Louviers possessions
5033818
223903948
2008-07-06T12:48:03Z
Lightbot
7178666
Units/dates/other
The [[Demonic possession|possessions]] at [[Louviers]] ([[Normandy, France]]), similar to [[Aix-en-Provence possessions|those in Aix-en-Provence]], occurred at the Louviers Convent in 1647. As with both the Aix case and its later counterpart in [[Loudun]], the conviction of the priests involved hinged on the confessions of possessed demoniacs.
==Accusations at Louviers==
Sister Madeleine Bavent was 18 years old in the year of 1647; the initial possession victim, she claimed to have been bewitched by Mathurin Picard, the [[Abbey|nunnery's]] director, and Father Thomas Boulle, the [[vicar]] at Louviers. Her confession to authorities claimed that the two men had abducted her and taken her to a [[Sabbath (witchcraft)|witches' sabbat]]. There, she was married to the [[Devil]], whom she called Dagon, and committed sexual acts with him on the [[altar]]. Two men were allegedly [[Crucifixion|crucified]] and [[Disembowelment|disemboweled]] as these acts took place.
Madeleine's confession prompted the investigation, which found that other nuns were also victims of Picard and Boulle; they, too, had been taken to secret sabbats where sexual intercourse with [[demon]]s, particularly Dagon, took place. The confessions of these nuns were accompanied by what investigators believed were classic signs of demonic possession: [[contortion]]s, unnatural body movements, [[Glossolalia|speaking in tongues (glossolalia)]], obscene insults, [[Blasphemy|blasphemies]], and the appearance of unexplainable wounds that vanished without aid.
Beyond mere symptoms of possession, the body of Sister Barbara of St. Michael was said to be possessed by a specific demon named Ancitif.
==Exorcisms at Louviers==
As in the decade earlier case at Loudun, the [[exorcism]]s at Louviers were a public spectacle. Nearly every person present at the exorcisms was questioned by the [[inquisitor]]s, and the entire town of Louviers began exhibiting symptoms of [[hysteria]] as the cries of the nuns undergoing exorcism rose with the screams of Father Boulle, who was [[torture]]d during the exorcisms. Mathurin Picard had died previous to the public display.
Father Bosroger recorded the proceedings, which he would publish in 1652. In his account, nuns were said to confess further evidence against Picard and Boulle. In addition to tempting them into sexual acts, [[Satan]] (in the form of Picard and Boulle) had also tried leading the nuns down the road of [[heresy]]. Appearing to the nuns as a beautiful [[angel]], the [[Devil]] engaged them in [[Theology|theological]] conversations so clever that they began to doubt their own teachings. When told that this was not the same information they had been taught, Satan replied that he was a messenger of heaven and had been sent to reveal the fatal errors in accepted [[dogma]].
Signs of possession continued throughout the exorcisms. One witness wrote that a nun "ran with movements so abrupt that it was difficult to stop her. One of the clerics present, having caught her by the arm, was surprised to find that it did not prevent the rest of her body from turning over and over as if the arm were fixed to the shoulder merely by a spring."
==Punishment at Louviers==
As hysteria rose, it seemed inevitable that a trial would occur and Father Boulle's fate would be sealed. During the exorcisms, though, [[parliament]] at [[Rouen]] passed sentence: Sister Madeleine Bavent would be imprisoned for life in the church dungeon, Father Thomas Boulle would be burnt alive, and the corpse of Mathurin Picard would be exhumed and burned.
==Catalogue at Louviers==
After the nuns at Louviers were afflicted, authorities undertook the task of cataloguing the symptoms of demonic possession. The treatise they developed included fifteen indications of true possession:
#To think oneself possessed.
#To lead a wicked life.
#To live outside the rules of society.
#To be persistently ill, falling into heavy sleep and vomiting unusual objects (either such natural objects as toads, serpents, maggots, iron, stones, and so forth; or such artificial objects as nails, pins, etc.).
#To utter obscenities and blasphemies.
#To be troubled with [[spirit]]s ("an absolute and inner possession and residence in the body of the person").
#To show a frightening and horrible countenance.
#To be tired of living.
#To be uncontrollable and violent.
#To make sounds and movements like an animal.
#To deny knowledge of fits after the paroxysm has ended.
#To show fear of sacred [[relic]]s and [[sacrament]]s.
#To cursing violently at any [[prayer]].
#To exhibit acts of lewd exposure or abnormal strength.
==Modern viewpoints==
It is widely believed today that the Louviers Possessions, similar in many ways to those at Aix-en-Provence (1611), Lille (1613), and Loudun (1634) were part of a political and religious "show" in France.
They also differ from later cases of possession and [[witch-hunt]] hysteria like that in [[England]] and [[Colonial America]] in that they involve lurid sex themes. During the exorcisms at Louviers, nuns were seen to raise their habits and beg for sexual attention, use vulgar language, and make lascivious movements. In the earlier case at Loudun, a local doctor named Claude Quillet wrote, "These poor little devils of nuns, seeing themselves shut up within four walls, become madly in love, fall into a melancholic [[delirium]], worked upon by the desires of the flesh, and in truth, what they need to be perfectly cured is a remedy of the flesh.”
Most demonic possessions in [[France]] of this period (from the early to late 17th century) were of young women and appeared most often in the convents. [[Physician]]s and [[psychologist]]s today attribute much of the activities to sexual hysteria, alluded to so long ago by Quillet.
Extreme [[seizure]]s explained in the 17th century are today believed to point to [[epilepsy]] and similar diseases. In the time-frame of the cases in France, demonic possession served as a catchall explanation for any personality anomaly.
==See also==
*[[Aix-en-Provence possessions]]
*[[Loudun possessions]]
*[[Malleus Maleficarum]]
*[[Christian views on witchcraft]]
*[[Witchhunt]]
*[[Execution by burning]]
*[[The Eye (King Diamond album)]]
==References==
* Summers, Montague. ''The Geography of Witchcraft''. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Truner & Co. Ltd., 1927
* Michelet, Jules. ''Satanism and Witchcraft''. Translated by A.R. Allinson. 1939. Reprint, Secaucus, N.J.: Citadel Press, 1992
{{Witch Hunt}}
[[Category:1647 in law]]
[[Category:Inquisition]]
[[Category:Witchcraft]]
[[Category:17th century in France]]
[[Category:Witch trials]]