Maren Spliid

Burned to death, Denmark 1641

The Danish king, Christian IV of Denmark, had Maren brought to Copenhagen and tortured her, despite the fact that the law forbade torture of prisoners before they were judged

The torture made her admit guilt (to an accusation of witchcraft from her husband's commercial competitor, a poor tailor) and accuse a number of other people as witches

The judgement was:

"Because Maren Spliid personally and here before the court as well as in earlier confessions, said that she had used sorcery, and thereby misused the holy sacrament of communion, we found her as a sorceress, and on her life suffer fire and stake"

In Denmark, witches were often burned alive at the stake

The day after the verdict, Maren was executed

She was given a half pint of mead to steady herself with and a bag of gunpowder on her back to make the death quicker

Then she was tied to a ladder, and the ladder was thrown into the fire

There is now a memorial plaque to her in Ribe, Denmark; more information can be read here: https://www.danhostel-ribe.dk/en/maren-spliid-witch

One of a series working with AI to give face to women executed as witches; these form part of a broader collection of Horror Portraits at www.horrorportraits.xyz

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