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THE DEVILS OF LOUDUN.

                    [COLLECTANEA ADAMANTÆA.--XXI.]

                           THE HISTORY OF THE

                           Devils of Loudun,

    _The Alleged Possession of the Ursuline Nuns, and the Trial and
                     Execution of Urbain Grandier_,

                        TOLD BY AN EYE-WITNESS.

                  TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL FRENCH,

                                  AND

                               Edited by
                       EDMUND GOLDSMID, F.R.H.S.,
                             F.S.A. (Scot.)

                                VOL. I.

                           PRIVATELY PRINTED.
                               EDINBURGH.

                                 1887.

_This Edition is limited to 275 small-paper and 75 large-paper copies._

                     [_Fac-simile of Title-Page._]

                         LA VERITABLE HISTOIRE

                                  DES

                           Díables de Loudun,

                   _De la possession des Religieuses
                               Ursulines_

                                  _et

                           de la Condamnation
                          D'URBAIN GRANDIER_,

                             PAR UN TEMOIN.

                              A. POITIERS,
                  Chez J. Thoreau et la veuve Ménier,
                      Imprimeurs ordinaires du Roi
                          et de l'Universitié.

                              M.DC.XXXIV.

Introduction.

THE following extraordinary account of the "_Cause Célèbre_" of Urbain
Grandier, the _Curé_ of Loudun, accused of Magic and of having caused
the Nuns of the Convent of Saint Ursula to be possessed of devils, is
written by an eye-witness, and not only an eye-witness but an actor in
the scenes he describes. It is printed at "_Poitiers, chez J. Thoreau
et la veuve Ménier, Imprimeurs du Roi et de l'Université, 1634_." I
believe two copies only are known: my own, and the one in the National
Library, Paris. The writer is Monsieur des Niau, Counsellor at la
Flèche, evidently a firm believer in the absurd charges brought against
Grandier.

Magic appears to have had its origin on the plains of Assyria, and
the worship of the stars was the creed of those pastoral tribes who,
pouring down from the mountains of Kurdistan into the wide level where
Babylon afterwards raised its thousand towers, founded the sacerdotal
race of the _Chasdim_ or _Chaldeans_. To these men were soon alloted
peculiar privileges and ascribed peculiar attributes, until, under
the name of Magi, they acquired a vast and permanent influence. Their
temples were astronomical observatories as well as holy places; and the
legendary tower of Babel, in the Book of Genesis, is probably but the
mythical equivalent of a vast edifice consecrated to the study of the
seven planets, or perhaps, as the _Bab_ (court or palace) of _Bel_,
to the brilliant star of good fortune alone. Availing themselves of
the general adoration of the stars, they appear to have invented a
system of astrology--the apotelesmatic science--by which they professed
to decide upon the nature of coming events and the complexion of
individual fortunes, with especial reference to the planetary aspects.

In Persia magic assumed a yet more definite development. The Chaldeans
had attributed the origin of all things to a great central everlasting
fire. The foundation of the Persian system, usually ascribed to
Zerdusht or Zoroaster, was the existence of two antagonistic
principles--Ormuzd, the principle of good, and Ahriman, the principle
of evil. In Persia everything associated with science or religion was
included under the denomination "magic." The Persian priests were
named the Magnise or Magi, but they did not arrogate to themselves the
entire credit of intercourse with the gods. Zoroaster, who was King
of Bactria, made some reservations for the sake of exalting the regal
power, and taught that the kings were illuminated by a celestial fire
which emanated from Ormuzd. Hence the sacred fire always preceded the
monarch as a symbol of his illustrious rank; and Plato says the Persian
kings studied magic, which is a worship of their gods.

It was, however, in Egypt, that magic received its development as an
art. The most famous temples in Egypt were those of Isis, at Memphis
and Busiris; of Serapis, at Canopus, Alexandria, and Thebes; of
Osiris, of Apis, and Phtha. Isis, the wife of Osiris, derives her
name from the Coptic word _isi_, or plenty, and would seem to typify
the earth; but she is usually represented as the goddess of the moon
(Gr. _kerasphôros_, the horn-bearing). Isis was also employed as a
personification of wisdom, and to a certain extent she may be regarded
as a symbol of the eternal will, her shrines bearing the enigmatic
inscription--"I am the all that was, that is, that will be; no mortal
can raise my veil." Horus was the son of Isis, and was instructed by
his mother in the art of healing. Horus, synonymous with light, is
the king or spirit of the sun. Astrological science and magic were
earnestly and eagerly studied by the Egyptian priests. It was their
belief that the different stars exercised a powerful influence on the
human body. Their funeral ceremonies may be quoted as an illustration,
for they agree in sharing among the divinities the entire body of
the dead. To Ra, or the Sun, they assigned the head; to Anubis, the
nose and lips; to Hathor, the eyes; to Selk, the teeth; and so on. To
ascertain the nativity the astrologer had only to combine the theory
of the influences thus exercised by these star-related gods with the
aspect of the heavens at the moment of an individual's birth. It was an
element of the Egyptian as well as of the Persian astrological doctrine
that a particular star controlled the natal hour of everyone.[1]

Through the instrumentality of Orpheus, Musæus, Pythagoras, and others,
who had travelled in Egypt, and been initiated by the priests into
their mysteries, magic found its way into Greece, and there assumed
various novel developments. The Greek sorcery was chiefly manifested in
the peculiar rites of the Orpheotelesta, the invocation of the dead,
the cave of Trophônios, the oracles of the gods, and the worship of
Hekatê. The latter mysterious deity, the moon-goddess, was the patron
divinity of the sorcerers. From her, as from one of the powers of the
nether world, proceeded phantoms that taught witchcraft, hovered among
the tombs, and haunted crossways and places accursed by the blood of
the murdered or the suicide. "The Mormô, the Cereops, the Empusa, were
among the goblin crew that did her bidding."

Rome borrowed her magic, no less than her art and literature, from
poetic Hellas. The occult science does not appear to have been known
to the Romans until about 200 years before the Christian era. But they
had previously cultivated a modification of the Etruscan sorcery,
comprising the divination of the future, the worship of the dead, the
evocation of their _lemures_ or phantoms, and the mystic ceremonies of
the Mana-Genita, a nocturnal goddess of awful character. Numa was the
great teacher of the ancient Roman magic, which probably partook both
of a religious and medical character.

The Christian church, at the outset of its history, forbade the
practice of pagan magic, but taught what may be described as a magic of
its own. Both Origen and Tertullian held that mania and epilepsy were
produced by the action of demons or evil spirits confined within the
bodies of the sufferers, and that these were to be exorcised by certain
forms of words. The church formally recognized the efficacy of exorcism
in 367, when the Council of Laodicea ordained that only those should
practise it who were duly authorized by the bishops. Connected with
magic and magical rites were the supposed curative properties of the
relics of saints, and the divine origin popularly ascribed to visions
and ecstatic trances.

In the middle ages magic asserted its supremacy over the whole of
Christian Europe; but it had entirely lost the religious character
communicated to it by the Chaldeans. It had degenerated into the
"black art." It dealt only with the night-side of nature, with the
Evil One and his imps, with the loathsome practises of witchcraft and
the enchantments of the necromancer. The scholar rose superior to this
low kind of theurgy, but he, too, no longer sought communion with the
heavenly powers; he devoted all his energies to the discovery of the
philosopher's stone and the elixir of eternal youth, to the sources of
illimitable wealth and endless life. [_Encyc. Nat._ ix. p. 52].

Born at Rouvère, near Sablé, at the very end of the sixteenth century,
Urbain Grandier was curate and Canon of Loudun. On obtaining this
living, he became so popular a preacher that the envy of the monks
was excited against him. He was first accused of incontinency; but,
being acquitted, his enemies instigated some nuns to play the part of
persons possessed, and in their convulsions to charge Grandier with
being the cause of their visitation. This horrible, though absurd,
charge was countenanced by Cardinal Richelieu, who had been persuaded
that Grandier had satirized him. It is this celebrated case which our
credulous author here endeavours to prove.

The reader will, no doubt, be interested in the wonderful effects said
to have been produced by exorcism. This word is a term applied to the
act of driving an evil spirit out of one possessed, by a command in the
name of some divine power. The ability to effect this by such means
has been accepted as a belief by pagans, Jews, and Christians, and
ceremonials with this object are still in use among the Roman Catholics
and the closer followers of the teachings of Luther, who continued to
keep his opinions in this respect after the Reformation. One of the
minor orders of the Roman Catholic clergy exercise the function, and
it is only used in cases of supposed demoniacal possession, in the
administration of baptism, and in the blessing of the holy oil or
_chrism_, and of holy water. [_Nat. Encyc._ v., p. 389].

"Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that
breaketh the rock in pieces?" (Jer. xxiii. 29).

"Healing by words, that is by the direct expression of the mental
power," says Van Helmont, "was common in the early ages, particularly
in the church, and not only used against the devil and magic arts,
but also against all diseases. As it commenced in Christ, so will it
continue for ever." (Operatio sanandi a primordio fuit in ecclesia per
verba, ritus, exorcismos, aquam, panem, salem, herbas, idque nedum
contra diabolos et effectus magicos, sed et morbos omnes. _Opera omnia,
de virtute magna verborum et rerum_, p. 753). Not only did the early
Christians heal by words, but the old magicians performed their wonders
by magic formulas. "Many cures," says the Zendavesta, "are performed by
herbs and trees, others by water, and again others by words: for it is
by means of the divine word that the sick are the most surely healed."
The Egyptians also believed in the magic power of words. Plotin cured
Porphyrius, who lay dangerously ill in Sicily, by wonder-working words;
and the latter healed the sick by words, and cast out the devil by
exorcism. The Greeks were also well acquainted with the power of words,
and give frequent testimony of this knowledge in their poems; in the
oracles, exhortation and prayer were universal. Orpheus calmed the
storm by his song; and Ulysses stopped the bleeding of wounds by the
use of certain words. Among the Greeks, healing by words was so common
that in Athens it was strictly forbidden. A woman was even stoned
for using them, as they said that the gods had given healing virtues
to stones, plants, and animals, but not to words (Leonard. Varius de
fascino, Paris, 1587, lib. ii. p. 147). Cato is said to have cured
sprains by certain words. According to Pliny, he did not alone use the
barbaric words "motas, daries, dardaries, astaries," but also a green
branch, four or five feet long, which he split in two, and caused to
be held over the injured limb by two men. Marcus Varro, it is said,
cured tumours by words. Servilius Novianus cured affections of the
eyes by causing an inscription to be worn suspended round the neck,
consisting of the letters _A_ and _Z_; but the greatest celebrity was
gained by Serenus Sammonicus by his wonder-working hieroglyphics. They
were supposed to be a certain cure for fever, and were in the subjoined
form:--

  A B R A C A D A B R A
    B R A C A D A B R
      R A C A D A B
        A C A D A
          C A D
            A

Talismans were inscribed with various signs; and many customs still in
use in the East originate from them. Angerius Fererius, in his "Vera
medendi methodus, lib. ii. c. ii. de homerica medicatione," speaks
very plainly on this subject: "Songs and characters have not alone
this power: it exists also in a believing mind, which is produced
in the unlearned by the help of visible signs, and in the learned
by an acknowledged and peculiar influence." (Non sunt carmina, non
characteres, qui talia possunt, sed vis animi confidentis, et cum
patiente concordis, ut doctissime a poeta dictum sit:

    Nos habitat, non Tartara, sed nec sidera coeli;
    Spiritus in nobis qui viget, illa facit.

Doctis et rerum intelligentiam habentibus, nihil opus est externis,
sed cognita vi animi, per eam miracula edere possunt. Indoctus ergo
animus, hoc est, suæ potestatis et naturæ inscius, per externa illa
confirmatus, morbos curare poterit. Doctus vero et sibi constans, solo
verbo sanabit; aut ut simul intactum animum afficiat, externa quoque
assumet.)

The living Word, which illuminated mankind through Christ, showed its
divine power over disease; and the true followers of Christ can perform
wonders by the power of his word. "Etenim sanatio in Christo Domino
incoepit," says Helmont, "per apostolos continuavit et modo est, atque
perennis permanet."--Our Lord said to the sick man, Arise and walk;
and he arose and went his way: open thine eyes; and he saw: take up
thy bed and walk; and he stood up; Lazarus, come forth! and he that
was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes, and his
face was bound about with a napkin, &c. But what is this word, which
is sharper than a two-edged sword? It is the Divine spirit, which is
ever present, ever active; it is the Divine breath which inspires man.
In all ages, and in every nation, there have been men who possessed
miraculous powers; but they were inspired by religion--turned towards
God in prayer and unity. The Almighty sees the heart of the supplicant,
and not alone their words; he sees the belief and intention, and not
the rank or education.

Even the pious heathens prayed to God; and their peculiar worship
maintained the connection, and brought about a still closer union,
between individuals and God, and enabled them, in some measure, to
pierce the veil of ignorance and darkness. And the pious heathen
endeavoured with all his energies to raise himself to a more intimate
relation with God, and, therefore, a peculiar force lay in the means
employed; and what could be more powerful than prayer? and God, in his
comprehensive love and affection, would not leave these supplicants
unanswered.

