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The Making of a Teen Wolf: Pierre de Lancre’s Confrontation with Jean Grenier (1603–10)

2019; Routledge; Volume: 130; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/0015587x.2019.1587935

1469-8315

Jan Machielsen,

Historical and Literary Analyses

The Tableau de l'inconstance des mauvais anges et démons (Portrait of the inconstancy of evil angels and demons, 1612) by the Bordeaux magistrate Pierre de Lancre offers a famous account of a witch-hunt conducted by the author in the French Basque country in 1609. Yet it also contains a detailed description of the 1603 trial for lycanthropy of thirteen-year-old Jean Grenier, likely the youngest person ever to be convicted as a werewolf. This article systematically compares De Lancre's Tableau with other neglected accounts. Although all of these versions are second-hand, collating them brings us closer to the original trial records and helps us make sense of Grenier's voluntary confession. At the same time, this comparison reveals what details De Lancre chose to highlight and omit in his Tableau and therefore also offers fresh insight into the mental world of the Bordeaux judge held responsible for France's largest witch-hunt.