Guillaume Edelin D.D., was a prior who confessed to being witch, convicted in 1453, and the first person to confess to have flown on a broom.[1]
Life
editEdelin was the Prior of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, an Augustinian and a Doctor of Divinity. He promulgated the idea that it was impossible for the Devil to make pacts or witches to fly on brooms.[1][2] He also confessed to having gone to the Sabbath "mounted on a balai", the first reference to the use of a broomstick in connection with witchcraft.[3]
After his arrest he repented and was imprisoned for the rest of his life in the city of Évreux.[4]
References
edit- ^ a b Gareth Medway (April 2001). Lure of the Sinister: The Unnatural History of Satanism. NYU Press. p. 328. ISBN 978-0-8147-5645-4.
- ^ M. l'abbe J. Duvernet (1791). Histoire de la Sorbonne, dans laquelle on voit l'influence de la théologie sur l'ordre social ... (in French). Paris: Chez Buisson, hotel Coetlosquet, rue Hautefeuille. p. 163.
This pretended sorcerer was named Guillaume Edelin; he had obtained the priory of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. He was a reasonable preacher at a time when there were few reasonable preachers. He preached that all that was said of wizards was only tall tales and dangerous fables.
- ^ Margeret Murray (1 January 2004). The God of the Witches. NuVision Publications, LLC. p. 114. ISBN 978-1-59547-300-4.
- ^ M. l'abbe J. Duvernet (1791). Histoire de la Sorbonne, dans laquelle on voit l'influence de la théologie sur l'ordre social ... (in French). Chez Buisson. pp. 163–165.
- Man, Myth and Magic: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Supernatural. 1970, edited by Richard Cavendish.