It would be superfluous to enumerate many instances of the efficacy of
prayer, as exemplified in pious and believing men, which we might meet
with in all ages, and among all nations. In later times many are well
known. I shall, however, mention one, which appears to me the clearest
and least doubtful. Kiersen relates as follows: "I knew a seer who
gained a power of foretelling the future by prayer during the night on
a mountain, where he was accustomed to lie on his face; and he used
this power for the assistance of the sick in the most unpretending
manner. His visions are partly prosaic, partly poetical, and have
reference not only to sickness, but also to other important, and even
political, events, so that he has much resemblance to the prophets of
the Old Testament."

For those to whom the universe is a piece of clockwork, or a perpetual
motion, which continues moving for ever of its own accord--to whom the
everlasting power and wisdom and love in eternity and nature is as
nothing, prayer and supplication must seem objectless and insipid; but
they will never be able to perform the works of the soul. To these, the
magical effects are just as inexplicable (and, therefore, untrue) as
the magical phenomena are unknown. But, with all their knowledge and
wisdom of the world, nature will ever remain to them a mystery.

This is not the place to enter more fully into this subject; but it
may not be superfluous to remember that in every word there is a
magical influence, and that each word is in itself the breath of the
internal and moving spirit. A word of love, of comfort, of promise,
is able to strengthen the timid, the weak, or the physically ill; but
words of hatred, censure, enmity, or menace, lower our confidence
and self-reliance. How easily the worldling, who rejoices under good
fortune, is cast down under adversity, and despair only enters where
religion is not--where the mind has no inward and divine comforter.
But there is, probably, no one who is proof against curse or blessing.
[_Ennemoser_, _Hist. of Magic_, I., p. 120.]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] To those interested in the study of occult science, the
publications and reprints issued by Mr. R. Fryar, of Bath, must prove
most interesting. As regards Egyptian magic, especially the artistic
reproduction of the celebrated Isiac Tablet, with the learned essay
thereon, by Mr. W. Wynn Westcott, is invaluable. Happy is the collector
who has secured a copy, however, as the edition, like all Mr. Fryar's,
is very limited, only 100 copies being printed.

The Devils of Loudun.

AT the beginning of the 17th century, the curate of Loudun was Urbain
Grandier. To those talents which lead to success in this world, this
man united a corruption of morals which dishonoured his character.
His conduct had made him many enemies. These were not merely rivals,
but husbands and fathers, some of high position, who were outraged
at the dishonour he brought on their family. He was, nevertheless,
a wonderfully proud man, and the bitterness of his tongue and the
harshness with which he pursued his advantages only excited them the
more. And these advantages were numerous, for he had a marvelous
faculty for pettifogging. His iniquities had rendered him the scourge
of the town, whose principal curate and greatest scandal he was at one
and the same moment. This is proved by the dispensations obtained by
many fathers of families to assist at the divine service in some other
parish, and by the permissions granted them to receive the sacrament
from some other hand.[2]

But what was still more serious is, that while setting so many people
against him, he had been able to form as formidable a party of his
own. These were almost all Huguenots,[3] of which Loudun was then
full. He had gained their good graces so much that they upheld him to
the utmost of their power. This gave rise to the suspicion that he
was merely a disguised Calvinist; a by no means unusual occurrence.
Thus Grandier, believing himself safe, put no bounds to his audacity.
He treated those from whom he differed with contempt, and in his
preachings even dared to question the privileges of the Carmelites.
He publicly ridiculed their sermons. He even encroached on episcopal
jurisdiction, by granting dispensations from the publication of
marriage banns. This last act caused a sensation, and was reported
to Louis de la Rocheposay, Bishop of Poitiers, to whom, at the same
time, were addressed numerous complaints of the irregular conduct of
the curate and of the scandal he caused. The prelate had him arrested,
and imprisoned till his trial, which took place on the 2nd June 1630,
when he was condemned to fast on bread and water every Friday for three
months, forbidden to officiate in the diocese for five years, and
interdicted for all time from performing divine service in the town of
Loudun. Grandier appealed against this sentence to the Metropolitan, M.
d'Escoubleau de Sourdis, Archbishop of Bordeaux, and since then created
Cardinal; and the prosecution appealed to the parliament of Paris
against this attempt to evade the jurisdiction of the Bishop. But as
many witnesses had to be heard, most of whom lived in the diocese, the
parliament remitted the case to the Courts of Poitiers. Grandier was
thus enabled to face his adversaries, thanks to the friends he had in
the district. The following fact proves this.

Amongst other witnesses, two priests, Gervais Méchin, and Louis
Boulieau deposed that they had found Grandier lying with women and
girls flat on the ground in his Church, the gates leading to the street
being shut; that several times, at extraordinary hours, both during
the day and during the night they had seen women and girls come to
his room; that some remained there from one o'clock in the afternoon,
till past midnight, and had their suppers brought there by their
maidservants; who used to withdraw at once; that they had also seen him
in his Church, with the doors wide open, and, that some women having
entered, they were at once closed.

Such evidence was absolute ruin to Grandier; consequently his friends
moved heaven and earth. They used bribery and threats against these
priests, and obtained from them a retractation of their evidence.
René Grandier, brother of the accused, wrote it with his own hand,
as was afterwards proved, and the two priests signed it. This
evidence destroyed, the cabal had little trouble in turning the
legal proceedings to the advantage of Grandier. The Court of Poitiers
pronounced his acquittal of the charges brought against him. He was so
triumphant, that he insulted his enemies and treated them with public
contempt, as if he were entirely 'out of the wood.' He had yet to
appear before the tribunal of the Archbishop of Bordeaux, to whom he
had appealed. But here again his friends stood by him, and he obtained
a second acquittal and an order reinstating him in all his functions
(22nd Nov. 1631). The verdict contained a warning to him "to behave
well and decently, according to the Holy Decretals and Canonical
Constitutions."

At the same time, the Archbishop, in view of the animosity of his
adversaries, thought it would be better and safer for him to exchange
livings; and he advised him to leave a town where he was looked upon
with such disfavour.

Grandier did not think proper to follow the advice or obey the order:
far from showing the modesty which was enjoined him, he looked upon his
acquittal as a triumph, and returned to Loudun with a laurel branch in
his hand, for the mere purpose of insulting his opponents.

Neutral persons were shocked at so little modesty of conduct, his
enemies were irritated, and even his friends blamed him. Without
pausing an instant he set to work to obtain every advantage over his
adversaries. He was not satisfied with having obtained the full mead he
was entitled to; he resolved to carry his vengeance as far as law would
allow him; and prepared to prosecute before the Courts all those who
had taken steps against him, and to claim damages of various amounts,
and the restitution of the revenues of his cure, the sentence of the
Archbishop of Bordeaux entitling him thereto. In vain did his best
friends use every means to turn him from so imprudent a design: God,
who intended to cut off this gangrenous member from the body of His
Church, and to make of him an example memorable to all ages, abandoned
him to his own wilful blindness. Nevertheless, amidst all these
proceedings, nothing had been as yet heard of Magic, and up to this
time no one had even thought of suspecting him of that crime.

Six years previously, a convent of nuns of the order of St. Ursula
had established itself at Loudun. This community, like every new
institution, was in somewhat straitened circumstances; though the
social position of its members was good. Most of them were daughters of
the nobility, while the remainder belonged to the best "Bourgeoisie"
of the country. The good reputation of the new order (it was not quite
fifty years old), and the high character it bore in Loudun, had also
attracted to it a great number of pupils. The nuns were therefore
enabled, with economy, to make ends meet, and could look forward to the
future with confidence.

The Mother Superior, Madame de Belfiel, daughter of the Marquis de
Cose, was related to M. de Laubardemont, Counsellor of State and
afterwards Intendent of the provinces of Touraine, Anjou, and Maine.
Madame de Sazilli was a connection of the Cardinal de Richelieu. The
two ladies de Barbesiers, sisters, belonged to the house of Nogeret.
Madame de la Mothe was daughter of the Marquis de la Motte Baracé
in Anjou. There was also a Madame d'Escoubleau, of the same name
and family as the Archbishop of Bordeaux. Thus they could flatter
themselves with dreams of future successes, when they happened to lose
their Prior Moussaut, who had charge of their spiritual welfare.

A successor had now to be sought. Grandier, who had never had any
connection with the convent, offered himself nevertheless as a
candidate. The proposal was scornfully rejected; and the Superior,
Madame de Belfiel, had a great quarrel with one of her friends, who
urged her to appoint this priest. The choice of the convent fell on
Canon Mignon, a man of considerable merit, and in whom spiritual gifts
were only equalled by intellectual ones. Grandier, already irritated
at his own want of success, was still more annoyed at Mignon's
appointment. The contrast in all points between his character and
that of the Canon was too great for any other result to have been
looked for. Every honest man takes a pride in the blamelessness of his
profession, and cannot look favourably on a colleague who dishonours
it, nor speak favourably of him. The curate, then, had nothing to
expect from the Canon, who was very intimate with the Bishop,[4] and he
had already been made aware of the opinions Mignon had expressed at the
time of the first trial. These circumstances were not likely to induce
Grandier to look with a kindly eye on his successful competitor, and he
consequently determined to give plenty of work to the confessor and to
his penitents.

Of the various functions the priest is called upon to perform, none
requires such delicacy of treatment as the ministry of the tribunal of
Penitence.[5] It becomes still more delicate where the consciences of
nuns are concerned. But the burden is intolerable, and few could bear
it, if extraordinary agencies are employed to increase the difficulty.
The anxiety of a newly-appointed confessor in such a situation would be
easily understood by Grandier, and would tend to console him for his
failure in obtaining the coveted position.

However this may be, extraordinary symptoms began to declare themselves
within the convent, but they were hushed up as far as possible, and
not allowed to be known outside the walls. To do otherwise would have
been to give the new institution a severe blow, and to risk ruining
it at its birth. This the nuns and their confessor understood. It was
therefore decided to work in the greatest secrecy, and to cure, or at
least mitigate, the evil.

It was hoped that God, touched by the patience with which the
chastisement was borne, would Himself, in His mercy, send a remedy.

This was all that prudence could devise, but _human_ prudence, always
infinitely limited in its views; _Divine_ prudence is quite another
thing. God had resolved that the mystery of iniquity should no longer
lie buried. As the church, at its birth, gained great credit through
similar events,[6] so again, in this case, did they serve to revive the
faith of true believers, and so it will be again in future times.

Loudun was fated to behold events of this nature, and they were
to produce their ordinary effect, viz., to enlighten those whose
consciences, though distorted, had preserved some remnants of original
good, and to blind souls darkened with pride, and hearts full of
perversity.

As usually happens, the extraordinary phenonomena displayed in the
persons of the nuns were taken for the effects of sexual disease. But
soon suspicions arose that they proceeded from supernatural causes; and
at last they perceived what God intended every one to see.

Thus the nuns, after having employed the physicians of the body,
apothecaries and medical men, were obliged to have recourse to the
physicians of the soul, and to call in both lay and clerical doctors,
their confessor no longer being equal to the immensity of the labour.
For they were seventeen in number; and everyone was found to be either
fully possessed, or partially under the influence of the Evil One.

All this could not take place without some rumours spreading abroad;
vague suspicions floated through the city; had the secret even been
kept by the nuns, their small means would soon have been exhausted by
the extraordinary expenses they were put to in trying to hide their
affliction, and this, together with the number of people employed
in relieving them, must have made the matter more or less public.
But their trials were soon increased when the public was at last
made acquainted with their state. The fact that they were possessed
of devils drove everyone from their convent as from a diabolical
residence, or as if their misfortune involved their abandonment by God
and man. Even those who acted thus were their best friends. Others
looked upon these women as mad, and upon those who tended them as
visionaries. For, in the beginning, people being still calm, had not
come to accuse them of being imposters.

Their pupils were first taken from them; most of their relations
discarded them; and they found themselves in the deepest poverty.
Amidst the most horrible vexations of the invisible spirit, they were
forced to labour with their hands, to earn their bread. What was most
admirable was that the rule of the community was never broken. Never
were they known to discontinue their religious observances, nor was
divine service ever interrupted. Ever united, they retained unbroken
the bonds of charity which bound them together. Their courage never
failed, and when the seizure was past, they used to return to their
work or attend the services of the Church with the same modesty and
calmness as in the happy days of yore. I know that malice will not be
pleased at such a pleasing portraiture. But this base feeling, too
natural in the human heart, should be banished thence by all men of
honour, who know its injustice and only require that history should
be truthful. Probability itself is in favour of our statements. For
when God permits us to be attacked so violently by our common enemy,
it is as a trial to ourselves, to sanctify us and raise us to a high
degree of perfection, and simultaneously He prepares us for victory,
and grants us extraordinary grace, which we have only to assimilate and
profit by.

It became necessary to have recourse to exorcisms. This word alone is
for some people a subject of ridicule, as if it had been clearly proved
that religion is mere folly and the faith of the church a fable. True
Christians must despise these grinning impostors. Exorcisms, then, were
employed. The demon, forced to manifest himself, yielded his name. He
began by giving these girls the most horrible convulsions; he went so
far as to raise from the earth the body of the Superior who was being
exorcised, and to reply to secret thoughts, which were manifested
neither in words nor by any exterior signs. Questioned according to the
form prescribed by the ritual, as to why he had entered the body of
the nun, he replied, it was from hatred. But when, being questioned as
to the name of the magician, he answered that it was Urbain Grandier,
profound astonishment seized Canon Mignon and his assistants. They had
indeed looked upon Grandier as a scandalous priest; but never had they
imagined that he was guilty of Magic. They were therefore not satisfied
with one single questioning: they repeated the interrogatory several
times, and always received the same reply.

