What Was the Culture of Witches and Witchcraft in Denmark?

Hi, everyone.

For this project, I choose to do a lesson plan and I’m excited to share it with you. I decided to make a one-lecture plan, but make it as informative and concise as possible. To be honest, Dr. Lightfoot’s lectures were my examples when I was working on this project. I hope you’ll enjoy it.

• Title of the Lesson: Transformation of Witches and Witchcraft Culture in Early Modern Denmark.
• Grade: 11^th – 12^th
• Learning Objectives: This class would focus on the Lutheran Reformation and shift from the Catholic church in Denmark, changes the Reformation brought to witchcraft trial processes, regulations, popular beliefs, and laws. We would start by looking at Protestant separation from the Catholic Church by Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. Martin Luther was the primary influencer for the Reformation and his works led to the rise of Lutheran theology in Denmark. (Robert 2019, 18-19). It was not until 1617 when Lutheran authorities and church created the final set of law, called “An Ordinance against Witches and Their Accomplices” signed by King Christian IV (Kallenstrup 2013, 122). There are several main characteristics of the Ordinance. Firstly, the Ordinance against Witches focused on controlling and eliminating all forms and practices of witches and witchcraft in the state, on theologists’ and popular levels (Robert 2019, 32). Secondly, the Ordinance against Witches defined beneficia or unharmful magic and maleficia harmful magic, accusation, confession, and punishments for two types of magic (Robert 2019, 32-33). And lastly, the Ordinance against Witches tried to completely move away from Catholicism and even saw usage of magic as part of Catholicism and their denouncing of God (Robert 2019, 32). The importance of the Lutheran period is in numbers of witches sentenced to execution. In the period between 1600 and 1620, about 1000 witches were burned at the stake (Kallenstrup 2011, 266). We would go some segments of the movie “Day of Wrath” as one example of Danish trials. “Day of Wrath” is a Danish movie by Carl Theodor Dryer. It shows the life of a religious family who had several connections with the witches and how these connections turned out for them (Day of Wrath). The trial processes which mainly included accusations and denunciations, the procedure of torture, and sentences. There were differences between Inquisition and Lutheran Orthodox Church processes (Kallenstrup 2011, 268-270; 270-273; 274). We would work and discuss the trials from the “Knowing the Satan” article by Kallenstrup and accommodate them with the example from the movie, both of which would be required for this lecture.
• Assessment: Toward the end of class, we would play online game Kahoot. I would create questions in advance about the lecture we went through. It would consist of 25 multiple choice questions with four answers and 20-30 seconds to answer each question. Everyone would play online, and the results would be shown on the screen with their points earned. It would be considered as one half of the success rubric. Because right after, I would ask more detailed questions and try to generate discussion. Based on their answers and discussion, I would evaluate the effectiveness of the lecture.
• Prerequisite Knowledge: The article “Knowing Satan from God: Demonic Possession, Witchcraft, and the Lutheran Orthodox Church in Early Modern Denmark” by Kallenstrup, Louise Nyholm, and the movie “Day of Wrath” by Carl Theodor Dreyer. It would be mostly the stand-alone lecture, but the reading and movie would clarify understanding of the witch trials. Additionally, it would be required for the discussion and assessment evaluation. They would not lose interest immediately, but the movie would balance out the lecture and keep their focus on the lecture.
• Supplies: For this lecture, I would use my computer with PowerPoint Presentation or Prezi on it. I would need a white screen with speakers to show some clips from the movie. I would have the movie and some clips from it ready to show. I would bring my lecture notes and a copy of the article. I could have the article online as well for students if they want to clarify some parts of it, Additionally, I would have Kahoot game on my screen and play it later.
• Allotted Time: I would make this lecture for 1 hour and 20 minutes. I think it would be a reasonable time for the 11th and 12th-grade lecture. I would start with a lecture for approximately 20-30 minutes, right after we would watch some segments of the movie, go over the trials from “Knowing the Satan” article, and start the discussion. This also should take about 20 minutes. In the end, we would do the Kahoot game, and I would ask them questions about the lecture materials we went through.
• Set-Up: I would need to prepare the white screen with the speaker, connect it to my laptop to be ready. I would have the lecture presentation, Kahoot game, the movie clips on my laptop. I would bring my lecture notes with me. I would not need to do photocopying, but I would have my copy of the article.
• Hook: I would start with the overall numbers of witches accused and executed in Continental Europe and mention that the Holy Roman Empire (Germany) had the greatest numbers of witches executed. Then, I would briefly talk about numbers in Scandinavian countries, and move specifically to Denmark in the Early Modern Period (Räisänen-Schröder 2013, 90-91).
• Lesson: For the lecture, I would use PowerPoint Presentation software or Prezi and show the movie parts. Depending on the availability of the movie segments, I might have them directly in the presentation or have a separate tab with the segment to watch
• Activity: In the end, we would play a quick game Kahoot. It would be short but interesting to play since the game would have questions about the lecture materials and small competition for students. It would be score based and everyone would see each one’s scores. Also, we would discuss with some more questions.
• Conclusion: We would end the lecture on the discussion. Because the discussion is mainly on the trial and movie, I would know when the students are done, when they will go slightly off-topic, or start to wrap up their ideas with what we went over to in class.
• Review and Summary: Separation from the Catholic church and Lutheran Reformation was an important event for Danish witchcraft beliefs and ideologies. Lutheran era brought new theologies and legislations which had a significant increase in witch-hunting and witches’ trials between 1570 and 1670s. In 1617 “An Ordinance against Witches and Their Accomplices” was created and published. It had several main ideas, but overall Lutheran authorities wanted to control and to inculcate their ideologies of witches and witchcraft, and impurity of Catholicism (Kallenstrup 2013, 121-122). The peak of the witch-hunting in Denmark was between 1600 and 1620, and later gradual decline. It is an important time to go over because ideologies of that time were very influential, and 1000 people were burned at the stake (Kallenstrup 2011, 266).

