The Witch trials in Iceland were conducted by the Danish authorities (Iceland then being a Danish possession), who introduced the belief in witchcraft as well as the Danish Witchcraft Act in the 17th century, and then stopped the persecutions. Similar to the case of Witch trials in Latvia and Estonia, the witch trials were introduced by a foreign elite power in an area with weak Christianity, in order to ensure religious conformity. Iceland was uncommon for Europe in that magic as such was viewed favorably on the island, and the majority of those executed were men, which it had in common with only the witch trials in Finland. History Icelandic view on magic In Iceland, magic and supernatural powers played an important role in popular folk belief. It was divided into two categories. The first category was galdur, good ("White") or bad ("Black") spells performed by galdra-masters by the help of galdrastafir (magic symbols), magic books, runes or vocally. The second category was fjölkynngi which referred to wisdom or knowledge of the unknown, which was necessary to manage and use the galdur correctly, although one could exist without the other. This view on magic was a part of the old Norse culture and it survived on Iceland more undisturbed after Christianization than in the other Nordic countries. The first cases Witchcraft persecution begun after the reformation in Iceland, after a decree in 1564 which ordered all bailiffs to report all forms of heresy to the authorities, in order to establish religious conformity during the religious reformation. In the 16th century, however, witch trials in Iceland were conducted in accordance with the old definition of sorcery. In this definition, sorcery had nothing to do with the Devil: it divided magic in black magic and white magic. It regarded black magic as punishable only if it injured another person, and even then it did not result in the death penalty. A typical Icelandic witchcraft case in the 16th-century was that of a priest in 1554, who was sentenced to the loss of his office and exile as punishment for having used black magic or evil galdur from magic books in an attempt to entice a girl to sexual intercourse. In 1589 it was observed that the population of Iceland, where Christianity was weak, simply did not believe in the Christian Devil, and that consequently, Satan played a very small role in their