Blasphemy in Early Modern Sweden — An Untold Story

In early modern Sweden, blasphemy was regarded as one of the most serious crimes one could commit. It was subject to the death penalty and was termed Crimen Laesae Majestatis Diviniae– a “crime against the heavenly majesty.” In the period 1680–1789, 110 cases of blasphemy came before the Judiciary Inspectorate; these cases can be divided into the following categories: blasphemy against God, basphemy against the sacraments, deliberate assignations to the Devil, and other blasphemies. Of the 117 accused, only nine were women and a significant number were soldiers. Blasphemy could be regarded a common subgenre within an already oral military culture.