The witch trials in Norway were the most intense among the Nordic countries. There seems to be around an estimated 277 to 350 executions between 1561 and 1760. Norway was in a union with Denmark during this period, and the witch trials were conducted by instructions from Copenhagen. The authorities and the clergy conducted the trials using demonology handbooks and used interrogation techniques and sometimes torture. After a guilty verdict, the condemned was forced to expose accomplices and commonly deaths occurred due to torture or prison. Witch trials were in decline by the 1670s as judicial and investigative methods were improved. A Norwegian law from 1687 maintained the death penalty for witchcraft, and the last person to be sentenced guilty of witchcraft in Norway was Birgitte Haldorsdatter in 1715. The Witchcraft Act was formally in place until 1842. History Background The Norwegian law (Landsloven) in the 13th-century for magic, if it resulted in someone's death or injury, was the death penalty. However, no execution for sorcery is known in Norway prior to the 16th century and only one witch trial, the Ragnhild Tregagås is known from 1325. In 1584, King Frederick II of Denmark and Norway, on the recommendation of the Bishop of Stavanger Jørgen Eriksen, who was concerned about the frequent habit of the population's trust in the services of cunning men and cunning women, introduced the death penalty on the practicing of all sorcery in the Stavanger Bishopric; in 1593, this law was expanded to apply in all of Norway. The witch trials Between 1561 and 1760, about 860 people were put on trial for witchcraft in Norway, resulting in about 277 confirmed executions. However, these figures comes from the confirmed cases of which there are documentation and as such represent only a minority, as much documentation is known to be missing. The unconfirmed witch trials are estimated to be numbering at least 1,400, resulting in at least 350 executions. The most well documented areas are Finnmark, Rogaland and Hordaland from the 1590s onward. An investigation could be instigated by the bailiff with reference to public safety after rumours of witchcraft had been heard from at least three different households. An accusation from a private citizen often came after a conflict, and was usually death or illness allegedly caused by witchcraft. The authorities and the clergy managed the witch trials, using instructions from international demonology handbooks. The Devil's