Urban Grandier and the Loudun Obsessives. Orlov M. History of relations between man and the devil Succubus - Demons

Possessed nuns denounce priest as purveyor of demons
The pact between the devil and the priest Urban Grandier is presented as evidence in court in the French city of Loudun in 1634. This pact is written in Latin, using a mirror from right to left. Below are the signatures of Satan, Beelzebub, Lucifer, Elimi, Leviathan and Astaroth.

The Inquisition fought with all its might against people who had made a pact with the devil - that is, with witches and sorcerers. In 1398, the University of Paris officially approved the theory that witchcraft requires an agreement with Satan. From now on, hundreds of heretics went to the stake not for the visible manifestations of their witchcraft, but for the very fact of a deal with the prince of darkness.

"Treaty" stolen from hell
Evidence was easy to find: in the 16th century. The contract with the devil was usually drawn up by the inquisitor, after which the suspect signed it. Or didn't sign. Then the torture continued. It is interesting that transactions between merchants and transactions between a sorcerer and demons, as a rule, were drawn up by the same lawyers.
In this regard, the document “confirming” the conspiracy between the devil and the parish priest of the Church of Saint-Pierre du Merche in Loudun, Father Urban Grandier, is indicative. The unfortunate man was accused of witchcraft by the nuns of the Loudun Ursuline Monastery and burned alive in 1634. This agreement is one of the few surviving to this day... originals, with the “signatures” of devils. As stated in the minutes of the court hearing, the document “was stolen by the demon Asmodeus from Lucifer’s office and presented to the court.” “We, almighty Lucifer, accompanied by Satan, Beelzebub, Leviathan, Astaroth and others, today conclude a treaty of alliance with Urban Grandier, who is now with us. And we promise him the love of women, the mercy of nuns, worldwide honors, pleasures and riches. He will indulge in extramarital affairs; hobbies will be pleasant for him. He will bring us once a year a tribute marked by his blood; he will trample underfoot the relics of the church and pray for us,” was the text of the “agreement.”
Father Grandier was tortured for several days in a row. Using special forceps, they crushed almost all the bones and slashed them with a hot iron. However, the priest never admitted to performing witchcraft rituals. That, however, did not prevent the Inquisition from finding the unfortunate man guilty.

Church Star
It is known that accusations of witchcraft in the Middle Ages were a convenient way to deal with unwanted people. Why did Grandier annoy the highest church officials? Firstly, they wrote about him as a man of outstanding abilities. He received an excellent spiritual education from the Jesuits in Bordeaux and at the age of 27 already had his own parish in the city of Loudun. The gift of preaching very soon made the abbot a local celebrity. He not only called for piety, but also condemned the higher clergy, mired in sins. The inhabitants of Loudun left their churches and flocked to the parish of the young abbot. Of course, such success did not go unnoticed, and Grandier gained a lot of enemies and envious people. But the abbot had enough high patrons to feel safe.
The priest's reputation was undermined by his love affairs. As rumor claimed, he was interested in very young girls, and, moreover, he seduced not just commoners, but young ladies from noble families. The abbot was credited with seducing the daughter of his friend, the royal prosecutor Trencan, the daughter of the royal adviser René de Brou. They say that Grandier even got married to the latter. Moreover, he wrote a treatise in which he argued that celibacy of the Catholic clergy is not a dogma, but only a custom, and its violation is not a mortal sin. By the way, this treatise has been preserved.

"The Case of the Obsessed"
When Urban was already a priest in Loudun, an Ursuline convent appeared there. At first it consisted of only a few nuns. Soon the monastery began to flourish, especially when Anna Desanges became abbess. All the sisters, except one, were of noble origin, from wealthy families. In 1631, the elderly priest of the monastery, Abbot Musso, died. Several candidates immediately appeared in his place, including Urban Grandier. But the Ursulines resolutely opposed the dissolute abbot; they asked to appoint the Monk Mignon as their confessor. This venerable shepherd denounced Grandier more than once; it is no wonder that there was already hostility between the old and young abbots. A behind-the-scenes game began, the proceedings reached the episcopal court, then the archbishop. After much wrangling, Abbot Mignon was finally confirmed as the confessor of the Ursulines.
This is how the case of the “Ludun possessed” arose. Since the spring of 1632, rumors spread around the city: at night the Ursulines wandered around the monastery, even appearing on the roof; ghosts appeared to them, tormenting and tormenting the nuns. The mother abbess was the first to “get sick”, then an evil spirit engulfed the entire community, with the exception of five sisters. Even a stranger who came to visit a relative-nun caught the “infection.” Abbot Mignon was the first to sound the alarm and called for help from Abbot Barre, an experienced exorcist. They began to read prayers over the abbess herself, Anne Desanges. According to the descriptions of the priests, the woman began to convulse, howl and grind her teeth. Finally, the demon who had settled inside her began to answer the exorcists’ questions. After reprimanding her and the other possessed people, it turned out that the abbess had found a branch of a rose bush covered with large flowers; Apparently, someone threw roses over the monastery fence. The abbess smelled the flowers, the other nuns also admired them and inhaled the aroma. The priests immediately decided: the branch was supposedly a charmed object through which evil spirits entered the nuns. Then all the Ursulines suddenly became inflamed with love for Grandier, he began to appear to them in dreams and in reality, inclining them to debauchery. As soon as the demon was pacified, the possessed woman returned to normal, her complexion became healthy, and her pulse became even. But a few minutes before this, the woman was bending so much that she was resting on the stone floor only with the back of her head and her toes. As the Ursulines assured, the culprit of their obsession was Abbot Grandier.
After the burning of the priest, the Ursulines were healed for several more years. Even the brother of King Louis XIII, Gaston d'Orleans, came to see the outlandish behavior of the possessed during exorcist spells. A whole show was staged in front of the crowd: stigmas (signs of the release of demons) appeared on the nuns’ bodies, they vomited various objects, began to speak foreign languages ​​that they did not know before, bent in bizarre poses or froze, as if suffering from tetanus. Scientists gave their answer to these phenomena: if an acrobat can skillfully bend, then any person can do it under certain conditions; You may not know foreign languages, but some words, for example, French, are similar to Latin, which can be mistaken for speaking another language; People with weak stomachs can vomit entire objects.
From the point of view of modern science, what happened in Loudun is a striking case of mass psychosis, which arose among already exalted nuns who had also undergone the treatment of the “holy fathers” to eliminate a dangerous competitor.
The story of Urbain Grandier attracted the attention of Alexandre Dumas, who dedicated a story from the “Famous Crimes” series and a play to him. The English writer Aldous Huxley, having studied authentic documents and the biography of Grandier, based on them, wrote the book “The Devils of Loudun”, which was adapted for the stage in 1960 and served as the basis for the script for the film “The Devils”.

Based on materials from Wonderland.com.r

The novel “Master Margarita” has become not only one of the most famous works of Mikhail Bulgakov, but also one of the most mysterious books, the interpretation of which researchers have been struggling with for 75 years. Our review contains 7 keys that reveal some key moments of the novel, lifting the veil of mystery and illustrations for different editions of Bulgakov’s novel.

1. Literary hoax

Scientists know for certain that Bulgakov enthusiastically studied German mysticism of the 19th century. It was after becoming acquainted with treatises on God, demonologies of the Christian and Jewish faith, and legends about the devil that the writer decided to create a book, and all this is mentioned in the work. The writer changed his novel several times.

The book was first written in 1928-1929. Several titles were invented for this novel: “The Juggler with a Hoof”, “The Black Magician” and no Master with Margarita. The central character of the first edition of the novel was the Devil and, in fact, the book was very reminiscent of Faust, only written by a Russian author. But his book never saw the light of day, and very little is known about it, since, having received a ban on a play called “The Cabal of the Holy One,” Bulgakov decided to burn the manuscript. The writer informed the government about his new novel about the Devil, who died in the flames.

The second novel was called "Satan, or the Great Chancellor." The main character of the work is a fallen angel. In this edition, Bulgakov had already invented the Master with Margarita, there was also a place for Woland and his retinue, but she also did not see the light of day.

The writer chose the title “The Master and Margarita” for the third manuscript, which was published by publishing houses; unfortunately, Bulgakov was unable to complete the work.

2. The Many Faces of Woland

If you read the novel without thinking too much, you get the impression that Woland is a positive character who has become a patron of creativity and love, a hero who tries to fight the vices inherent in people. But Woland is the Tempter, and upon careful reading, his many faces become noticeable. In reality, Woland represents Satan, a reinterpreted Christ, a new Messiah, the kind of hero that Bulgakov described him as in his first unpublished manuscripts.

You can understand the many faces of Woland only by carefully reading The Master and Margarita. Only then can one notice the hero’s resemblance to the Scandinavian Odin, turned into a devil by Christian traditions, or to the god Wotan, who was worshiped by ancient Germanic pagan tribes. Woland bears a portrait resemblance to the Freemason and great magician Count Cagliostro, who knew how to predict the future and remembered events a thousand years ago.