FOOTNOTES:

[2] Our author takes care not to mention that the Bishop of the Diocese
was Grandier's greatest enemy.

[3] Huguenots, the name given to the early adherents of the Reformation
in France. The origin of the word has been variously accounted for, but
it was most probably introduced from Germany as a corruption of the
German-Swiss _Eidgenossen_, confederates, or those bound together by an
oath. Like many other names it was first given by opponents as a badge
of reproach, and subsequently became honourable from its associations.
The movement of the Reformation made its appearance in France at the
beginning of the sixteenth century; and at the period when Luther
was defending its principles before the Diet of Worms, Briconnet,
bishop of Meaux, Lefevre, and Farel were labouring zealously for the
same cause in France. At first the new doctrines, which seemed to be
chiefly directed against the more open sins and derelictions of the
clergy, enjoyed the toleration of the king, Francis I. and his sister
Margaret of Valois, the queen of Navarre, was an active supporter of
the cause. As it progressed however, the alarm and anger of the clergy
became fully aroused, and as some of its manifestations had given
offence to the king, a determined effort was made to extirpate it by
means of fire and sword. In 1535 a solemn procession in vindication
of the faith was made at Paris, in which the king walked bareheaded
and bearing a taper; as part of the proceedings six Lutherans were
burned, having their tongues cut out and being affixed to a movable
gallows, which alternately rose and fell over a fire kindled beneath.
This was followed by many executions of a similar kind, and by the
more wholesale slaughters which exterminated the Vaudois of Provence;
but in spite of these persecutions the number of those who adopted
the principles of the Reformation continually increased. Under the
influence of Calvin, who took very great interest in the work of the
Reformation in France, the French Protestants about the middle of the
sixteenth century began to organize themselves into churches, and
to unite these churches into groups or districts for the purposes
of mutual aid and counsel. The first French Protestant church was
established at Paris in 1555, and very soon afterwards others were
established in most of the large towns where the principles of the
Reformation had obtained followers. These churches were established
according to the Presbyterian form, a pastor being appointed as the
leader, with elders and deacons to assist in the government and
worship, each church being independent of the rest, though several
churches might combine in any movement for their mutual benefit or
for the promotion of their common cause. The first synod of the
reformed churches was held at Paris in 1559. At this assembly, to which
eleven churches sent deputies, a confession of faith and a series of
articles of discipline were drawn up and issued, and these, with a
few alterations, became subsequently the doctrinal and ecclesiastical
standards of the Protestants of France. It is not easy to estimate the
number of the Huguenots at this period, but according to Beza they
were not less than 400,000, and the party included about one-third
of the nobility of France. The persecutions of the Roman Catholic
party, however, had become more fierce and intolerable as the number
of the Protestants increased, and at last, driven to desperation,
the Huguenots took up arms in their own defence and sought to change
the government in order that they might gain liberty of worship. In
February, 1560, at a meeting at Nantes, they resolved to petition the
king, Francis II., for liberty of worship and for the removal of the
two brothers, Francis duke of Guise, and Charles of Lorraine, cardinal
and archbishop of Rheims, who were the real rulers of the kingdom
and the foremost in the persecution. In the event of a refusal they
conspired to seize the person of the king and appoint their own leader,
Louis I., prince of Bourbon Condé, as governor-general of the kingdom.
The conspiracy failed completely, and a terrible vengeance was exacted:
some 1200 of the Huguenots were slaughtered without investigation or
trial, their bodies being flung into the Loire until the stream was
almost choked by the number. In January, 1562, owing to political
changes in France, Catherine de Médicis being obliged to rely upon the
aid of the Protestant party in defence of her son Charles IX., who was
under age, an edict was issued which gave the Huguenot noblemen the
right to the free exercise of their religion on their own estates.
A few months only after this a party of Huguenot worshippers in the
little town of Vassy, in the province of Champagne, were attacked by
the Duke of Guise and his followers, sixty being slain upon the spot,
and 200 more severely, some mortally, wounded. For this butchery he
was received with acclamation by the people of Paris, and emboldened
by his reception he seized upon the persons of the young king and the
queen-mother, and proclaimed the Protestants rebels against the royal
authority. The latter rallied round the standard raised by Condé at
Orleans, and the civil war was commenced which was to devastate France
for nearly thirty years. At the outset the Huguenots were defeated
at Rouen, 11th September, 1562, and again at Dreux, 19th December,
the same year. In 1563 the treaty of Amboise was concluded, but its
stipulations were observed by neither party, and the war was soon
recommenced, the Huguenots being again defeated 10th November, 1567, at
St. Denis. Reinforced by aid from Germany, they were able to threaten
Paris, but their leader Condé allowed himself to be again duped by
Catherine de Médicis, and signed the peace of Longjumeau, "leaving his
party at the mercy of their enemies, with no other security than the
word of an Italian woman." The queen-mother, as soon as the pressure of
danger was removed, promptly recommenced the persecution, and within a
few months several thousands of the Huguenots were either assassinated
or publicly executed. Condé and Coligny fled to La Rochelle, where they
were joined by the Queen of Navarre and her son Henry, afterwards Henry
IV. of France, at the head of 4000 men. Assistance was also received
from Germany and England, and the third war of religion was begun.
The Huguenots were defeated 13th March, 1569, at Jarnac, and again at
Moncontour, 3rd October, 1569, but they managed to take Nîmes, relieve
La Rochelle, and gain the victory of Luçon. Their successes led again
to the proposal of terms of peace; and a treaty, in which an amnesty
and the free exercise of their religion everywhere except at Paris was
granted to the Protestants, was signed at St. Germain-en-Laye, 8th
August, 1570.

As with the treaties previously signed, the queen-mother and the
leaders of the Roman Catholic party had no intention of observing its
conditions, but on the contrary they sought to obtain by treachery that
which they had failed to procure by force of arms. In two years their
plans were ripe for execution, and the leaders of the Huguenot party
having been enticed to Paris, a general massacre of the Protestants was
commenced on St. Bartholomew's Day, 24th August, 1572. In the ghastly
slaughter that followed, according to the lowest computation, 30,000
of the Protestants of France were destroyed, but many historians place
the number killed at a much higher figure. Most of the leaders of
the Huguenot party were destroyed in the massacre, but the remainder
rallied their scattered forces, and a fresh war was commenced which
continued with but few intermissions until the accession of Henry of
Navarre in 1589. His reign marks a tranquil period in the history of
the French Protestants, and in 1598 they obtained the celebrated Edict
of Nantes, which though it granted them less than they had anticipated,
was yet for a long period the foundation of their liberty. The period
succeeding the reign of Henry IV. was marked by numerous outbreaks
on the part of the Huguenots, who were distrustful of the plans and
purposes of the French court, and ultimately Cardinal Richelieu
determined to finally break their power by the capture of their chief
stronghold, La Rochelle. This he effected in 1628, and with its fall
and the subsequent surrender of the remaining Protestant towns the
religious wars of France came finally to an end. Still the Huguenots
were left in the enjoyment of freedom of religion, and being excluded
from the court and service of the state, they devoted themselves to
manufacture and commerce until they became the industrial leaders of
the nation. They followed agriculture in the rural districts, and their
farms were among the finest in France. The wine trade of Guienne, the
cloths of Caen, the maritime trade on the sea-board of Normandy, the
manufactures in the north-western provinces, the silk trade of Lyons,
with many other branches of commerce, were almost entirely carried on
by the Huguenots, who bore a high reputation for industry and integrity
even among their enemies. The consolidation of the power of the king
was, however, fraught with danger to the liberties of the Protestants,
and as Louis XIV. in his declining years became morbidly superstitious,
he sought, under the direction of Madame de Maintenon and his confessor
Lachaise, to atone for his own crimes by the suppression of heresy. At
first bribery was tried, and a regular fund of secret-service money was
set apart for procuring conversions. Then persecution was recommenced,
and many thousands were terrified into abjuring their religion by the
means of the Dragonnades.

Finally, in 1685 Louis revoked the Edict of Nantes, and followed up
the revocation with laws of terrific severity against Protestantism.
All Protestant worship was forbidden under penalty of arrest and
confiscation of property. Ministers were to leave the kingdom within
fourteen days unless they became converted. All Protestant schools were
closed, and all children born after the passing of the law were to
be baptized and brought up as Roman Catholics; all marriages, unless
celebrated by the Roman Catholic clergy, were declared null, and the
Protestant laity were strictly prohibited from leaving the kingdom.

The provisions of the edict were carried out with relentless rigour,
and a desperate flight of the Huguenots ensued. Many thousands had
been forced to emigrate by the dragonnades, but now the flight became
wholesale, though every effort to check it was made by the authorities.
Vauban, who wrote a year after the revocation, estimated the loss of
France at 100,000 inhabitants, 60,000,000 francs in specie, 9,000
sailors, 12,000 veterans, 600 officers, and her most flourishing
branches of manufacture and trade. Sismondi considers the loss to have
exceeded 300,000 men, while some modern estimates put the number lost
during the whole period of the persecution at not less than 1,000,000.
A large number abjured their religion, but a remnant remained who
neither fled nor abjured, and whose endurance and determination during
the long years of persecution that followed form one of the most
remarkable of the records of religious history. The loss of France
was the enrichment of other lands, and England, America, Germany,
Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, and Holland all profited by the advent of
the emigrants. It is estimated that during the ten years that followed
the revocation nearly 80,000 of the Huguenots established themselves
in England, and their influence upon the trade and manufactures of
the country was both widespread and lasting. The long windows of the
silk-weavers' houses still mark the quarter of Spitalfields, London,
where not so very long since a considerable French colony, with English
assistants, drove a thriving trade, though not a weaver is now to be
found there.

The majority of the Huguenots, however, became merged in the general
population of England, and their descendants heartily accepted the
change of nationality. Many of the latter have since attained to
eminence in their adopted country, and are to be found among the
leaders of the nation in all branches of its activity. Similar results
may be traced in other nations where the refugees took up their abode,
and it is said that when the Emperor of Germany rode into Paris at the
head of his victorious troops at the close of the war in 1871, not
less than eighty members of his personal staff were descendants of the
Huguenots who had been driven by persecution from France.

During the early part of the eighteenth century the rigour of the
persecution was maintained, but gradually the spirit of the age
began to be averse to such methods of maintaining the power of the
priesthood, and the interference of Voltaire, after the judicial murder
of John Calas, did much towards bringing the persecution to an end. In
1787 an edict of Louis XVI. restored civil rights to the Huguenots,
and the Revolution of 1789 and the passing later of the Code Napoleon
gave them equal rights with Roman Catholics. At the present time the
Protestants of France number about 500,000, and many of their pastors
receive a small salary from the state. They nevertheless enjoy a
considerable amount of self-government, and they have an excellent
reputation as industrious and orderly citizens. In the Protestant
churches of France, as in those of other countries, there is a tendency
to divide over the questions arising from the progress of scriptural
and historical criticism. Some of the leaders are well known for
the liberalism of their ideas, and for the work they have done in
connection with the advancement of the science of theology, while
others, fearing the Rationalizing tendencies of modern studies, cling
more closely to the Calvinistic standards of their forefathers. [See
"History of the Rise of the Huguenots," by Prof. M. Baird, 1880.]

[4] The friendship of the Bishop would account for Mignon's envy
towards Grandier.

[5] When and under what circumstances confession, either public or
private, was first deemed absolutely necessary for the remission of
sins is a subject of controversy. Innocent III., in the fourth Lateran
Council, A.D. 1215 (Canon 21), made confession (meaning auricular or
private) obligatory upon every adult person once a year; and that
continues to be one of the rules of the Roman Catholic church to the
present day. The Council of Trent, in its Catechism, defines it to be
"a declaration by the penitent of his sins made to a priest in order to
receive the penance and absolution." Penitence, therefore, consists of
four parts--confession, contrition, penance, and absolution; and it is
a positive doctrine of the same church, that without the concurrence
of all these parts or conditions the sacrament is null and void. The
penance which the priest imposes consists generally of satisfaction to
be given if the penitent has injured any one in his property, honour,
&c., in a manner that can admit of reparation, and also of prayers,
abstinence, or other religious practices to be performed. The secrecy
imposed on confessors is strict and unconditional; whatever be the
crime of which a penitent may accuse himself, they are solemnly bound
to keep it secret, under the most severe denunciations and penalties,
both here and hereafter, that of excommunication included. The box in
which the priest sits in the church to hear the penitent is called a
confessional. But the act of confession may be performed out of church,
in private houses, or in any place, in short, of which the bishop
approves, provided it be not within hearing of any person except the
priest and the penitent. The Greek Church retains the practice of
auricular confession, but differs from that of Rome in the form of
the absolution. The reformed churches do not as a rule encourage the
practice, and in Scotland it is not even recognized. In the Church of
England, although admitted by the Prayer Book, private confession has
long been viewed with extreme suspicion, but of late years attempts
have been made by a certain section to revive it.

[6] The reference is evidently to Mark XVI., p. 17 and 18.

END OF VOL. I.

THE DEVILS OF LOUDUN.

                     [COLLECTANEA ADAMANTÆA.--XXI.]

                           THE HISTORY OF THE

                           Devils of Loudun,

    _The Alleged Possession of the Ursuline Nuns, and the Trial and
                     Execution of Urbain Grandier_,

                        TOLD BY AN EYE-WITNESS.

