Anna Koldings

Anna (Ane or Anne) Koldings, (died 1590), was an alleged Danish witch. She was one of the main suspects in the witch trial of Copenhagen the summer of 1590, which were held as a parallel to the famous North Berwick Witch trials in Edinburgh in Scotland.

The winter of 1589, Princess Anne of Denmark was sent to marry king James VI of Scotland. On the way a terrible storm arose, which almost sunk the ship; it was then taken to Oslo in Norway, were the wedding was to take place.

The authorities wanted to investigate the cause of the storm and accused the minister of finance, Christoffer Valkendorff, of having equipped the fleet so poorly that it was not able to withstand storm. He defended himself by saying that the storm had been caused by witches in the house of Karen the Weaver, who had sent little demons in empty barrows who had climbed up the keels of the ships and caused the storm; against such things, a minister of finance fought in vain. Karen was arrested in July and admitted having caused the storm with other women, whom she named, of which one was Anna Koldings.

During torture, Koldings named five other women participating in the meeting at Karen's house, where they had caused the storm by sending small devils up the keels of the princesse's ship's. She received several visits during her imprisonment, and confessed to two priests and three female visitors. She was considered as a very dangerous witch and nicknamed "The Devil's Mother". Among the women she named as witches was Malin, the wife of the mayor, and Margrethe Jakob Skrivers, whose husband unsuccessfully tried to defend her, and they were all arrested.

Anne Koldings was judged guilty and burned at the stake; twelve other women was burned at Kronborg in Copenhagen during this witch trial.

See also

* Agnes Sampson
* Christenze Kruckow
* Maren Spliid

Sources

* Alf Åberg, "Häxorna".sv icon
* http://www.eremit.dk/ebog/khb/3/khb3_5.html
* http://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/2001/08/19/275636.html
* http://groups.msn.com/PreternaturalAwareness/witchcraft.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=706&LastModified=4675395199212042411