The
Aix-en-Provence possessions were a series of alleged cases of
demonic possession occurring among the
Ursuline nuns of
Aix-en-Provence (South of
France) in 1611. Father Louis Gaufridi was accused and convicted of causing the possession by a pact with the devil, and he was executed by being
burned at the stake, atop a pile of bushes because they burned slower and hotter than logs. This case provided the legal precedent for the conviction and execution of
Urbain Grandier at
Loudun more than 20 years later. In both cases, sexual themes dominated the manifestations of the possessions.