Jean Delvaux

Jean Delvaux (died on or after 2 April 1597) was a Benedictine monk of the Abbey of Stavelot who was executed as a practitioner of witchcraft.

Life and witch trial

Delvaux was the son of peasants and as a child herded livestock in the Ardennes. He later claimed that at the age of 15 he was approached in the woods by an older man who promised him power and riches if he swore to follow his instructions. He stated that this man sent him to school in Trier and later told him that if he became a monk he would be able to exercise authority over others, as well as initiating him into the practice of witchcraft and giving him a devil's mark on his shoulders. Becoming a monk at Stavelot, Delvaux was initially successful in gaining minor offices within the community, but by 1592 had come under suspicion of covertly seeking to harm those in authority over him. The prior had him confined on a diet of bread and water, and after some time Delvaux began to declare that he had by witchcraft brought about the deaths of the previous prior, Antoine de Salm (d. 1591), and several other monks. When this was reported to Ernest of Bavaria, prince-bishop of Liège and nominal prince-abbot of Stavelot, he appointed André Streignart, the suffragan bishop of Liège, and Jean Chapeauville, vicar general of the diocese, to investigate Delvaux's case. Together with a notary they travelled to Stavelot and took down a formal statement from Delvaux, who claimed to have taken part in multiple gatherings of witches with at least 500 others, naming several local notables and clergy as fellow attendees.

After Delvaux's statements had been reported to Ernest, the prince-bishop in December 1595 appointed a four-member inquisitorial witchcraft tribunal consisting of Streignart and Chapeauville as ecclesiastical members together with the prince's chancellor, Pierre Oranus, and public prosecutor, Jean Malempeter, as jurists.