Attentive readers will definitely remember the moment when the employees remember the name of the magician and suggest that his name is Faland. Indeed, it is in tune with Woland, but that’s not the only interesting thing. Few people know that the devil is called Faland in Germany.

3. Satan's Retinue

Bright heroes with an ambiguous past in The Master and Margarita were Behemoth, Azazello and Karoviev-Fagot. The writer presented them as instruments of justice used by the devil.

The writer took the image of Azazello, the killer demon and the demon of the waterless desert, from the Old Testament. This is the name in these books for the fallen angel who taught people how to create jewelry and weapons. He also taught women to paint their faces, which according to biblical books is considered a lascivious art, and therefore it was this hero of Bulgakov who pushed Margarita onto a dark path by giving her cream. Azazello is an absolute evil who poisons lovers and kills Maigel.

Every reader of the novel remembers Behemoth for the rest of his life. This is a werecat, who is Woland’s favorite jester. The prototype of this character was the mythological beast described in the Old Testament, the devil of gluttony from mystical legends. When composing the image of the cat Behemoth, the writer used information that he learned while studying the story of Anne Desanges. She lived in the 17th century and was possessed by seven devils at once. One of them was a demon from the rank of Thrones, named Behemoth. They depicted him as a monster with the head of an elephant and terrible fangs. The demon looked like a hippopotamus with its short tail, huge belly and thick hind legs, but its hands were human.

The only person in Woland's devilish retinue was Koroviev-Fagot. Researchers cannot determine exactly who the prototype of this Bulgakov character is, but they suggest that its roots go back to the god Vitsliputzli. This assumption is based on a conversation between Bezdomny and Berlioz, in which the name of this Aztec god of war, to whom he made sacrifices, is mentioned. If you believe the legends about Faust, then Vitzliputzli is not a simple spirit of hell, but the first assistant of Satan.

4. Queen Margot

This heroine is very similar to Bulgakov’s last wife. The writer also emphasized in the book “The Master and Margarita” the special connection of this heroine with the French Queen Margot, who was the wife of Henry IV. On the way to Satan's ball, the fat man recognizes Margarita and calls her the bright queen, then he mentions the wedding in Paris, which as a result became the bloody St. Bartholomew's Night. Bulgakov also writes about the Parisian publisher Hessar, who in the novel “The Master and Margarita” takes part in St. Bartholomew’s Night. The historical Queen Margarita was a patron of poets and writers. Bulgakov in his book spoke about Margarita’s love for the brilliant writer Master.

5. Moscow – Yershalaim

There are many mysteries in the novel, and one of them is the time in which the events of The Master and Margarita take place. It is impossible to find a single date from which it was possible to continue reporting. The actions date back to May 1-7, 1929, which coincided with Holy Week. In parallel, in the “Pilate Chapters” the actions develop during the week of the 29th or 30th year in Yershalaim, where Holy Week is also described. In the first part of the novel, the actions in these stories develop in parallel; in the second part, they begin to intertwine with each other and then merge into a single story. At this time, history gains integrity and moves into the other world. Yershalaim now goes to Moscow.

6. Kabbalistic roots

When studying the novel, experts came to the conclusion that when writing this work, Bulgakov was interested not only in Kabbalistic teachings. In the mouth of Woland one can sometimes hear the concepts of Jewish mysticism.

There is a moment in the book when Woland says that you should never ask for anything, especially from the strong. In his opinion, people themselves will give and offer. These cabalistic teachings prohibit accepting anything unless it is given by the creator. The Christian faith allows you to ask for alms. Hasidim believe that people are created in the image of God and therefore they are supposed to constantly work.

The concept “about light” can also be traced in the work. He accompanies Woland throughout the book. The moonlight disappears only after Satan and his retinue disappear. Light can be interpreted in different ways; for example, there are teachings about it in the Sermon on the Mount. If you look at everything a little differently, it becomes clear that this concept also coincides with the basic idea of ​​Kabbalistic teachings, according to which the Torah is light. The idea of ​​Kabbalah says that the achievement of the “light of life” depends only on a person’s desires, and this completely coincides with the main idea of ​​the novel about a person’s independent choice.

7. The last manuscript

Bulgakov began writing the latest edition of the book, which was eventually released by publishing houses. Until his death, the writer worked on the creation of this work. The novel took 12 years to complete, and yet it turned out to be unfinished. Scientists cannot figure out the reason. They suggest that the author himself felt little knowledgeable about early Christian texts and Jewish demonology, and an amateur in some matters. Bulgakov gave his last vital energy to his last novel. The last change in the novel was the introduction of Margarita’s phrase about writers following the coffin. It was February 13, 1940, and a month later Mikhail Afanasyevich passed away. His last words to the novel were the phrase “So that they know, so that they know...”.

Continuing the theme of Elena Chernenko, who was able to convey not only the deep images of the characters, but also the mysterious atmosphere that reigns in Bulgakov’s novel.

...These white roses have been collected and presented to you, as well as a manuscript signed in the blood of the sorcerer and which is a copy of the agreement that he concluded with Lucifer; He was forced to constantly carry this list with him in order to maintain his power. And now, to great horror, one can still discern the words inscribed in the corner of the parchment: “The original is kept in the underworld, in the study of Lucifer.”

(Alfred de Vigny, "Saint-Mars")

The WHITE ROSE turned purple when Aphrodite pricked the divine leg with a sharp thorn... The roses and parchment mentioned by Alfred de Vigny were indeed presented as evidence at the trial, where Urbain Grandier, a church minister, was accused of aiding the devil.

Two hundred years separate the trial of Gilles de Rais from the no less famous case of Urbain Grandier. This is not only an abyss of time, but also a new historical era, which only a schoolboy who had read the novels of Alexandre Dumas could call the “age of the musket.” Another symbol is much more suitable for her - a pillar covered with firewood. Geographical discoveries, manufactures, progress in science and technology are only one side of the coin, and the “witch hunt” is the other. On the gilded obverse there is a frigate flying in full sail, on the smoky reverse there are crows around the scaffold.

Let's not turn the ship off its victorious course. Our path passes through the shadow pages of history...

“No matter how disgusting the details of the persecution raised against witchcraft before the 15th century are,” writes G.-C. in “History of the Inquisition.” Lee, - they were only a prologue to the blind and insane murders that left a shameful stain on the next century and the half of the 17th century. It seemed that madness had seized the Christian world, and that Satan could rejoice in the worship that was paid to his power, seeing how the smoke of sacrifices ascended endlessly, testifying to his triumph over the almighty. Protestants and Catholics competed in deadly fury. They no longer burned witches singly or in pairs, but in dozens and hundreds.” The total number of victims of this truly devilish feast is estimated at 9 or even 10 million people.

“What does the torment of one crucified on the cross mean before the torment of these nine million, burned in his name and for the glory of the Holy Trinity of people, whose bodies had been tormented and their bones broken for months beforehand!” - exclaims M. Genning in a monographic study entitled with utmost clarity - “The Devil”. In the episode that interests us, the devilish legions manifested themselves in Loudun, near the ancient French city of Poitiers, choosing a small monastery of Ursuline sisters for a mass pilgrimage. Knowing the situation and customs of women's monasteries, one should not be particularly surprised here. “The unsatisfied thirst for love and motherhood,” noted academician S. D. Skazkin on this occasion in the preface to Alfred de Vigny’s novel “Saint-Map,” “transformed into the ecstasy of love for the heavenly groom, often poured out on the father-confessor, the only man, appearing in a monastery and forced by virtue of his duties to listen to a secret confession, wandering through the most intimate corners of a woman’s soul. Things took a dangerous turn when such a father turned out to be a brilliant, handsome and educated priest.”

Urbain Grandier fully corresponded to such a flattering description. An excellent orator who received thorough training at the Jesuit College in Bordeaux, he literally mesmerized his interlocutors with his speech. To such dangerous eloquence should be added a spectacular appearance, an arrogant posture, and relative youth - at the height of the events Grandier was 42 years old - and then the obsession of the nuns will receive the simplest and most natural explanation. In addition, the brilliant church minister managed to be known as a shameless womanizer. Having received the parish of Loudun at the age of 27, he seduced the very young daughter of the royal prosecutor Trencan; it was no secret that he had a relationship with the daughter of adviser Rene de Brou, with whom he even secretly got married, playing a double role: priest and groom. In a word, the prankster in a cassock was far from sinless in terms of love. And if he had really received the position of confessor in the Loudun monastery, which he so coveted, then the story of Masetto from Lamporecchio (Decameron, day III, short story 1) could well have been repeated. After all, as is clear from the annotation, this Masetto, “pretending to be dumb, becomes a gardener in the monastery of nuns, who all compete to get along with him.” Grandier did not need to pretend, he only needed to get the coveted position, which his fierce enemy Father Mignon also applied for. Actually, the main intrigue was hidden in them, in the enemies: in ill-wishers, envious people, insulted fathers, deceived husbands, ridiculed servants of God.