Bibliography:

Day of Wrath. Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer. The Criterion Collection, 1943. Accessed May 9, 2020.

Kallenstrup, Louise Nyholm. 2011. “Knowing Satan from God: Demonic Possession, Witchcraft and the Lutheran Orthodox Church in Early Modern Denmark.” Magic, Ritual and Witchcraft 6, no. 2 (Winter 2011): 163-182. doi:10.1353/mrw.2011.0020.

Kallenstrup, Louise Nyholm. 2011. “Lay and Inquisitorial Witchcraft Prosecutions in Early Modern Italy and Denmark.” Scandinavian Journal of History 36, no. 3 (July): 265-278. doi:10.1080/03468755.2011.580130.

Kallenstrup, Louise Nyholm. 2013. “Women, Witches, and the Town Courts of Ribe: Ideas of the Gendered Witch in Early Modern Denmark.” In Gender in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe, edited by Marianna G. Muravyeva and Raisa Maria Toivo, 121-137. New York: Routledge.

Räisänen-Schröder, Päivi. 2013. “Between Martyrdom and Everyday Pragmatism: Gender, Family, and Anabaptism in Early Modern Germany.” In Gender in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe, edited by Marianna G. Muravyeva and Raisa Maria Toivo, 89-106. New York: Routledge.

Robert, Cole M. 2019. “förgörning to trolldom: A History of Danish Witchcraft and Magic.” Honor These. Union College – Schenectady, NY. https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses/2363.

*Day of Wrath. Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer. The Criterion Collection, 1943. Accessed May 9, 2020.  *Kallenstrup, Louise Nyholm. 2011. “Knowing Satan from God: Demonic Possession, Witchcraft and the Lutheran Orthodox Church in Early Modern Denmark.” Magic, Ritual and Witchcraft 6, no. 2 (Winter 2011): 163-182. DOI:10.1353/mrw.2011.0020.