The Encyclopedia Of Demons And Demonology

100 griffin-demon
Grillau, who prayed for him as both of them wept in a
piteous scene. The onlookers were ordered not to pray for
Grandier, for they would be committing a sin.
At the Ursuline convent, the same procedure was repeated,
and Grandier was asked to pardon Jeanne and all
the nuns. He said he had never done them any harm and
could only pray that God would forgive them for what
they had done.
Father René Bernier, who had testified against Grandier,
came forward to ask for Grandier’s forgiveness and
offered to say a mass for him.
The place of execution was the Place Saint-Croix,
which was jammed with spectators. Everyone who had a
window had rented it out to capacity. More spectators sat
on the church’s roof. Guards had to fight a way through
the throng to reach the 15-foot stake driven into the
ground near the north wall of the church. Faggots were
piled at the base of the stake.
Grandier was tied to a small iron seat fastened to the
stake, facing the grandstand, where his enemies drank
wine in celebration. He had been promised strangulation
by the noose around his neck prior to the start of the fire.
The Capuchin friars exorcized the site, including the
wood, straw, and coals that would start the blaze and the
earth, the air, the victim, the executioners, and the spectators.
The exorcisms were done again to prevent the interference
of demons to mitigate Grandier’s suffering and
pain. His death was to be as excruciating as possible.
Grandier made several attempts to speak, but the friars
silenced him with douses of holy water and blows to his
mouth with an iron crucifix. Lactance still demanded a
confession, but Grandier gave none. He asked Lactance for
the “kiss of peace,” customarily granted to the condemned.
At first, Lactance refused, but the crowd protested, and so
he angrily complied, kissing Grandier’s cheek.
Grandier said he would soon meet the judgment of
God, and so, eventually, would Lactance. At that, Lactance
lit the fire, followed by Tranquille and another exorcist,
Father Archangel. The executioner moved quickly
to strangle Grandier but discovered that the noose had
been secretly knotted by the Capuchins so that it could
not be tightened. The friars doused some of the flames
with holy water to exorcise any remaining demons. Left
to burn alive, Grandier began screaming.
A large black fly appeared, which the exorcists took
as a sign of BEELZEBUB, the Lord of the Flies. Grandier’s
body was consumed in flames. Then a flock of pigeons
appeared, wheeling around the fire. Grandier’s enemies
took this as a sign of demons, and his supporters took it
as a sign of the Holy Ghost.
When the fire burned itself out, the executioner shoveled
the ashes to the four cardinal points. Then the crowd
surged forward to scavenge grisly souvenirs of teeth, bits
of bone, and handfuls of ashes, to be used in CHARMs and
spells. The relics of a sorcerer were considered to be quite
powerful. When all were gone, the satisfied crowd dispersed
to eat and drink.
Later, back at the Ursuline convent, Jeanne was exorcized
again. She said the fly was the demon Baruch, who
had been intent on trying to throw the priests’ exorcism
book into the fire. She confirmed that Grandier really had
prayed to Satan, not to God. She said he suffered an excruciating
death thanks to the exorcisms of the priests,
and that he was suffering special torments in HELL.
Jeanne and the other nuns were remorseful about
Grandier and worried that they had sinned. Soon, however,
the priest was forgotten, as the possessions and
exorcisms continued. Tranquille and Lactance suffered
demonic problems themselves and died.
FURTHER READING:
Certeau, Michel de. The Possession at Loudun. Translated by
Michael B. Smith. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
2000.
Ferber, Sarah. Demonic Possession and Exorcism in Early Modern
France. London: Routledge, 2004.
Huxley, Aldous. The Devils of Loudun. New York: Harper and
Brothers, 1952.
griffin-demon An Assyrian guardian against evil spirits.
The griffin-demon is a hybrid with a human body
and bird head and wings. Figurines of griffin-demons
were placed in foundations of houses and palaces to ward
off DEMONs.
grimoires Handbooks of magic that provide instructions
for rituals, the casting of spells, the procuring of
treasure and love, the procuring of FAMILIARs, and the
evocation and control of spirits, including DEMONs and
ANGELs, to perform tasks. Grimoire is a French term for
“grammar book.”
Although any handbook of magic could be called a
grimoire, the term usually applies to specific texts that
claim the magical knowledge of King SOLOMON as their
source. The material in grimoires is heavily derivative of
Hebrew magical and mystical lore, involving the names,
powers, and duties of spirits and the powerful names of
God. Other principal sources are Hellenistic Greek and
Egyptian magical texts and folk magic.
Most of the principal grimoires were written in the
17th and 18th centuries but claimed to be much older.
They were popular well into the 19th century. Printed
on cheap paper, grimoires circulated primarily in France
and Italy. They are still consulted, but modern magicians
have written their own textbooks of magic.
Grimoires give instructions for rituals to conjure and
control spirits and cosmic forces for protection, wealth,
luck, supernatural power, CURSEs on enemies, and so
forth. They instruct the magician on what to wear, what
tools to use, how to purify himself, and what prayers and
incantations to recite at precise astrological times and
various hours of the day and night, according to the ruling
spirits. They give recipes for fumigations, descriptions of
the creation of magic circles, magic triangles, pentacles,
AMULETs, TALISMANs, seals and sigils, instructions on sac-