THE MASS FOR THE DEAD - Horror Stories

THE DEVILS OF LOUDOUN

 


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THE DEVILS OF LOUDOUN 

by Bruce, H. Addington (Henry Addington), b. 1874



Loudoun is a small town in France about 

midway between the ancient and ro- 

mantic cities of Tours and Poitiers. To-day 

it is an exceedingly unpretentious and an 

exceedingly sleepy place; but in the seven- 

teenth century it was in vastly better estate. 

Then its markets, its shops, its inns, lacked 

not business. Its churches were thronged 

with worshipers. Through its narrow streets 

proud noble and prouder ecclesiastic, thrifty 

merchant and active artisan, passed and re- 

passed in an unceasing stream. It was rich 

in points of interest, preeminent among which 

were its castle and its convent. In the castle 

the stout-hearted Loudunians found a refuge 

and a stronghold against the ambitions of the 

feudal lords and the tyranny of the crown. 

To its convent, pleasantly situated in a grove 

of time-honored trees, they sent their children 

to be educated. 


It is to the convent that we must turn our 

steps; for it was from the convent that the 

devils were let loose to plague the good people 

of Loudun. And in order to understand the 

course of events, we must first make ourselves 

acquainted with its history. Very briefly, 

then, it, like many other institutions of its 

kind, was a product of the Catholic counter- 

reformation designed to stem the rising tide 

of Protestantism. It came into being in 1616, 

and was of the Ursuline order, which had been 

introduced into France not many years earlier. 

From the first it proved a magnet for the 

daughters of the nobility, and soon boasted a 

goodly complement of nuns. 


At their head, as mother superior, was a 

certain Jeanne de Belfiel, of noble birth and 

many attractive qualities, but with character- 

istics which, as the sequel will show, wrought 

much woe to others as well as to the poor 

gentlewoman herself. Whatever her defects, 

however, she labored tirelessly in the inter- 

ests of the convent, and in this respect was 

ably seconded by its father confessor, worthy 

Father Moussaut, a man of rare good sense 

and possessing a firm hold on the consciences 

and affections of the nuns. 


Conceive their grief, therefore, when he 

suddenly sickened and died. Now ensued 

an anxious time pending the appointment of 

his successor. Two names were foremost for 

consideration that of Jean Mignon, chief 

canon of the Church of the Holy Cross, 

and that of Urbain Grandier, cure of Saint 

Peter's of Loudun. Mignon was a zealous 

and learned ecclesiastic, but belied his name 

by being cold, suspicious, and, some would 

have it, unscrupulous. Grandier, on the con- 

trary, was frank and ardent and generous, 

and was idolized by the people of Loudun. 

But he had serious failings. He was most un- 

clerically gallant, was tactless, was overready 

to take offense, and, his wrath once fully 

roused, was unrelenting. Accordingly, little 

surprise was felt when the choice ultimately 

fell, not on him but on Mignon. 


With Mignon the devils entered the Ursu- 

line convent. Hardly had he been installed 

when rumors began to go about of strange 

doings within its quiet walls; and that there 

was something in these rumors became evi- 

dent on the night of October 12, 1632, when 

two magistrates of Loudun, the bailie and the 

civil lieutenant, were hurriedly summoned to 

the convent to listen to an astonishing story. 

For upwards of a fortnight, it appeared, sev- 

eral of the nuns, including Mother Superior 

Belfiel, had been tormented by specters and 

frightful visions. Latterly they had given 

every evidence of being possessed by evil 

spirits. With the assistance of another priest, 

Father Barre", Mignon had succeeded in ex- 

orcising the demons out of all the afflicted 

save the mother superior and a Sister Claire. 


In their case every formula known to the 

ritual had failed. The only conclusion was 

that they were not merely possessed but be- 

witched, and much as he disliked to bring 

notoriety on the convent, the father confessor 

had decided it was high time to learn who was 

responsible for the dire visitation. He had 

called the magistrates, he explained, in order 

that legal steps might be taken to apprehend 

the wizard, it being well established that 

"devils when duly exorcised must speak the 

truth," and that consequently there could be 

no doubt as to the identity of the offender, 

should the evil spirits be induced to name the 

source of their authority. 


