The Devils of Loudun [Paperback]

Aldous Huxley recreates in a masterful evocation the historical events in Loudun: 'hysterical' nuns accuse the secular priest Urbain Grandier of being a sorcerer. He is condemned and burnt at the stake.

The author depicts masterly 'the superstition, fanaticism and professional self-interest of the ecclesiastics in the affair. 'Their goal was 'to justify the future use of inquisitional methods in every case where hysterical nuns could be induced by their confessors to accuse the enemies of the regime.'
The hysterism was faked. Physisians found no evidence of possession by devils, only sometimes 'furor uterinus'.

The grueling but deeply moving execution of the priest as well as the crowd delirium during and after it with fighting for relics, is a brutal but formidable evocation worth the magical paintings of a Hieronymus Bosch.

Huxley gives also a deadly blow to the nostalgics and sentimentalists of medieval village life. That life 'was an enormous horror ... a society that periodically lynches its witches proclaims its faith in magic and fear for the devil.'

He draws also a perfect comparison between the methods of Richelieu's totalitarian dictatorship and more modern political regimes and show trials for 'all the evils of religion can flourish without any belief in the supernatural; convinced materialists are ready to worship their own Absolute, and self-styled humanists will present their adversaries with all the zeal of the Inquisition.'
His ironic style becomes sometimes very cynical: 'For the totalitarians of our more enlightened century there is no soul and no Creator; there is merely a lump of physiological raw material moulded by conditional reflexes and social pressures into what is still called a human being. This product exists for Society and must conform to the Collective Will which is merely by the dictator's will to power.'

This is a formidable historical and very topical recreation of a most exemplary medieval trial.

I also recommand highly Ken Russell's movie 'The Devils', as well as the works of Jean Delumeau on the Middle Ages and William Manchester's masterly 'A World only lit by Fire'.

I read this a couple of years ago........ This book is written in Huxley's usual learned style. I would find it difficult to classify it solely as a novel or an historic piece of non-fiction. It's main subject is that of a supposed mass possession of a town in France and the subsequent burning of it's promiscuous clergyman. However, Huxley deals with all facets of this: Life in France at the time of Cardinal Richelieu, especially pertaining to the persecution of Hugenots; Mass possession and hysteria; Concepts of the Holy Trinity; Religious experiences; as well as insights into other aspects of life at the time. It is not an easy read, sometimes with chapter long (though very interesting) digressions, but this is something expected from a man like Huxley. Not all the passages of Latin and French are translated, so if you are not a francophone or classicist, this may frustrate you. With numerous references to works dating back a few hundred years, it is well-researched and the citations provide a bibliography of interesting texts. I recommend this book to anyone interested in some of the topics mentioned above, or anyone (like me), who cannot get enough of Huxley's inimitable style. By the way, there is a film based on this book, called The Devils, which, whilst not being a definite classic, is also worth a watch. (Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave star.)

This is a very well researched historical account of hell in this world, by the author of the better known opus Brave New World and The Doors of Perception of Heaven and Hell.
The historical situation of the Catholic Church and the Jesuits, the politics in France during the 17th Century, the downfall of the Huguenots, all constitute the fabric were the personal drama and martyrdom of father Urbain Grandier are sewn.
POLITICAL BACKGROUND: Cardinal Richelieu is directing the policy of France, during the reign of Louis XIII. After Richelieu convinces the King that self-government of small provincial towns must end, the feudal nobility lose their independence by an edict calling for the destruction of their castles and walls, whilst the Hughenots are being crushed by force. One of these towns is Loudun, where the priest (a Jesuit) is Urbain Grandier, an intellectual priest of 35, that knows the meaning and consequences of the edict calling for the destruction of the fortified walls of Loudun. Consequently, when Laubardemont, an agent of the Cardinal Richelieu arrives in the town, he is confronted and stopped by Grandier.
GRANDIER'S VICES: Father Grandier is strikingly handsome and a sensualist. His vows of celibacy have not prevented him from fathering a bastard child with the daughter of Trincant, the town magistrate, and performing an illegal marriage with Madeleine, a young lady with whom he has fallen in love.
THE ANGELICAL DEVIL: The Convent of the Ursulines in Loudun is ruled by Sister Jeanne of the Angels, a young humped back noun, with a beautiful face. She develops an obsession with Grandier and has sensual visions which involve the young priest. When she hears about the illicit marriage, she gets mad and falsely accuses the priest of sorcery and lewdness.
THE CONSPIRACY: Grandier's enemies (Laubardemont, Trincant, Father Mignon and others) grasp the false accusation as the means with which the destruction of the priest can be achieved. They accuse Grandier of sorcery and sent for an exorcist, Father Barre, who starts performing a series of exorcisms never seen before in France. The methods used by him and his assistants to extract the devils reputedly within the bodies of the nuns are base and sadistic. From Sister Jeanne's altered mind come the screams and the behavior that affect the other nuns. From there, collective hysteria spreads and as the nouns bask in their notoriety, their fantasies become more and more unreal. Those who oppose this infernal circus, on the grounds that the exorcists are the ones depraved, deliberately provoking the nouns, are arrested by Laubardemont, who wants to see the matter through. Both Richelieu and his agent are aware of Grandier's innocence but the raison d' Etat calls for the destruction of the young priest.
THE TRIAL AND MARTYRDOM: Not surprisingly, based on the hysterical accusations of the nouns, Grandier and Madeleine are arrested. Grandier is brought to trial and found guilty of sorcery. He is viciously tortured, vainly, in order to extract a confession of his guilt. When Grandier is burnt alive at the stake, in the public square of Loudun, finally the walls of Loudun can be demolished.
BALANCE: A very stirring and moving account of these tragic events, dotted with a psychological analysis of the protagonists of the drama and some insightful reflections about the ruthless workings of politics, this is my favorite Huxley's book. NOT A NOVEL. A SAD HISTORY.