In the age of the European witch hunts, Scandinavia consisted of two major political entities: the kingdom of Denmark, or Denmark – Norway as it is often known, with its dependencies Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands; and the kingdom of Sweden, or Sweden – Finland. Norway was an independent kingdom, but in the fourteenth century had entered into a union with the Danish crown. Sweden, which then included much of what is now Finland, had expanded its territories through conquest, and also had possessions in Germany and the Baltic countries. In territorial terms, the two empires were very much conglomerate states, and, even though they were fairly centralized, there was still a strong element of local participation in government. In both Denmark and Sweden, the administration of justice had been brought under central control relatively early, but laymen – peasants in the countryside, townsfolk in the cities – exercised considerable influence. In terms of religion, both were again very similar, although Sweden has rightly been called one of the most confessionalized Protestant states in Europe.