THE THIRTEENTH WITNESS<\/span>
\nNow Anne Sv\u00e6rdfegers testifies that Volborg B\u00f8dkers has been her neighbor for nine years, like one of Satan\u2019s harpies, because once, she came to see Anne. Anne had two geese walking across the floor with their twenty-four gooselings and Volborg asked to borrow a sewing needle. Volborg said a Hail Mary while waving her hand over the gooselings and then said: \u201cOh, what little things have we here.\u201d And soon after, when the very same goslings were put out to pasture, they disappeared, each and every one, such that Anne never saw them again. Furthermore, as Anne testifies, Volborg came to her house to trade a skilling for a few white plants and Anne walked with her into the garden to get the plants. But when Volborg entered Anne\u2019s garden, she signed the Hail Mary three times with her hand over Anne\u2019s herb garden, over the marjoram, thyme, and other herbs, which were all beautifully green and tall. And within eight days, all the herbs had been gobbled up by pests, leaving the soil entirely bare. And for this, she blames Volborg.<\/span><\/p>\n

THE FOURTEENTH WITNESS<\/span>
\nNow, Rasmus Ravn is testifying about the time Peder Karmager, the town cooper, had made a new tun for S\u00f8ren B\u00f8dker on N\u00f8rrestr\u00e6de. The cask was standing by the well in S\u00f8ren\u2019s yard and they measured that it could hold fourteen barrels of water. In the meantime, S\u00f8ren\u2019s wife3<\/sup> came up from the cellar with a jug of beer, which she gave first to her husband, who took a drink and passed it to Peder, who took a drink and passed it to Rasmus, who took a drink and passed it to Anders Karmager. Suddenly, Peder Karmager fell into the cask, although no one had seen or knew how it happened. They quickly pulled him out of the tub because, otherwise, he would have drowned. And as soon as he came up from the cask, he pulled off his pants and ran out of S\u00f8ren\u2019s gate like a wild and wretched person and back home, where he put on a pair of pants and a clean shirt before returning to S\u00f8ren\u2019s living room to drink the remaining beer with the rest of them. And then, once more, he became so wretched in his head and ran off again, after which they didn\u2019t see more of him that day.<\/span><\/p>\n

THE FIFTEENTH WITNESS<\/span>
\nNow Laurids B\u00f8dker testifies that he was there to help Peder out of the cask and Laurids swears that Peder, at that point, was not drunk.<\/span><\/p>\n

THE SIXTEENTH WITNESS<\/span>
\nNow Peder Karmager steps forward to testify. He was the one who commenced the trial by bringing accusations of witchcraft against Volborg and he is the key witness in the case. Peder accuses Volborg of being the cause of the ungodly torment and holy terror that he and his wife have been subjected to. The main reason Volborg should hold a grudge against them, Peder believes, has to do with him teaching his younger brother Laurids about the cooper business, the same profession Volborg\u2019s husband makes his living from. Volborg managed to coax the boy away from Peder.4<\/sup> But then Peder takes the brother back against her will. As a result, Volborg gets angry, goes to see Peder Karmager, quarrels with him in bad faith, and says that Peder will meet a devil\u2019s accident and that he won\u2019t be the better for it.<\/span><\/p>\n

THE FIFTEENTH WITNESS, AGAIN<\/span>
\nAnd Laurids, Peder\u2019s younger brother, who, at that point, was also Peder\u2019s neighbor, confirms all that has been said.<\/span><\/p>\n

THE SEVENTEENTH WITNESS<\/span>
\nNow Casper Hansen testifies about his father who bandaged up Peder Karmager\u2019s wife, Anne. One day, his father was called to see her and she showed him a living thing in her thigh, running up and down like a piglet. One morning, Casper Hansen\u2019s father returned to her house with a razor to slice a hole in her thigh, which he believed would improve her condition. But when he went to make the incision, the living thing scuttled up into Anne\u2019s head, making her head go up and down, so a few women had to hold her head steady. And when Casper\u2019s father returned to the house to bandage her up, she spat on him and then ripped the bandage off with a strange habit, and wouldn\u2019t accept any salve for the wound.<\/span><\/p>\n

THE EIGHTEENTH WITNESS<\/span>
\nNow Daniel Hansen testifies that he was at Peder Karmager\u2019s house and that Daniel\u2019s wife had an experience there, of which he has a written account to be read aloud in court today.5<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n

THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH WITNESSES<\/span>
\nNow Thomas Bj\u00f8rnsen and Mads Jensen testify that they too are regular visitors of Peder Karmager\u2019s house and that they\u2019ve seen and heard many strange words from the mouth of Peder Karmager\u2019s wife along with strange and peculiar gesticulations. And whenever he6<\/sup> is asked what kind of fellow he is, the answer comes from the woman\u2019s mouth: <\/span>My name is Lucifer, my lady Volborg B\u00f8dkers entered this person, so that I could torment her.<\/span><\/i> And the voice, by their own accounts, kept speaking and told them that Volborg has punished Anne Karmager, so that Anne would not have any sustenance from her garden or elsewhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

And that Volborg put him into an egg at night and buried him in Anne Karmager\u2019s garden. And when Anne went to dig in the place the egg had been buried, so it was spoken from Anne\u2019s mouth, and he rushed up and into her thigh at Volborg\u2019s behest, and the voice said that Volborg was his in body and soul for all eternity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

THE TWENTY-FIRST, TWENTY-SECOND, AND TWENTY-THIRD WITNESSES<\/span>
\nNow Svend Kjeldsen, Christen Skr\u00e6dder, and Peder Hugger testify that they too have been to Peder Karmager\u2019s house and have seen and heard from Anne Peder Karmager\u2019s mouth the words and strange gestures that Daniel Hansen has described.<\/span><\/p>\n

THE TWENTY-FOURTH WITNESS<\/span>
\nNow Jens Feldbereder testifies that he too can confirm these events have taken place in Peder Karmager\u2019s house.<\/span><\/p>\n

THE TWENTY-FIFTH WITNESS<\/span>
\nNow Gregers Klejnsmed testifies that he too can confirm these events have taken place in Peder Karmager\u2019s house and that he, moreover, has heard from Anne Peder Karmager\u2019s mouth that the voice is called Lucifer and that Volborg B\u00f8dkers is his lady and that she has sworn herself to him so that she would always have enough silver and pennings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And Peder Karmager permits further testimony in this case, if necessary.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

My rewriting of the court records from March 22, 1613, located in the ledgers containing the trial proceedings related to the K\u00f8ge Holy Terror. I\u2019ve used Anders B\u00e6ksted\u2019s republication of the ledgers in <\/span><\/em>Fra K\u00f8benhavns Amt\u2014Aarbog udgivet af Historisk Samfund for K\u00f8benhavns Amt<\/span> (1951). In <\/span><\/em>K\u00f8ge huskors<\/span>, the same B\u00e6ksted cites directly from the court records in his footnotes, using the original orthography. When compared to the records from 1951, we can see that his account is likely a direct transcription of the ledgers but in B\u00e6ksted\u2019s contemporary orthography.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

2. In Danish, one uses the verb <\/span><\/em>at grave<\/span> (to dig or to bury) when collecting peat. So the description of these women \u201cdigging at night at the graveyard\u201d carries a double meaning.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

3. This must be Volborg.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

4. My guess is that she convinces him to learn from her instead.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

5. I haven\u2019t been able to find this written account anywhere.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

6. The \u201che\u201d refers to whatever is moving inside her.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The frontispiece of the German translation of K\u00f8ge huskors<\/em> from 1696, in which Anna is seen praying in the foreground, circled by animalistic, devilish figures, rats, and her possessed children. In the opening of the door, her foster son Jacob is seen lifted as if crucified by a devil.<\/p><\/div>\n

MARCH 22, 1613<\/strong><\/p>\n

The same day. I see them leave the town hall one by one, gathering in small clusters on the street; the air is cold but fresh, the sky very high, one or a few of them light a pipe; there are hushed voices, but there\u2019s also a dizziness, like after a long day of sedentary work\u2014fine motor skills and a clean brain, the intense concentration of the courtroom. Some of them head home while others are planning to go back in. Either because they have something to say or just to see what\u2019ll happen next. Some of them have yet to play their part, perhaps they haven\u2019t had the presence of mind to follow the movements of the witnesses\u2019 mouths because a trembling inside about what was to come had stopped them. Domesticated dogs run between the people, their shirts, woven with nettles, linen; the aprons, children dart around; someone crunches a slender, pale vegetable between their teeth. Annike Christoffersdatter is collected from the cellar. She has been sitting there since January. It was Kirstine, Johanne\u2019s maid, who first named Annike back\u00a0<\/span>in September, but now it\u2019s March, and Kirstine was burned the same day she named Annike. Once Johanne broke, the rest was quick. She sat in the cellar for four months, on a hunger strike and fighting. But they got her in the end. Once Johanne confessed and named Kirstine\u2014as well as Mette and Maren\u2014it took only four days before Kirstine was sitting in the cellar and another twenty-two days before she was burned. And she had the chance to name Annike.<\/span><\/p>\n

