Tuesday 27 May 2025 The Devils of Loudun A Case of Demonic Possession in 17th-century France Aldous Huxley’s The Devils of Loudun was an account of a 17th-century case of demonic possession in an Ursuline Convent in Loudun, France. Ken Russell’s film T he Devils was a rather more salacious re-telling. In 1617 Urbain Grandier became priest of the church of St Pierre du Marche and canon of la Collégiale de Sainte-Croix in Loudun. Seventeen years later he was found guilty of sorcery for having made a pact with the devil, and responsible for the demonic possession of the nuns in the town’s Ursuline Convent. He was tortured then burnt at the stake in the market place. Witnesses claimed to have seen demons escaping from the flames. How could a man of God find himself accused of maleficium ? Wayne Perkins relates one of the strangest and most infamous cases of witchcraft in 17th-century France and early modern Europe. Venue: The Bell, 50 Middlesex Street E1 7EX (Tubes: Liverp...
Tuesday 29 April 2025 The Shakespeare Furore The Shakespeare authorship question first burst into public consciousness 170 years ago. Early questioners included many prominent figures of the 19th and 20th centuries. In the last two decades, while those defending the orthodox narrative have increasingly characterised the authorship question as a conspiracy theory, over 50 peer-reviewed articles challenging the traditional narrative have been published in academic journals. Now award-winning journalist Elizabeth Winkler’s book Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies: How Doubting the Bard Became the Biggest Taboo in Literature is making waves. A London Library event featuring Winkler in discussion provoked a furious attack by a Times journalist, who depicts authorship questioners as “conspiratorial fantasists” aligned with the far right, a threat to “a liberal society” and the question as “a contagion of superstition and ignorance”. Dr Ros Barber explores what is r...