← Back to the front page

40 Real People Executed for Witchcraft

Tim Flight October 15, 2019 27 min

34. King Christian III of Denmark burned Gyde Spandemager at the stake for bewitching his entire war fleet

Don’t mess with this man’s ships! Christian III of Denmark by Jacob Binck, Denmark, 1550. Wikimedia Commons

In 1543, King Christian III of Denmark sent 40 ships to chase a Dutch fleet from the North Sea. Sadly, the wind wasn’t strong enough, and they got stuck near Elsinore. Bad luck? No, said Christian: damned witches! Soon a merchant’s wife named Gyde Spandemager was arrested and tortured. Spandemager admitted to conducting a spell with a coven on a hill above Elsinore. She was convicted of ‘enchant[ing] the ship of His Majesty, so as to prevent it from getting any wind’. At the eleventh hour, someone provided her with a solid alibi, but Christian burned her at the stake anyway.

Written by

Tim Flight

I am a freelance historical and literary writer based in West Yorkshire, UK. I read for a funded PhD in English at the University of Oxford (Magdalen College) and graduated in 2016. I am a former lecturer in Medieval English Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London. My publications include peer-reviewed articles in academic publications, and pieces in mainstream magazines such as History Today and Fortean Times. For more information, please see www.drflight.co.uk