Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society - Inside the Icelandic Witch Trials

Episode Date: October 31, 2025

Picture a witch. Chances are, you're thinking of a woman.But in 17th century Iceland, over 90% of the people killed for being a witch, were men.Why were more men being accused than women for being a witch? And what happened inside their trials?Today we're revisiting an episode from 2024 to take you back inside the Icelandic Witch Trials. Kate is joined by Dr. Ólína Kjerulf Þorvarðardóttir, Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Bifröst.You can also watch Kate explore Icelandic witch trials further, in a brand new documentary for History Hit. Watch Witchmen: Witch Trials in the Land of Fire and Ice on HistoryHit.com, now. This episode was edited and produced by Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.  You can take part in our listener survey here.All music from Epidemic Sounds.Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Sign up to join me in locations around the world and explore the past. Just visit historyhit.com forward slash subscribe. Hello, my lovely bud twixters. It's me, Kate Lister, and you are listening to Bird Twix. The sheets, welcome back. Welcome back, everyone. Let's make some space in the back for any newbies coming in. And for any newbies, well, we have to tell you.

This is an adult podcast spoken by adults to other adults, about adultery things and an adulty wake of ring and a range of adults and you should be an adult too. We call that the fair do's warning because after we've said that to you, you can't get offended, or at least if you do get offended, you can't be mad at us because fair do's, we did tell you, right on with the show. Hello and welcome back to Betwixt the Sheets, the history of sex scandal in society with me, Kate Lister. Whilst we're all familiar with plastic pumpkins and the fake cauldrons of Halloween, and frankly the less said about the costumes, the better,

it does offer us a chance to explore the darker and more interesting themes at this time a year, doesn't it? I like it when things get a bit spooky. And of course, I always want to talk to you about witches. To coincide with a brand new documentary that I have made with history hit, we are returning to an episode from last year about the 17th century Icelandic witch trials. A wild and remote place, if there ever was one where, against the stereotype that a lot of us are familiar with, 93% of those killed as witches, were men. And if that piques your interest, do check out the film I've made about exactly that. You get to see me in full technicaler in the extraordinary Icelandic landscape, where we are taking a deep dive into this troubling tale. The film is called Witch Men, Witch Trials in the Land of Fire and Ice, and it's out on October the 30th on Historyhit.com. Also, today's episode was part of a three-part

mini-series we did last year on three different witch trials, so do scroll back and have a look at Pendle and Salem too. Without further ado, let's peer back through the mists of time to Iceland in the 17th century and go inside the Icelandic witch trials. It's New Year's Day in the remote town of Celetal, 1669. Here in the West Fjord region of Iceland, a thick mist descends onto the houses from the nearby mountains. In one of them lives Helga Halstor Dottier, and her husband, the priest, Paul Biontson, whose influential book on witchcraft and the devil

has caused a stir among the locals. Helga has fallen ill with a strange disease. She appears to be possessed by an evil spirit. Her fits are uncontrollable. The noises she makes seem unnatural, otherworldly. By summer, they haven't let up. If anything, they've intensified, and both her and pal flee their house, believing it to be haunted. Their minds turn to witches, and before long, men in the local community will burn at the stake.

Why were over 90% of the people killed for witchcraft in Iceland, men? And how did events get so out of hand in this remote town at the edge of Europe? Joining me today is Dr. Oralina Kaleuf, Thor Vars. Dothia to take us back to this world and tell us what Iceland was like at this period. In the 17th century, we belonged to the Danish kingdom. We were a part of the Danish kingdom until 1918. Iceland was a rural society at the time. We had just recently reformed to Lutheran from Catholic beliefs.