If we add here a caustic pamphlet in which the priest of Loudun dared to offend Cardinal Richelieu himself, then the devil’s interference in church affairs will become much clearer. The freethinker and proud man had to be destroyed by any means, and he was destroyed when such an opportunity presented itself. Persisting in his claims to

the position that was given to Mignon after all, Grandier himself put the weapon into the striking hand of his enemies. They vividly recalled the details of the case of Goffridi, the confessor of the Ursulines, who was burned at Aix on April 20, 1611. And first of all, Christ’s bride Louise, the plump blonde, who was possessed by Beelzebub, her shameless body movements, dangerous feverish speeches. Why not repeat the performance in Loudun? The “Prince of Magicians” Goffridi could well have been resurrected in Grandier, only to return to ashes. It was decided to start with a nauza - some charmed thing or, in other words, a trick well known to all sorcerers and shamans, based on a fanatical belief in the evil eye, damage and other destructive spells. Having found nothing better, we settled on a branch with beautiful white roses, still wet from the heavy dew. Ah, these roses that turned Lucius into a donkey, ah, these touching tears of virgin doves, burned by secret lusts, tormented by the thick monastic boredom!

The first to see the branch thrown over the fence was Mother Superior Anna Desanges. As soon as she inhaled the aroma of the enchanted flowers, the monastery garden, which so lacked a dumb gardener, began to spin before her eyes and a hot current of unbearable temptation shook her entire being. The investigative protocols tell what happened to the venerable abbess next with the obscene naturalism characteristic of inquisitors. The sophisticated stylist Alfred de Vigny (through the mouth of an old woman witness) does it much more gracefully: “... it was a pity to watch how she tore her chest, how she twisted her legs and arms, and then suddenly intertwined them behind her back. When Father Lactance approached her and pronounced the name of Urbain Grandier, foam flowed from her mouth and she spoke in Latin, as smoothly as if she was reading the Bible: therefore I did not understand anything properly, I only remembered Urbanus magicus rosas diabolica, and this means that the sorcerer Urbain bewitched her with the help of roses, which he received from the evil one. Indeed, fire-colored roses appeared in her ears and on her neck, and they smelled so sulfur that the judge shouted for everyone to plug their noses and close their eyes, because the demons were about to come out.”

These demons possessed everyone who smelled the ill-fated roses. Following the abbess, the two Nogaret sisters fell ill, then the damage was discovered in the pretty nun Saint-Agnès, daughter of the Marquis Delamot-Brace, then in Claire Sasily, a relative of the all-powerful Richelieu, and off we go. Soon there was almost not a single girl left in the monastery who was not affected by obsession. The demonic legion that fell upon a modest provincial monastery behaved like a military unit that had captured an enemy fortress. The rapists forced timid sisters and novices to do incredible things. Moreover, all the possessed were inflamed with passion specifically for Urbain Grandier, who appeared to them at night, tempting them into sweet sin, tempting them to eternal destruction. But God is strong! Being on the very brink of death, not a single Ursuline fell into the abyss, which was duly witnessed during multiple exorcisms. The demons sitting in the girls were forced to confirm this fact, sad for them, but gratifying for the Eternal Light. In the experienced hands of exorcists, the hellish paratroopers no longer behaved like occupiers, but like prisoners of war brought to enemy headquarters for interrogation. Forced to testify, the demon gave his name and rank in the demonic legion, described his own appearance and that hidden corner in the human body that he uninvited and so shamelessly occupied.

I am by no means exaggerating for the sake of metaphorical completeness when speaking about ranks. In the materials of the Loudun trial it is said so directly - rank. Apparently, the demons entrenched in the young ladies carefully studied the Neoplatonist Dionysius the Areopagite, who in his work “The Hierarchy of Heavenly Powers” ​​divided the angels - and demons, or angels, are the same angels, only those who fell away from God - into nine ranks-categories. In any case, everyone knew their place in the ranks. Abbess Desange, for example, was possessed by seven invaders at once, of which Behemoth, Asmodeus and Grezille turned out to come from the rank of “thrones”, Izakaron, Amon and Balam - “authorities”, Leviathan - “seraphim”. The body of Louise Barbezier’s sister was occupied by two people: Eazas, who belonged to the “dominions,” who settled under the very heart, and Caron, who considered himself to be among the “powers,” who built a nest in the center of his forehead. The daughter of the Marquis of Sasily had it the worst of all, for she was possessed by the infernal eight: Za-bulon, Nephtali, Elimi, the Enemy of the Virgin, Pollution, Verin, Lust and the Infinite, who had chosen a place for himself under the second rib. This demon had another name - Urbain Grandier, which played perhaps the most fatal role in the fate of the accused. The question of how the same person could simultaneously be under the rib of a nun and in the Church of St. Peter, where our hero served, was not even raised, for the devil is omnipotent, or rather, almost omnipotent, because he too has control. The exorcists cast out demons from the possessed poor things without knowing any rest. And the demons succumbed, although they swore not to leave their favorite places until the end of their years. The protocols record in detail their testimony regarding the routes for retreats. The hippopotamus, for example, before leaving the abbess’s womb, promised to throw poor Desange up into the air as a sign of his exit, which was immediately done. Izakaron, leaving the last rib, left her a souvenir in the form of a scratch on the thumb of his left hand; Leviathan, sitting in his forehead, marked his mark with a bloody cross. And so it happened with each one: convulsive jumps, writhing, convulsions, scratches and bleeding stigmata.

A terrible game where deliberate deception became self-deception, delirium condensed into the reality of a monstrous slander, and hysteria caricaturedly, as in Goya’s “Caprichos,” mixed with farce. When the demon expelled from sister Agnes promised to pull the kamilavka from the head of the royal commissioner Sieur Laubardemont and hold it in the air while they sang “Miserere”, those present were seized by Homeric laughter, which, of course, was also blamed on Urbain Grandier.

Rumors of indecency in the Loudun monastery spread far beyond the borders of the county of Poitiers. Along with the exorcists who conjured the possessed spendthrifts, local judicial authorities also frequented the monastery in order to personally witness the strange phenomena about which there were such contradictory rumors.

Abbot Mignon was happy to show the guests his spoiled sheep. As soon as the high commission entered Sister Jeanne’s room, she had a seizure. Throwing about on the bed, she suddenly grunted with inimitable perfection, then writhed all over, curled up into a ball and, clenching her teeth, fell into a state of catalepsy. Abbot Mignon hardly inserted his fingers into her mouth and began to read exorcisms. When the entrenched demon trembled and began to speak, the exorcist turned to him in Latin with a question:

Why did you enter this girl's body?

Out of malice,” the demon answered frankly in the same language of church services.

Which way?

Through flowers.

Who sent them?

“Tell me his last name,” demanded the vengeful confessor, as if the name, which was in every possible way in Loudun, was not enough.

Grandier,” the human enemy readily responded, betraying not only his master, but also his brother in the legion.

Tell me who is he? - did not lag behind. zhorcist, as if in little Loudun there could be another Urbain Grandier.

Priest.

Which church?

St. Peter's.

Who gave him flowers?

All this ridiculous babble was scrupulously recorded, and from that day on, all the acts of the exorcist were accompanied by the judicial authorities. Urbain, although he was patronized by influential persons, was under a real threat of becoming the second Goffridi, although it was not he, but his opponent Mignon, who was the confessor of the Ursulines.

Cardinal de Sourdi, to whom Grandier appealed with a complaint of slander, acquitted the promising talented cleric and forbade Mignon to perform further exorcisms, entrusting such a delicate matter to trusted persons. The city authorities were also inclined not to make a fuss throughout the country and gradually let things go.

Reluctantly, the abbot obeyed the archbishop, but the devils did not listen, and began to honor their confidante Grandier even more. When news of the miracles of Loudun reached the royal ears, Louis the Thirteenth treated them with commendable caution, but Richelieu insisted on the strictest investigation. In fact, he had been leading it for a long time, trying to expose the author of the mocking pamphlet. The documents found in Loudun clearly indicated that the author was Grandier, so the Duke-Cardinal had no reason to spare the daring freethinker. He entrusted the investigation to Lobardemont, whom he provided with the broadest powers.

Returning to Loudun at the end of 1633, the royal commissioner first took the suspect into custody and began collecting “witness” testimony. For speed, each possessed woman was assigned an exorcist, a court official and a scribe. Meanwhile, “devilish seals” were found on Grandier’s body - areas insensitive to pain, which was not at all difficult, since the inquisitors had special needles that went away with the slightest pressure on the handle. The fate of the gallant priest was sealed. Formal condemnation was only a matter of technique, nothing more. The “thrones” and “authorities” escaping from their cozy holes gave not only the necessary testimony, but also supplied justice with evidence and supplied the necessary documents.

