434 
MARTHA BROSSIER. 
by the noble conduct of the princess, vowed to live and die with her 
in defending the rights of her family ; and their example was followed 
by almost all the Britons. The countess went from place to place, 
encouraging the garrisons of the several fortresses, and providing 
them with every thing necessary for their subsistence ; after which 
she shut herself up with her son in Hennebon, where she resolved to 
wait for the succours which Edward III. had promised to send to her 
assistance. 
Charles de Blois, accompanied by the dukes of Burgundy and 
Bourbon, and many other noblemen, took the field with a numerous 
army, and having reduced Rennes, laid siege to Hennebon, which 
was defended by the countess in person. This heroine repulsed the 
assailants in all their attacks with the most undaunted courage, and 
observing one day, that their whole army had left the camp to join 
in a general storm, she rushed forth at a postern gate with three 
hundred horse, set fire to their tents and baggage, killed their sutlers 
and servants, and raised such a terror and consternation through all 
their quarters, that the enemy gave over their assault, and, getting 
betwixt her and the walls, endeavoured to cut oft’her retreat into the city. 
Thus intercepted, she put spurs to her horse, and, without halting, gal- 
loped directly to Brest, which lay at the distance of twenty-two miles 
from the scene of action. There being supplied with a body of five hun- 
dred horse, she immediately returned, and, fighting her w^ay through part 
of the French camp, w'as received into Hennebon amidst the acclama- 
tions of the inhabitants. Soon after this, the English succours arriv- 
ed, and obliged the enemy to raise the siege, 
Martha Brossier, 
A French woman, who made no small noise about the end of the 
sixteenth century, by pretending to be possessed by the devil, and 
counterfeiting convulsive fits. M. de Thou and other historians have 
given a particular account of her. Her father w'as a weaver at Ro- 
inorentin, but found he could gain more, in that credulous age, by 
exhibiting his daughter as a demoniac, than by following his honest 
and useful profession. She was first detected at Orleans in 1598 ; 
and afterwards at Angers, where the bishop, inviting Martha to din- 
ner, not only proved that her demon could not distinguish between 
common and holy water, but that he was such an ignorant devil, that 
he did not know the difference between the Book of Exorcisms, and 
Virgil’s ^neid ! Notwithstanding these detections, the credulity of 
the public was such, and some of the priests acquired so much repu- 
tation by exorcising the evil spirit, that Henry IV. enjoined the par- 
liament of Paris to take cognizance of the affair, w'ho, after a con- 
sultation of physicians, ordered the father and daughter to be con- 
fined to Roraorentin, under pain of corporeal punishment. The priests, 
however, carried the business and the parties before the court of 
Rome; hut the pope being forewarned by the court of Paris, did 
nothing contrary to the decision of parliament. Some of the French 
priests lost their benefices by their villanous zeal ; and the pre- 
tended demoniac and her father died in deserved contempt in a 
hospital at Rome. 
