Both the National Library of Norway and the National Archives contain a number of exciting sources for genealogists. Both institutions have letters in their collections that your ancestors would be horrified to read.
The letters in question are so-called Heavenly Letters that apparently originated from higher powers. The letters contained direct messages from heavenly powers about how people should behave.
The Heavenly Letters were often discovered in holy places and the person who found them was asked in the letters to spread the message.
The phenomenon of heavenly letters is known all the way back to the fifth century and was popular until well into the 19th century.
They became so popular that they were a very good source of income for those who printed them.
God’s punishment
Through the letters, you were told how to behave, but you were also clearly told that God would punish you if you did not comply with the given instructions.
In one of the letters, you can read what consequences you could expect if you did not follow the letter’s admonitions: “But if you do not repent, the world will soon come to an end. There will be such war and bloodshed that one cannot know the other. There will be such hunger and misery that a mother will eat her own child. Yes, there shall be so much sickness and pestilence that he who goes to bed healthy and sound in the evening shall be dead in the morning.”
It is reasonable to believe that if our ancestors had a hint of godliness, the letters would have made a big impression.
In the eighteenth century, many people, including governments, began to criticize the publication of heavenly letters. However, it would take another 100 years before anyone was convicted of spreading such content.
In 1853, at the same time as a major cholera outbreak struck fear into the population, Jacob Wulfsberg printed a batch of sky letters. This was bad timing by Wulfsberg, who was accused of spreading unnecessary (extra) fear in the population.
After a lengthy trial that went through three instances, Wulfsberg was eventually accused of blasphemy and finally convicted by the Supreme Court. The fine he received is said to have been very high, and probably deterred many printers from investing more in the sky letters that had been part of society for several hundred years.
Podcast and further reading
The National Library of Norway has its own podcast in which the phenomenon of heavenly letters is highlighted in the episode“Threatening letters from Jesus“. The podcast series is called “Old stuff” and is well worth a closer look.
You can also read more about the sky letters and their history on both the National Library’s website and the Swedish National Archives’ website.
