The Madman's Room

‘I’ll skip over the prophecies of Nostradamus and other well-known figures, and take the case of Marie-Madeleine de Pazzi, one of the most significant and troubling. An astonishing young woman who, at the age of fifteen, declared that she belonged to no one other than Jesus Christ, and would die rather than marry. She flagellated herself regularly to defend her chastity from diabolical temptation, and was occasionally seen writhing on the ground, fighting off an invisible enemy and in the grip of atrocious convulsions.

‘One of her most remarkable predictions occurred during a ceremony to elect a new prior, which the cardinal was supposed to attend. Marie-Madeleine, then aged twenty, was overcome by lethargy during communion. An attempt was made to lift her from the pew and carry her to her cell, but she was lifeless and as stiff as a board; even though she only weighed just over a hundred pounds, she couldn’t be lifted from the bench. When the cardinal entered the chapel he sat down next to her. Petrified no longer, she rose up and said to his face: “You will be Pope. Yes, you will be Pope, but not for long, because you will die less than a month after your election!”’

Brian lowered his voice:

‘Nineteen years later, Alessandro Ottoviano de Medicis took the name of Leo XI.’

‘And did he die a month later?’ asked Paula.

‘Twenty-six days, to be precise,’ replied Brian. ‘I could cite you plenty of other examples, in particular the remarkable vision of Swedenborg, who not only announced there would be a fire in Stockholm, more than two hundred miles from where he lived, but predicted the progress of the fire and where it would end. But let’s get to the death of Louis XIV, or more precisely to the testimony of the Duc de Saint-Simon about that death… which, incidentally, explains the presence of that mysterious glass of water in my great-uncle’s room.

‘On the eve of his departure to take command of the Italian army, Philippe d’Orleans, nephew and son-in-law of Louis XIV, met Saint-Simon in Marly. The latter, as was his custom, took notes about the former’s strange adventure of the night before.

‘Philippe had invited his friends to supper. At the end of the evening, when only his mistress and a few close friends were still present, Philippe was introduced to a curious individual, supposedly a magician who claimed to be able to tell him any detail whatsoever about his past, present and future. To do so, he would need “someone young and innocent” and something else… which I’ll keep silent about for the moment. Mlle de Sery, Philippe’s mistress, had an eight-year old girl staying with her, innocent and rather backward, who had never left her domicile.

‘To begin, they asked the child to describe a scene occurring somewhere else at that very moment, which she did. The Duc d’Orleans sent one of his valets out in secret to the place described by the girl, which was quite nearby. He returned shortly thereafter and told his master what he’d seen chez Mme de Nancre, where the event had taken place. Armed with the information, Philippe asked the child for more information. Her response stupefied him: she described everyone present, their faces and what they were wearing, what they were doing, the position of the furniture… in short, she told him everything the valet had reported.

‘Whereupon, the child was asked if she could describe what would happen upon the death of the king. Remember, having never left the domicile, she knew nothing about Versailles nor, obviously, anyone at court. The king’s bedroom was described in the minutest detail, as was the furniture, the bed Louis XIV was lying on and the people gathered around him. Without going into detail, let’s just say they were individuals whom Philippe d’Orleans could identify easily, but he was amazed that the little girl could not see Monseigneur the Dauphin, nor his son the Duc de Bourgogne and his young duchess, nor the Duc de Berry, the Dauphin’s brother. The response was always the same: she couldn’t see any of them.

‘That was in 1706. The four persons not visible to the girl were all in good health at the time, yet they all died before the king. And, in 1715, in front of his deathbed, the only people present were the ones she had so carefully described nine years earlier.

‘One last detail: in accordance with the magician’s wishes, and in order to help the child to “see” the scenes, a large glass of water had been placed on the table in front of her….’

Mr. Hilton nodded understandingly:

‘So your great-uncle saw the future using the same method?’