Sorcery in Steingrímsfjörður

Klemus Bjarnason lived somewhere in the area around Steingrímsfjörður in Strandir. He was evidently not a popular man and was rumoured to have some knowledge of sorcery from an early age. He got into trouble when a neighbour accused him of stealing a piece of driftwood and he was later charged with sorcery because he threatened his accusers.

He was sentenced to get 12 peers to swear his innocence, a common verdict at the time. None of his neighbours would swear under oath that he had ever had any knowledge of sorcery or magic. When his case was taken up at the high court at Þingvellir he had admitted to the sheriff who kept him in custody that he knew incantations to ward off harm from foxes. This confession was judged to be reason enough to burn him alive. However, the atmosphere in Denmark had changed and when the case was referred to the supreme court in Copenhagen the sentence was changed into one of exile from the country. He died of a fever a few months later in a Copenhagen prison.