POURCHER - The priest who saved the beast

PART 1 - POURCHER'S BOOKS -



Thousands, perhaps millions, of people enjoy books, films and discussions on the Beast of Gevaudan - one of the world's greatest monster mysteries.. Growing popularity outside its native France is mainly due to Internet publicity in the last 5 years. Jill Gevaudan's english language website has probably made the world's biggest contribution to this.


Without one man's efforts - Abbé Pierre Pourcher - the story would probably never have been preserved in a systematic, authoritative and very complete form. Most of the detailed and verbal information would by now have been scattered and lost to us for ever.

Since Pourcher compiled and then published his 1040 page book in 1889 it has been used by every significant author on La Bête.The author is often unaware of doing of doing so or chooses not admit it. Her attacks were over by1767 but it was not until Pourcher's 1889 book - 122 years later - that any significant and considered literary comment was made on La Bête. In 1781Magné de Marolles mentioned La Bête in his manuscript on weapons and hunting - 'Armes de chasse' but she was not the subject of that book or of any other comprehensive literary work until Pourcher in 1889.

Since 1889 Pourcher's book in its original French has been reprinted 3 or 4 times as limited editions, for example 300 copies. Publishers producing these reprints are Laffitte and Altair. It has recently been published in the English language by authorhouse.com as 520 page hard and softbacks.

A first edition of Pourcher is rare and precious. The Bibliothèque Nationale is aware of copies in only 4 French archives These are their library in Paris and the Archives of Héreault, Jaude Archives in Clermont Ferrand and Emile Zola Archives in Montpellier. One copy with a wooden cover is possessed by a descendant of M. Antoine, the King's gunbearer.
The book consists of 1040 pages of prayer-book size (8*12cms) and was printed and bound - 300 to 500 copies by Pourcher himself in his village of St Martin de Boubaux. He used whatever cheap materials he could obtain; in some cases wooden covers.
Pourcher walked from near Avignon to Paris for his research on the subject and consulted any verbal or written source he could find, including burial services, court records and his own relations' first hand experiences.

His main works were as follows; the prices, charged in St Martin and later in Chaldecoste, a suburb of Mende, where his sister lived and he died in 1915 are given:

Mois de Mairie - 60cent
Devoirs de Pieté envers les morts - 80cent
Heures Pieuses 45cent
Acta Sanctae - 2fr
Merle et Seize cents Prêtres massacré - 1fr50
Saint Sévérien - 80cent
Saint Pierre - 1fr50
La Bête du Gévaudan - 3fr
Le Clerge - 2fr/vol
Manuscript de Saint Privat - 6fr
Mémoires historique sur le Gévaudan 1899 (of R.P.L. Ouvreleul) - 2fr.

No books of substance on La Bête before Pourcher were found to exist and after him none appeared until Chevalley in 1936.This statement is subject to correction.Without him the information by now would have become dispersed and verbal evidence died out completely. It is true to say Pourcher and only Pourcher saved La Bête for us to enjoy.




PART2 - BOOKS SINCE POURCHER

Since Pourcher published in 1889, other books have been :

Chevalley - 1936
Pourrat - 1946
Abbe Xavier Pic - 1968
Barloy 1980
Chantal - 1983
Menatory - 1984
Thomson - 1992
Buffière - 1994
Cubi - 1995
Bellecroix - 1995
Korian - 1998
Fabre - 2001
Louis - 2001
Ferron Romano - 2002



It is reasonable to say that none of these could have been written without access to all or part of Pourcher's text. Most authors do give him credit.

Pourcher's 'La bête' is the most important of his and all the books on the subject. The second most important is probably 'Mémoires, published in 1899 and based on an (originally 1722) book by a rather mysterious priest - Louvreleul. Although it largely pre-dates La Bête (1764/1767) it gives background on Gevaudan superstitions and monsters from prehistoric times. It gives instances of trial by torture and callous assassinatios.It dissects the Jesuit and Huguenot clashes, the massacres and the Camisard revolt. It makes you recognise the depth and complexity of conspiracies in the Gevaudan from persecution of the Druids to power ebbing away from the bishops over centuries.

It must be recognised that Pourcher was the ''father" and to some extent the creator of La Bête. We are compelled, perhaps unwillingly, especially after studying 'Memoires', to ask the questions lurking at the back of all our minds. Most of us start by wondering whether she was a strange animal, such as an alien or prehistoric monster. We then wonder if she was something more ordinary, such as a wolf or family of hybrids, perhaps with human aid. Finally, like Madame Barthe of Mende, a book expert, we wonder if she was pure conspiracy and perhaps never existed.

The question we must face is did Pourcher sincerely believe in his own explanation of the Bête phenomenon? He firmly asserts, supported by his bishop in Mende and in principle endorsed by Pope Leon 13th in Rome that she - 'The Flail of God' was only the deformed wolf killed by Jean Chastel but was invulnerable and able to carry out deeds way beyond the powers of a natural animal because she was directly aided by God as a punishment to the sinning Gevaudan people for straying from the Church’s rules and for changing an ancient form of ritual.

Did he really believe this or was he a clever manipulator of ideas and people to achieve his own ambitions and maintain, if possible increase, the power of the Catholic church? He certainly was a good author, well known and a clever man.

On the one hand, Pourcher was favoured by the Pope.His work in the parish and his writings were highly praised. He really did use the money raised by his writing to improve his church and help villagers.

On the other hand, The Catholic church was under great adverse political pressure from protestants, potential revolutionaries and foreign influence. It desperately needed support from its parishes via its network of priests, often the only educated person in the village. The threat of La Bête was valuable to control and unite the church.
Some sources hint rightly or wrongly that Pourcher was father to illegitimate children. Finally, his professed idea seems ridiculous to most people

So we are still faced with an impenetrable enigma about which each of us must make his or her own decision. Was Pourcher genuine or a fraud?
My personal opinion, having, mentally, lived with him for over six months translating his 1040 pages of ‘Bête’1889 and, later, struggled to obtain, preserve, make legible and study 500 pages of first edition Memoires 1899, is that he genuinely believed in what he wrote but was totally mistaken in the conclusion he drew. I think La Bête was mainly contrived by a loose conspiracy of nobles, the church and the Chastels to, among other motivations, support and improve to their advantage, the status quo. Nevertheless, I think there was at the same time a strange animal or animals active in the Gevaudan and I have no idea what she or they were. Like Pourrat, the Gevaudan poet, I do not think the answer is as simple as wolf or hybrid.

Derek Brockis

Great find!

Interesting read. La bete, one of my favourite mysteries.