Bonnevault, Pierre (ca. seventeenth century)
Bonnevault, Pierre (ca. seventeenth century)
A self-confessed sorcerer of Poitou in the seventeenth century, the son of Maturin De Bonnevault. Bonnevault engaged in devil worship and was arrested on his way to the Devil's Sabbat. He stated that the first time he had attended an unholy meeting he had been taken there by his parents and dedicated to the Devil, to whom he had promised to leave his bones after death, but that he had not bargained to leave his immortal soul to his infernal majesty.
Bonnevault admitted that he called Satan "Master," that the Devil had assisted him in various magical acts, and that he had slain various persons through Satanic agency. In the end he was condemned to death. His brother Jean, accused of sorcery at the same time, prayed to the Devil for assistance, and was raised some four or five feet from the ground and dashed back thereon, his skin turning at the same time to a blue-black hue. He confessed that he had met at the Sabbat a young man through whom he had promised one of his fingers to Satan after his death. He also told how he had been transported through the air to the Sabbat, how he had received powders to slay certain people whom he named, and for these crimes he received the punishment of death.