Louise Nyholm Kallestrup


Louise Nyholm Kallestrup is a Danish historian. She is a professor at the University of Southern Denmark and the director of its Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies who specializes in the Early Modern Period. Best known for her comparative research on witchcraft trials in Denmark and Italy. Kallestrup has also written widely on such related topics as gender in the contexts of legal proceedings and urbanization, and on demonology and is a frequent cultural commentator in the Danish press and on radio.
Among the very early scholars to be allowed to work in the Vatican’s Inquisitorial archives, Kallestrup has also been a visiting researcher at Harvard University, the University of Tampere, and the University of Melbourne. In 2017, she was named a 'Semper Ardens' Fellow of The Carlsberg Foundation, and in the same year, appeared onstage in a series of multimedia performances across Denmark marking the 500th anniversary of the Luthern Reformation.

Select publications