                  TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL FRENCH,

                                  AND

                               Edited by

                       EDMUND GOLDSMID, F.R.H.S.,
                             F.S.A. (Scot.)

                                VOL. II.

                           PRIVATELY PRINTED.

                               EDINBURGH.

                                 1887.

_This Edition is limited to 275 small-paper copies, and 75 large-paper
copies._

The Devils of Loudun.

_PART II._

THE declaration of the Evil Spirit could not fail to make a great
commotion, and to have results which required precautions to be taken
at once. The Canon, like a wise man, put himself in communication
with Justice, and informed the magistrates of what was passing at
the convent, on the 11th October, 1632. Grandier, prepared for all
contingencies, had already taken his measures. Many of the magistrates
belonged to the new religion and were favourable to him, looking
upon him as a secret adherent; they served him as he expected. At
the same time, he made all possible use of his extraordinary talents
for pettifogging, presented petition on petition, questioned every
statement of the exorcists and of the nuns, threatened their confessor
Mignon, complained that his reputation was attacked, and that the means
were thus taken from him of doing the good his position required, and
demanded that the nuns should be locked up and the exorcisms be put an
end to. He knew well enough that his demands were out of the question,
and that civil justice has nothing to do with the exercise of religious
functions. But he wished, if possible, to embarrass the exorcists, and
commit the judges with the bishops, or, at any rate, throw discord
among them, and give his Calvinists an opportunity of crying out; he
succeeded.

The magistrates separated. Only those who were favourable to him
remained: the rest ceased to appear at the exorcisms, and Mignon
soon withdrew from the convent. Excitement rose in the public mind,
a thousand arguments on this or that side permeated the town, and a
thousand quarrels took place on all sides.

This excitement, however, and these disputes settled nothing, and the
exorcisms, which continued, had no better result. Grandier triumphed,
and his friends admired his wit, his skill, and proclaimed aloud that
he could be convicted of nothing, not even as regards women, although
they knew well how far he had gone in this matter. Until now, the Court
had taken no notice of the affair; but the noise it had made in the
world since the first days of October 1632 had reached the Queen's
ears. She requested information, and the Abbé Marescot, one of her
chaplains, was sent to examine into the matter and report to her. He
arrived at Loudun on the 28th November, and witnessed what was going
on. No immediate consequences followed: but an incident soon occurred,
which caused a sudden change in the position of affairs.

The King had resolved to raze the castles and fortresses existing in
the heart of the kingdom, and commissioned M. de Laubardemont to see to
the demolition of that of Loudun. He arrived, and saw what a ferment
the town was in, the animosity that reigned there, and the kind of man
who caused the commotion. The complaints of those who were victims of
the debaucheries, of the pride, or of the vengeance of the curate,
touched him, and it seemed to him important to put an end to the
scandal. On his return he informed the King and the Cardinal-Minister
of the facts: Louis XIII., naturally pious and just, perceived the
greatness of the evil, and deemed it his duty to put a stop to it.
He appointed M. de Laubardemont to investigate the matter without
appeal; with orders to choose in the neighbouring jurisdictions the
most straightforward and learned judges. The Commission is dated 30th
November, 1633.

Nothing less was needed to bring to justice a man upheld by a
seditious and enterprising party, and so well versed in the details of
_chicannerie_: an art always shameful in any man, but especially to an
ecclesiastic. The King issued at the same time two decrees, to arrest
and imprison Grandier and his accomplices. Armed with such powers, the
Commissioner did not fear to attack a man who had so often succeeded
in gaining either a nonsuit on some question of form, or in turning
accusations to his own advantage, or else dragging out proceedings to
such a length as to weary his adversaries and his judges.

The Calvinists, already irritated at the razing of the Castle which
served them as a rallying place in times of rebellion, cried out
against this new tribunal, because they saw that it was the sole means
of rendering useless the knaveries of their friend. But they cried out
much louder when the Commissioner arrested the accused, without waiting
for informations, and seized all his papers. As if it were not well
known that, in criminal matters, this mode of proceeding is usual. In
this case it was absolutely necessary. For, without this precaution,
Grandier might have fled, and defended himself from afar, engaging the
attention of judges, who had plenty of work elsewhere. He might even
have raised tumults in the city, which might have necessitated violent
remedies.

These precautions being taken, the Commissioner commenced his
investigation, and proceeded to hear witnesses on the 17th December,
1633.

The Commissioner now learned of what Grandier and his party were
capable. The witnesses were so intimidated that none would speak, and
it required all the Royal Authority to reassure them. He therefore
issued a proclamation forbidding the intimidation of witnesses, under
penalty of prosecution; and the Bishop of Poitiers having supported
the King's decision, the two priests, Gervais Méchin and Martin
Boulieau, who had been forced to retract their evidence in the former
trial, presented a petition in which they declared that they had been
seduced and constrained by several persons in authority to recall their
evidence, and they now affirmed their first evidence to be true. The
evidence of the nuns was also heard, and that of lay persons of both
sexes, amongst others of two women, the one of whom confessed having
had criminal relations with Grandier, and that he had offered to make
her Princess of Magicians, whilst the second confirmed the evidence of
the first.[7]

As regards the nuns, they deposed that Grandier had introduced himself
into the convent by day and night for four months, without anyone
knowing how he got in; that he presented himself to them whilst
standing at divine service and tempted them to indecent actions both
by word and deed; that they were often struck by invisible persons;
and that the marks of the blows were so visible that the doctors
and surgeons had easily found them, and that the beginning of all
these troubles was signalized by the apparition of Prior Moussaut,
their first confessor. The Mother Superior and seven or eight other
nuns, when confronted with Grandier, identified him, although it was
ascertained that they had never seen him save by magic, and that
he had never had anything to do with their affairs. The two women
formerly mentioned and the two priests maintained the truth of their
evidence. In a word, besides the nuns and six lay women, "sixty
witnesses deposed to adulteries, incests, sacrileges, and other
crimes, committed by the accused, even in the most secret places of
his church, as in the vestry, where the Holy Host was kept, on all days
and at all hours."

It may well be imagined that the mother, brothers and friends of
the accused did not abandon him. They appealed to every possible
authority. The details of these proceedings would be as wearisome as
useless, as the Commissioner, by the very terms of his Commission, was
placed above all such dilatory pettifogging, and therefore refused or
annulled all applications in that direction. He then questioned the
accused as to the facts and articles of accusation, and after having
made him sign his confessions and denials, proceeded to Paris to inform
the Court of what he had done.

The King and his Council thought it right to furnish him with means
to overcome all obstacles to a speedy decision. This precaution
was necessary, for letters from the Bailly of Loudun, Grandier's
chief supporter, to the Procurator-General of the Parliament, were
intercepted, in which it was asserted that the "possession" was an
imposture. The latter's reply was also seized. Monsieur de Laubardemont
returned therefore to Loudun with a Decree of the Council, dated 31st
May 1634, confirming all his powers and _prohibiting Parliament and
all other judges from interfering in this business, and forbidding
all parties concerned from appealing, under penalty of a fine of five
hundred livres_. He caused Grandier to be transferred from the prison
of Augers to that of Loudun, so as to have him at hand to confront with
witnesses, if need be.

But, first of all, he considered it necessary to examine the nuns
carefully; for this purpose, with the consent of the Bishop, he
sequestrated them in different convents, and interrogated them so
severely that one might have thought that they themselves were the
magicians. "He saw them all, the one after the other, for several days;
and listened to their conversations, to observe their mode of thought.
He enquired minutely into their lives, their morals, their behaviour,
not only secular but religious. His depositions, or notes, which
represented the evidence of twenty girls, including a few not nuns,
filled fifty rolls of official paper, and were the admiration of all
judges, so great was the prudence and care they demonstrated."

On the other hand the Bishop of Poitiers, after having sent several
Doctors of Theology to examine the victims, came to Loudun in person,
and exorcised them himself, or had them exorcised by others in his
presence for two months and a half. Never was work done with such care
and attention.

All precognitions over, the Commissioner began to confront the accused
with the witnesses, and the latter maintained, face to face with
Grandier, the evidence they had given against him.

As regard the nuns, it was observed that they never contradicted
themselves, whether questioned together or separately, though they were
examined often, by different persons, and as skilfully as possible.
Now, criminals do not manage this, for the cleverest have the greatest
difficulty in avoiding contradictory statements. Those writers, who
have supported Grandier, have never discovered the least discrepancy in
the evidence of the nuns. Nor did Grandier ever plead malice on their
part as a defence, for they had never seen him, nor had he had anything
to do with their affairs, as we have said.

If, as calumny asserts, the only thing sought was the death of
Grandier, here were sufficient proofs to burn him, if only for abusing
the privileges of his ministry and of his Church, or for the sacrileges
he had committed therein. But justice is not satisfied with punishing
one kind of crime, when she finds traces of another still more
serious. It was moreover a Christian duty to assist the views of God,
who permitted so strange an event, to confound the calumnies of the
protestants, and to prove the demonstration the "possession" of the
nuns, and the magic exercised by the accused. To this the Commissioners
and the other judges applied themselves.

Thus, as it was a matter rather of religion than of jurisprudence, they
resolved to begin by prayer to God, who is the Father of all Light,
rightly considering that all France was watching the trial with eager
eyes, that it was shrouded in a thick veil of obscurity, and that their
verdict would entail important consequences. They therefore prepared
to receive divine assistance and grace by frequent confessions, and
by often receiving the Holy Sacrament. Then they decreed a general
procession to implore celestial aid in so difficult a matter; and, to
excite the devotion of the masses by their example, they went in a
body, during the whole of the trial, to visit the Churches of the city,
set aside by the Bishop for forty hour services, and reached each in
time for the elevation of the host. Thence the Exorcists went to the
Church fixed upon for the Exorcisms, and the judges proceeded to the
tribunal to continue the case; in the evening all returned to church
for evensong.

The examination lasted forty days, during which Demons gave them
the clearest proofs of their presence in the bodies of the persons
exorcised, and every day added new evidence against Grandier, and yet
never said anything against him which did not turn out strictly true.
These assertions merit distinct proof, which will be found interesting.

As regards the presence of Devils in the possessed, the Church
teaches us in its ritual, that there are four principal signs, by
which it can be undoubtedly recognised. These signs are the speaking
or understanding of a language unknown to the person possessed;
the revelation of the future, or of events happening far away; the
exhibition of strength beyond the years and nature of the actor; and
floating in the air for a few moments.

The Church does not require, in order to have recourse to Exorcisms,
that all these marks should be found in the same subject; one alone, if
well authenticated, is sufficient to demand public exorcism.

Now, they are all to be found in the Nuns of Loudun, and in such
numbers that we can only mention the principal cases.

Acquaintance with unknown tongues first showed itself in the
Mother-Superior. At the beginning, she answered in Latin the questions
of the Ritual proposed to her in that language. Later, she and the
others answered in any language they thought proper to question in.

M. de Launay de Razilli, who had lived in America, attested that,
during a visit to Loudun, he had spoken to them in the language of a
certain savage tribe of that country, and that they had answered quite
correctly, and had revealed to him events that had taken place there.

Some gentlemen of Normandy certified in writing that they had
questioned Sister Clara de Sazilli in Turkish, Spanish, and Italian,
and that her answers were correct.

M. de Nismes, Doctor of the Sorbonne, and one of the chaplains of the
Cardinal de Lyon, having questioned them in Greek and German, was
satisfied with their replies in both languages.

Father Vignier, Superior of the Oratory at La Rochelle, bears witness
in his Latin Narrative, that, having questioned Sister Elizabeth a
whole afternoon in Greek, she always replied correctly and obeyed him
in every particular.

The Bishop of Nimes commanded Sister Clara in Greek to raise veil and
to kiss the railings at a certain spot; she obeyed, and did many other
things he ordered, which caused the prelate to exclaim that one must be
an Atheist or lunatic not to believe in "possession."

Some doctors questioned them also as to the meaning of some Greek
technical terms, extremely difficult to explain, and only known to the
most learned men, and they clearly expressed the real signification of
the words.

Lastly, Grandier himself being confronted with them, his Bishop
invested him with the stole to exorcise the Mother Superior, who,
he declared, knew Latin; but he did not dare to question her or the
others in Greek, though they dared him to it; whereon he remained very
embarrassed.[8]

As to the Revelation of hidden matters or of events passing afar off,
proofs are still more abundant. We will only select a few of the most
remarkable.

M. Morin, Prior of St. Jacques de Thouars, having requested M. Morans,
Commissioner appointed by the Bishop of Poitiers to watch over the
possessed, and to assist in the trial of Grandier, to allow some sign
to be given proving _actual infernal possession_, whispered to M. de
Morans that he wished one of the possessed to bring him five rose
leaves. Sister Clara was then away in the refectory; M. de Morans
ordered, in his thoughts, the Demon who possessed her to obey the wish
of M. Morin, for the greater glory of God. Thereupon the Nun left the
refectory, and went into the garden, whence she brought first a pansy
and other plants, and presented them with roars of laughter, saying to
M. de Morans: "Is that what you wish, father? I am not a Devil, to
guess your thoughts."--To which he replied simply: "_Obedias_," obey.
She then returned to the garden, and after several repetitions of the
order, presented through the railings a little rose branch, on which
were six leaves. The Exorcist said to her: "_Obedias punctualiter sub
poenâ maledictionis_," obey to the letter under penalty of malediction;
she then plucked off one leaf, and offered the branch saying: "I see
you will only have five; the other was one too many." The Prior was so
convinced by what he saw, that he went out with tears in his eyes. An
official report of the fact was drawn up.

