Would like help translating the following passage dealing with supernatural beliefs in rural western Norway: Ein mann på Leivestad vart i 1620 lyst av lenet på grunn av "signelse och anden spøgerij", og i 1652 truga ei kone på Haukås (i Lygra) verbroren sin med "at haffue hafft fiorten nyrer och siuf hierter i en gryde".
I must admit, it's not the easiest Norwegian book you have started with... Some very old terms and word usage that even I have to look up... Here is a try:
A man from Leivestad was in 1620 put under ban (excluded from the church community) due to "healing magic and other maleficium/ghostlore", and in 1652, a woman on Haukås (in Lygra) threatened her brother-in-law to "have had 14 kidneys and 7 hearts in a pot".
Healing magic was considered as a religious crime, and forbidden by law in 1590. Witch burning in Norway took place from 1621 until 1692. In all, 80 women burned at the stake. Performing Healing magic was a breach in the belief of the Lord of the Faith and the remission of sins. "You shall not permit a sorceress to live." (Exodus 22:18). Presumably an authentic image of the woman from Haukås.
Thanks very much. This bygdebok is not easy reading, but it is probably the only published history of the rural area where my grandparents lived, and their families back in time...so I am motivated to struggle with it.
17th century Norwegian
Posted - 21/04/2020 : 18:51:14
