prolonged noble property disputes – anu lahtinen 145 The third term of abuse – murderer – needs some further explanation. In 1552, Agneta had become suspected of the murder of the bailiffMagnus Ivarsson by poisoning. Magnus Ivarsson was a brother-in-law of Clemet Hansson Oliveblad, the secretary of the king, and it seems to have been Clemet who was the active force behind the murder investigation.403 The story went that Agneta had received assistance from a witch.404 At first, King Gustav Vasa reacted with horror and stern words to the alleged murder in 1552, writing to the leading men in Southwestern Finland, where the murder had taken place, and telling them to investigate this dreadful crime, even authorizing the use of torture as an exceptional means in the face of an exceptional crime.405 Later, having received a considerable amount of landed property from Agneta’s mother, the King lost his keen interest in the issue, apparently happy with the compensation he received.406 To defend the reputation of Agneta, Planting presented a letter of testimony written by the chaplain of the Turku Castle. The letter reported that the suspected witch accused of the poisoning of the aforementioned bailiff had been imprisoned in Turku Castle and died there. According to this testimony, the witch, when she met the chaplain for the last time, had sworn that Agneta had not been involved in the murder in any way. This testimony had been given by the chaplain to the servant of the aforementioned Clemet Hansson.407 Some kind of decision had already been handed down in Turku in 1552, although only brief references to this can be found in surviving documents. Agneta was apparently obliged to find honest men to take an oath on her innocence. Later, in the early 1560s, Agneta’s case, as well as the proven case of her brother Ivar’s bigamy, was under the scrutiny of the High Council of King ErikXIV. Even then, the case was brought up by Clemet Hansson, who had not been convinced by previous testimony. Agneta was 403 King Gustav’s letter to Henrik Klasson Horn, Jöns Vestgöte, and others, Vadstena 30 July 1552; Konung Gustaf den förstes registratur, vol. 23, ed. Almquist, pp. 328-329. 404 For more about the family relations and the conflicts of the 1550s and 1560s, see Lahtinen, Anu 2007, in Swedish Lahtinen, Anu 2009 (the analyses, however, were written before I had access to the sources available in the Svea Court of Appeal Archives). 405 Konung Gustaf den förstes registratur, vol. 23, ed. Almquist, pp. 328-329. 406 Lahtinen, Anu 2009a p. 107. 407 Written testimony by the chaplain Lasse Jönsson, 15 October 1553; Appendices in Liber causarum 26, RA, SHA, E VI a 2aa.
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