At first, it was someone else, Johanne\u2019s relative, Laurids Prammand, who had helped Kirstine, whose one leg was paralyzed, to urinate in the church\u2019s baptismal font, and she said in court that he had helped her up. That Maren of Ringsbjerg, along with Johanne, had promised that Kirstine\u2019s paralysis would disappear if she urinated into the baptismal font in the church. But <\/span>nothing happened and her leg kept limping, and at first, Kirstine came forward one day and said that Laurids had helped her because the font was too tall and too difficult to get her legs around, but then she came forward the next day, if possible, even more dispirited and gray, if possible, with an even greater look of delusion in her dead eyes, and said that no, it wasn\u2019t actually Laurids, she had misremembered, it was Annike. And now, Annike is being brought up from the cellar beneath the town hall where she has sat for thirty days. And she is accused of having helped the others lead evil into the house of Hans Bartski\u00e6r, with having carried the rat, the rat Satan, from the stream up to Anna and Hans\u2019s house, where the strange things with the children happened. And that it was this: the rat, from the stream which supposedly set everything in motion. And now Annike is being brought up from the cellar, her hands tied behind her back; dirt scrapes between the cobblestones from the toes of shoes; a pipe is emptied, someone rubs a chin, a face squints at the sun; it\u2019s almost noon, the sun is high, as high as it gets in March; the birds are audible, the wheel of the year is turning, bell by bell it falls forward and around like wood-carved pieces in a game, in an endless clockwork. Not endless because it\u2019s eternal but because it\u2019s biting its own tail. And when Mette Banghors confessed and confirmed that Johanne was a witch and said that Boel Peders was too, she also gave up Kirsten Polsagtig and Birgitte, and then Annike. And a few weeks later, Mette has been sitting in the cellar for a little over three months now, and she\u2019s being brought up (but that was in November, now it\u2019s March, and Annike is being brought up from the cellar too, as she\u2019s being raised from the obliterating waters of a cellar well, and their eyes are squinting at the light and faces) and Mette singles out Annike again and now Volborg too, and twenty-one days later, Mette is declared guilty of witchcraft and she confesses to everything but retracts her accusation of Volborg. But not her accusation of Annike. And a week later, Mette changes her story again: previously, she\u2019s mentioned Mette Navns and Kirstine Krielles, but they\u2019re not actually witches, but Volborg is, and Annike is, and they\u2019re the ones being persecuted today, and the day Mette said all this was the seventh of December, but now it\u2019s March, that day, she was burned and disappeared, no grave, only the ashes floating over the town and nestling between brown stalks in the vegetable gardens; the evergreens sheltered the ash among its leaves. I don\u2019t know when Annike was put in jail but I do know that the accusation against her was brought forward on January 22, so it was likely around then they brought her in. Now we\u2019ll see whom Annike knows; now, she\u2019s coming, now, she\u2019s being escorted in, now she\u2019s being brought into the courtroom, and people who have been waiting around, getting a breath of air and a smoke, file in after her. I wonder whether she had children, which she probably did, and about where those children were and what those children saw.<\/span><\/p>\n

MARCH 22, 1613<\/strong><\/p>\n

WHAT<\/span>
\nThe trial of Annike Christoffersdatter continues in the K\u00f8ge Town Court.<\/span><\/p>\n

THE AGGRIEVED<\/span>
\nUnknown<\/span><\/p>\n

THE ACCUSED<\/span>
\nAnnike Christoffersdatter<\/span><\/p>\n

THE ACCUSATION<\/span>
\nWitchcraft and participation in leading evil to the house of Hans Bartski\u00e6r.<\/span><\/p>\n

WHO<\/span>
\nAnnike Christoffersdatter, Peder Holtug (on his wife\u2019s behalf), Oluf Rokkemager (on his wife\u2019s behalf), Karen Eriks, Kirsten V\u00e6verkvinde, the town magistrate (on the behalf of His Royal Majesty) and Mads Jensen (serving as judge). Annike Christoffersen, by all accounts, was imprisoned back in February. Now, she is appearing before the K\u00f8ge Town Court, where she confirms what she has previously confessed to outside the court regarding herself as well as Else Holtug, Birgitte Rokkemager, Karen Eriks, and Kirsten V\u00e6verkvinde. That her confession took place outside the court likely means that she confessed under interrogation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Her confession is read aloud but there\u2019s no record of the confession to be found.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Translated from the Danish by Sherilyn Nicolette Hellberg.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Olga Ravn is a prize-winning Danish novelist and poet. Her novel <\/span><\/em>The Employees<\/span> was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2021 and has been published in twenty languages. A version of this piece, which is part of an ongoing project, was commissioned for the exhibition <\/span><\/em>Hummings (2021)<\/em><\/span>, curated by Fulya\u00a0<\/span><\/em>Erdemci and Ulrikke Neergaard for the K\u00d8S Museum of Art\u00a0in Public Spaces.<\/i><\/p>\n

