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Adam Lesage


Adam Lesage, née Cœuret, also called Dubuisson (fl. April 1683), was a French professional occultist and alleged sorcerer. He was one of the chief accused in the famous Poison Affair.

Lesage came from Venoix near Caen and was originally a wool trader. He later moved to Paris and was there employed in the organisation of La Voisin, an organisation of occultists who also provided poisons, with the task to perform alleged magical rituals. In 1667, he officiated, alongside abbé Mariette in a black mass, arranged by La Voisin for the royal mistress Madame de Montespan, where she asked for the king to love her by the help of Satan. The same year, Lesage was condemned to the galleys for having participated in black masses; he was freed in 1672 by the connections of La Voisin and resumed his position in her organisation.

Lesage was the lover of La Voisin, and despite being already married, he promised to marry her if she became a widow, and persuaded her to kill her husband. She initially agreed, but changed her mind before the murder was completed and forced Lesage to abort the whole plan. Lesage's main task in the organisation was to perform magic for the customers. His most common task was to post wishes to the Devil. He asked the client to write down their wish on a piece of paper, which he embedded in a ball of wax, and then burned. Some time later, he retrieved the ball from the flames and claimed that the Devil had read it.

Adam Lesage was arrested 22 May 1679 as a part of the network of La Voisin during the Poison Affair in 1679. He was arrested alongside abbé Mariotte on the order of the monarch himself, charged with having officiated at black masses. He confessed to having performed magical tasks for the organisation, but stated that they had all been cons, and that he had fooled his colleagues as well as the clients.

In July-August 1680, after the execution of La Voisin on 22 February, her daughter Marguerite Monvoisin, made a full confession, revealing the client list of her mother, which included the king's mistress Madame de Montespan, and the aphrodisiacs, black masses and murder of the king ordered by Montespan. Minister Louvois now promised Lesage his freedom if he made a complete confession. The confession made by Lesage on 26 September 1680 confirmed the statement made by Marguerite Monvoisin, but it also included claims that the black masses, which were regularly attended by the ladies of the royal court, had included child sacrifice. His statement was considered so horrifying that it was not accepted as truth, but then on 30 September - 1 October, his statement about child sacrifice, as well as the statements of Montespan, were confirmed by the confession of Francoise Filastre.


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