When they pressed hard on the main demon Asmodeus, who had captivated the abbess, he could not stand it and dictated a copy of the agreement concluded between him and the defendant. This is the product of a limited mind and fierce malice: “Lord and master, I recognize you as my god and promise to serve you as long as I live, and from this time I renounce all others, and from Jesus Christ, and Mary, and from all the saints of heaven, and from the apostolic Roman Catholic Church, and from all its deeds and prayers that can be done for my sake, and I promise to worship you and serve you at least three times daily, and to cause as much evil as possible, and to involve everyone in the commission of evil, whoever is possible, and with a pure heart I renounce confirmation and baptism, and all the grace of Jesus Christ, and in case I want to convert, I give you power over my body, and soul, and life, as if I received it from you, and I cede it to you forever, having no intention of repenting.

Signed in blood:

"Urbain Grandier".

We already know the place designated for storing the original. If this document exposes anyone, it is only the abbess herself, whose style is tongue-tied and her thoughts are meager. Neither Asmodeus nor the sophisticated rhetorician Grandier can be suspected of such vagueness.

Naturally, this did not bother the judges at all, and Urbain Grandier was brought to a confrontation with all the girls and the angels who had settled in them. There was an extraordinary commotion. The demons forced the Ursulines to make shameless gestures and joyfully cried out with their virgin lips: “Our Lord! Master!

The guilt of the defendant, therefore, was beyond doubt. Only the conscientiousness of the judges, who wanted to get to the bottom of every detail, kept them from immediately passing a verdict.

And she, conscientiousness, brought the desired results. The demon Leviathan revealed the composition of the potion with which the white roses were poisoned, or rather, magnetized. To the great horror and disgust of those present, it turned out to be brewed from the heart of an innocent baby slaughtered at a Sabbath in Orleans in 1631, the ashes of a burnt communion wafer, as well as the blood and sperm of Grandier himself.

We will not dwell on the details, although they are not without interest, this is blatant, but so ordinary compared to similar cases of the witch trial. Its result was a foregone conclusion, and Grandier himself understood this, preserving rare restraint and extraordinary courage even in the embrace of the flame.

Defending his human dignity, he tried to oppose logic to madness, trying to strike with rational weapons the many-headed hydra that hovered on the bat-like wings of hysteria.

A sample of “witchcraft” writing and typical of magical practice in Western Europe in the 15th–16th centuries. “The Book of Demons” (based on the book “The Magician” by F. Barrett. 1801)

When, in order to drive Grandier into the vile images, he bowed to the next pit, they offered him the bishop, asking him to give his blessing to try himself as a sign to begin the exorcism. the exorcist, he, not at all interested in such a crazy idea, nevertheless calmly put on the priestly robe. Not embarrassed by the protesting swarms of demons who turned pretty girls’ faces into vile images, he bowed to the bishop, asking for his blessing to begin the exercise.

A terrible game where deliberate deception became self-deception, delirium condensed into the reality of a monstrous slander, and hysteria caricaturedly, as in Goya’s “Caprichos,” mixed with farce.

The bishop gave what was required, pointing to the crowd of raging virgins. “You renounced it!” - the devilish army squealed, recalling the concluded agreement. The choir performed the usual in such cases “Veni creator” - “Appear, creator,” and the duel with the non-existent began.

Not at all seriously thinking about the ridiculous single combat with possessed hysterics, Grandier is a naive sage! - I hoped to catch one of them in a lie. When the Ursuline Claire rushed towards him with obscene abuse, he immediately began to reprimand her, asking permission to address the demon in Greek.

Don't you dare! - the evil spirit hidden in the mother abbess cried out at this. - Traitor! Deceiver! According to the agreement, you cannot ask questions in Greek! Grandier smiled slightly, preparing to draw the attention of the court to such an obvious inconsistency, but Sister Claire beat him to the punch with an arrogant cry: “You can speak any language, they will answer you!” The girl turned out to be educated. The original plan was frustrated, Grandier became embarrassed and fell silent. Of course, this did not in the least affect the final outcome, because the verdict was a foregone conclusion and, even if the demon Claire did not know Greek, Themis’s scales would still remain in a predetermined position.

But this episode says a lot about Grandier’s inner world. Having withstood the abuse pouring on him from all sides, although his detractors continued to call him “lord” and “master,” he calmly remarked: “I am not your master and not your servant.” And in general I can’t understand why, calling me a ruler, you are so eager to grab me by the throat?

The indignant sisters, instead of answering a completely reasonable question, began to take off their shoes, bringing down a hail of heavy shoes on the head of the zealot of logic. - Well, the demons unchained themselves! - the prisoner laughed mockingly, wiping blood from his cut temple.

Grandier refused confession and turned his face away from the cross, which the Capuchin confessor thrust at him at the place of execution. The magic sword is a double-edged weapon. And yet, sanctified by the authority of the church hierarchy, it caused much more trouble than in the hands of individuals: fanatics and madmen, charlatans and simpletons. Claiming to be “above-temporality-above-spatiality” and arrogantly trying to impose its will on the strictly determined laws of the universe, magic already in its essence carries a destructive and, as a consequence, criminal principle. The notorious Marquis de Sade understood this quite intuitively, immortalizing his name in such an unattractive term as “sadism.” Through the mouth of Bressac, the hero of the novel “New Justine,” he states, not without regret: “What can we really accomplish in this life? ?The answer is simple. All our petty crimes against morality can be reduced to a few - perversion and murder, random rape or incest; our crimes against religion are nothing more than blasphemy and profanation. Is there anyone among us who can sincerely admit that really satisfied with these trifles?

No, of course,” objected the ardent Madame D’Esterval. “I suffer, perhaps more than you, from the insignificance of the crimes that nature allows me. With all our actions we insult only idols, but not nature itself. I want to insult nature. I I want to turn her order into chaos, block her ordered movement, stop the stars and rock the planets floating in outer space, hinder what serves nature and patronize what hinders her - in a word, insult nature and stop her great activity.But I can’t do any of this." “Yes,” Bressac inserted, “that’s so. What we have achieved is not a crime... Let’s direct our revenge along possible paths. Let’s multiply the horrors, since we are not able to intensify them.”

Crime and witchcraft are equally guilty of both the horrors themselves and their multiplication. Regardless of the starting point, the logic of evolution “forces their “world lines” to converge at the same line, beyond which there is nothing left to do but to “offend precisely nature,” which has realized itself through the crown of creation - the human brain. That is why obscurantists and misanthropes of all stripes, capable, however, of rising to the realization of the complete futility of such a rebellion, turn their poisonous rage towards science and art, without which knowledge of the objective world is unthinkable.Hence the cannibalistic aphorism: “At the word culture, I grab the gun.”

In the next essay we will see how closely the snakes of crime and black witchcraft are intertwined.

Possession or demonization in Europe, as demonologists believe, is of two types - “remote” and internal. But in both states the victim is absolutely not to blame and cannot be blamed for anything.

You can’t blame her for what she does, because in a fit of frenzy the victim loses control. At such moments, her entire weak being is completely dependent on the devil and his henchmen, and she is entirely in their power.

With the so-called distance dependence, the Devil exerts his satanic influence at a distance, being close to the object he has chosen, being “outside his body.” With internal obsession, he unceremoniously penetrates the woman’s body and takes up residence there either temporarily or permanently. William Shakespeare was the first to point out this difference in obsession in his tragedies. Theorists of this condition believe that the attack of the devil (demon) on the victim becomes much stronger, more assertive if the person is depressed, upset about something, stressed, and, being completely alone, falls into melancholy or deep depression.

Succubi - Demons

Druji- Persian succubi, distinguished by frantic lust, deceit and general depravity, their image resembles the idea of ​​​​a woman of medieval Christian theologians. Druji continue to do the evil in the spirit world that they did as humans. They delight in "crime and defilement" and their main goal is to lead others to ruin, depravity and suffering.

Christian demonology developed mainly in the Egyptian deserts, and was practiced of its own free will by hermits who took an oath to resist the machinations of Satan. In his Life, Saint Hilary (about 390) says that “temptations were repeated repeatedly with increasing force and persistence; day and night the devil set more and more ingenious traps for him. Very often, when he went to bed, a seductive naked woman would appear before him.”

Saint Athanasius left us detailed descriptions of what temptations and tortures Saint Anthony was subjected to. At night, the Devil turned into a beautiful woman to seduce the hermit.

In the Western branch of Christianity, the theory of possession has its roots in the New Testament, where, for example, Jesus Christ heals a sick person “possessed by an unclean spirit.” “When evening came, many demoniacs were brought to him, and he cast out the spirits with the Word and healed all the sick.” We find a lot of similar evidence about the actions of evil demons in the Fathers of the early Church.

