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