The History of the Devils of Loudun: The Alleged Possession of the Ursuline Nuns, and the Trial and Execution of Urbain Grandier told by an Eye-Witness by Edmund Goldsmid

Paperback: This book (2018) contains all three volumes of Edmund Goldsmid's The History of the Devils of Loudun (1887), which deals with the purported demonic possession, sexual repression, religious fanaticism, and mass hysteria that occurred in the small town of Loudun in seventeenth-century France. 

This volume concentrates on the Roman Catholic priest called Urbain Grandier and the members of a convent containing Ursuline nuns who claim to have been possessed by demons as a result of a deal made between Grandier and Satan, examining eye-witness accounts and other evidence related to the events. 

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

The History of the Devils of Loudun will appeal to those with an interest in occult subjects and notable historical cases related to purported occult subjects in particular. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with the original text and artwork.

It is translated from the original French, La Veritable Histoire des Diables de Loudun, De la possession des Religieuses Ursulines, et de la Condamnation d'Urbain Grandier, par un témoin.

About the writer: It is written by an eye-witness, an actor in the scenes described in the book. The eye-witness's name is Monsieur des Niau, Counsellor at la Flèche and a firm believer in the absurd charges brought against the priest, Grandier.