Urbain Grandier facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Urbain Grandier
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Grandier in 1627
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| Born | 1590 |
| Died | 18 August 1634 (aged 43–44) Loudun, Kingdom of France
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| Cause of death | Execution by burning |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | Priest |
| Criminal charge(s) | Witchcraft |
Urbain Grandier (1590 – 18 August 1634) was a French Catholic priest. He was sadly burned at the stake after being found guilty of witchcraft. This happened during a strange time known as the "Loudun possessions". Many people today believe Grandier was unfairly targeted. They think he was a victim of political enemies, especially the powerful Cardinal Richelieu.
The story of Father Grandier's trial and execution has captured the interest of many writers and artists. These include authors like Alexandre Dumas père and Aldous Huxley. Filmmakers like Ken Russell and composers such as Krzysztof Penderecki have also explored his story. Historians and scholars of European witchcraft continue to study his case.
Contents
Who Was Urbain Grandier?
Early Life and Career
Urbain Grandier went to school at the Jesuit college in Bordeaux. His uncle was a priest who had connections with the Jesuits there. In 1617, the Jesuits chose Grandier to be the parish priest for the Church of Saint-Pierre-du-Marche in Loudun. He also became a canon at the Church of Sainte Croix, also in Loudun.
These important jobs helped him support his widowed mother and his brothers and sisters. Getting these two good positions instead of a local person caused some hard feelings. Both of these church jobs were in the Diocese of Poitiers. Around 1629 or 1630, there were rumors about Grandier's personal life and relationships.
Strange Accusations
In 1632, some nuns from the local Ursuline convent made serious accusations against Grandier. They claimed he had used witchcraft to control them. They said he sent demons, like Asmodai, to bother them.
One of the nuns, Mother Jeanne, was said to be angry because Grandier had turned her down. She then invited Canon Jean Mignon, who was an enemy of Grandier, to be their new spiritual guide. Soon, other nuns started making similar claims. However, some people, like Monsieur des Niau, thought the accusations were not real.
The Archbishop of Bordeaux stepped in. He ordered the nuns to be kept separate from others. After this, the strange events of "possession" seemed to stop.
A Powerful Enemy
Grandier had made a powerful enemy in Cardinal Richelieu. Richelieu was the chief minister of France. He was working to make the king's power stronger across the country. The king had ordered the walls around Loudun to be torn down. This was part of a plan to centralize power.
People in Loudun had different ideas about this. Some wanted to keep the walls for protection. Others thought they should trust the central government. Grandier supported those who wanted to keep the walls. Also, Grandier had written a book that criticized priests not being allowed to marry. He had also written a very critical satire about Cardinal Richelieu.
Around the time the nuns made their accusations, a man named M. Jean de Laubardemont was sent to Loudun. He was a relative of the Mother Superior of the convent. His job was to tear down the town tower. But the town's local guards stopped him. When he went back to Paris, he told Richelieu about the problems in Loudun. This included the strange events at the Ursuline convent. In November 1633, Laubardemont was given the job of looking into the matter. Grandier was arrested and put in prison.
The Trial and Its Outcome
Laubardemont returned to Loudun with a special order from the King's Council. This order gave him full power and stopped other judges from getting involved. It also prevented anyone from appealing the decision. Grandier was brought back to Loudun from prison. The questioning of witnesses and the exorcisms of the nuns continued.
After Grandier was tortured, some papers were shown as proof. These papers supposedly had his signature and the signatures of several demons. They were meant to show he had made a pact with the Devil. It is not clear if Grandier signed these papers because he was forced, or if they were fake.
Grandier was found guilty and sentenced to death. The judges ordered him to be put to "extraordinary question," which was a very painful form of torture. He was also subjected to a device called the Spanish boot. This was an iron clamp that was heated red-hot and put on his legs to cause severe pain. Even after all this torture, Grandier never admitted to witchcraft. He was then burned alive at the stake.
Many ideas exist about what really caused the Loudun "possessions." One common idea is that Cardinal Richelieu planned the whole thing. He wanted to get rid of Grandier. Aldous Huxley's book, The Devils of Loudun (1952), and the movie based on it, The Devils (1971), suggest the nuns' accusations were part of a collective hysteria.
Historians like Augustin Calmet compared this case to other similar events. They believed the Loudun case looked more like a fake possession than a real one. They thought the injustice at Loudun was caused by a mix of political goals, a desire for attention, and a wish to remove political enemies.
The "Devil's Pact"
One of the documents used as proof during Grandier's trial was a "diabolical pact." It was written in Latin and seemed to be signed by Grandier. Another document looked hard to read. It was written backwards in Latin and had strange symbols. This document was supposedly signed by several demons, including Satan himself. It has since been translated and published in many books about witchcraft.
Grandier in Books and Movies
The story of Urbain Grandier has inspired many creative works:
- An 18th-century book by historian Nicholas Aubin explored the Loudun events. It was called "The Cheats and Illusions of Romish Priests and Exorcists Discovered in the History of the Devils of Loudun."
- Alexandre Dumas, père wrote about Grandier in his book Crimes Célèbres (1840) and a novel, Urbain Grandier (1850).
- The Swedish author Eyvind Johnson based his 1949 novel Drömmar om rosor och eld on Grandier and the Loudun possessions.
- Aldous Huxley wrote a famous book about the case called The Devils of Loudun (1952).
- Huxley's book was turned into a play by John Whiting in 1961.
- The play was made into a movie called The Devils in 1971, directed by Ken Russell.
- The story also became an opera in 1969 by Krzysztof Penderecki, called Die Teufel von Loudun.
- The Polish film Matka Joanna od Aniołów (1961) was also inspired by this story.
- The band Elvenking has a song called "Grandier's Funeral Pyre" (2014).
- The band Inkubus Sukkubus has a song called "Devils" (1993).
- The death metal band Morbid Angel used Grandier's life as a theme for their album Covenant.
- Grandier is played by Oliver Reed in the 1971 film The Devils.
- In the novel The Element of Fire by Martha Wells, a character named Urbain Grandier is a body-stealing former priest.
See also
- List of people executed for witchcraft
Sources
- Huxley, Aldous (1953). The Devils of Loudun.
- Robbins, Rossell Hope (1959). The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc. (see article on Urbain Grandier)