Madame de Laubardemontalse tried the same experiment, in order to
convince many sceptics who were present; and she was equally successful.

The _Lieutenant-Criminel_ of Orleans, the President Tours,
Lieutenant-General de S. Maixant, and myself[9] also had our curiosity
gratified. I desired that Sister Clara should bring me her beads, and
say an _Ave-Maria_. She first brought a pin, and then some aniseed;
being urged to obey, she said: "I see you want something else," and
then she brought me her beads and offered to say an _Ave-Maria_.

M. Chiron, Prior of Maillezais, desiring to strengthen his belief in
demoniacal possession, begged M. de Morans to allow him to whisper to
a third party the sign he required; and he thereon whispered to M.
de Fernaison, Canon and Provost of the same Church, that he wished
the nun to fetch a missal then lying near the door, and to put her
finger on the introit of the mass of the Holy Virgin, beginning
"Salve, Sancta parens." M. de Morans, who had heard nothing, ordered
Sister Clara, who was likewise ignorant of what had been said, to obey
the intentions of M. Chiron. This young girl then fell into strange
convulsions, blaspheming, rolling on the ground, exposing her person in
the most indecent manner, without a blush, and with foul and lascivious
expressions and actions,[10] till she caused all who looked on to hide
their eyes with shame. Though she had never seen the prior, she called
him by his name, and said he should be her lover. It was only after
many repeated commands, and an hour's struggling, that she took up
the missal, saying: "I will pray." Then, turning her eyes in another
direction, she placed her finger on the capital S at the beginning of
the introit aforesaid, of which facts reports were drawn up.

M. de Milliere, a gentleman of Maine, certified that, being present
at the Exorcism of Sister Clara, and on his knees, the Devil asked
him whether he was saying a _De Profundis_ for his wife, which was
the case. The Marquis de la Mothe, son of M. de Parabel, governor of
Poitou, certified that sister Louise de Nogeret had disclosed his most
secret faults in the presence of Father Tranquille, and of Madame de
Neuillant, his aunt.

The same M. de la Mothe also asked an Exorcist to make Sister Clara,
who was in the convent, come out, kneel down, and say an Ave Maria; she
came after repeated commands, and obeyed.

Chevalier de Meré, who was present, asked the Devil on what day he had
last confessed. The Devil answered Friday. The Chevalier acknowledged
this to be correct; whereupon Sister Clara withdrew. But as he wished
to try the Devil again, he begged the exorcist to make her return,
and whispered some words to the Marquis and the Monk, for the nun to
repeat. The exorcist refused, as the words were indecent. He changed
them, therefore, into _Pater, et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus!_ He
whispered these words so low, that the exorcist could hardly hear them.
The nun, who was in another room, came at the command of the Father,
and addressing the Chevalier, first said the indecent words the monk
had refused, and then repeated several times _Gloria patri et filio et
Spiritui Sancto_. She was ordered to say the words exactly as she had
been desired, but she said she would not.

The Bishop of Nîmes, being present at an exorcism by Father Surin,
begged him to order something in difficult Latin; and the Demon
thereupon performed what was wanted.

A Jesuit wishing to try what so many people stated they had
experienced, gave an inward order to a demon who had been exorcised;
and then immediately another. In the space of a second he gave five
or six orders, which he countermanded one after another; and thus
tormented the Devil, who was ordered to obey his intentions. The Demon
repeated his commands aloud, beginning by the first, and adding, "But
you wont," and when he had come to the last he said, "Now let's see
whether we can do this."

"When it rained," says Father Surin, "the Devil used to place the
Mother Superior under the water spout. As I knew this to be a habit of
his, I commanded him mentally to bring her to me; whereupon she used
to come and ask me: 'What do you want.'"

Another thing which struck the Exorcists, was the instantaneous answers
they gave to the most difficult questions of Theology, as to grace, the
vision of God, Angels, the Incarnation and similar subjects, always in
the very terms used in the schools.

The corporal effect of possession is a proof which strikes the coarsest
minds. It has this other advantage, that an example convinces a whole
assembly.[11]

Now the nuns of Loudun gave these proofs daily. When the Exorcist gave
some order to the Devil, the nuns suddenly passed from a state of
quiet into the most terrible convulsions, and without the slightest
increase of pulsation. They struck their chests and backs with their
heads, as if they had had their neck broken, and with inconceivable
rapidity; they twisted their arms at the joints of the shoulder,
the elbow and the wrist two or three times round; lying on their
stomachs they joined their palms of their hands to the soles of their
feet; their faces became so frightful one could not bear to look at
them; their eyes remained open without winking; their tongues issued
suddenly from their mouths, horribly swollen, black, hard, and covered
with pimples, and yet while in this state they spoke distinctly; they
threw themselves back till their heads touched their feet, and walked
in this position with wonderful rapidity, and for a long time. They
uttered cries so horrible and so loud that nothing like it was ever
heard before; they made use of expressions so indecent as to shame the
most debauched of men, while their acts, both in exposing themselves
and inviting lewd behaviour from those present, would have astonished
the inmates of the lowest brothel in the country; they uttered
maledictions against the three Divine Persons of the Trinity, oaths and
blasphemous expressions so execrable, so unheard of, that they could
not have suggested themselves to the human mind. They used to watch
without rest, and fast five or six days at a time, or be tortured twice
a day as we have described during several hours, without their health
suffering; on the contrary, those that were somewhat delicate, appeared
healthier than before their possession.

The Devil sometimes made them fall suddenly asleep: they fell to the
ground and became so heavy, that the strongest man had great trouble in
even moving their heads. Françoise Filestreau having her mouth closed,
one could hear within her body different voices speaking at the same
time, quarrelling, and discussing who should make her speak.

Lastly, one often saw Elizabeth Blanchard, in her convulsions, with her
feet in the air and her head on the ground, leaning against a chair or
a window sill without other support.

The Mother Superior from the beginning was carried off her feet and
remained suspended in the air at the height of 24 inches. A report of
this was drawn up and sent to the Sorbonne, signed by a great number of
witnesses, ecclesiastics and doctors, and the judgement thereon of the
Bishop of Poitiers who was also a witness. The doctors of the Sorbonne
were of the same opinion as the Bishop, and declared that infernal
possession was proved.

Both she and other nuns lying flat, without moving foot, hand, or body,
were suddenly lifted to their feet like statues.

In another exorcism the Mother Superior was suspended in the air, only
touching the ground with her elbow.

Others, when comatose, became supple like a thin piece of lead, so that
their body could be bent in every direction, forward, backward, or
sideways, till their head touched the ground; and they remained thus so
long as their position was not altered by others.

At other times they passed the left foot over their shoulder to the
cheek. They passed also their feet over their head till the big toe
touched the tip of the nose.

Others again were able to stretch their legs so far to the right and
left that they sat on the ground without any space being visible
between their bodies and the floor, their bodies erect and their hands
joined.

One, the Mother Superior, stretched her legs to such an extraordinary
extent, that from toe to toe the distance was 7 feet, though she was
herself but 4 feet high.

But sometime before the death of Grandier, this lady had a still
stranger experience. In a few words this is what happened: In an
exorcism the Devil promised Father Lactance as a sign of his exit, that
he would make three wounds on the left side of the Mother Superior. He
described their appearance and stated the day and hour when they would
appear. He said he would come out from within, without affecting the
nun's health, and forbade that any remedy should be applied, as the
wounds would leave no mark.

On the day named, the exorcism took place; and as many doctors had
come from the neighbouring towns to be present at this event, M.
de Laubardemont made them draw near, and permitted them to examine
the clothes of the nun, to uncover her side in the presence of the
assembly, to look into all the folds of her dress, of her stays which
were of whalebone, and of her chemise, to make sure there was no
weapon: she only had about her her scissors, which were given over
to another. M. de Laubardemont asked the doctors to tie her; but
they begged him to let them first see the convulsions they had heard
spoken of. He granted this, and during the convulsions the Superior
suddenly came to herself with a sigh, pressed her right hand to her
left side and withdrew it covered with blood. She was again examined,
and the doctors with the whole assembly saw three bloody wounds, of
the size stated by the Devil; the chemise, the stays, and the dress
were pierced in three places, the largest hole looking as if a pistol
bullet had passed through. The nun was thereupon entirely stripped,
but no instrument of any description was found upon her. A report
was immediately drawn up, and _Monsieur_, brother of the King, who
witnessed the facts, with all the nobles of his Court, attested the
document.

FOOTNOTES:

[7] Our forefathers, if not more moral than ourselves, certainly
punished immorality, _when discovered_, much more severely, as is
witnessed by the following proclamation:--

