Pierre de Lancre

Who was Pierre de Lancre?

Pierre de Rosteguy de Lancre or Pierre de l'Ancre, Lord of De Lancre, was the French judge of Bordeaux who conducted a massive witch-hunt in Labourd in 1609. In 1582 he was named judge in Bordeaux, and in 1608 King Henry IV commanded him to put an end to the practice of witchcraft in Labourd, in the French part of the Basque Country, where over four months he sentenced to death several dozen persons.

He wrote three books on witchcraft, analysing the Sabbath, lycanthropy, and sexual relationships during the Sabbath. In his opinion, Satan had little sexual intercourse with single women, because he preferred married women for that implied also adultery, and the incest between mothers and sons at the end of the Sabbath was essential to give birth to demonic children, as well as a sexual act between a witch and a he-goat. He also thought that Satan was pleased with a clean body but not a clean soul, inducing people to wash their bodies and embellish themselves with ornaments.