This is how Cyril of Jerusalem described the Devil in the 6th century: “This Devil, acting like a tyrant, abused the body of a person, as if this person were his own property; the one who does not stand firmly on his feet, he turns him over and makes him stand on his head; forces the unfortunate man to spew blasphemy at everything and everyone, manipulating his tongue and twisting his lips. Instead of words, at his command, foam bursts out of him, darkness overtakes the man, and before death this unfortunate man writhes in terrible convulsions.”

Such obsession against the will of the victim is very reminiscent of attacks of epilepsy or hysteria and usually manifests itself everywhere in the same way.

1. Shrinking of the body, severe convulsions, writhing caused by evil spirits;

2. Vomiting strange objects (nervous attacks in mentally ill people and hysterics often end in suicide);

Henri Bodin believes that “apples are best suited for this, in which the devil can hide. Thus, Satan repeats exactly the actions he took in paradise to seduce Adam and Eve."

In Europe, cases of possession were observed mainly in monasteries. One hysterical nun could well “infect” all the sisters through direct influence on them and suggestion, and then to return such women to a normal state, exorcism was required, that is, exorcism.

The same Bodin wrote in 1580 that cases of possession by the devil most often occur in Spain and Italy, but at the beginning of the 17th century France gradually took first place.

In 1583 in Vienne, a sixteen-year-old nun began to experience wild convulsions and writhings, which were defined as demonic in nature. The Jesuits invited to help had to work hard to expel from her 12,600 living demons, which her grandmother kept in the form of flies in a glass jug with a lid. A seventy-year-old old woman was caught under torture in having intercourse with the Devil. She was tied to the tail of a horse and dragged to the city square, where she was burned at the stake. The Jesuits joyfully accepted this verdict and demanded that the inquisitors intensify the “witch hunt.”

In Protestant countries, as a rule, they did not resort to exorcism. Due to the attempts of the preacher John Durrell (1600) to apply the proven method, the practice of exorcism was strictly prohibited in the church code. Protestants generally accepted the recommendations of Martin Luther, who advised curing this diabolical obsession with prayer alone, for only the Almighty knows when the Devil must leave a person’s body. The great reformer of the Church himself exorcised the devil by striking the victim hard on the head with his fist. This “shock therapy” did not bring much results.

JEANNA FERY

The obsession of the nun Sister Jeanne Fery in the Belgian city of Mons, from which she suffered from 1573 to 1585. from the eight devils who possessed her, can be described as an ordinary case of hysteria. Jeanne stated more than once that she was seduced by the devil at the age of fourteen. After several exorcism sessions she felt better, but now she began to suffer from epileptic and hysterical seizures, which were undoubtedly caused by evil spirits. She often began to bleed profusely, experience severe writhing, and sometimes experience brief insanity.

To reduce the number of seizures and convulsions, she was prescribed baths of holy water, but during such treatment all kinds of evil spirits flew out of her mouth and nostrils, and all this was accompanied by a disgusting, nauseating odor. During such severe seizures, she threw herself out of the window more than once and wanted to drown in the river, but she was rescued in time.

Zhanna constantly saw in front of her terrible pictures of hell, which she read about in theological books. It seemed to her that a snake was gnawing at her there, causing her hellish pain. When she entered ecstasy, she could not utter a single word, refused to eat, and did not experience any painful sensations.

Louise Lato

Lise Lato, that "Belgian girl with the devil's stigmata," exhibited many of the classic symptoms of bewitched children.

Louise was born in Knighton in 1850 and was a very sick child, despite the fact that her parents never complained about their health. She entered the monastery at the age of eleven with her grandmother. At 16 she survived a cholera epidemic. Her “great illness” - obsession - began when she turned 18. She suddenly lost her appetite, her throat often bled, and once she sat on nothing but water for a whole month. Then she felt an urgent need to experience the passion of Christ.

On April 25, 1868, she had a vision of the Christ child and went into ecstasy. In May she began to bleed from the side and soles of her feet and this recurred quite regularly for 7 years. She often fell to the ground in terrible convulsions, feeling nothing, while suffocating, greedily gasping for air.

Sometimes Louise, for no apparent reason, would fall to her knees where she was standing or walking. Pressing her hand to her stomach, she lifted her head high, as if she saw some kind of picture up there. She remained in this motionless position for about 15 minutes, then suddenly began to sob uncontrollably, her pulse froze, and her temperature jumped sharply. Sometimes she would fall into a state of complete prostration, and Louise would lie stiff, with her arms outstretched to the sides, in the pose of the crucified Christ, with her eyes closed. Louise could go for several days without water, food or sleep. After she turned 25, her tantrums suddenly stopped on their own.

Elizabeth Allier

In France, Elisabeth Allier, who was obsessed with them for 20 years, spoke about such “true relationships with two devils.” One, according to her, was called Orpheus, the other Bonifars. She often communicated with them, talked, found out what they needed, what new whim they had. They caused her a lot of anxiety, she endured it for a long time, but finally agreed to the procedure of exorcism. It was conducted by a Dominican friar in Grenoble and began on Saturday, August 18, 1839.

Although Sister Elizabeth remained silent, her lips pressed tightly together, the hoarse voices of devils could be heard from her body. They admitted that they had entered her a long time ago, even when she was a girl, they entered on a crust of bread and swore that they would leave her three days before her death.

After five fruitless sessions, Father Francois continued his procedure on Sunday. He, holding the Gospel in his hands, kept repeating: “Well, get out, get out, you vile creature!” But the more efforts the holy father made, the more severe convulsions shook Elizabeth. But the Dominican stubbornly continued his actions, despite the first setbacks. Finally, one of the devils apparently had enough of this and said, “Okay! I'm leaving!" And the second one repeated in a tearful voice: “Jesus God, I’m going out too, I’m going out!”

Exorcism - fighting demons

Exorcism, or exorcism, is a witchcraft method that sometimes allows one to cure a sick person suffering from mental attacks or going into a trance and return him to a normal state. Such functions were previously, as a rule, performed by a priest, monk, or healer.

The practice of casting out demons was introduced in the Christian Church a very long time ago, and was known in the Old Testament. Exorcists formed one of the 4 minor orders of the Church. Their high reputation helped spread the new faith. Their main methods are litany, prayers, laying on of hands, and repetition of the words of Jesus, who has already “cast out myriads of evil spirits.”

The first concern of any exorcist was to determine exactly how the evil spirit entered the human body.

The main unforgettable rule is that you should never call on the Devil himself for help, because he never tells the truth, even under the threat of expulsion from the human body.

There are other rules. Having made sure that a demon has settled in the body of a believer, the exorcist must first ask what his name is, then try to determine how many demons have entered the unfortunate person, find out the reason for his or their appearance there, try to accurately determine the time of his or their penetration into the body.

Having then made a final conclusion, the exorcist can begin his procedure.

Using a special manual called the “Litany of the Swearing Square,” the exorcist must revile the demon in every possible way, insult him, curse him, call him a pig, a wild beast, a bloated toad and a lousy swineherd, and all the time turn to God with a request that He would drive him nail into the skull and drove it deeper with a heavy hammer.

In addition to such verbal treatment, in the Roman Catholic Church, when expelling spirits, they resorted to self-flagellation, or flogging, although moderate enough to only scare the demon and make it jump out, but not to cause the woman severe physical pain and unnecessary torment.

The spellcasters, performing their exorcisms, forced the demons at the moment of their exit to mark their exit on the victim’s body with some signs, the so-called stigmata.

Anna Desanges was possessed by seven devils at once: Asmodeus, Amon, Grezil, Leviathan, Behemoth, Balam and Izacaron. Asmodeus was the first to leave, and as he left, he left his “seal” on her body - a hole in her side... Amon, who came out after him, left exactly the same hole in her side. The third demon Grisil also came out through the side, leaving a hole there. The fourth, Leviathan, who was sitting in his forehead, left a “seal” in the form of a bloody cross in the middle of his forehead when leaving. Fifth - Hippopotamus, who was in the womb of the abbess, upon exiting, had to throw his victim an arshin up, which he did regularly. The sixth demon is Balam, who was sitting on the right side along the second rib. When he left his body, the inscription of his name appeared on her hand, which remained unexpelled for the rest of her life. The last one, Izakaron, sat on the right side under the last rib. Upon leaving, he left his mark in the form of a deep scratch on the thumb of his left hand.

When they came out, the demons liked to “misbehave.” So one of them, expelled from the body of Sister Agnes, had to pull the kamilavka from the head of Commissar Lobardemont, who was present at the exorcisms, and hold it over the head of this important dignitary all the time until all participants in the exorcism chanted the long prayer “Miserere” ... "

Possessed Ogsonn Nuns

The Ursulines are nuns of a Catholic convent founded in Italy in 1535, named after Saint Ursula.

In 1662, in France, a rumor began to spread more and more persistently that very strange things were happening in the Ursuline convent in Ogsonne, near Dijon, which clearly indicates the possession of the nuns.

