abandoned this hesitant approach. In at least three cases unconditional sentence of death was passed against witches who stubbornly refused to confess. 3.2. These problems were to crop up again in the trials in Hälsingland, the province to the east of Dalecarlia. The first cases had been dealt with by the local authorities. The Court of Appeal in Stockholm had confirmed eight death sentences. When in the autumn a large number of new cases were brought before the court, the government decided to appoint a commission for Hälsingland, which was active during January and February 1673. The president of the court was Baron Gustav Rosenhane, a modernly and widely educated civil servant. Apart from priests and local judges he had at his side two legal experts from Stockholm and Uppsala: .Anders Stiernhöök, .‘\ssistant Justice at the Court of Appeal, and Professor of Laws Carolus Lundius. Right from the start the three gentlemen objected strongly to the way the trials were conducted. Their criticism was both formal and rational. To base judgement, particularly when it concerned death penalty, on evidence from accomplices and children was illegal. Moreover the factual content of the stories about Blåkulla was of such a nature that it left grave doubts as to their verity and substance. The majority held a different opinion. Both the priests and the local representatives demanded harsh, effective legal measures, and ten death sentences were pushed through at the first place of investigation. The commission’s tour seemed to be a bloody one. Rosenhane wrote a letter of appeal to Karl XI who had just come of age. By picturing the coming trials and exaggerating the number of death sentences he was able to suggest the error of such extravagant loss of life. This would scarcely stop the craze. He requested precise instructions as to those who could be spared. The king gave orders that only those who had confessed and who were in addition ”the root and source” of the craze were to be e.xecuted. The old order was thereby, at least temporarily, restored. In practice it was left to the three gentlemen to decide who should die. Of a total of 20 death sentences, a maximumof 8 were executed, all of who had confessed. The king’s orders to Rosenhane also appear to have Influenced the future workings of the Court of Appeal. After the termination of the commission in February 1673, and during the remainder of the year, a large number of fresh investigations were remitted from the local courts to the Court of Appeal which, as far as can be seen, followed Rosenhane’s prescriptions in trying these cases. In a report from the end of the year the court states that only in such cases where ”there have been clear grounds and selfconfession have the old, incorrigible witches, admitting their guilt, been condemned to death”. 3.3. But the same report also made it clear that the craze was rampant throughout the entire coastal provinces of northern Sweden, and that the 331
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