and we were a farming agricultural society and people were not, how can we say, people were not educated at the time. Only 50,000 people inhabited Iceland at the time, and there was no urbanization, so to speak. And there was no general education besides from what people heard from the Bible. and also, of course, the oral tradition that people had, the old folk tales and the old rhymes and the old sagas. But there was no general education, no formal education. And the very few who got some forms of education at the time were officials and civil servants, such as priests, magistrates and lawmen who acquired education abroad, mostly in Denmark or elsewhere. in North Europe. And those officials, they were influenced by the ideological currents on the mainland,

bringing that impact with them to Iceland. So the conduct of those individuals determined how high the wave of which persecutions rose in the individual areas of Iceland. And one must also bear in mind that geographically, Iceland is not centrally located. So therefore, it took a while for the currents of ideas that were the reasons for the witch persecutions in Europe to reach Iceland. It's also remarkable that the witch trials bursted out much stronger in some areas than others. Most of the trials took place in the Westfjords, whereas nobody was executed in the south and the east of Iceland. While Christianity had a grip on Icelandic society at this time,

the country had a deep and rich tradition of folk magic that predated the witch trials. Something we've seen throughout medieval Europe and something the Christian church in Iceland did not take kindly to. We explored this culture of folk magic in England in the first episode of this limited series. But what was the culture for magic like in Iceland leading up to this period?

Magic has been practiced in Iceland since the beginning of roads. The oldest forms of magic are runic inscriptions and the ancient sorcery ritual saithers sometimes mentioned in the Icelandic sagas. And there is a prophecy ceremony performed by the civil Vuelva by the assistance of those present. And we can read in old law books since the age of. of the Commonwealth, the age of the Commonwealth is from 930 to 1262. We can read from that time that there were penalties for witchcraft, even a death penalty for the darkest forms of witchcraft, which we called fortaiduskapur, means black magic.

And so magic is deeply rooted in religious practices since long before the year of 1,000, when Icelanders reformed to Christianity. And that has to do, I think, with our connection to nature and pagan ideas of divine domination of the seasons of the year and the forces of nature. So people believed in magic. They believed in magical forces of nature and divinity. Everything in daily life was linked to the dominance of divine forces.

as well as forces of nature. So healing, for example, was very much associated with witchcraft. And then, of course, the Christianity in the year of 1000 in Iceland, that of course had its impact on this mindset. But folk beliefs and folk traditions lived on for quite a while. And as time passed, those folk groups, rituals became a contradiction to the message of the church because the church tried to demonise old traditions and hope beliefs.

By the 17th century, there were significant conflicts inside the Christian church on how its own message should be delivered. Lutheranism and a wave of other Protestant reformations known as the Reformation was sweeping across Europe, in some cases clashing violently with Catholicism. The evils of witchcraft and how it should be dealt with were at the centre of it all. And Iceland felt the effects of it. In Europe, it all began with the persecution of heretics in the 12th and 13th centuries. We know that.

And we have a trace of heretic persecutions in Iceland. In one case that came up in 1343 when a nun was burned for having made a pact with the devil. but not least for fornicating with several laymen as it was stated. So that execution is a heretic one, but that is the only example of an execution by burning that we know of in Iceland from the Catholic time, that is, from the year of 1000 to the Reformation of 150. But shortly after the Reformation, the persecutions of heretics start to develop into persecutions of witchcraft in Europe in the late 16th century, culminating in

the 17th century. So it seems that the tradition, for Shira say the culture of the Lutheran Church has brought about some socio-psychological changes in Iceland. And the mass form of the church was different, also the manner of preaching with great emphasis on the devil and the devil's work in the world. All magic and witchcraft was suddenly claimed to be rooted in the cunning of the devil. Priests preached about these threats of the devil and they did so with such fervor that women fell into were days during masses and were carried out of the churches moaning and groaning and half unconscious as happened, for example, in Trierkittleswig, in Strandir, in the west side of Iceland, for example. So it's safe to say that in general, there was a great fear

of witchcraft. You know, all of a sudden the devil was all around and this caused a hysterical common fear and atmosphere of mistrust and suspicion towards your fellow and your neighbor, resulting in a witch craze in certain areas such as the Westhirts. Leading the charge on this ideology of witchcraft and its threat of evil were two men, whose impact and influence in the region cannot be underestimated. As with Pendle, it's an ambitious man with an agenda at the heart of these witch trials. One as a spiritual leader, Reverend Paul Biasson in Selar Talur, and the other a secular leader, Thurleivur Kortson, the magistrate and a lawman of North and West. Thorlevur Kortzon, he was a man of German descent who had spent his years of youth in Germany and presumably soaked up the currents of the magic fanatics in Europe.

