Henricus Eolenius

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Henricus Eolenius, (d. after 1644), was an alleged Finnish sorcerer.

Henricus Eolenious was a student at the university of Åbo in Finland. At the university, the professor of Greek, Hebrew and theology, Martin Stodius, had been accused of making a student crazy by teaching him sorcery in 1644; he was freed by the consistorium of the university, but fired, and Eolenius was suspected of being his apprentice.

Eolenius had learned Arabic very quickly, which according to the vice chancellor of the university, Johannes Terserus, who were also the bishop of Åbo, was a sign of a pact with the Devil. He was judged guilty of witch craft and Devil's pact and sentenced to death, but the Swedish governor Per Brahe demanded that the sentence be appealed to a higher court, Åbo Hovrätt, which it was, and were Eolenius were acquitted. He was, however, forced to leave the university as not to embarrass the management.

The theological university of Åbo, which educated many priests, was a place for many discussions of the nature of witch craft, and such accusations were common in the city in the 17th century, driven by the consistorium of the university, though they seldom led to execution; in 1665, the consistorium accused Elisabeth Nilsdotter, widow of a professor, to have poisoned the wife of a member of the consistorium, the bishop Johannes Gezelius, with magic, but she was acquitted and received money for slander, and in 1670, another student, Isac Gunnerus, was accused to have been one of the apprentices of Stodius; he was freed but expelled by the consistorium.

Witch trials for sorcery was not unusual in 17th century Finland, but they very seldom lead to a death sentence, and they were not, by people in general, referenced to the Devil. Most of the people accused in Finland were men, so called "wise men" hired to perform magic by people. In 1674-1678, a real witch hysteria broke out in Österbotten, were twenty women and two men were executed.

The last Finnish Witch trial took place in Åbo, when the merchant daughter Beata Pintarintytär was accused for evil magic by twenty witnesses and sentenced to death after a body search that revealed a "bag" on her body that was considered proof; the execution was repealed to prison by Åbo Hovrätt, and she was let free from prison in 1701.