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Gertrud Svensdotter (1656–1675) was a Swedish peasant girl. She was the witness and accuser in the witch trial against Märet Jonsdotter in 1668, the trial that unleashed the great witch hysteria in Sweden called ''Stora oväsendet'' (Great Noise), involving a series of witch trials in many parts of the nation and lasting until 1676. Gertrud Svensdotter is one of the 999 mythical, historical and notable women who are displayed on the handmade white tiles of the ''Heritage Floor'' as part of Judy Chicago's ''The Dinner Party'' art installation (1979). Her name there is, however, erroneously spelled as "Gertrude Svensen". ==Background and accusation== Gertrud was the daughter of the farmer Sven Hwass: her last name Svensdotter was a patronymic meaning "daughter of Sven". In 1664, her mother died in childbirth, and she was sent to Älvdalen in Dalarna to live with her grandfather Jon. When he died the year after, she became the foster daughter of her paternal aunts, Elin Jonsdotter and Chirstin Jonsdotter in Åsen. Gertrud seems to have been particularly close to Chirstin. Christin was never involved in the future witch trial or accused herself. In 1652, she had been the target of an investigation by the authorities because she had taken a married man as a lover, a man who refused to end their affair despite the authorities ordering him to do so, but she was never punished for it. The family of Gertrud belonged to the more well off among the peasantry. In the autumn of 1667, Getrud tended a herd of sheep with the shepherd boy Mats Nilsson. They had a fight, and Gertrud beat Mats up. Later, Mats Nilsson claimed that Gertrud had led the sheep over Eastern Dalälven by walking on the water at Hemmansäng by Åsen. She was twelve years old at the time. Gertrud Svensdotter was then interrogated by the priest, Lars Elvius, who encouraged her to say that she had indeed walked on water, and that she had done so by magic, which had been given to her by the Devil. After long talks with the vicar, Gertrud said that while she lived with her parents in Lillhärdal in Härjedalen, a neighbour's maid had taken her to the Devil. The name of the maid was Märet Jonsdotter. Gertrud Svensdotter made a detailed confession to the priest. She claimed that, in 1663, when she was eight, Märet had taken her on a walk. They had passed a sand-pit, and then came to a three-way crossroads, where Märet had cried out: "Thou Devil, come forward!" She claimed that Satan had then appeared in the shape of a vicar. They had dined, and the following night, Märet had come to Gertrud and smeared her body and one of her father's cows with a red oil, after which they had flown away through the chimney and all the way to Satan. Since then, Gertrud had often visited Blockula, milked cattle with familiars, smeared her feet with oil to walk on water and taken children to Blockula, where their names had been written in a book with black pages. The reason she had admitted this was that she had met an angel in Blockula, a man in white, who had told her to confess, or else a hunger epidemic would sweep over the kingdom. Gertrud's confession came after another shepherd boy, Erik Eriksson (15 years old), reported that he had a vision in the woods where he was sucked up in the air and saw Gertrud sitting in Blockula with the children she had taken, among them his little sister, and that he had heard an angel and a devil discuss how many people they had in their respective kingdoms, and that Gertrud had taken many to the kingdom of the devil. Erik was only to give his testimony once, but he was given credit by the priest for revealing the whole affair. The confession of Gertrud was the starting point of the famous Mora witch trial and, in the long term, the Swedish witch trials, and the first victim was Märet Jonsdotter. Gertrud also pointed out seven others, and the witch trial started in September 1668. This was the beginning of the real witch hunt in Sweden, a country where witch trials had previously been a rarity. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Gertrud Svensdotter」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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