And as a magistrate and a lawman of North and West District of Iceland, he had great influence on the witch persecutions. And Reverend Patlbjusson was considered to be the most educated man in Iceland at the time, besides from Bishop Brinulversvenson in the south. And when those two forces combined together, the spiritual one and the secular one, we have the fact that of those 23 people that were burnt at the stake in the 17th century, all were in the jurisdiction of those two men, either living or working in the north or west, and 16 from the Westwards in particular.

And we can see, we can compare this to the south side of Iceland, where the main influential figures of spiritual and secular, authorities were peaceful men, Bishop Brinjolussein Sonat Skowlholz, and the magistrate of South Iceland, Gisley Magnuson, who was called Gisle the Weiss. And those two men had little interest in the ideology of witchcraft. They were not keen on persecuting their neighbours as witches. So nobody was executed for witchcraft in their jurisdiction. And the number of witch trials in the South were much less than in the Westfields. So there is how individuals can affect the world.

Yes. Why do you think that those two men were really crazy about the witch trials when nobody else was? Well, it can be seen from the writings of Reverend Paul Pioson that he knew the witch's hammer, Maléus Malifikarum Malificas, a famous book that was written in the late 15th century by two monks, Springer and Kramer, where the giving the ideology of the devilish witchcraft and instructions about how to investigate witches.

And this is a terrible book that was nevertheless, in most universities and most parts of Europe. And our officials that took their education in Denmark or in North Europe, they knew this book. and they had read it. And it is very obvious from the writings of Reverend Paul Piersson that he knew the content of the Witch's Hammer. And in his own writings such as Character Bestie,

which is one book he wrote, you can see long chapters verbally the same as the Witch's Hammer. So he was obviously influenced by the ideology of mid-Europe. And Thorlover Kortsson, as I mentioned before, the magistrate, he had been staying in Germany for quite a while. So he was influenced as well. He obviously had read this book and understood it. It's like fan fiction, but just mad fan fiction. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And, you know, they are said to the witches are claimed to be child murderers, murdering child, boiling them, melting their flesh into red, remedies and medicine. The fundamental idea behind this, of course, is the fear of women's knowledge, the folk knowledge of women. They took care of sick people. They practiced healing. They had most likely some methods to prevent birth child. Controceptions.

All of this was a threat to the church. It contradicted the ideology of the church. And the purpose of the propaganda of the church was, of course, to get power over people's minds. This was a power conflict, you know, full traditions versus the message of the church. So the whole thing was rooted in ideological contradicts and a power game, so to speak. What's strange is that the Malius Malifakarum, hates women. It says women are going to be witches. And Beerson, if he was a big fan, I'm not sure if he hated women too, but the people that are accused of witchcraft in Iceland

are mostly men. So who was the first person to be accused? Was that a man or a woman? Well, the first person to be accused in the 17th century was a man. But we have oral tales. about a woman being executed in the year of 1,580 as a witch. But the first witch trial is in 1625, and that is a man that is being executed then. So we have three women being executed before the actual era of witch trials. After 1625, until it all was over in 1883, only one woman was burned. at the stake. Fascinating.

But, you know, why didn't the ideology of the female witch, the devilish female witch, why didn't that not get rooted in Icelandic witch trials? That has to do with the status of women, I think, in Icelandic society. They were bound to the household. They were taking care of children and the older ones, taking care of births and taking care of dying people, they were serving the fishermen when they came from sea, etc. Cooking, making remedies for the whole household, mending clothes, etc. But they did not have a social status, so to speak, no formal social status.

