That evening Grandier asked the bailiff for an audience. At first he had
made fun of the exorcisms, for the story had been so badly concocted,
and the accusations were so glaringly improbable, that he had not felt
the least anxiety. But as the case went on it assumed such an important
aspect, and the hatred displayed by his enemies was so intense, that the
fate of the priest Gaufredi, referred to by Mignon, occurred to Urbain's
mind, and in order to be beforehand with his enemies he determined to
lodge a complaint against them. This complaint was founded on the fact
that Mignon had performed the rite of exorcism in the presence of the
civil lieutenant, the bailiff, and many other persons, and had caused
the nuns who were said to be possessed, in the hearing of all these
people, to name him, Urbain, as the author of their possession. This
being a falsehood and an attack upon his honour, he begged the bailiff,
in whose hands the conduct of the affair had been specially placed, to
order the nuns to be sequestered, apart from the rest of the sisterhood
and from each other, and then to have each separately examined. Should
there appear to be any evidence of possession, he hoped that the bailiff
would be pleased to appoint clerics of well-known rank and upright
character to perform whatever exorcisms were needful; such men having no
bias against him would be more impartial than Mignon and his adherents.
He also called upon the bailiff to have an exact report drawn up of
everything that took place at the exorcisms, in order that, if
necessary, he as petitioner might be able to lay it before anyone to
whose judgment he might appeal. The bailiff gave Grandier a statement of
the conclusions at which he had arrived, and told him that the exorcisms
had been performed that day by Barre, armed with the authority of the
Bishop of Poitiers himself. Being, as we have seen, a man of common
sense and entirely unprejudiced in the matter, the bailiff advised
Grandier to lay his complaint before his bishop; but unfortunately he
was under the authority of the Bishop of Poitiers, who was so prejudiced
against him that he had done everything in his power to induce the
Archbishop of Bordeaux to refuse to ratify the decision in favour of
Grandier, pronounced by the presidial court. Urbain could not hide from
the magistrate that he had nothing to hope for from this quarter, and it
was decided that he should wait and see what the morrow would bring
forth, before taking any further step.
The impatiently expected day dawned at last, and at eight o'clock in the
morning the bailiff, the king's attorney, the civil lieutenant, the
criminal lieutenant, and the provost's lieutenant, with their respective
clerks, were already at the convent. They found the outer gate open, but
the inner door shut. In a few moments Mignon came to them and brought
them into a waiting-room. There he told them that the nuns were
preparing for communion, and that he would be very much obliged to them
if they would withdraw and wait in a house across the street, just
opposite the convent, and that he would send them word when they could
come back. The magistrates, having first informed Mignon of Urbain's
petition, retired as requested.
An hour passed, and as Mignon did not summon them, in spite of his
promise, they all went together to the convent chapel, where they were
told the exorcisms were already over. The nuns had quitted the choir,
and Mignon and Barre came to the grating and told them that they had
just completed the rite, and that, thanks to their conjurations, the two
afflicted ones were now quite free from evil spirits. They went on to
say that they had been working together at the exorcism from seven
o'clock in the morning, and that great wonders, of which they had drawn
up an account, had come to pass; but they had considered it would not be
proper to allow any one else to be present during the ceremony besides
the exorcists and the possessed. The bailiff pointed out that their
manner of proceedings was not only illegal, but that it laid them under
suspicion of fraud and collusion, in the eyes of the impartial:
Moreover, as the superior had accused Grandier publicly, she was bound
to renew and prove her accusation also publicly, and not in secret;
furthermore, it was a great piece of insolence on the part of the
exorcists to invite people of their standing and character to come to
the convent, and having kept them waiting an hour, to tell them that
they considered them unworthy to be admitted to the ceremony which they
had been requested to attend; and he wound up by saying that he would
draw up a report, as he had already done on each of the preceding days,
setting forth the extraordinary discrepancy between their promises and
their performance. Mignon replied that he and Barre had had only one
thing in view, viz. the expulsion of the, demons, and that in that they
had succeeded, and that their success would be of great benefit to the
holy Catholic faith, for they had got the demons so thoroughly into
their power that they had been able to command them to produce within a
week miraculous proofs of the spells cast on the nuns by Urbain Grandier
and their wonderful deliverance therefrom; so that in future no one
would be able to doubt as to the reality of the possession. Thereupon
the magistrates drew up a report of all that had happened, and of what
Barre and Mignon had said. This was signed by all the officials present,
except the criminal lieutenant, who declared that, having perfect
confidence in the statements of the exorcists, he was anxious to do
nothing to increase the doubting spirit which was unhappily so prevalent
among the worldly.
