Urbain Grandier

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Urbain Grandier (born around 1590 in Bouère – 18 August 1634 in Loudun) was a French Catholic priest who was burned at the stake after being convicted of witchcraft, following the events of the so-called "Loudun possessions". Some modern commentators, notably Aldous Huxley in his historical account The Devils of Loudun, have concluded that Grandier was the victim of a politically motivated persecution led by the powerful Cardinal Richelieu. The circumstances of Father Grandier's trial and execution have attracted the attention of writers Alexandre Dumas père, Eyvind Johnson, and Aldous Huxley, the playwright John Whiting, filmmaker Ken Russell, composers such as Krzysztof Penderecki and Peter Maxwell Davies, as well as historian Jules Michelet and various scholars of European witchcraft.

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