And they did not own properties. And many of the witch trials were raised around, you know, disputes about properties and influence. And women were not so much involved in that kind of thing in the 17th century. So that can be one reason as well. Despite this being the case, there was, however, one woman who played a huge part in the Icelandic witch trials for all the wrong reasons. Enter Helga Hal Dostia, wife of the Reverend Paul Bionson. She was a very paranoid woman. Reverend Paul seems to have been very much in love with her.

though and very keen on how she felt and how she was doing from one day to another. But Helga seems to have suffered from some mental illness and emotional disturbance. And her illness and complaints about suffering and distress, they obviously have impact on Reverend Pout's mental state as well. And, you know, we do not know what was bothering Helga. She struggled with a strange illness that began in the 1660s, but intensified in the decades that followed. And her distress seemed to come in fits, causing both her and the rest of the household troubles.

By the summer of 1669, Helga's illness hasn't shifted. Her condition is deteriorating as Powell's fervour for witchcraft is peaking. Looking for reason, Helga believes local man, John Leifson, has cursed her. She knows him because she was vehemently against him marrying one of her maids. Believing he's responsible, Helga's husband, Reverend Powell Bjornson, formally charges John with witchcraft and he's brought to trial soon after. On the day of his trial, John Leifson stands before the district magistrate, a man called Egert Bjornson, who just so happens to be Powell's half-brother. The two have spent time in Denmark and Germany and are well aware of the witch trials.

After rigorous interrogation and solitary confinement, John Leifson confesses to the crime of sorcery. Eggett doesn't hesitate and sentences him to be burnt for witchcraft, which will take place in the nearby valley just before the Assembly of Parliament. But the case isn't done. Before he's killed, John confesses that local man, Ilenda Ayolfson, taught him everything he knew when it came to witchcraft, the master for all the evil he was capable of. This case was far from closed. I'll be back after this short break.

With John Leifson sentenced to be burned as a witch, he moves district magistrate Egert's attention to Erlender Ayolfson, the man who supposedly taught him everything he knew about sorcery, a master in the evil arts of witchcraft. Egert and Paul are now compelled to snuff out this evil at its source. In a letter to two lawyers, Paul describes Erlender as the devil's cesspool, from which everything evil that people might lust for flows. His influence is huge and it's only a matter of time before Erlenda too is tied to the stake and the fires are lit.

Before his death in 1669, Erlender admits to witchcraft and to teaching others. How far had this evil spread in such a small community? Paul's work to rid Celetal of witches is far from over. Now things started to get wild, like a devilish march with strange phenomena and discomfort and illness and bad dreams of not only Helga but the whole household. So finally, Poutle and his wife fled the place with their three children and they did not return until all of the farmhouses had been burnt down to cleans the place of evil spirits. Wow. Yeah. So this was quite a situation. However, this was only the beginning of the misfortune of the individuals who were eventually burnt at the stake for the charges of the people of Selertalor. What was the law around witchcraft at this time? How would you be accused? How did they

prove a charge of witchcraft? What was it under the law at this time? Well, at this time, at the time, so-called oaths were the usual practice. The oaths were comparable to today's jury, such as in the United States. But the difference, however, was that in a small society like Iceland, it was impossible to choose neutral oath takers. But the arrangement was such that in which craft cases, 12 or seven people had to swear guilt or innocence of the defendant. And as a result, people were dependent on their neighbor's mercy. Their case was obviously influenced by slander and rumors. And it seems that there has not been much burden of proof in witchcraft cases and rarely any use of actual evidence. However, there seems to have been a lot of pressure put on the defendants

to confess. And so it often happened that people confessed to witchcraft. However, the confessions did not always match the charges. And sometimes confessions came after the verdict had been made. That had to do with religious reasons, I think, because people thought they should show repentance before the death. But legal knowledge among Icelanders seems to have been limited at the time. They judged more often by the word of God than by the current law. And the word of God, that is to say, the word of God in the Old Testament, which they most often expounded.

