Devil of Loudun

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The affair of the so-called devils of Loudun, or the possessed of Loudun, was a witch hunt initiated by Cardinal Richelieu in the 1630s against the Catholic priest Urbain Grandier , pastor of the Sainte Croix church in Loudun in the Diocese of Poitiers in France .

history

In 1632 the nuns of the Convent of the Ursulines of Loudun accused the priest Urbain Grandier of having been bewitched by him. The latter had directed an impetuous pamphlet against Richelieu and steadfastly opposed the destruction of the city walls which he demanded. At Richelieu's request, a witch trial was initiated against him, numerous expulsions of devils were carried out on the nuns, and on August 18, 1634 Urbain Grandier was sentenced to death , tortured and burned .

The memoirs of the nun Jeanne des Anges and Johanna von den Engeln (Madame de Beclier), which first appeared in French in 1866 under the title Autobiographie d'une Hystérique Possédée , provide important information about the events .

Books, films and settings

literature

  • Michel de Certeau : La possession de Loudun from (1970), reprinted in 2005 by Gallimard in the Folio Histoire collection
  • Rosa Schudel-Benz: The possessed of Loudun. A trial from the time of Richelieu. Beck, Munich, 1927 (Stern und Unstern. A Collection of Strange Fates and Adventures, 9th book)
  • Nicolas Aubin : History of the Devils of Loudun or the Obsession of the Ursulines and of the Condemnation and Punishment of Urbain Grandier, pastor of the same city. Birkenau / Scheden, Emig / Gauke, undated (Materials on the Phenomenon of "Evil", Volume 1) (Nicolas Aubin was a Protestant pastor and emigrated from Nantes to Holland after the Edict was revoked .)
  • Memoirs of Jeanne des Anges (Madame de Beclier):
    • Soeur Jeanne des Anges: Autobiography d'une Hystérique Possédée. Paris 1886
    • Jeanne des Anges (= Madame de Beclier): Memoirs of a woman possessed. Edited by Hanns Heinz Ewers . Stuttgart: Lutz 1911, 2nd edition ( Rara: a library of the peculiar ; Vol. 2).
    • Jeanne (des Anges): Memoirs of a possessed woman. With an essay on 2 other cases of religious madness, [novel]. Soeur Jeanne. Edited by Michael Favin, Nördlingen: Greno-Taschenbuch-Verlag 1989; ISBN 3891909144

Fiction

  • Willibald Alexis: Urban Grandier or the possessed of Loudun. Novel. 1843.
  • Eyvind Johnson : dreams of roses and fire ( Drommar om rosor och eld ). 1949.
  • Aldous Huxley : The Devils of Loudon ( The devils of Loudun ). 1952.

music

Opera

  • Krzysztof Penderecki : The Devils of Loudun Opera in three acts. After The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley in the dramatization by John Whiting. Mainz, London a. New York, B. Schott's Sons, (1969). Using the German translation by Erich Fried . Text book. Edition Schott 6356. (The opera was commissioned by the Hamburg State Opera.)

Other

  • Undead : The Nuns of Loudun (2007 double album)
  • Schloss Tegal : The Brides of Loudun (from the album The Soul Extinguished)

Film and television film

See also

Web links