Bertrand Guilladot or "Guillaudot" (died 1743) was a French priest and an alleged sorcerer. Guilladot was among the last people to be executed for

witchcraft Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have us ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. He was the central figure in the

Lyon witch trials The Procès des sorciers de Lyon ('The trial of the Wizards of Lyon') was a witch trial which took place in Lyon in France between 1742 and 1745. It was the last big witch trial in France and likely the last to result in death sentences. 14 people, ...

that lead to the execution of several men for witchcraft in Dijon and Lyon between 1742 and 1745.

The case

The case was unusual, as witch trials, though still legal, had diminished in France since the

Affair of the Poisons An affair is a sexual relationship, romantic friendship, or passionate attachment in which at least one of its participants has a formal or informal commitment to a third person who may neither agree to such relationship nor even be aware of i ...

in 1680, and the execution of an alleged male sorcerer in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

in 1718 has traditionally been referred to as the last. However, a

donkey The domestic donkey is a hoofed mammal in the family Equidae, the same family as the horse. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a ...

-driver and the

noble A noble is a member of the nobility. Noble may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Noble Glacier, King George Island * Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Noble Peak, Wiencke Island * Noble Rocks, Graham Land Australia * Noble Island, Great B ...

man des Chauffors were in fact executed for the same crimes in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in 1724 and 1726 respectively. Bertrand Guilladot was a Roman Catholic priest in

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

. He was arrested in 1742, and put on trial charged with having made a

pact with the Devil A deal with the Devil (also called a Faustian bargain or Mephistophelian bargain) is a cultural motif exemplified by the legend of Faust and the figure of Mephistopheles, as well as being elemental to many Christian traditions. According to t ...

in order to find hidden treasures. He confessed to be guilty as charged. He was executed in 1743. In his confession, he identified twenty-nine other individuals, all of them male, who reportedly had participated in the pact with him.Jason Ā. Josephson-Storm, ''The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences'' University of Chicago Press, 2017, p. 52 The witch trials begun by the denunciations in his confession were held in Lyon and lasted for three years. In February 1745, five of the accused men were sentenced to death for witchcraft in connection to the treasure hunting. Three of the condemned were priests, who were accused of having performed sacrilegious masses for this purpose. One of the three condemned priests,

Louis Debaraz Louis Debaraz (died 1745), was a French Roman Catholic priest. He was executed in Lyon on the charges of witchcraft after having performed sacrilegious masses and a deal with the Devil, pact with the Devil in order to find hidden treasures. He was ...

, was sentenced to be executed by burning for having performed a black mass. Twenty-three of the remaining accused were sentenced to be

galley slave A galley slave was a slave rowing in a galley, either a convicted criminal sentenced to work at the oar ('' French'': galérien), or a kind of human chattel, often a prisoner of war, assigned to the duty of rowing. In the ancient Mediterran ...

References

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Guilladot, Bertrand 1743 deaths French people executed for witchcraft 18th-century executions by France 18th-century French Roman Catholic priests Year of birth unknown