Without giving the officials time to recover 

from their amazement, Mignon led them to 

an upper room, where they found the mother 

superior and Sister Claire, wan-faced and 

fragile looking creatures on whose counte- 

nances were expressions of fear that would 

have inspired pity in the most stony-hearted. 

About them hovered monks and nuns. At 

sight of the strangers, Sister Claire lapsed into 

a semi-comatose condition; but the mother 

superior uttered piercing shrieks, and was at- 

tacked by violent convulsions that lasted until 

the father confessor spoke to her in a com- 

manding tone. Then followed a startling 

dialogue, carried on in Latin between Mignon 

and the soi-disant demon possessing her. 


"Why have you entered this maiden's 

body?" 


"Because of hatred." 


"What sign do you bring?" 


"Flowers." 


"What flowers?" 


"Roses." 


"Who has sent them?" 


A moment's hesitation, then the single word 

"Urbain." 


"Tell us his surname?" 


"Grandier." 


In an instant the room was in an uproar. 


But the magistrates did not lose their heads. 

To the bailie in especial the affair had a sus- 

picious look. He had heard the devil "speak 

worse Latin than a boy of the fourth class," 

he had noted the mother superior's hesitancy 

in pronouncing Grandier's name, and he was 

well aware that deadly enmity had long ex- 

isted between Grandier and Mignon. So he 

placed little faith in the latter's protestation 

that the naming of his rival had taken him 

completely by surprise. Consulting with his 

colleague, he coldly informed Mignon that be- 

fore any arrest could be made there must be 

further investigation, and, promising to return 

next day, bade them good night. 


Next day found the convent besieged by 

townspeople, indignant at the accusation 

against the popular priest, and determined to 

laugh the devils out of existence. Grandier 

himself, burning with rage, hastened to the 

bailie and demanded that the nuns be sep- 

arately interrogated, and by other inquisitors 

than Mignon and Barre. In these demands 

the bailie properly acquiesced ; but, on attempt- 

ing in person to enforce his orders to that 

effect, he was denied admittance to the con- 

vent. Excitement ran high; so high that, 

fearful for his personal safety, Mignon con- 

sented to accept as exorcists two priests ap- 

pointed, not by the bailie, but by the Bishop 

of Poitiers who, it might incidentally be 

mentioned, had his own reasons for disliking 

Grandier. 


Exorcising now went on daily, to the dis- 

gust of the serious-minded, the mystification 

of the incredulous, the delight of sensation- 

mongers, and the baffled fury of Grandier. 

So far the play, if melodramatic, had not ap- 

proached the tragic. Sometimes it degener- 

ated to the broadest farce comedy. Thus, on 

one occasion when the devil was being read 

out of the mother superior, a crashing sound 

was heard and a huge black cat tumbled down 

the chimney and scampered about the room. 

At once the cry was raised that the devil had 

taken the form of a cat, a mad chase ensued, 

and it would have gone hard with pussy had 

not a nun chanced to recognize in it the pet 

of the convent. 


Still, there were circumstances which tended 

to inspire conviction in the mind of many. 

The convulsions of the possessed were un- 

doubtedly genuine, and undoubtedly they 

manifested phenomena seemingly inexplicable 

on any naturalistic basis. A contemporary 

writer, describing events of a few months 

later, when several recruits had been added 

to their ranks, states that some "when com- 

atose became supple like a thin piece of lead, 

so that their body could be bent in every direc- 

tion, forward, backward, or sideways, till 

their head touched the ground," and that 

others showed no sign of pain when struck, 

pinched, or pricked. Then, too, they whirled 

and danced and grimaced and howled in a 

manner impossible to any one in a perfectly 

normal state.* 


For a few brief weeks Grandier enjoyed a 

respite, thanks to the intervention of his 

friend, the Archbishop of Bordeaux, who 

threatened to send a physician and priests 

of his own choice to examine the possessed, a 

threat of itself sufficient, apparently, to put 

the devils to flight. But they returned with 

undiminished vigor upon the arrival in Loudun 

of a powerful state official who, unfortunately 


* Aubin's "Histoire des Diables de Loudun," a book by a writer 

who scoffed at the idea that the nuns had actually been bewitched. 

