Contemporary pamphlets about the Loudun possessions and Urbain Grandier's witchcraft trial

[Witchcraft]. Factum, pour maistre Urbain Grandier, prestre curé de l'eglise S. Pierre du Marché de Loudun, & l'un des chanoines en l'eglise Saincte Croix dudit lieu. (And:) Remarques & considerations servans a la justification du curé de Loudun, autres que celles contenuës en son factum.

€ 15.000,00

Two exceedingly rare pamphlets about the "Loudon possessions", a case of mass hysteria surrounding the supposed demoniac possession of Ursuline nuns that took place in the western French town of Loudun in 1634. The affair led to the trial of a local priest, Urbain Grandier, who was accused of witchcraft. Interestingly, these two pamphlets are by an anonymous partisan of the accused priest.

The possession cases began in 1632 when several nuns at the local Ursuline convent claimed to be possessed by demons. The nuns accused Grandier, a charismatic and controversial figure in Loudun, of casting spells on them and making them his witches. Grandier, who had gained the enmity of the powerful Cardinal Richelieu, was arrested and put on trial, despite a lack of evidence against him. The trial was riddled with corruption and political intrigue, and Grandier was ultimately found guilty and sentenced to death by burning at the stake. His execution took place on 18 August 1634.

Rubbing to spine and corners, chipping to spine label. Old numbers to upper corners indicate these were likely removed once from a sammelband of tracts. Contents lightly toned, an old typed description laid down with tape to front free endpaper.

While 18th century accounts of the famous trial such as those by De La Menardaye were popular, contemporary accounts are almost unobtainable. Neither pamphlet has appeared in auction records, and there are very few institutional holdings.