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 Devils 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.