The provincial burnings, that is the execution of people in the district where they lived, without being tried by the Althinki. Althinke was not only a legislative assembly at the time, but also a court. But executing people in the district without taking them to Althinki, that was in fact illegal for the entire time the executions for witchcraft took place. Because the Danish king, who was our king at the time, he had in the early 17th century issued a decree that no death sentences should be given in cases of life and honor by a lower court level, but only by the superior court. And this decree was not respected in Iceland for almost the entire 17th century.

And people were sentenced and executed by provincial court, a lower court level, without any. any right of appeal until the year of 1683 when the last district burning took place. Why were they doing that? Why were they not following the law? Or why did the king not intervene and say, excuse me, I do have a law about this, that you are all ignoring? Well, the king intervened as late as 1683. I suppose that the king was not, you know, he had many other things to do than to look at the time. I'll take care of Icelanders somewhere in the north, you know, a nation of 50,000 people. I suspect also that the Icelandic lawmen and those that were making those sentences,

their knowledge was not as it should have been in law. Their legal knowledge was not as good as it should have been. These are small communities, small rural communities, and they're burning people to death. In Britain, they hanged witches. They let them hang. But in Iceland, they burnt them to death. I'm trying to imagine what that must have been like for a small community to go and watch your neighbor being burnt to death. You know, the common people were supposed to witness it. And we have descriptions of people kicking and moving from the fire, falling off the fire and being put on it again. And the writers of the annals, the old new...

letters of old times we call the annals. Some of them describe their inner feelings while witnessing this, saying that it was a horrendous thing to watch, etc. We do not see any legal ground for this method of execution. There is to burn up people to death. In some countries, people were executed before they were burnt. But in Iceland, they were burnt alive. But we have no legal phrase claiming that that is what you should do until the period of the witch trials was over. Then we first see it in some decree from the king that the convictors are supposed to be burned to death. So there was no legal ground for this. It was just some kind of a tradition rooted in the burning of the heretics in the 12th and 13th and 14th centuries in Europe.

many people were burnt to death for witchcraft in Iceland in total? Well, in total, 25 people were burnt to death, but we can say that 23 of them were burnt as witches. Wow. The embers from 1669's witch burnings have long died down. Helga's health has appeared to improve, but the threat of witchcraft hasn't gone away. Now in 1675, Helga's mysterious illness has returned. turned and with her husband pallet aside, thoughts once again quickly turn to witches. Who could be responsible? Who needs to pay the ultimate price? Head's turn to Magnus Bionn Arson and Lassie Didrickson, who are accused of causing her and others in the household to fall ill. The court moved fast in their prosecutions,

with Helga ensuring that they were hit with the full force of the law. Lassie protested vehemently, but without the 12 men to vouch for his character, his fate was sealed. When the moment came and the kindling was lit and Lassie felt the first lick of flames, rain dampened the wood and the fire went out. It was re-lit a further two times before the district magistrate's justice was delivered. Walking home from the court, he fell and broke his foot, a sign that many thought meant that Lassie was delivered. innocent. Despite this, a further two men were killed in 1678 for using witchcraft to cause Helga's ill health. And of the 22 executed for witchcraft in Iceland, 20 were men. Thank you for listening and thank you so much to Alina for joining me. And if you like what you heard,

don't forget to like review and follow along whatever it is, you get your podcasts. Coming up, we've got an episode on The Truth About Mary Shelley and another one on husband poisoning in the Renaissance. If you want us to explore a subject or if you just wanted to say hello, then you can email us at betwixt at history hit.com. This podcast was edited and produced by Stuart Beckwith, the senior producer with Charlotte Long. Join me again, Betwixt the Sheets, the History of the history of sex scandal in society, a podcast by History Hit. This podcast contains music from Epidemic Sound.