The same day the bailiff secretly warned Urbain of the refusal of the
criminal lieutenant to join with the others in signing the report, and
almost at the same moment he learned that the cause of his adversaries
was strengthened by the adhesion of a certain Messire Rene Memin,
seigneur de Silly, and prefect of the town. This gentleman was held in
great esteem not only on account of his wealth and the many offices
which he filled, but above all on account of his powerful friends, among
whom was the cardinal-duke himself, to whom he had formerly been of use
when the cardinal was only a prior. The character of the conspiracy had
now become so alarming that Grandier felt it was time to oppose it with
all his strength. Recalling his conversation with the bailiff the
preceding day, during which he had advised him to lay his complaint
before the Bishop of Poitiers, he set out, accompanied by a priest of
Loudun, named Jean Buron, for the prelate's country house at Dissay. The
bishop, anticipating his visit, had already given his orders, and
Grandier was met by Dupuis, the intendant of the palace, who, in reply
to Grandier's request to see the bishop, told him that his lordship was
ill. Urbain next addressed himself to the bishop's chaplain, and begged
him to inform the prelate that his object in coming was to lay before
him the official reports which the magistrates had drawn up of the
events which had taken place at the Ursuline convent, and to lodge a
complaint as to the slanders and accusations of which he was the victim.
Grandier spoke so urgently that the chaplain could not refuse to carry
his message; he returned, however, in a few moments, and told Grandier,
in the presence of Dupuis, Buron, and a certain sieur Labrasse, that the
bishop advised him to take his case to the royal judges, and that he
earnestly hoped he would obtain justice from them. Grandier perceived
that the bishop had been warned against him, and felt that he was
becoming more and more entangled in the net of conspiracy around him;
but he was not a man to flinch before any danger. He therefore returned
immediately to Loudun, and went once more to the bailiff, to whom he
related all that had happened at Dissay; he then, a second time, made a
formal complaint as to the slanders circulated with regard to him, and
begged the magistrates to have recourse to the king's courts in the
business. He also said that he desired to be placed under the protection
of the king and his justice, as the accusations made against him were
aimed at his honour and his life. The bailiff hastened to make out a
certificate of Urbain's protest, which forbade at the same time the
repetition of the slanders or the infliction on Urbain of any injury.
Thanks to this document, a change of parts took place: Mignon, the
accuser, became the accused. Feeling that he had powerful support behind
him, he had the audacity to appear before the bailiff the same day. He
said that he did not acknowledge his jurisdiction, as in what concerned
Grandier and himself, they being both priests, they could only be judged
by their bishop; he nevertheless protested against the complaint lodged
by Grandier, which characterised him as a slanderer, and declared that
he was ready to give himself up as a prisoner, in order to show everyone
that he did not fear the result of any inquiry. Furthermore, he had
taken an oath on the sacred elements the day before, in the presence of
his parishioners who had come to mass, that in all he had hitherto done
he had been moved, not by hatred of Grandier, but by love of the truth,
and by his desire for the triumph of the Catholic faith; and he insisted
that the bailiff should give him a certificate of his declaration, and
served notice of the same on Grandier that very day.