Transcriber's Note. A list of the changes made can be found at the end of the book. Formatting and special characters are indicated as follows: _italic_ THE DEVILS OF LOUDUN. [COLLECTANEA ADAMANTÆA.--XXI.] THE HISTORY OF THE Devils of Loudun, _The Alleged Possession of the Ursuline Nuns, and the Trial and Execution of Urbain Grandier_, TOLD BY AN EYE-WITNESS. TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL FRENCH, AND Edited by EDMUND GOLDSMID, F.R.H.S., F.S.A. (Scot.) VOL. I. PRIVATELY PRINTED. EDINBURGH. 1887. _This Edition is limited to 275 small-paper and 75 large-paper copies._ [_Fac-simile of Title-Page._] LA VERITABLE HISTOIRE DES Díables de Loudun, _De la possession des Religieuses Ursulines_ _et de la Condamnation D'URBAIN GRANDIER_, PAR UN TEMOIN. [Illustration] A. POITIERS, Chez J. Thoreau et la veuve Ménier, Imprimeurs ordinaires du Roi et de l'Universitié. M.DC.XXXIV. [Illustration] Introduction. THE following extraordinary account of the "_Cause Célèbre_" of Urbain Grandier, the _Curé_ of Loudun, accused of Magic and of having caused the Nuns of the Convent of Saint Ursula to be possessed of devils, is written by an eye-witness, and not only an eye-witness but an actor in the scenes he describes. It is printed at "_Poitiers, chez J. Thoreau et la veuve Ménier, Imprimeurs du Roi et de l'Université, 1634_." I believe two copies only are known: my own, and the one in the National Library, Paris. The writer is Monsieur des Niau, Counsellor at la Flèche, evidently a firm believer in the absurd charges brought against Grandier.