The Most Famous Witches of the Middle Ages

The Middle Ages were a very difficult time for women. Any passer-by could accuse any girl as a witch, and most often empty words reached the ears of those who thought they had the right to judge and execute. Between the 14th and 18th centuries, approximately 40-50 thousand so-called witches were burned in Europe.

Malin Matsdotter

In Stockholm, they believed that witches abducted children. Malin Matsdotter, an unfortunate washerwoman, was accused of witchcraft and sentenced to be burned alive in a terrible execution which is common in Europe but never used in Sweden. At the trial, Malin refused to repent, declared herself innocent, and went to the pillar with her head held high.

She became the first and last woman to be burned alive in Sweden. Rumor has it that this was decided because the municipality was simply frightened: even burning at the stake, Malin did not utter a single word – and everyone knows that witches are not afraid of pain.

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Bridget Bishop

The famous Salem Witch Trials began with this woman. In 1692, Bridget owned two taverns at once, wore provocative outfits and, as it turned out later, actually practiced witchcraft in her spare time. During a search of Bridget’s house, they found spoiling dolls studded with needles.

One was of a recently deceased man, evidence that stunned the people of Salem. At the trial, Bridget behaved extremely impudently, which quickly led her to execution. The bloody spectacle caused an attack of mass hysteria in society – in a short time another 70 “witches” went to the fire.

Anna Koldings

The weaver Koldings was accused of deliberately causing a storm to destroy the ship of Queen Anne, who was traveling from Copenhagen to Scotland. The caravel, in fact, almost sank during a severe storm and was forced to stop in Norway. Koldings, nicknamed the Devil’s Mother, was arrested on charges of the mayor of Kronborg, who decided to curry favor with the king.

Under torture, Anna not only confessed to everything, but also named five more of her accomplices, including the mayor’s wife. In the early spring morning, all the girls were burned right at the walls of Kronborg.

Entien Gillis

In 1613, more witches were burned in the Netherlands than in most of Europe. The first to go to the stake was Entien Gillis, a midwife accused of cursing newborn babies. Entienne was already behind bars when a real plague began in the town of Straelen, which claimed the lives of hundreds of babies. After another torture, the girl indicated “assistants”, the famous Roermond court took place, at which 63 “witches” were burned.

Merga Bean

The German witch hunter (part-time abbot and mayor of the city of Fulda) Balthazar von Dernbach arrested Merga Bean on charges of killing her husband with witchcraft. The pregnant widow was not released from torture – the Inquisition considered the devil himself to be the father of the unborn child. Merga was quickly sentenced and burned, after which Dernbach got a taste for the next three years, chasing witches throughout Hesse, resulting in the execution of 250 more people. The historic witch trials of Fulda ended only with the death of the abbot himself.