For an account by a contemporary who firmly believed the charges 

brought against Grandier, consult Niau's " La Veritable Histoire des 

Diables de Loudun." This latter work is accessible in an English 

translation by Edmund Goldsmid. 

for Grandier, was a relative of Mother Supe- 

rior Belfiel's. This official, whose name was 

Laubardemont, had come to Loudun on a 

singular mission. Richelieu, the celebrated 

cardinal statesman, in the pursuit of his pol- 

icy of strengthening the crown and weakening 

the nobility, had resolved to level to the ground 

the fortresses and castles of interior France, 

and among those marked for destruction was 

the castle of Loudun. Thither, therefore, 

he despatched Laubardemont to see that his 

orders were faithfully executed. 


Naturally, the cardinal's commissioner be- 

came interested in the trouble that had be- 

fallen his kinswoman, and the more interested 

when Mignon hinted to him that there was 

reason to believe that the suspected wizard 

was also the author of a recent satire which 

had set the entire court laughing at Riche- 

lieu's expense. What lent plausibility to this 

charge was the fact that the satire had been 

universally accredited to a court beauty form- 

erly one of Grandier 's parishioners. Also there 

was the fact that in days gone by, when 

Richelieu was merely a deacon, he had had a 

violent quarrel with Grandier over a question 

of precedence. Putting two and two together, 

and knowing that it would result to his own 

advantage to unearth the real author to the 

satire, Laubardemont turned a willing ear to 

the suggestion that the woman in question 

had allowed her old pastor to shield himself 

behind her name. 


Back to Paris the commissioner galloped to 

carry the story to Richelieu. The cardinal's 

anger knew no bounds. From the King he 

secured a warrant for Grandier's arrest, and 

to this he added a decree investing Laubarde- 

mont with full inquisitorial powers. Events 

now moved rapidly. Though forewarned by 

Parisian friends, Grandier refused to seek 

safety by flight, and was arrested in spectac- 

ular fashion while on his way to say mass. 

His home was searched, his papers were 

seized, and he himself was thrown into an 

improvised dungeon in a house belonging to 

Mignon. Witnesses in his favor were in- 

timidated, while those willing to testify against 

him were liberally rewarded. To such 

lengths did the prosecution go that, discov- 

ering a strong undercurrent of popular in- 

dignation, Laubardemont actually procured 

from the King and council a decree prohibit- 

ing any appeal from his decisions, and gave 

out that, since King and cardinal believed in 

the enchantment, any one denying it would be 

held guilty of lese majesty divine and human. 


Under these circumstances Grandier was 

doomed from the outset. But he made a 

desperate struggle, and his opponents were 

driven to sore straits to bolster up their case. 

The devils persisted in speaking bad Latin, 

and continually failed to meet tests which 

they themselves had suggested. Sometimes 

their failures were only too plainly the result 

of human intervention. 


For instance, the mother superior's devil 

promised that, on a given night and in the 

church of the Holy Cross, he would lift Lau- 

bardemont's cap from his head and keep it 

suspended in mid-air while the commissioner 

intoned a miserere. When the time came for 

the fulfilment of this promise two of the spec- 

tators noticed that Laubardemont had taken 

care to seat himself at a goodly distance from 

the other participants. Quietly leaving the 

church, these amateur detectives made their 

way to the roof, where they found a man in 

the act of dropping a long horsehair line, to 

which was attached a small hook, through a 

hole directly over the spot where Laubarde- 

mont was sitting. The culprit fled, and that 

night another failure was recorded against 

the devil. 


But such fiascos availed nothing to save 

Grandier. Neither did it avail him that, 

before sentence was finally passed, Sister 

Claire, broken in body and mind, sobbingly 

affirmed his innocence, protesting that she 

did not know what she was saying when she 

accused him; nor that the mother superior, 

after two hours of agonizing torture self- 

imposed, fell on her knees before Laubarde- 

mont, made a similar admission, and, passing 

into the convent orchard, tried to hang her- 

self. The commissioner and his colleagues 

remained obdurate, averring that these con- 

fessions were in themselves evidence of witch- 

craft, since they could be prompted only by 

the desire of the devils to save their master 

from his just fate. In August, 1634, Gran- 

dier 's doom was pronounced. He was to be 

put to the torture, strangled, and burned. 

This judgment was carried out to the letter, 

save that when the executioner approached 

to strangle him, the ropes binding him to the 

stake loosened, and he fell forward among 

the flames, perishing miserably. 

It only remains to analyze this medieval 

tragedy in the light of modern knowledge. 