"William by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland,
Defender of the Faith; To ... Macers of Our Privy Council, Messengers
at Arms, Our Sherifs in that part, conjunctly and severally, specially
constitute, Greeting: Forasmuch as, notwithstanding of the many good
Laws and Acts of Parliament made against Prophaneness, and for the
restraining and suppressing of Vice and Immoralities, the same do
still abound, to the great dishonour of God, the Reproach of the true
Protestant Religion, and to the hurt and prejudice of the Peace and
Government of the Realm; And We being resolved, as it hath alwise been
Our Care, to have these Laws and Acts of Parliament put in due and
vigorous Execution; And conceiving that the Printing and publishing
of an abreviat of the saids Acts duely collected, and laid together,
for the better Information and Instruction of all Our Judges, Officers
and Ministers of the Law, and also of all Our other good Subjects,
may be of special Use and Advantage, for their better Observation and
Execution, according, to their full Tenor and Intent: Therefore, and
in Answer to an Address, presented to the Lords of Our Privy Council,
by the Commissioners of the late General Assembly of this Church for
that effect; We with Advice of the saids Lords of Our Privy Council,
have thought fit, and do hereby appoint the Abreviat and List of the
saids Acts hereto subjoined to be Printed and duely published at all
the Mercat Crosses of the Head Burghs of the Shires, Stewartries,
Regalities and Baillaries of this Realm: And farder, that in all time
coming, this present Proclamation, with the Abreviat and List thereto
subjoined, be publickly read twice every Year in all the Paroch
Churches and Congregations within this Kingdom, to wit, on the first
Lords Day after each Term of Whitsunday and Martinmas yearly, after
the Forenoons Sermon, and before the dissolving of the Congregation;
and that all Presbyteries be careful to have this Publication
constantly and solemnly made in all Churches within their Bounds,
with suitable and pertinent Exhortations, as they will be answerable;
And We peremptorly Command and Charge, all Judges, Magistrats and
Officers of the Law whatsoever, each of them within their Bounds and
Jurisdictions; and as they are thereto respectively impowered, to be
careful to put the foresaids Laws above, and after mentioned, to due
and exact Execution upon their highest peril. Follows the List and
Abbreviat of the Laws against Prophaneness, and for suppressing of Vice
and Immorality. 1mo. Act twenty one, Charles second, Parliament first,
Session first, Entituled, Act against the Crime of Blasphemy, that
whosoever not being distracted in his Wits, shall rail upon, or Curse
God, or any of the Persons of the Blessed Trinity, shall be processed
before the Chief Justice, and being found Guilty, shall be punished
with Death: As also, whosoever shall deny God, or any of the Persons of
the Blessed Trinity; and obstinatly continue therein, being processed
and found Guilty, shall be punished with Death. Item, The Act of Our
first Parliament, Session fifth, Cap. Eleventh, Ratifying the foresaid
Act; And farder Statuting, that whoever hereafter shall in their
Writing or Discourse, Deny, Impugn or Quarel, Argue or Reason against
the Being of God, or any of the Persons of the Blessed Trinity, or the
Authority of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, or the
Providence of God, in the Government of the World, shall for the first
Fault be punished with Imprisonment, ay and while they give publick
Satisfaction in Sackcloth to the Congregation in which the Scandal was
committed; And for the second Fault, the Delinquent shall be fined in a
years valued Rent of his real Estate, and the twenty part of his free
personal Estate, the equal half of which Fines to be applyed to the
Poor of the Paroch where the Crime shall be committed, and the other
half to the Informer, besides his being Imprisoned, ay and while he
again make Satisfaction as above; And for the third Fault, he shall
be punished by Death, as an obstinat Blasphemer: And all Magistrats
and Ministers of the Law, and Judges in this Kingdom, are Authorised
and Required to put this Act in Execution as to the first Fault, as
are all Sheriffs, Stewarts, Baillies of Baillaries and Regalities, and
their Deputs, and Magistrats of Burghs, to put the same in Execution
as to the second Fault; remitting the Execution thereof, as to the
third Fault, to the Lords of His Majesties Justiciary. 2do. All Laws
and Acts of Parliament made against Cursing and Swearing, as Act Queen
Mary, Parliament fifth, Cap. Sixteenth, whereby it is Statute, that
whosoever Swears abominable Oaths, and detestable Execrations, shall be
punished with the Pecuniary Mulcts, and other pains contained in the
said Act. Act James sixth, Parliament seventh, Cap. One hundred and
third, ratifying the foresaid Act, with an Augmentation of the Pains,
and that Censors be appointed in the Mercat place of all Burrows, and
other publick Fairs, with Power to put the Swearers of abominable Oaths
in Ward, while they have payed the saids Pains, and find Surety to
abstain in time coming, and that by Direction and Commission of the
Sherifs, Stewarts, Baillies, Provosts, Baillies of Burrows, Lords of
Regalities, and other ordinary Officers; And that all House-holders
delate to the Magistrates, the Names of the Transgressors of this
present Act within their Houses, that they may be punished, under the
pain to be esteemed and punished as Offenders themselves; And that if
the said Magistrats be remiss or negligent in the Execution of this
Act, they shall upon Complaint be called before Us, and Our Privy
Council, and committed to Ward during pleasure, and find Surety under
great Pains at Our sight, for their exact Diligence in executing the
said Act thereafter. Act Charles second, Parliament first, Session
first, Cap. nineteenth, ratifying and approving all Acts of Parliament
against all manner of Cursing and Swearing. And farder declaring that
each Person who shal Blaspheme, Swear or Curse, shall be lyable in
the pains following, each Nobleman in twenty Pounds Scots, each Baron
in twenty Merks, each Gentleman, Heretor or Burges in ten Merks, each
Yeoman in forty shillings Scots, each Servant in twenty shillings
_toties quoties_, each Minister in the fifth part of his Years Stipend,
and if the Party Offender be not able to pay the Penalties foresaid,
then to be examplary punished in his Body, according to the Merit of
his Fault: And this Act is again Ratified, Charles second, Parliament
second, Session third, Cap. twenty two, which contains a distinct and
particular Method, how and by whom, it shall be Execute. 3tio. All Laws
and Acts of Parliament for Observation of the Sabbath or Lords-Day, As
Act James sixth, Parliament sixth, Cap. seventy one, That there be no
Mercats nor Fairs holden upon the Sabbath Day, nor yet within the Kirk
or Kirk-yards that Day, or any other day; and that no Handy-Labour be
used upon the Sabbath-Day, under the pain of Ten shilling Scots; and
that no Gaming, Playing, passing to the Taverns and Ale Houses, or
selling of Meat or Drink, or wilful remaining from the Paroch-Kirk in
time of Sermon, or Prayers, upon the Sabbath-Day be used, under the
Pains of Twenty shilling Scots, and who refuse, or are unable to pay
the saids Pains, shall be put and holden in the Stocks, or such other
Engine devised for publick Punishment, by the space of Twenty Four
Hours; and this Act as to the discharging of Fairs and Mercats holden
on Sabbath-Days, Ratified James the Sixth, Parliament Thirteenth,
Cap. one hundred and fifty nine, and again Ratified against these who
Prophane the Sabbath-Day, by Selling or Presenting Goods to be sold
upon the said Day, and the Pain of the Third Transgression, declared
to be Escheat of their haill Goods and Punishment of their Persons at
our Will; James sixth, Parliament fourteenth, Cap. one hundred and
ninety eight. Item, Act eighteenth Charles second, Parliament first,
Entituled, Act for the due Observation of the Sabbath-Day, Ratifying
and Approving all former Acts of Parliament made for Observation of
the Sabbath-Day, and against the Breakers thereof, and discharging
all going of Salt pans, Milns or Kilns, under the pain of twenty
Pounds Scots, to be payed by the Heretors and Possessors thereof; and
all Salmond-fishing, hiring of Shearers, carrying of Loads, keeping
of Mercats, or using of Merchandice on the said Day, and all other
Prophanations thereof, under the pain of Ten Pounds Scots, the one
half whereof to be payed by the said Fisher, and Shearer hired, and
the other half by the persons Hiring, and if the Offender be not able
to pay the saids Penalties, that he be exemplary punished in his Body,
according to the Merit of his Fault; and this Act ratified Charles
second, Parliament second, Session third, Cap. twenty two. 4to. The
Act Charles second, Parliament first, Session first, Cap. twenty,
Entituled, Act against Cursing and Beating of Parents, whereby it is
Statute, that whosoever Son or Daughter above the age of sixteen years,
not being distracted, shall Beat and Curse either their Father or
Mother, shall be put to death without Mercy, and such as are within the
Age of Sixteen Years, and past the Age of Pupilarity, to be punished
at the Arbitrament of the Judge, according to their deserving. 5to.
All Acts against Drunkards and excessive Drinking, such as the Act
James sixth, Parliament twenty two, Cap. twenty whereby it is Statute,
That all persons convict of Drunkenness, or of Haunting of Taverns and
Ale-Houses after Ten Hours at Night, or at any time of the Day, except
in time of Travel, or for ordinary Refreshment, shall for the first
Fault pay Three Pounds, or if unable, or refusing, be put in Joggs or
Prison for the space of six Hours; For the second Fault five Pounds,
or if unable, or refusing, to be keeped in Stocks or Prison for the
space of twelve Hours; And for the third Fault, to pay Ten Pounds, or
in case foresaid to be keeped in Stocks or Prison for the space of
twenty four Hours: if they transgress thereafter, to be committed to
Prison till they find Caution for their good Behaviour. Item, The Act
Charles second, Parliament first, Cap. nineteenth, Ratifying all former
Acts against the Crime of excessive Drinking, Declaring, That whosoever
shall drink unto Excess, shall be lyable, each Nobleman in twenty
pounds Scots, each Baron in twenty Merks, each Gentleman, Heretor or
Burgess in ten Merks, each Yeoman in forty shillings, each Servant in
twenty shillings Scots _toties quoties_; each Minister in the fifth
part of his years Stipend, and that the Offender unable to pay the
foresaids Penalties be exemplary punished in his Body, according to the
Merit of his Fault. 6to. The Laws and Acts of Parliament made against
Adulterers, as Queen Mary, Parliament fifth, Cap. twenty, whereby it is
Statute, That manifest and incorrigible Adulterers after the Process
of Haly-Kirk, sua far as the samen may extend, is used upon them, for
their Disobedience and Contemption, be denounced Rebels and put to the
Horn, and all their Moveable inbrought as Escheat, and no Appellation
interponed frae the said Censures of Haly-Kirk to suspend the Horning.
Act Queen Mary, Parliament ninth, Cap. seventy four, That all notour
and manifest Committers of Adultery be punished with all rigour unto
the Death, as well the Woman as the Man, after due Monition made to
abstain frae the said nottour Crime, and that for other Adultery the
Acts and Laws made thereupon of before, be put to Execution with all
rigour. And the Act James sixth, Parliament seventh, Cap. one hundred
and fifth, whereby it is declared, That it shall be judged nottour and
manifest Adultery, wordie of the pain of Death, whoever has Bairns
one or moe procreat betwixt the persons Adulterers, or when they keep
Company in Bed together notoriously known, or when they are suspect
of Adultery, and duely admonished by the Kirk, to abstain and satisfy
the Kirk by Repentance and Purgation, yet contemptuously refusing,
are Excommunicat for their Obstinacy. 7timo. All Laws and Acts of
Parliament made against Fornication, as Act Ja. sixth, Parliament
first, Cap. thirteenth, Statuting, That who shall commit the filthy
Vice of Fornication, shall for the first Fault, as well the Man as
the Woman, pay the Sum of Forty pounds, or then both he and she shall
be Imprisoned for the space of eight days, their Food to be Bread and
small Drink, and thereafter presented to the Mercat-place of the Town
or Paroch bare-headed, shall there stand fastned, that they may not
remove for the space of two Hours; For the second Fault, the Sum of
one hundred Merks, or then the forenamed days of their Imprisonment
shall be doubled, their Food to be Bread and Water allenarly, and
thereafter shall be presented to the Mercat-place, and the Heads of
both the Man and the Woman to be Shaven. And for the third Fault, One
hundred Pounds, or else the above Imprisonment to be Tripled, their
Food to be Bread and Water allenarly; And thereafter to be taken to
the deepest and foulest Pool or Water of the Town or Paroch, and there
to be thrice Doucked, and then Banished the said Town and Paroch, for
ever, and how oft any Person shall be Convict thereafter of the said
Vice of Fornication, that so oft the third Penalty be Execute upon
them. Item, The Act Charles second, Parliament first, Cap. Thirty
Eight, Impowering the Justices of Peace to put in Execution Acts of
Parliament, for punishing the persons Guilty of Fornication, and that
they cause them pay the Pecunial Sums following: Each Nobleman for
the first Fault, Four hundred Pounds; Each Baron Two hundred Pounds;
Each other Gentleman or Burges, One hundred Pounds. Every other person
of Inferior Quality Ten Pounds Scots Money, and that these Penalties
be doubled _toties quoties_, according to the Relapses, and Degrees
of the Offence, and Quality of the Offenders; And that they be payed
not only by the Man, but also by the Woman according to her Quality,
and the Degree of her Offence, the one without prejudice of the
other. Item, the said Act Charles second, Parliament first, Session
first, Cap. thirty eight, Statutes, That the Justices of Peace put
in Execution all Acts of Parliament for punishing all persons, who
shall be Mockers, or Reproachers of Piety, or the Exercise thereof,
and cause them pay the Penalties contained in the forementioned Act
of Parliament against prophane Swearing. Item, The Act of our first
Parliament, Session fifth, Cap. Thirteenth, Entituled, Act against
Prophaneness, strictly requiring and enjoining, that all Sherifs and
their Deputs, Stewarts and their Deputs, Baillies of Baillaries, and
their Deputs, Magistrats of Burghs-Royal, and Justices of Peace within
whose Bounds any of the said Sins of Cursing, Swearing, Drunkenness,
Fornication, Prophanation of the Lords Day, and Mocking and Reproaching
of Religion shall happen to be committed, to put the saids Acts to
exact and punctual Execution at all times, without necessity of any
Dispensation, and against all persons, whether Officers, Soldiers or
others without Exception; Certifying, that such of the saids Judges as
shall refuse, neglect, or delay to put the Laws made against the said
Sins in Execution, upon application of any Minister or Kirk-Session,
or any person in their Name offering Information, and sufficient
Probation, shall _toties quoties_ be subject and liable to a Fine of
an hundred pounds Scots, for which they may be pursued at the instance
of the Agent of the Kirk, or Minister of the Paroch by summar Process,
without the Order of the Roll. Item, the Twenty one Act of the second
Session of the current Parliament, dated the nineteenth of July One
thousand six hundred and ninety, Entituled, Act anent Murdering of
Children, whereby it is Statute, That if any Woman shall conceal her
being with Child during the whole space, and shall not call for, and
make use of Help and Assistance in the Birth, the Child being found
Dead or Amissing, the Mother shall be holden and repute the Murderer of
her own Child, tho there be no appearance of Bruise or Wound upon the
Body of the Child.[I] All which Acts abovementioned are hereby ordered
to be published only for superabundance, and the better Information
of our Liedges, without the least derogation to other Acts or Laws
not published in this manner. Our Will is Herefore, and we Charge you
strictly and Command, that incontinent these our Letters seen ye pass
to the Mercat Cross of Edinburgh, and to the remanent Mercat Crosses
of the Head Burghs of the several Shires, and Stewartries within this
Kingdom, and in Our Name and Authority make Publication hereof, that
none may pretend Ignorance; And We Ordain Our Solicitor, to dispatch
Copies hereof, to the Sherifs of the several Shires, and Stewarts of
Stewartries and their Deputs or Clerks to be by them published at the
Mercat Crosses of the Head Burghs upon Receit thereof, and immediately
sent to the several Ministers, to the effect the same may be read and
intimate at their Paroch Churches, upon the Lords Day immediately
following Footnote: the Publication hereof at the said Mercat Crosses.
And Ordains these Presents to be Printed and Published in manner
foresaid.

"Given under Our Signet at Edinburgh the twenty fifth day of January,
and of Our Reign the ninth year, 1698.

    "_Per Actum Dominorum Secreti Concilii._

    "GILB. ELIOT. _Cls. Sti. Concilii._"

[8] How many of our learned clergy could to-day question anyone in
Greek, and how would many of our bishops feel if they knew that their
reputations and lives depended on their carrying on a conversation in
the languages of Hellas?

[9] We learn from the "Démonomanie" that M. des Niau was the person
here referred to in the first person, and therefore the writer of the
book.

[10] The text says: "Relevant jupes et chemise, montrant ses parties
les plus secretes, sans honte, et se servant de mots lascifs. Ses
gestes devinrent si grossiers que les témoins se cachaient la figure.
Elle répétait, en s' ... des mains, "Venez donc, f ... moi!"

[11] A curious case is mentioned in Arnot's Criminal Trials:--

"In 1697 an impostor appeared, in the character of a person tormented
by witches, Christian Shaw, daughter of John Shaw of Bargarran, a
gentleman of some note in the county of Renfrew. She is said to
have been but eleven years of age. And although it is probable that
hysterical affections may in part have occasioned her rhapsodies to
proceed from real illusion, as well as accounted for the contortions
which agitated her body; yet she seems to have displayed an artifice
above her years, an address superior to her situation, and to have been
aided by accomplices, which dulness of apprehension, or violence of
prejudice, forbade the bystanders to discover.

"This actress was abundantly pert and lively; and her challenging
one of the house-maids for drinking, perhaps for stealing, a little
milk, which drew on her an angry retort, was the simple prelude to a
complicated and wonderful scene of artifice and delusion, of fanaticism
and barbarity.

"In the month of August 1696,[II] within a few days after her quarrel
with the house-maid, the girl was seized with hysterical convulsions,
which in repeated fits displayed that variety of symptoms which
characterise this capricious disease. To these, other appearances
were speedily added, which could only be attributed to supernatural
influence, or to fraud and imposition. She put out of her mouth
quantities of egg-shells, orange-pill, feathers of wild, and bones of
tame fowl, hair of various colours, hot coal-cinders, straws, crooked
pins, &c.

