finally in the condemned, in salvation, confession, and, not least in France, giving information concerning accomplices. The dismantlement of the system was mostly driven by the state. The development in the churches were more diverse and often depended on the decisions by the state. A general trend seems to have been to increasingly avoid the crime, instead concentrating on the condemned as an individual. As have been discussed, not least concerning the strategies, there were many similarities between the reactions in different countries. We also have the countries, such as Britain and France, which had no official legal reactions specific for these crimes, but still, in some aspects at least, adhere to some of the strategies. Further studies of influences on and contacts between those writing the laws and the legislators are in many areas needed, as such studies withan international perspectivearerare. One can also generally conclude that an international perspective can be fruitful. An impression given by this study is, however, that the German states, such as Austria and Prussia, in this respect were powerhouses influencing legislation and debate at least in Sweden and Denmark. That the known crimes appear to have preceded the more evident reactions through legislation with not less than a century, might partly be due to a seemingly minor interest in the motives in early modern time. Any certainty making this suggestion more than a presumption naturally cannot be reached without major studies of sources in the archives of many courts. The lack of psychiatrists and the seemingly interest of courts and clergy of the existence of a confession more than its content, except in for example France due to an interest also in information about other criminals, is also a part of the picture. Crimes can be spectacular and eye-catching and criminals charming or fearsome – all this discussion of crimes and criminals is, however, to some extent a distraction from a focus on interpretation and reactions. Among the reactions it is as a historian too easy to focus on the legislation, but however interesting, cruel, innovating, or ingenious it might be, it is important to remember that legislation and other reactions mostly express the interpretations of those reacting. 272
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