To the people of his own generation Grand- 

ier was either a wizard most foul, or the vic- 

tim of a dastardly plot in which all concerned 

in harrying him to his death knowingly par- 

ticipated. These opinions posterity long 

shared. But now it is quite possible to reach 

another conclusion. That there was a con- 

spiracy is evident even from the facts set down 

by those hostile to Grandier. On the other 

hand, it is as unnecessary as it is incredible 

to believe that the plotters included every one 

instrumental in fixing on the unhappy cure 

the crime of witchcraft. 


Bearing in mind the discoveries of recent 

years in the twin fields of physiology and psy- 

chology, it seems evident that the conspirators 

were actually limited in number to Mignon, 

Barre, Laubardemont, and a few of their in- 

timates. In Laubardemont's case, indeed, 

there is some reason for supposing that he 

was more dupe than knave, and is therefore 

to be placed in the same category as the super- 

stitious monks and townspeople on whom 

Mignon and Barre so successfully imposed. 

As to the possessed the mother superior 

and her nuns they may one and all be 

included in a third group as the unwitting 

tools of Mignon's vengeance. In fine, it is 

not only possible but entirely reasonable to 

regard Mignon as a seventeenth-century fore- 

runner of Mesmer, Elliotson, Esdaile, Braid, 

Charcot, and the present day exponents of 

hypnotism; and the nuns as his helpless 

"subjects," obeying his every command with 

the fidelity observable to-day in the patients 

of the Salpetriere and other centers of hyp- 

notic practice. 


The justness of this view is borne out by 

the facts recorded by contemporary annal- 

ists, of which only an outline has been given 

here. The nuns of Loudun were, as has been 

said, mostly daughters of the nobility, and 

were thus, in all likelihood, temperamentally 

unstable, sensitive, high-strung, nervous. The 

seclusion of their lives, the monotonous rou- 

tine of their every-day occupations, and the 

possibilities afforded for dangerous, morbid 

introspection, could not but have a baneful 

effect on such natures, leading inevitably to 

actual insanity or to hysteria. That the 

possessed were hysterical is abundantly shown 

by the descriptions their historians give of the 

character of their convulsions, contortions, 

etc., and by the references to the anesthetic, 

or non-sensitive, spots on their bodies. Now, 

as we know, the convent at Loudun had been 

in existence for only a few years before Mignon 

became its father confessor, and so, we may 

believe, it fell out that he appeared on the 

scene precisely when sufficient time had 

elapsed for environment and heredity to do 

their deadly work and provoke an epidemic 

of hysteria. 


In those benighted times such attacks were 

popularly ascribed to possession by evil spirits. 

The hysterical nuns, as the chronicles tell us, 

explained their condition to Mignon by inform- 

ing him that, shortly before the onset of their 

trouble, they had been haunted by the ghost 

of their former confessor, Father Moussaut. 

Here Mignon found his opportunity. Pic- 

ture him gently rebuking the unhappy women, 

admonishing them that such a good man as 

Father Moussaut would never return to tor- 

ment those who had been in his charge, and 

insisting that the source of their woes must be 

sought elsewhere; in, say, some evil disposed 

person, hostile to Father Moussaut's successor, 

and hoping, through thus afflicting them, to 

bring the convent into disrepute and in this 

way strike a deadly blow at its new father con- 

fessor. Who might be this evil disposed per- 

son? Who, in truth, save Urbain Grandier? 


Picture Mignon, again, observing that his 

suggestion had taken root in the minds of two 

of the most emotional and impressionable, 

the mother superior and Sister Claire. Then 

would follow a course of lessons designed to 

aid the suggestion to blossom into open accu- 

sation. And presently Mignon would make 

the discovery that the mother superior and 

Sister Claire would, when in a hysterical state, 

blindly obey any command he might make, 

cease from their convulsions, respond intel- 

ligently and at his will to questions put to 

them, renew their convulsions, lapse even 

into seeming dementia. 


Doubtless he did not grasp the full signifi- 

cance and possibilities of his discovery had 

he done so the devils would not have bungled 

matters so often, and no embarrassing con- 

fessions would have been forthcoming. But 

he saw clearly enough that he had in his hand 

a mighty weapon against his rival, and history 

has recorded the manner and effectiveness 

with which he used it. 


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