Sherilyn Nicolette Hellberg is a writer and literary translator. H<\/i>er translation of Jonas Eika\u2019s <\/i>After the Sun is longlisted for this year\u2019s International Booker Prize<\/em>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt isn\u2019t a memorial for the burned but for those who burned them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2219,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7554],"tags":[33,3357,14634,29691,68371,21250,7069],"class_list":["post-157387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history-2","tag-archives","tag-diary","tag-historical-texts","tag-logbook","tag-olga-ravn","tag-trials","tag-witches"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Memorial for Those Accused of Witchcraft by Olga Ravn<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"March 16, 2022 \u2013 \u201cIt isn\u2019t a memorial for the burned but for those who burned them.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/16\/a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Memorial for Those Accused of Witchcraft by Olga Ravn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"March 16, 2022 \u2013 \u201cIt isn\u2019t a memorial for the burned but for those who burned them.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/16\/a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-16T18:35:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-18T21:50:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/lichen-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1736\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Olga Ravn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Olga Ravn\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"35 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/16\/a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/16\/a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Olga Ravn\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/14c403f91eb81bc10fc73e982a297a67\"},\"headline\":\"A Memorial for Those Accused of Witchcraft\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-16T18:35:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-18T21:50:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/16\/a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft\/\"},\"wordCount\":7009,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/16\/a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/lichen-694x1024.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"archives\",\"diary\",\"historical texts\",\"logbook\",\"Olga Ravn\",\"Trials\",\"witches\"],\"articleSection\":[\"History\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/16\/a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/16\/a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft\/\",\"name\":\"A Memorial for Those Accused of Witchcraft by Olga Ravn\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/16\/a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/16\/a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/lichen-694x1024.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-16T18:35:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-18T21:50:29+00:00\",\"description\":\"March 16, 2022 \u2013 \u201cIt isn\u2019t a memorial for the burned but for those who burned them.\u201d\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/16\/a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/16\/a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/16\/a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/lichen-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/lichen-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":1736,\"height\":2560},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/16\/a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Memorial for Those Accused of Witchcraft\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/14c403f91eb81bc10fc73e982a297a67\",\"name\":\"Olga Ravn\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4b1a7bc641d28302c42cbdb56febb3e4a52e3a713b46f9a6eaa78f52e779c2ca?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4b1a7bc641d28302c42cbdb56febb3e4a52e3a713b46f9a6eaa78f52e779c2ca?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Olga Ravn\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/oravn\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Memorial for Those Accused of Witchcraft by Olga Ravn","description":"March 16, 2022 \u2013 \u201cIt isn\u2019t a memorial for the burned but for those who burned them.\u201d","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/16\/a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Memorial for Those Accused of Witchcraft by Olga Ravn","og_description":"March 16, 2022 \u2013 \u201cIt isn\u2019t a memorial for the burned but for those who burned them.\u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/16\/a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2022-03-16T18:35:06+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-03-18T21:50:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1736,"height":2560,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/lichen-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Olga Ravn","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Olga Ravn","Est. reading time":"35 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/16\/a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/16\/a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft\/"},"author":{"name":"Olga Ravn","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/14c403f91eb81bc10fc73e982a297a67"},"headline":"A Memorial for Those Accused of Witchcraft","datePublished":"2022-03-16T18:35:06+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-18T21:50:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/16\/a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft\/"},"wordCount":7009,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/16\/a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/lichen-694x1024.jpg","keywords":["archives","diary","historical texts","logbook","Olga Ravn","Trials","witches"],"articleSection":["History"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/16\/a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/16\/a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft\/","name":"A Memorial for Those Accused of Witchcraft by Olga Ravn","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/16\/a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/16\/a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/lichen-694x1024.jpg","datePublished":"2022-03-16T18:35:06+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-18T21:50:29+00:00","description":"March 16, 2022 \u2013 \u201cIt isn\u2019t a memorial for the burned but for those who burned them.\u201d","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/16\/a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/16\/a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/16\/a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/lichen-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/lichen-scaled.jpg","width":1736,"height":2560},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/16\/a-memorial-for-those-accused-of-witchcraft\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Memorial for Those Accused of Witchcraft"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/14c403f91eb81bc10fc73e982a297a67","name":"Olga Ravn","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4b1a7bc641d28302c42cbdb56febb3e4a52e3a713b46f9a6eaa78f52e779c2ca?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4b1a7bc641d28302c42cbdb56febb3e4a52e3a713b46f9a6eaa78f52e779c2ca?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Olga Ravn"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/oravn\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2219"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157387"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":157810,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157387\/revisions\/157810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}