journeys to Blåkulla and the seduction of children ”daily increase so that one district after another becomes subject to the tyranny of Satan”. Only in exceptional cases had the Court of Appeal itself been able to pass judgement. Most of the cases were incompletely reported and the evidence was so confused that only the resident judge was able to form some fair idea as to where the guilt lay. The hint w'as sufficient, and it became almost a matter of routine for the government to set up a new commission. .An instruction prescribed that the new court’s first task was to single out and punish the old, hardened witches who had led others astray. This refleeted the king’s directive for Hälsingland with one important omission: voluntary self-confession. The remainder, who without malice or intent had been tempted or forced into complicitude, were cautiously to be led back on the right path. The work was to be commenced as soon as possible and at the latest during the spring of 1674. The province of Ångermanland was first on the list. Owing to bureaucratic inertia and bad communications it was not until September that the first investigations were held, after which they continued right up to Christmas. Probably due to a misunderstanding the priests and local repre.sentatives had the majority in court. Nor was there anyone amongst the legal or public officials who was able, clearly and with authority, to criticise the formal and factual shortcomings of the proceedings. The priests in the parishes concerned had with the consent of the authorities actively taken part in tracing suspected witches. They furnished the court with long lists of accused women and possessed children. The local court was also set to work conducting preliminary investigations in order to alleviate the long, arduous task of the commission. At least 400 witches and thousands of children were interviewed and recorded. All these circumstances, combined with the vagueness of the instructions, helped to sharpen praxis. Forty-eight suspects, many of whom denied the charges against them, were executed. By then only four of the affected parishes in the province had been visited. The commission, and in particular its president. Governor Sparre, felt somewhat uneasy about continuing the work during 1675. 3.4. The great number of suspects in the other Norrland provinces and the slowness of the proceedings led the government to decide at New year to divide the commission into two parts. In addition the use of torture against strongly suspected but stubborn witches was officially sanctioned. Sparre’s fears of an intolerably large number of executions were dispersed. ”The honour of God and the liberation and purging of the country from such at grave sin must be our prime consideration. One cannot relax a rule in the face of mere quantity.” The year 1675 was to mark the zenith of the trials. The exact number of executions is not known due to deficiencies in the source material. However, everything points to there being at least 100 victims. In addition to Anger332
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