Words for Wednesday - History of Magic

This May the Words for Wednesday are over at MessyMimi's Meanderings's blog. We were given:

biscuit
reign
selection
vigorous
treatment
seal
    and/or one of more of the following obsolete words
beef-witted (slow-witted; having a heavy, ox-like intellect)
fudgel (to goof off while pretending to work)
groak (to silently stare at someone who is eating, in hopes of being invited to join in)
tittynope (a small quantity of something left over)

Remember to go back, read other peoples' stories there or follow their links back. And please place a comment after reading. Challenges like this one thrives on interaction.

Susan, Heidi, Lis and Tage is doing their homework on witchcraft through the ages. Sandra and Kai are in the room as well, listening and watching the four children studying and eating biscuits. Kai groaks and Susan and Heidi now and then pass him a biscuit.

"Listen to this," Lis said, "It was a hard time for witches: 'The persecution of witches, both male and female, gained momentum during the reign of Christian IV. He gave a decree - the witchcraft act of 1617 - that all witchcraft was forbidden'." Lis was reading aloud from the book on history of magic in Denmark and Norway.
"He was a stickler for unification, that one," Tage said. "I read a bit of this yesterday and looked him up in the big encyclopedia. He also had several Jesuit spies - as he called them - killed. In fact he had any and all not orthodox protestant expelled. Catholics, Anabaptists, pietists, ... get out. And he burned a lot of books not on his allowed lists."
"He's always made to be a hero and a great king in normal school," Susan said. "What with his building of nice castles, vigorous hunting games, and successful or at least righteous wars with Sweden. But his treatment of people not agreeing with him seems to have been harsh and rigorous."
"With his seal on that act he was the reason many good people died," Sandra said. "Before his time almost no witches were burned or beheaded, and as soon as he died, it went down to almost zero again. He was not a good king for us."