When this was brought to the attention of the Parisian authorities, the government immediately sent the Archbishop of Toulouse, three bishops and five doctors of medicine to investigate the matter on the spot.

The commission, having carefully examined all eighteen nuns of different ages, began to exorcise demons from them, and this procedure took place continuously for two weeks, but did not lead to visible results.

Upset by such a failure of the learned men, their confessor, a priest named Nouvelet, decided to help the suffering girls and resort to exorcism in his own manner, which from a moral point of view is not prudent. In the end, Mother Superior caught Nouvelet engaging in indecent acts and, quite naturally, took decisive disciplinary measures against her dissolute novices.

Imagine the surprise of the mother superior, forty-year-old Sister Columbine, when her charges brought charges of immoral behavior not against Father Nouvelet, but against the patroness herself! Such unheard-of accusations threatened to create a huge scandal.

Another commission arrived to investigate such a “piquant” case. She worked for a whole year, but could not find anything reprehensible in the abbess’s behavior and did not accept a single accusation against her. However, the nuns were not going to give up. Now they accused the abbess of witchcraft.

The third commission arrived. After a thorough investigation, on October 28, 1661, Mother Superior was put in wooden stocks and placed in a cold solitary cell.

But it was too early for the nuns to rejoice. There was still a trial in Dijon, which was to make a final decision. Understanding very well what role the devil plays in all these matters, who cannot be expelled from the monastery. All the judges unanimously acquitted Sister Columbina and sent her to serve in another monastery.

In 1626, the Ursuline convent was founded in Loudun. Initially there were only 8 nuns. They came to Loudun from Poitiers without any means and at first lived on alms. But then pious people took pity on them and somehow, little by little, settled them down. Then they rented a small house and began to take in girls for upbringing. Soon their abbess, in consideration of her zeal, was transferred somewhere else to another monastery by the abbess, and her place was taken by Sister Anna Desanges. She was a woman of good birth. As a girl, she entered the Ursuline monastery in Poitiers as a novice, then took monastic vows, and then moved to Loudun in company with seven other nuns. Under her leadership, the Loudun monastery began to flourish. The number of nuns rose from eight to seventeen. All the nuns, with the exception of one, Seraphima Arshe, were girls of noble birth.

Until 1631, the priest in the monastery was Abbot Musso. But in that year he died and the nuns again had to find a new priest. And it was here that Urban Grandier came forward as one of the candidates for this vacant position. His file mentions that he was driven by the darkest intentions; he was obviously tempted by the prospect of spiritual rapprochement with this crowd of young girls and women of noble birth. But as we have already said, his reputation was very tarnished, and therefore it is not surprising that he was rejected and Father Mignon was preferred to him. And he just had some endless personal scores and quarrels with this Minion. Soon this hostility turned into an open fight between Mignon and Grandier. The matter reached the episcopal court. The bishop found himself on Mignon's side, but Grandier appealed to the archbishop's court, and the local (Bordeaux) archbishop decided the case in his favor. The main source of their enmity among themselves was the dissolute behavior of Grandier, which the sternly moral Mignon brutally attacked. The enmity escalated terribly during the candidacy for priesthood to the Ursulines. When Grandier introduced himself, not one of the nuns even wanted to talk to him, while they received Abbot Mignon very willingly. And so, in order to take revenge on the triumphant enemy, Grandier, according to the general conviction of his judges and contemporaries, decided to resort to witchcraft, which one of his relatives taught him. He intended, with the help of witchcraft, to seduce several nuns and enter into a criminal relationship with them, in the expectation that when the scandal was discovered, then, of course, the sin would be attributed to Abbot Mignon, as the only man who was in constant and close relations with the nuns.

The magic trick that Grandier resorted to was one of the most common: he gave the nuns a nauza, i.e. a charmed thing. In all likelihood, having approached the fence of their monastery, he threw this thing over the fence into the garden and calmly left. The object they planted was an extremely innocent thing that could not inspire any suspicion: a small pink branch with several flowers. The nuns, walking through the garden, raised a branch and, of course, smelled the fragrant flowers; but demons were already sitting in these flowers, presumably in a herd. These demons possessed everyone who smelled the roses. Before anyone else, the mother abbess herself, the aforementioned Anna Desanges, felt the presence of an evil spirit in herself. Following this, damage was discovered in the two Nogaret sisters, then Madame Sasily, a very important lady, a relative of Cardinal Richelieu himself, felt unwell; then the same fate befell Sister Sainte-Agnès, daughter of the Marquis of Delamotte-Boraee, and her two novices. In the end, there were not even five nuns left in the entire monastery free from the spell.

But what, in fact, was done with the bewitched nuns - we can learn about this from the case. All the possessed suddenly became imbued with a fiery love passion for Urban Grandier and he began to appear to all of them, whispering the most insidious speeches and seducing them into mortal sin. Of course, the nuns, as befits, fought with all their might against the temptation that overwhelmed them, and, as was carefully attested, not one of them came to the point of actual sin. This was most certainly established during the exorcisms, when the demons themselves, sitting in the nuns, answered the questions of the exorcists so directly that not one of them managed to lead their victim into actual sin, regardless of any tricks. It should also be noted that in addition to the nuns, the fatal pink branch was in the hands of girls who happened to be in the monastery at that time. Among them, Elizabeth Blanchard paid especially cruelly.

The Loudun case has been described many times in great detail, and we have no way to convey all this in our book. We will have to take only the most outstanding facts, which later became the property of demonology. Based on the testimony of the possessed, i.e., in other words, the demons themselves who were sitting in them (because during possession, the demon who has possessed him answers the questions for a person), it was possible to establish the names of these demons, their origin, their appearance, their location inside a person, etc.

For example, the abbess of the monastery, Anna Desanges, was possessed by seven devils: Asmodeus, Amon, Grezil, Leviathan, Behemoth, Balam and Isacaron. Let's pay some attention to these curious residents of hell. Let us note first of all that according to the teachings of the church, devils are none other than. fallen angels. But, having previously been angels, they had to belong to one of the nine ranks of angels. During exorcisms, the demons, in response to the questions of the exorcists, announced not only their names, but also those angelic ranks to which they belonged before their fall. So, Asmodeus turned out to come from the rank of Thrones. We have the opportunity to describe his appearance from images in old demonologies. He appeared in the form of a naked man with three heads: a human one in the middle, a ram's on the left, and a bull's on the right; he had a crown on his human head; His legs were like a duck's or a goose's, of the usual demonic style. He appeared riding some kind of monster, like a bear, but with a mane and a very long, thick tail, like a crocodile. Asmodeus managed to drive out the abbess from the abbess with spells before other demons. We have already mentioned more than once that spellcasters forced demons at the moment when they left the body of the possessed person to indicate their exit with some external signs. So Asmodeus, when leaving his victim, the abbess, had to leave a hole in her side. which he did.

Amon followed Asmodeus out. This demon appeared in the form of a monster with a muzzle resembling a seal, and a body also resembling a seal, and with a coiled tail, either a snake or a crocodile. His eyes were huge, like those of an eagle owl. Towards the front half of its body it had two paws, like those of a dog, but with long claws; it was a two-legged monster. He declared himself to belong to the rank of Authority. A sign of the departure from Amon’s body was also a hole in the side of the abbess.

The third demon to emerge from the abbess was Gresil, from the rank of Thrones. We cannot provide information about his appearance. He also came out of the abbess through the side, leaving a hole in it.

The fourth demon was Leviathan, who came from the rank of Seraphim. He was depicted standing on a large sea shell in the middle of the water. He had a huge head of some kind of monstrous fish, with a wide open mouth, large fish eyes, all studded with sharp fish spines; On the sides of the head stood two thin bull horns. He was dressed in some strange suit, reminiscent of an old admiral's uniform. A sword dangled from his left side, and in his left hand he held Neptune's trident. Leviathan marked his apartment in the body of the possessed woman: he sat in her forehead and, protruding from her, left a trace of his exit in the form of a bloody cross in the very middle of her forehead.

The fifth demon was Behemoth, who came from the rank of Thrones. His stay was in the womb of the abbess, and as a sign of his exit from her, he had to throw her an arshin up. This demon was depicted as a monster with an elephant head, a trunk and fangs. His hands were human-shaped, and his huge belly, short tail and thick hind legs, like those of a hippopotamus, reminded him of his name.

The sixth demon Balam attributed himself to the rank of Authority. His appearance is unknown to us. With the abbess he stayed under the second rib on the right side. His exit from the body was indicated by the appearance of the inscription of his name on the abbess’s left hand, which, according to the demon’s prediction, was to remain indelible on her for the rest of her life.

The last demon Izakaron, who came from the rank of the Powers, sat in the right side under the last rib and upon exiting left his sign in the form of a deep scratch on the thumb of the abbess’s left hand.

