Background
On his way to the farm, the mother of Maria told the priest that the father of the child was corporal Albrekt Nilsson Dullfjär, her 24-year-old former stepson. His mother had been the first wife of Maria"s husband.
On his way to the farm, the mother of Maria told the priest that the father of the child was corporal Albrekt Nilsson Dullfjär, her 24-year-old former stepson. His mother had been the first wife of Maria"s husband.
The child, a son, was weak and a priest was called upon to baptize it the day after. When the priest arrived to the farm, he asked Maria who the father was. The priest then forced her to repeat her confession.
First to her relatives, and then in front of three other witnesses, before the child was baptized.
The 12 January 1721, Maria Ersdotter and Albrekt Dullfjär were put on trial for incest, a crime which during this period was still punishable by death. Albrekt himself answered that although he might have shared bed with Maria "in youthful vanity", they had not done more than that.
The court decided to take a pause so that Albrekt could be interrogated by two priests. When he returned, he confessed with the words, "Be that as it may, I admit that it is true."
The court judged Maria and Albrekt guilty of incest and sentenced them to death in keeping with the penalty proscribed for the offense in verse 11 chapter 20, of the biblical Book of Leviticus.
The sentence was confirmed by the high court, and the 19 July 1721, Maria and Albrekt were executed together by decapitation.
In the 18th century people were still executed for incest even when they were not related by blood, because relations by marriage were considered by religious criteria to be equivalent to blood relatives.