Two exceedingly rare pamphlets about the "Loudon possessions", a case of mass hysteria surrounding the supposed demonic possession of Ursuline nuns that took place in the western French town of Loudun in 1634. The affair led to the trial of a local priest, Urbain Grandier, who was accused of witchcraft. Interestingly, these two pamphlets are by an anonymous partisan of the accused priest.
The possession cases began in 1632 when several nuns at the local Ursuline convent claimed to be possessed by demons. The nuns accused Grandier, a charismatic and controversial figure in Loudun, of casting spells on them and making them his witches. Grandier, who had gained the enmity of the powerful Cardinal Richelieu, was arrested and put on trial, despite a lack of evidence against him. The trial was riddled with corruption and political intrigue, and Grandier was ultimately found guilty and sentenced to death by burning at the stake. His execution took place on 18 August 1634.
While 18th century accounts of the famous trial such as those by De La Menardaye were popular, contemporary accounts are almost unobtainable. Neither pamphlet has appeared in auction records, and there are very few institutional holdings.
The spine and corners of the boards are rubbed, the title-label is slightly chipped. Numbers in the upper corners of the leaves indicate that these two works were likely removed from a sammelband containing multiple works. Internally slightly browned, an older typed description has been mounted with tape to the recto of the first free flyleaf. Otherwise in good condition. Ad 1: Caillet 4718; Coumont F7.1; WorldCat 467111589, 705771905 (7 copies); Yve-Plessis 1285; Ad 2: Coumont R31.1; WorldCat 1254612433 (2 copies); Yve-Plessis 1286; cf. for more information about Grandier and the Loudun Nuns, see: Robbins, The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology, pp. 312-317; Both ads not in Barbier, Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes; Rosenthal, Bibliotheca Magica et Pneumatica; Thorndike (Grandier and the Ursulines only mentioned once in general, vol VIII p. 583); Ad 2 not in Caillet.