Sister Louise Barbesiere was found to have two demons: Eazas and Caron. The first of them attributed himself to the rank of Dominion; he settled under the nun's heart. When leaving her body, he had to lift her 3 feet up. Caron ranked himself among the rank of Sil. He was in the middle of the forehead. Coming out of the possessed woman, he had to take the form of two sheaves of flame emanating from the possessed woman’s mouth, and, in addition, break one of the glasses in the church window.

The sister of the aforementioned nun, Jeanne, was possessed by only one demon, namely Cerberus, which we already mentioned earlier. He declared himself to belong to the rank of Authority, settled under his heart; the sign of his exit was the raising of the nun a yard high.

The ill-fated sister Clara Sasily was possessed by eight demons: Zabulon, Nephtali, the Infinite, Elimi, the Enemy of the Virgin, Pollution, Verrin and Lust. The first of them was from the rank of Thrones, possessed himself in the forehead and, upon leaving the possessed woman, had to inscribe a name on her forehead, which was to remain indelible for the rest of her life. Neftali, from the rank of Thrones, chose the right hand of the possessed woman as his residence, and as a sign of leaving her body he had to move the pulpit from the church to the top of the tower of the Loudun castle. The Devil, who called himself the Infinite, at the same time called himself Urban Grandier, a revelation that probably contributed greatly to the death of the ill-fated hero of our story. He moved into the right side of the nun under the second rib and, as a sign of his departure from the body, had to throw the nun five feet up. Elimi, from the rank of Sils, moved in near the stomach; Based on his victim, he had to pierce the victim’s body opposite his place of residence and stick out from there in the form of a flying serpent. The enemy of the Virgin classified himself as a member of the rank of Cherubim and took up residence under the neck, and as a sign of exit he had to pierce the victim’s right hand as if it had been pierced through with a finger. The sixth demon Poldlution, who, like the previous one, belonged to the rank of Cherubim, settled in the left shoulder and upon exiting was supposed to pierce the leg of the possessed woman. The seventh demon Verrin, from the rank of Thrones, settled in the left temple and was supposed to remain there all her life so that there was no way to reprimand the victim from him. The last demon Lust, from the order of Cherubim, settled in the right temple; this one was supposed to pierce the nun's left leg on its way out.

Isabella Blanchard was attacked by six demons. One of them - Astaroth - settled under the girl’s right arm. The image of this demon is very reminiscent of the image of Asmodeus, whom we described above, only he has one head, human, and also human legs. Beelzebub himself fit under Isabella's left arm. The third demon, who called himself the Coal of Evil, settled on the left thigh, the fourth, the Lion of Hell, under the navel. Fifth, Peru, under the heart. The sixth, Maru, is under the left breast.

We believe that further systematic listing would be tedious for readers, and therefore we borrow only the most curious things from a conscientious list of possessed persons and their demons, compiled by the persons who carried out the investigation. Magdalene Beliar announced that she had three rose leaves in her stomach, and Martha Thibault that she had a drop of water in her stomach; In both cases, these things were guarded by demons. For some possessed people, the devils did not choose a specific place of residence, but wandered throughout the body. The spellcasters chose very curious signs as a sign of the origin of some demons. So, for example, one of the demons expelled from Sister Agnes had to pull the kamilavka from the head of the royal commissioner Lobardemont, who was present at the exorcisms, and hold it over the head of this dignitary all the time while the Miserere was sung, etc.

Such was the army of demons that attacked the Ursulines of Loudun, who all unanimously accused Urban Grandier of having cast a spell on them.

Since the spring of 1632, there were already rumors in the city that something strange was going on with the nuns. For example, they jumped out of bed at night and, like sleepwalkers, wandered around the house and even climbed on the roofs. At night, various ghosts also appeared to them. One of these ghosts said the most indecent things to a young nun. Some people were brutally beaten at night, and these beatings left obvious marks on their bodies. Some nuns felt that someone was touching them both day and night, and these touches caused them the greatest horror.

Abbot Mignon, having learned about these mysterious phenomena, was very alarmed, or, what would be more correct, very happy, because this whole incident put in his hands a powerful weapon to defeat his mortal enemy and hater, Urban Grandier. He himself immediately took the view, of course, that his nuns were under a spell, that they were possessed by the devil; All external signs indicated this. He, however, pretended that he did not dare to suspect his fierce enemy of such villainy. At the same time, not wanting to take sole responsibility in such a delicate matter, he resorted to the assistance of a certain Father Barre, who was famous for his learning and the highest virtues. By general advice, they decided to begin exorcisms, and opened their own pious company, starting with the Mother Superior. However, their first attempts were not crowned with the slightest success. They began to reprimand her on October 2, but only on October 5, during the third session, some effect was revealed: the possessed woman went into convulsions and the devil answered the question by saying his name. When he was ordered to leave her alone, instead of obeying, he subjected the unfortunate woman to a terrible shaking, during which she howled and gnashed her teeth.

On October 6th we took on Clara Sasili. The devil, who had settled inside her, briefly broke down, announced his name - Zabulon. Continuing the countdown, the priests asked the devil: under what agreement, i.e. With whom was the prisoner did the demon enter the monastery? The possessed woman answered that on October 1, when she went to bed, there were five nuns near her and one of them was reading some kind of spiritual book. The possessed woman lay covered with a blanket and suddenly felt that someone grabbed her right hand, which was under the blanket, straightened her fingers, put something on her palm and squeezed her hand. The frightened nun screamed and extended her hand to the sisters. They opened her hand and found three hawthorn thorns in it. The nuns who saw these thorns said that they were the length of an ordinary pin and as thick as a stocking needle. These thorns were not thrown, they were preserved and were handed over to Abbot Mignov. He did not know what to do with them, and gathered a whole council of clergy to resolve this important issue. They deliberated for a long time and decided that these thorns should be thrown into the fire by the abbess herself. Apparently, the nuns believed that with the burning of these devilish thorns the evil spirit itself would be removed from the monastery, but it turned out just the opposite. From that moment on, all the nuns literally went crazy and screamed all day long, spewing blasphemy against every shrine and public abuse.

Meanwhile, rumors about everything that was happening in the monastery had already spread throughout the city, and Abbot Mignon considered it necessary to notify the civil authorities about this. The local judge and the so-called lieutenant civil came to the monastery in order to be personal witnesses of the strange phenomena that were happening to the nuns. The authorities made their visit on October 11th. Abbot Mignon led them into one of the monastery cells, where two possessed people lay on beds: the abbess and another nun. Around their beds stood Carmelite monks and nuns; Surgeon Mannuri was there. When the authorities entered, Sister Zhanna immediately had a seizure. She tossed about and began to grunt like a pig with inimitable perfection. Then she hunched over on the bed, clenched her teeth and fell into a numb state. Then Abbot Mignon put his thumb and forefinger into her mouth and began to read exorcisms. Then, at the request of the judge, the abbot began asking her questions in Latin, to which the possessed woman also answered in Latin. It goes without saying that these questions were addressed directly to the devil, and he gave the answers through the lips of the possessed woman. We present here this curious conversation between the abbot and the devil.

Why did you enter the body of this girl? - asked the abbot.

Out of malice,” answered the demon.

Which way?

Through flowers.

Who sent them?

Tell me his last name?

Grandier.

Tell me who is he?

Priest.

Which church?

St. Peter's.

Who gave him flowers?

In the following days, the judge and other city officials were invariably present at all exorcisms. On October 31, the abbess fell into a particularly severe attack of convulsions and rage. Foam came out of her mouth in clouds. The exorcisms were read by the aforementioned Father Barre. The caster asked the demon when he would come out of the possession, and he answered: “Tomorrow morning.” When the exorcist asked why he was stubborn and did not want to come out immediately, the devil answered in incoherent Latin words: “Pactum, sacerdos, finis”... After that, the possessed woman was again terribly shaken, and then she calmed down and said with a smile to Father Barre: “Now There is no longer Satan in me."

Meanwhile, Urban Grandier. Seeing that he was brought onto the stage as the main instigator in this whole matter, he realized what a terrible threat he was under, and tried to avert the storm hanging over his head from his head. He hastened to file a complaint that he had been slandered. He had strong friends, and with their help he managed to put the case out for a while. His main intercessor turned out to be the Metropolitan, Monsignor de Sourdi. He acquitted Grandier and forbade Father Mignon to perform further exorcisms in the monastery, entrusting them henceforth to Father Barre, as assistants to whom he sent two experienced exorcists, monks Leske and Go. Moreover, there was a ban on anyone else intervening in this matter.

