The Loudun possessions, also known as the Loudun possessed affair (French: affaire des possédées de Loudun), was a notorious witchcraft trial that took place in Loudun, Kingdom of France, in 1634. A convent of Ursuline nuns said they had been visited and possessed by demons. Following an investigation by the Catholic Church, a local priest named Urbain Grandier was accused of summoning the evil spirits. He was eventually convicted of the crimes of sorcery and burned at the stake.[1]
The case contains similar themes to other witchcraft trials that occurred throughout western Europe in the 17th century, such as the Aix-en-Provence possessions (France) in 1611 or the Pendle witches (England) in 1612 before reaching the New World by the 1690s.
- ^ Sluhovsky, Moshe (2002). "The Devil in the Convent". The American Historical Review. 107 (5): 1379–411. doi:10.1086/532851. JSTOR 10.1086/532851.