Draft:Anna Månsdotter (Up with the Nose)

Anna Månsdotter, also known as "Vipp-upp-med-näsan (Up with the Nose)”, died on April 29, 1676, in Stockholm. She was a Swedish woman executed for witchcraft and is recognised as one of those executed in the famous witch trials in Katarina.

Biography

Anna Månsdotter worked as a mouse catcher and lived on Tullportsgatan (now Östgötagatan) in Stockholm. She was married to Christian Sessman, who owned a farm. During the trial, it was stated that several unmarried women lived on the farm.

When rumors of witchcraft began circulating among children in Stockholm, she visited the shop of the hawker Hindrich Abrahamsson (a center for spreading rumours) to inquire about who the children were accusing of being witches. She was told that she herself had been pointed out by the children.

Investigation

She was arrested in March 1676 and imprisoned in the Södra Stadshuset. She was accused of leading children to Blockula. Several children testified against her. She mentioned wanting to put the children in school to stop them from lying and expressed willingness to pay for their education if possible. She denied calling the vicar Pontinus "the lame devil" but admitted knowing Brita Zippel, stating that Brita was "both baptised and Christian." Accusations ranged from her crying over rumours to not shedding tears in court, scraping gold off church bells, engaging in relations with Satan in Blockula under the table, and whipping child witnesses with braided snakes. The sexton was the first to accuse her. Suspicion grew when she frequently visited watchmen's huts and anxiously asked who the children had accused of being a witch: she had been to Hindrich Abrahamsson's shop on Folkungagatan, where she knelt, begged for mercy, and cursed her enemy, the spirit distiller Jöransson. Her lack of tears in court was considered suspicious.

She explained that she hadn't cursed Jöransson but had read a passage from a book. The wife of Chaplain Myrander testified that Anna didn't call Vicar Pontinus in Jacob "the lame devil" but merely asked who he was. She defended her friendship with Brita Zippel, mentioned that Mrs. Gråå taught her children to shout insults and spit at Anna, and accused hawker Abrahamsson of selling beer against the ban. When asked why she didn't cry, she responded that they had heard her cry in prison and said, "If I get a book to read, then I can cry."

Several testified against her, including Kerstin Michelsdotter, Elisabet Sperling, and many children. It was claimed that she rode to Blockula on a cow, a horse, and a wife, scraped metal from church bells along the way, served food in Blockula, whipped the girls she brought there with braided snakes, danced, and engaged in intercourse with Satan.

She responded:

"If I could save the children with my blood, I would gladly give my life. And wouldn't the children be saved if their parents' anger wasn't so great, if they prayed to God and didn't blame the innocent and didn't let the children roam the streets? It would be better if they stayed in school; I would gladly keep them under my wing even though I would become poor."

She was sentenced to death on April 24. Reportedly, she proclaimed her innocence until the very end and requested communion.

References

Category:People executed for witchcraft Category:17th-century executions by Sweden Category:1676 deaths Category:Year of birth unknown Category:Women