"Having by those sensible objects impressed the publick with the most
complete and fearful conviction of her being 'grievously vexed[III]
with a Devil,' she found herself capable to command the implicit assent
of the spectators, in matters that were repugnant to the evidence of
their own senses. For this purpose, she fell upon the device of seeming
to possess the faculties of seeing and hearing, in a manner opposite to
that of the rest of mankind. She would address some invisible beings
as if actually present; at other times, in her conversations with
those invisible beings, she would rail at them for telling her that
persons actually present were in the room; protesting that she did not
see them, yet at the same time minutely describing their dress. For
instance, she spake as follows to the chief of her alledged tormentors,
Catherine Campbell, with whom she had the quarrel, and who, to use the
language of those times, was not _discernibly_ present: 'Thou sittest
with a stick in thy hand to put into my mouth, but thorough God's
strength thou shalt not get leave: Thou art permitted to torment me,
but I trust in God thou shalt never get my life. I'll let thee see,
_Kattie_, there is no repentance in hell. O what ailed thee to be a
witch! Thou sayest it is but three nights since thou wast a witch. O,
if thou would'st repent, it may be God might give thee repentance,
if thou would'st seek it, and _confess_; if thou would desire me, I
would do what I could; for the Devil is an ill master to serve,' &c.
&c. After that, she took up her Bible, read passages, and expounded
them; and, upon one's offering to take it from her, she shrieked
horribly, exclaiming, 'She would keep her Bible in spite of all the
Devils in hell!' Then she fought, and kicked, and writhed herself, as
if struggling with some invisible tormentor. When the sheriff-depute
of the county, accompanied by a macer of Justiciary, came to apprehend
some of the persons whom her diabolical malice had accused, and were
actually in her presence, she addressed an imaginary and invisible
correspondent thus: 'Is the sheriff come? Is he near me?' (Then
stretching forth her hand, as if to grope, and the sheriff putting his
hand into hers, she proceeded:) '_I cannot feel the sheriff._ How can
he be present here? or how can I have him by the hand, as thou sayest,
seeing I feel it not? Thou sayest he has brown coloured cloaths, red
plush breeches, with black stripes, flowered muslin cravat, and an
embroidered sword-belt: Thou sayest there is an old gray haired man
with him, having a ring upon his hand; but I can neither see nor feel
any of them. What, _are they come to apprehend the gentlewoman_? Is
this their errand indeed?'

"These reiterated and aweful exercises of the dominion of Satan (for
such they were universally deemed), impressed all ranks with amazement
and terror. The clergy, as was their duty, were the foremost to embrace
the cause of a disciple that was engaged _in more than spiritual_
warfare with the grand enemy. Clergymen, by rotation, attended the
afflicted damsel, to assist the minister of the parish, the family
of Bargarran, and other pious Christians, in the expiatory offices
of fasting and prayer. A publick fast was ordained by authority of
the presbytery. Three popular clergymen successively harangued the
trembling audience; and one of them chose for his theme this awful
text, "Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea, for the
Devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth
that he hath but a short time. _And when the dragon saw that he was
cast down unto the earth, he persecuted the woman._"[IV] And the
prayers and exhortations of the church were speedily seconded with the
weight of the secular arm.

"On the 19th of January, a warrant of Privy Council was issued,[V]
which set forth, that there were pregnant grounds of suspicion of
witchcraft in the shire of Renfrew, especially from the afflicted and
extraordinary condition of Christian Shaw, daughter of John Shaw of
Bargarran. It therefore granted commission to Alexander Lord Blantyre,
Sir John Maxwell of Pollock, Sir John Shaw of Greenock, William
Cunnyngham of Craigens, Alexander Porterfield of Duchall, ---- Caldwall
of Glanderstoun, Gavin Cochrane of Thornlymuir, Alexander Porterfield
of Fullwood, and Robert Semple sheriff-depute of Renfrew, or any five
of them, to interrogate and imprison persons suspected of witchcraft,
to examine witnesses, &c. but not upon oath, and to transmit their
report before the 10th of March. The act of Privy Council is subscribed
thus, 'Polwarth _Cancellar_, Argyle, Leven, Forfar, Raith, Belhaven,
Ja. Steuart, J. Hope, W. Anstruther, J. Maxwell, Ro. Sinclair.'

"In the report which was presented on the 9th of March, the
commissioners represented that there were 'twenty-four persons male
and female suspected and accused of witchcraft,' and that further
inquiry ought to be made into this crime. Among these unhappy objects
of suspicion, it is to be remarked, that there was 'a girl of fourteen,
and a boy not twelve years of age.' Agreeable to this report, a new
warrant was issued by the Privy Council to most of the commissioners
formerly named, with the addition of Lord Hallcraig, Mr. Francis
Montgomery of Giffin, Sir John Houston of that Ilk, Mr John Kincaid
of Corsbasket, Advocate, and Mr John Stewart younger of Blackhall,
Advocate, or any five of them, to meet at Renfrew, Paisley, or Glasgow,
to take trial of judge, and do justice upon the foresaid persons;
and to sentence the guilty 'to be burned or otherwise executed to
death,' as the commissioners should incline. It further ordained the
commissioners to transmit to the Court of Justiciary an authentick
extract of their proceedings, to be entered upon its records; and
contained a recommendation to the Lords of the Treasury to defray the
expences of the trial. The act is subscribed, 'Polwarth _Cancellar_,
Douglass, Lauderdale, Annandale, Yester, Kintore, Carmichael, W.
Anstruther, Arch. Mure.'

"The commissioners, thus empowered, were not remiss in acting under
the authority delegated to them. After twenty hours were spent in the
examination of witnesses, who _gave testimony_ that the _malefices_[VI]
libelled could not have proceeded from natural causes, and that the
prisoners were the authors of these malefices.--After five of the
unhappy prisoners confessed their own guilt, and criminated their
alledged associates--after counsel had been heard on both sides, and
the counsel for the prosecution had declared, that 'he would not
press the jury with the _ordinary severity_ of threatening an _assize
of error_:'[VII] But recommended to them to proceed according to
the evidence; and loudly declared to them, that although they ought
to beware of condemning the innocent, yet if they should acquit the
prisoners, in opposition to legal evidence, 'they would be accessory
to all the blasphemies, apostacies, murders, tortures, and seductions,
whereof these enemies of heaven and earth should hereafter be guilty.'
After the jury had spent six hours in deliberation, seven of those
miserable persons were condemned to the flames.[VIII]

"The time however fast approached, when these human sacrifices were to
be abolished. The last person who was prosecuted before the Lords of
Justiciary for witchcraft was Elspeth Rule, who was tried before Lord
Anstruther at the Dumfries circuit, on the 3d of May, 1709.[IX] No
special act of witchcraft was charged against her; the indictment was
of a very general nature, that the prisoner was 'habit and repute'[X]
(that is, generally holden and deemed) a witch; and that she had used
threatening expressions against persons at enmity with her, who were
afterwards visited with the loss of cattle, or the death of friends,
and one of whom run mad. The jury, by a majority of voices, found these
articles proved, and the Judge ordained the prisoner to be burned on
the cheek, and to be banished Scotland for life. The last person who
was brought to the stake in Scotland for the crime of witchcraft was
condemned by Captain David Ross of Little Daan[XI] sheriff-depute of
Sutherland, A.D. 1722.

"Besides in the sufferings, and tragical end of the persons already
specified, human ingenuity seems to have been exhausted in devising
variety of torment, against other persons who lay under the suspicion
of witchcraft, and who persisted, with astonishing fortitude, in
denying the absurd imputation, even when urged with the sharpest
tortures."

From the universal and excessive abhorrence entertained at a witch, a
suspicion of that crime, independent of judicial severities,[XII] was
sufficient to render the unhappy object anxious for death.--Thrusting
of pins into the flesh, and keeping the accused from sleep, were the
ordinary treatment of a witch. But if the prisoner was endued with
uncommon fortitude, other methods were used to extort confession.
The 'boots,' the 'caspie-claws,' and the 'pilniewinks,' engines for
torturing the legs, the arms, and the fingers, were applied to either
sex; and that with such violence, that sometimes the blood would have
spouted from the limbs. Loading with heavy irons, and whipping with
cords, till the skin and flesh were torn from the bones, have also been
the adopted methods of torment.

The bloody zeal of those inquisitors attained to a refinement in
cruelty so shocking to humanity,[XIII] and so repugnant to justice,
as to be almost incredible. Not satisfied with torturing _the person_
of the accused, their ingenious malice assailed the more delicate
feelings, and ardent affections of the _mind_. An aged husband, an
infant daughter, would have been tortured in presence of the accused,
in order to subdue her resolution.--Nay, death itself[XIV] did not
screen the remains of those miserable persons from the malice of their
prosecutors. If an unfortunate woman, trembling at a citation for
witchcraft, ended her sufferings by her own hands, she was dragged from
her house at a horse's tail, and buried under the gallows.

[I] This is the Act on which Sir Walter Scott founded his story of the
"Heart of Mid-Lothian."

[II] True narrative of the sufferings and relief of a young girl.
Edinburgh, printed by James Watson, 1698.

[III] St. Matthew, c. 15, v. 22.

[IV] Revelations, chap. 12.

[V] Records of Privy Council, January 19. March 9. April 5. 1697.

[VI] "Malefice" in the Scots law signifies an act or effect of
witchcraft.

[VII] This was an oblique and most scandalous menace. "Assizes of
Error" were declared a grievance by the Estates of Parliament at the
Revolution.

[VIII] The order of Privy Council for recording the Commissioners'
proceedings in the books of Justiciary was not complied with. I am
therefore unable to give any further particulars of the catastrophe
of these miserable persons, or of the criminal absurdity of those who
committed them to the flames.

[IX] Records of Circuit Court of Justiciary, holden at Dumfries May 3,
1709.

[X] "Habit and repute" is a very dangerous doctrine of the law of
Scotland, at that time in full force, by which a man might be hanged
altho' hardly any charge were exhibited against him, but that he had
a bad character. For instance, if a man was charged with stealing a
pair of old shoes, value threepence, and with being "habit and repute"
a thief, if the jury found such indictment proved, or such prisoner
guilty, the Court would by law be bound to sentence the prisoner to be
hanged; if my temerity may be pardoned, for supposing that any such
thing exists as a precise established rule of criminal law in Scotland.

[XI] It is no small disappointment to me that I cannot lay this trial
before the reader. The Sheriff Court books of the county of Sutherland
were carried off by the Sheriff Clerk about 1735. I am somewhat however
consoled for my disappointment, by the politeness shown me by James
Traill, Esq. of Hobbister, Advocate, Sheriff-depute of Caithness and
Sutherland, who was so obliging as to make a laborious but ineffectual
search to recover the books.

[XII] Mackenzie's Criminal Trials, tit. _Witchcraft_.

[XIII] Records of Justiciary, June 24. 1596. When Alison Balfour was
accused of witchcraft, she was put in the caspie-claws, where she was
kept forty-eight hours; her husband was put in heavy irons, _her son
put in the boots, where he suffered fifty-seven strokes_, and her
little daughter, of about seven years of age, put in the pilniewinks,
in her presence, in order to make her confess.--She did confess.--She
retracted her confession in the course of the trial; and publickly, at
her execution, declared that the confession was extorted from her by
the torments.--The mode of tormenting and executing those miserable
women is further illustrated by the authentic account of the expence of
burning a witch at Burncastle, near Lauder, A.D. 1649.

[XIV] Fountainhall's Decisions, vol. 1. p. 60. October 9. 1679.

END OF VOL. II.

THE DEVILS OF LOUDUN.

                     [COLLECTANEA ADAMANTÆA. XXI.]

                           THE HISTORY OF THE

                           Devils of Loudun,

    _The Alleged Possession of the Ursuline Nuns, and the Trial and
                     Execution of Urbain Grandier_,

                        TOLD BY AN EYE-WITNESS.

                  TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL FRENCH,

                                  AND

                               Edited by

                       EDMUND GOLDSMID, F.R.H.S.,

                             F.S.A. (Scot.)

                               VOL. III.

                           PRIVATELY PRINTED.

                               EDINBURGH.

                                 1888.

_This Edition is limited to 275 small-paper and 75 large-paper copies._

The Devils of Loudun.

_PART III._

ON Friday the 23rd of June, 1634, about three o'clock in the afternoon,
the Bishop of Poitiers and M. de Laubardemont being present, Grandier
was brought from his prison to the Church of Ste. Croix in his parish,
to be present at the exorcisms. All the possessed were there likewise.
And as the accused and his partisans declared that the possessions were
mere impostures, he was ordered to be himself the exorcist, and the
stole was presented to him. He could not refuse, and therefore, taking
the stole and the ritual, he received the pastoral benediction, and
after the _Veni Creator_ had been sung, commenced the exorcism in the
usual form. But where he should haughtily have given commands to the
demon, instead of saying _Impero_, I command, he said, _Cogor vos_,
that is, I am constrained by you. The Bishop sharply reprimanded him,
and as he had said that some of the possessed understood Latin, he was
allowed to interrogate in Greek. At the same time, the demon cried out
by the mouth of Sister Clara: "Eh! speak Greek, or any language you
like; I will answer." At these words, he became confused, and could not
say anything more.

To behave thus, or to acknowledge the truth of the accusation, is one
and the same thing, but other circumstances strengthened this certainty.

