Jòn Rögnvaldsson

Jòn Rögnvalsson, (d.1625), was an alleged Icelandic sorcerer.

The bailiff Magnus Björnsson, who was educated in Copenhagen, where he had read the famous book about witch persecution from 1487, which he had brought with him to Iceland, where in 1625 reached by the rumour, that ghosts had made a boy ill and cilled several horses. He evidently made the assumption, that this had been caused by unknown witches, who must be revealed.

The sick boy pointed out Jon Rögnvaldsson, and after his house had been searched, an arch of paper was found with Icelandic runes written on it. Jon admitted having written them. The brother of Jon, the poet Thorvald Rögnvaldsson, testified in his defence, and claimed that although Jon might have attempted to use rune magic, so called "Galdrar", he had neither the strength nor the intelligence to succeed. But Magnus Björnsson judged Jon as guilty of sorcery and sentenced him to death. He was one of the first people to be executed for sorcery on Iceland.

Iceland, which was under the jurisdiction of the union of Norway and Denmark, was a country where old pagan customs lived, Christianity was weak and magic was admired, which the protestant church and the authorities in Copenhagen strongly disapproved of, and in 1564, a new law about "decency" was issued from Copenhagen to the island, and the priests sent to work in Iceland was ordered to trace down everything unchristian. The popular magician Jon Laerdi Gudmundsson, famous for making an Arabic pirate ship in search for slaves turn from the island, had been accused of sorcery by the authorities several times but been acquitted every time.

In 1630, the union Denmark-Norway's witch law from 1617 was proclaimed on Iceland. Between 1625 and 1686, Iceland was to see 120 witch trials. The majority of people accused of sorcery on Iceland were male; only ten women were executed, and of these, only one were burned alive. Women were normally drowned, while men were burned. In 1678, the widow Thuridur Olafsdottir and her son were burned at the stake accused of having made the wife of a priest sick by magic, after the son had claimed that his mother could walk on waterfalls by use of galdrar. The most famous Icelandic witch trial took place in 1654, when a man and his son were burned at the stake for sorcery after a conflict with a priest.

See also

* Kirkjuból witch trial

References

* Jan Guillou, "Häxornas försvarare".