Context
This is the only known case of a Sami burned at the stake for his religion in Sweden. Witch trials against the Sami were more common in Norway, where at least 26 Samis were put on trial for witchcraft. They were often hired by local non-Sami, who thought they could affect the weather; in 1627, Quiwe Baarsen was burned at the stake in Norway accused of having sunk ships by summoning a storm. In Sweden, there were only two cases of witch trials against the Sami; in 1671, Aike Aikesson was sentenced to death accused by a missionary of having killed a farmer with magic, but he died before the execution. The trial of Nilsson can also be seen as a witch trial, but it is no doubt that this was a trial against paganism by the Lutheran Church, which had been established in Lapland just before, during a time when the Sami had recently been made to convert to Christianity. Since the Middle Ages the Sami were pagans amongst themselves and Christian in the presence of non-Sami, and by the end of the 17th century, the Lutheran Church became very eager to expose all secret paganism. In 1687, Erik Eskilsson and Amund Thorsson were put on trial for blasphemy on account of their paganism, but were freed after they converted to Christianity. Between 1665 and 1708, eleven people in Lapland were sentenced to death for blasphemy because they were followers of the old Sami religion, and five of the executions were conducted.
Read more about this topic: Lars Nilsson (shaman)
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