Any man whose own writing testifies against him is lost. Now this is
what Grandier experienced. The devils, in several instances, confessed
four pacts he had entered into.

This word, Pact, is somewhat equivocal. It may mean either the document
by which a man gives himself to the devil, or the physical symbols,
whose application will produce some particular effects in consequence
of the pact. Here is an example of each case. Grandier's pact, or
magical characters, whereby he gave himself to Beelzebub, was as
follows:--"My Lord and Master, Lucifer, I recognise you as my God,
and promise to serve you all my life. I renounce every other God,
Jesus Christ, and all other Saints; the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman
Church, its Sacraments, with all prayers that may be said for me; and
I promise to do all the evil I can. I renounce the holy oil and the
water of baptism, together with all the merits of Jesus Christ and his
Saints; and should I fail to serve and adore you, and do homage to you
thrice daily, I abandon to you my life as your due."

These characters were recognised as being in Grandier's own hand.

Now here is a specimen of the other kind of pact or magical charm. It
was composed of the flesh of a child's heart, extracted in an assembly
of magicians held at Orleans in 1631, of the ashes of a holy wafer that
had been burnt, and of something else which the least straight-laced
decency forbids me to name.

A most convincing proof of Grandier's guilt is that one of the devils
declared he had marked him in two parts of his body. His eyes were
bandaged and he was examined by eight doctors, who reported they had
found two marks in each place; that they had inserted a needle to the
depth of an inch without the criminal having felt it, and that no blood
had been drawn. Now this is a most decisive test. For however deeply a
needle be buried in such marks no pain is caused, and no blood can be
extracted when they are magical signs.

But if the devils, overcome by the exorcisms, at times gave evidence
against the criminal, at others they seemed to conspire to blacken
him still more under the semblance of an apparent justification. Thus
several of the possessed spoke in his favour: and some even went so
far as to confess that they had calumniated him. Indeed, the Mother
Superior herself, one day when M. de Laubardemont was in the convent,
stripped herself to her shift, and, with a rope round her neck and a
candle in her hand, stood for two hours in the middle of the yard,
although it was raining heavily; and when the door of the room in which
M. de Laubardemont was seated, was opened, she threw herself on her
knees before him, declaring she repented of the crime she had committed
in accusing Grandier, who was innocent. She then withdrew and fastened
the rope to a tree in the garden, attempting to hang herself, but was
prevented by the other nuns.

When the devil played these kind of tricks they forced him to retract,
by calling on him to take Jesus Christ present in the Eucharist as
witness of the truth of his statement, which he never dared to do.

What criminals could ever be condemned if such proofs were not deemed
sufficient? The certainty of the possessions; the depositions of two
priests who accused him of sacrilege; those of the nuns, declaring
that they saw him day and night for four months, though the gates of
the convent were kept locked; the two women who bore witness that he
offered to make one of them Princess of the Magicians; the evidence
of sixty other witnesses; his own embarrassment and confusion on so
many occasions; the disappearance of his three brothers, who had fled
and were never seen again; his pact and the magic characters that were
afterwards burnt with him: all these placed his guilt beyond doubt.

The trial being completed, and the magician duly convicted, there only
remained to sentence the evil doer. The Commissioners assembled at the
Carmelite Convent, and it was noticed that there was not the slightest
difference of opinion among all the fourteen judges, though they had
never seen or known one another. They were all agreed as to the penalty
to be inflicted, and having pronounced their sentence, they were filled
with joy and their conscience was perfectly at rest. It was as if God,
whose honour was so interested in this affair, had intended to give
them this consolation.

No one among the Catholics, or, indeed, among all honest men, failed to
applaud the sentence on Grandier. It was as follows:--

    "We have declared, and declare the said Urbain Grandier attainted
    and convicted of the crimes of magic, maleficence and possession
    occurring through his act, in the persons of certain Ursuline Nuns
    of this town of Loudun, and other women; together with other crimes
    resulting therefrom. For reparation whereof we have condemned,
    and do condemn, the said Grandier to make 'amende honorable'
    bareheaded, a rope round his neck, holding in his hand a burning
    torch of the weight of two pounds, before the principal gate of
    Saint Pierre du Marché, and before that of Saint Ursula of the said
    town; and there, on his knees, to ask pardon of God, the King, and
    Justice, and that done, to be led to the public square of Sainte
    Croix, to be there tied to a stake, which for that purpose shall
    be erected in the said square, and his body to be there burnt with
    the pacts and magical inscriptions now in custody of the Court,
    together with the manuscript book written by him against the
    celibacy of priests, and his ashes to be scattered to the wind. We
    have declared all his property forfeited and confiscated to the
    Crown, less a sum of 150 livres, which shall be expended in the
    purchase of a copper plate, on which shall be engraved the present
    sentence, and the same shall be placed in a prominent position in
    the said Church of St. Ursula, there to be preserved for ever.
    And before this present sentence shall be carried out, we order
    that the said Grandier shall be put to the question ordinary and
    extraordinary, to discover his accomplices.--Pronounced at Loudun
    on the said Grandier, and executed the 18th of August, 1634."

In execution of this sentence, he was taken to the Court of Justice
of Loudun. His sentence having been read to him, he earnestly begged
M. de Laubardemont and the other Commissioners to mitigate the rigour
of their sentence. M. de Laubardemont replied that the only means of
inducing the judges to moderate the penalties was to declare at once
his accomplices, and by some act of repentance for his past crimes to
implore Divine mercy. The only answer he gave was, that he had no
accomplices, which was false; for there is no magician but must be
accompanied by others.

For the last forty days the Commissioner had placed at his side
two monks to convert him. But all was in vain. Nothing could touch
this hardened sinner. It is true, however, that the conversion of a
magician is so rare an occurrence that it must be placed in the rank
of miracles. "I am not astonished," says one who was present, "at his
impenitence, nor at his refusing to acknowledge himself guilty of
magic, both under torture and at his execution, for it is known that
magicians promise the devil never to confess this crime, and he in
return hardens their heart, so that they go to their death stupid and
altogether insensible to their misfortunes." Before being put to the
torture, the prisoner was addressed by Father Lactance, a man of great
faith, chosen by the Bishop of Poitiers to exorcise the instruments
of torture, as is always done in the case of magicians, in order
to induce him to repent. Every one shed tears except the prisoner.
M. de Laubardemont also spoke to him, together with the Lieutenant
Criminel of Orleans, but, notwithstanding their efforts, they made
no impression. This determined M. de Laubardemont to try the effects
of torture. The boots[12] were applied, and the judge repeated his
questions as to his accomplices. He always replied that he was no
magician; though he had committed greater crimes than that. Questioned
as to what crimes, he replied, crimes of human frailty, and added, that
were he guilty of magic, he would be less ashamed of that than of his
other crimes. This speech was ridiculous, especially in the mouth of
a priest, who must know better than a layman that of all crimes the
greatest is that of sorcery.

Torture drew from him nothing but cries, or rather sighs from the depth
of his bosom, unaccompanied by tears, though the exorcist had abjured
him, according to the ritual, to weep if he were innocent, but if
guilty to remain tearless. Though he was very thirsty, he several times
refused to drink holy water when presented to him. At length, pressed
to drink, he took a few drops, with glaring eyes and a horrible look
on his face. Never in the greatest agony of torture did he mention
the name of Jesus Christ or of the Holy Virgin, save when repeating
words he was ordered to speak, and then only in so cold a manner, and
with such constraint, that he horrified the assistants. He never cast
his eyes on the image of Christ, nor on that of the Virgin, which
were opposite to him, and they were offered to him in vain: whereupon
the judges remonstrated with him. They were still more scandalised
when they tried to make him say the prayer which every good Christian
addresses to his guardian angel, especially in great extremities, and
he said he did not know it. Such was his conduct under torture: in such
a crisis every feeling of religion would be awakened in an ordinary man.

His legs were then washed and placed near the fire to restore
circulation; he then began to talk to the guards, joking and laughing,
and would have gone on had they allowed him. He spoke neither of
receiving the sacrament of penitence nor of imploring God's pardon.
They had given him for a confessor Father Archangel, who asked him if
he did not wish to confess. He replied that he had done so the previous
Tuesday, after which he sat down and dined with the same appetite as
usual, drank three or four glasses of wine, and spoke of all kinds of
things except of God. Instead of listening to what was said to him for
the good of his soul, he made speeches he had prepared beforehand as
if he were preaching. They consisted in complaints as to the pain in
his legs, and of a feeling of chilliness about his head, in asking for
something to drink or to eat, and in begging that he might not be burnt
alive.

When he was carried to the Court-house, where the Holy Fathers began to
prepare him for death, he pushed back with his hand a crucifix which
was presented to him, and muttered between his teeth some words which
were not heard. His guards, witnessing this action, were scandalised,
and told the monk not to offer him the crucifix again since he rejected
it. He recommended himself to no one's prayers, neither before nor
during the execution of the sentence--only, as he passed through the
streets, turning his head on one side and the other to see the people,
it was noticed that he said twice, with an appearance of vanity, "Pray
God for me," and that those to whom he spoke were Huguenots, among whom
was an Apostate. The monk who was with him exhorted him to say, "Cor
mundum crea in me, Deus." Grandier turned his back on him and said with
contempt, "Cor mundum crea in me, Deus."

Having reached the place of execution, the fathers redoubled their
charitable solicitude, and pressed him most earnestly to be converted
to God at that moment, offered him the crucifix, and placed it over his
mouth and on his chest, he never deigned to look at it, and once or
twice even turned away; he shook his head when holy water was offered
him. He seemed eager to end his days, and in haste to have the fire
lighted, either because he expected not to feel it, or because he
feared he might be weak enough to name his accomplices; or perhaps, as
is believed, in fear lest pain should extract from him a renunciation
of his master Lucifer. For the devil, to whom magicians give themselves
body and soul, so thoroughly masters their mind that they fear him
only, and expect and hope for nothing save from him. Therefore did
Grandier protest, placing his hand on his heart that he would say
no more than he had already said. At last, seeing them set fire to
the faggots, he feared they did not intend to keep their promise to
him, but wished to burn him alive, and uttered loud complaints. The
executioner then advanced, as is always done, to strangle him; but the
flames suddenly sprang up with such violence that the rope caught fire,
and he fell alive among the burning faggots. Just before this a strange
event happened. In the midst of this mass of people, notwithstanding
the noise of so many voices and the efforts of the archers who shook
their halberts in the air to frighten them, a flight of pigeons flew
round and round the stake. Grandier's partisans, impudent to the end,
said that these innocent birds came, in default of men, as witnesses of
his innocence; others thought very differently, and said that it was a
troop of demons who came, as sometimes happens on the death of great
magicians, to assist at that of Grandier, whose scandalous impenitence
certainly deserved to be honoured in this manner. His friends, however,
called this hardness of heart constancy, and had his ashes collected as
if they were relics, they who did not believe in such things, for the
Huguenots looked upon him as one of themselves, especially when they
noticed that he never called on the Virgin nor looked on the crucifix.

Thus did he close his criminal career by a death which horrified not
only Catholics, but even the more honourable of the Calvinist party.

But the end of the magician was not the end of the effects of his
sorcery; and the possessions, far from ceasing, as had been hoped,
continued for a time. God permitted that a great number of those who
had been connected with the affair should be more or less vexed by
demons. The Civil Lieutenant, Louis Chauvet, was seized with such fear
that his mind gave way, and he never recovered. The Sieur Mannouri, the
Surgeon who had sounded the marks[13] which the devil had impressed
on the magician priest, suffering from extraordinary troubles, was of
course said by the friends of Grandier to be the victim of remorse.
Here are the particulars of the death of this Surgeon--

One night as he was returning about ten o'clock from visiting a sick
man, walking with a friend, and accompanied by a man carrying a
lantern, he cried all of a sudden, like a man awaking from a dream,
"Ah! there is Grandier! what do you want?" At the same time he was
seized with trembling. The two men took him back to his home, while he
continued to talk to Grandier whom he thought he had before his eyes.
He was put to bed filled with the same illusion, and shaking in every
limb. He only lived a few days, during which his state never changed.
He died believing the magician was still before him, and making efforts
to keep him at arm's length.

Father Lactance, the worthy monk who had assisted the possessed in
their sufferings, was himself attacked some time after the death of the
priest. Feeling the first symptoms, he determined to go to Notre Dame
des Ardilliers, whose chapel served by the priests of the oratory is
held in great veneration in Saumur and its neighbourhood. M. de Canaye,
who was going into the country, gave him a seat in his carriage. He had
heard speak of his state, and knew that he was tormented by the devil,
but he nevertheless joked about the matter, when, all of a sudden,
whilst rolling along a perfectly level road, the carriage turned over
with the wheels in the air without any one being in any way hurt. The
next day they continued their voyage to Saumur when the carriage again
turned over in the same way in the middle of the Rue du Faubourg de
Fenet, which is perfectly smooth, and leads to the chapel of Ardillier.
This holy monk afterwards experienced the greatest vexations from the
demons, who at times deprived him of sight, and at times of memory;
they produced in him violent fits of nausea, dulled his intelligence,
and worried him in numerous ways. At length, after being tried by so
many evils, God called him to Him.

Five years later, died of the same disease Father Tranquille. He was a
holy monk, a celebrated preacher, gifted with a judicious mind, great
piety, and a profound humility. A laborious exorcist, much feared