Meanwhile, the demons that possessed the nuns continued their work; most importantly, when asked who exactly sent them to attack the possessed, they continued to stubbornly point to Urban Grandier. It may, of course, seem outlandish how the devils themselves exposed their faithful servant, leading him to the fire. But this was already the general belief of that time; with the power of the devil's spells it was possible to force him to do anything, to break all his stubbornness. The pious exorcists were horrified by the monstrous sin into which Urban, the altar server, fell, but, remembering his sinful and full of temptations life, they only shook their heads; Anything, they say, can happen if a person behaves so badly. It must be assumed that the clergy who performed exorcisms, under the influence of Father Mignon, who was not friends with Grandier, gradually spread rumors among the people about what was happening in the monastery and what the devils inside the nuns were talking about. The city authorities were friends with Grandier and were ready to extinguish the matter, but popular rumor grew and grew and began to loudly demand retribution for the altar server who had given himself over to the devils. News of the Loudun incidents finally reached Paris, and then the king.

King Louis XIII might have approached the matter with caution, but he was obviously under pressure from the all-powerful Cardinal Richelieu. The temporary worker had his own reasons for disliking Grandier. A young, arrogant and impudent priest wrote a poisonous libel about him. From the correspondence seized from Grandier, his authorship, previously only suspected, was finally established. It is not difficult to guess that the irritated Richelieu treated his offender without any mercy. Probably, the attention with which the king treated this matter should be attributed to the influence of the cardinal. He sent the local provincial intendant Lobardemont to Loudun and gave him the broadest powers to investigate and conduct the case. Laubardemont took on his assignment all the more diligently because one of the most suffered Ursulines, namely the abbess herself, was a relative of his. Moreover, he was an ardent and devoted admirer of Richelieu and, knowing something about the above-mentioned pamphlet, decided to take a good look at Urban in order to thoroughly investigate, among other things, about this, i.e. about his authorship.

Meanwhile, the manifestations of obsession first subsided a little, and then, in the middle of the summer of 1633, they violently resumed again, and most importantly, this time they did not fit into one Ursuline monastery, but spread throughout the city. The infection gradually penetrated even into the outskirts of the city, and girls appeared everywhere, showing more or less impressive signs of obsession. Two of these possessed people were reprimanded by Father Barre in the presence of Laubardemont, who thus stocked up with good factual material that was very useful to him. After that, he deliberately went to Paris, introduced himself to the king, reported to him about the matter and received new unlimited powers to investigate and conduct the case.

In December 1633, Laubardemont returned with these powers to Loudun. First of all, he arrested Grandier, sending him first to Angers, and then adapted a special room in Loudun for his detention. Of course, special security measures were taken for such a special prisoner; the windows in his prison were covered with bricks, and the door was sealed with the strongest iron bars; This was done, of course, out of fear that the devils might come to his rescue and rescue him from prison; in this regard, the authorities of that time showed great naivety.

While Grandier was serving time in his prison, they took on the possessed and began to reprimand them. As we have already said, the number of these innocent victims of the evil one has increased significantly, and it was decided to place them separately in different houses in the city under the supervision of reliable persons. A whole commission of doctors was convened to study the phenomena discovered by the possessed during acute attacks of demonic possession; a pharmacist and a surgeon were assigned to them. At first two monks were appointed, but then they soon saw that two of them could not cope, and four assistants were added to them.

Every day the demons added and added various new interesting readings. All this had to be verified by confronting the possessed with Urban. At first he refused to answer any accusations, but then gradually began to talk. An extremely important accusatory article of the sorcerer, as we already mentioned in the first section, was the “seal of the devil”, i.e. special signs on the sorcerer’s body, most often anesthetized areas, i.e. those where no pain was felt. And so the devils, through the mouths of their victims, showed that they had placed several such seals on Urban’s body; a council of doctors tested these diabolical claims, and, alas, they were justified; Urban had four insensitive areas on his body. “In diabus natibus circa anum et duobus testiculis,” the examination report says. This eliminated all doubts about Grandier’s witchcraft profession.

They approached the devil Asmodeus (who was sitting in the abbess Anne Desanges) and insisted that he say how and when he concluded an agreement with Urban Grandier. The conscientious demon, who did not want to betray his faithful servant, at first completely refused to answer these questions; but they pressed him with exorcisms and ordered him to deliver a copy of the agreement he had concluded with Grandier. A copy was handed over to the possessed investigative commission. It would be interesting to know whose product this document was, but, of course, the trial records are silent about this. For fun, here is a literal translation of this document:

“Lord and master, I recognize you as my god and promise to serve you as long as I live, and from this time on I deny myself from all others, from Jesus Christ, and Mary, and from all the heavenly saints, and from the Apostolic Roman Catholic Church, and from all her deeds and prayers that can be performed for my sake, and I promise to worship you and serve you at least three times daily, and to cause as much evil as possible, and to involve in the commission of evil everyone whom I can, and from the bottom of my heart I renounce anointing and baptism, and from all the grace of Jesus Christ, and in case I decide to convert, I give you power over my body and soul and life, as if I received it from you, and I concede it to you forever, without intending to repent.

Signed in blood: “Urban Grandier.”

After some time, the same Asmodeus handed over a new document to the judges through the possessed woman. He indicates what signs on the body of the possessed will mark the exit of himself and other demons from their body. The document was signed with his name.

The verification of this document in practice was of great interest and was carried out in one of the city churches with special solemnity, in the presence of a whole crowd of townspeople who watched with reverent curiosity the miracle taking place before their eyes. Asmodeus in his document indicated exactly what signs would appear on the body of the possessed woman (Anna Desanges) - we have already mentioned these signs above. The ceremony began with a preliminary examination. The doctors examined the possessed woman and made sure that there were no signs on her body in the places indicated by Asmodeus. After that, the exorcist, Father Lactantius, began exorcisms. The possessed woman made some incredible and supernatural bend of her body, then straightened up, and then there was blood on her hand, on her clothes and on her body. The doctors examined her again and found on her body the same incisions that were indicated in Asmodeus’s paper. How they were convinced that it was not she herself who scratched herself during her writhing - history is silent about this.

After all these preliminary tests, it was decided to confront Urban publicly with all the possessed. This bet took place on June 23, in the church, in the presence of the local bishop Lobardemont and a large audience.

Urban was read the testimony made against him by the possessed, i.e. their demons. The main point was the indications of those potions that served as means of magic. One of them, according to the testimony of the demon Leviathan, was composed: of particles of meat taken from the heart of an innocent baby, slaughtered during a Sabbath that took place in Orleans in 1631; from the ashes of a burnt sacrament wafer and from blood and some other substance taken from Urban Grandier. With the help of this drug, Leviathan, according to his testimony, entered the body of the possessed; but how exactly was this drug used? It was probably assumed that Urban rubbed the mixture on his treacherous rose branch. We probably can't say. Another potion was made from orange and pomegranate seeds, and with its help Asmodeus infiltrated the possessed woman.

All this was read to Urban, and he was asked to explain. He calmly answered that he had no idea about such drugs, had never made them, did not know how or why, they were made and used, that he had never entered into any communication with the devil and could not understand at all what they were talking about. , they tell him and what they want from him. His answer was written down, and Grandier signed it. After this, the possessed were brought in.

Seeing Urban, all his intended victims expressed their joy with cheerful exclamations, made friendly signs to him and called him their “master.” Obviously, demons did this for the possessed. This means that they directly betrayed their servant and loyal friend to his fierce enemies?.. But we will not comment, but will simply state the case according to the court records.

The most solemn moment of the confrontation has arrived. One of the exorcists addressed the people with an exhortation to “raise their hearts with all diligence to the Lord and accept the blessing of the Bishop.” The Bishop blessed those present. Then the same exorcist announced that the church was obliged to come to the aid of the unfortunate possessed and, with the help of established prayers, drive out demons from them. Following this, turning to Urban Grandier, the speaker said that since he, Urban, was himself invested with holy orders, he must, for his part, if the bishop permits, read these prayers over the possessed, if he is possessed by them, as he assures, he is not at all guilty and is not involved in it. It was a deft maneuver; Urban was ordered to cast out the demons he himself had unleashed. The bishop immediately expressed his permission, and the orator-exorcist handed the epitrachelion to Urban to the table.

But as soon as he put on the sacred vestment, the demons, through the lips of the possessed, all cried out in one voice: “You have renounced this!” Not embarrassed by these cries, Grandier accepted the breviary from the hands of the monk and, bowing to the ground to the bishop, asked for his blessing to begin the exorcisms. When the bishop gave his blessing and the choir performed the usual chant on these occasions (“Veni Creator”), Grandier asked the bishop who should he reprimand? The bishop pointed out to him a crowd of possessed virgins. Grandier remarked to this that since the church believes in possession, then he should believe in it; but that he doubts whether a person can be made possessed by force, against his will, without his desire. Then cries arose from all sides that Urban was a heretic because he denied the indisputable provisions accepted by the church and approved by the Sorbonne. Grandier objected that he does not present his opinion as final, that he only doubts and that doubt is not heresy, for heresy is persistence in one’s opinion, which is contrary to church teaching. If he now decided to express this doubt, it was only to hear from the bishop’s lips that he was wrong, that his fears were in vain and that by performing exorcisms he would not do anything contrary to the teachings of the church.