The Trial of Gilles De Rais Page 21

  Such frivolity is, above all things, surprising. Let us add that the first statement on which his argument is based is not of a nature to give it much weight. According to Salomon Reinach, these depositions “bear on facts already several years removed.” It is enough to look at the documents: the crimes in which Henriet and Poitou are both recorded to have assisted multiplied from 1435 to 1440, and up to the day of the criminal’s arrest!

  It would be easy to show how, in other areas, Salomon Reinach’s thesis involves mistakes and moot judgments.

  I think it is pointless to insist.

  I believe only that it is necessary to finish by stating the decisive reason I have for believing in the authenticity of the documents.

  I have already said to what point these documents’ fabrication was, effectively, unthinkable. Unthinkable because of their coherence. The coherence only suffers secondary imperfections. Who could imagine a similar voluminous document where the logic never suffered? But it only suffers quite rarely, and essentially it is strikingly rigorous. Who in the 15th century, before Sade, before Freud, could have correctly depicted, without a false note, these horrible butcheries, which would not be realistic in the absence of modern knowledge?

  Salomon Reinach, in effect, lacked this knowledge; faced with these insane murders, he imagined them to simply be a classic case of Medieval indictments, artificially brought against those one wanted to ruin: Templars, Jews, heretics. He had no idea of the cesspool above which monstrous desires multiply. Gilles de Rais’ atrocities possessed no reality in his mind. He considered this trial an invention in the same way that he considered psychoanalytic hypotheses as ignominious. He was the opposite of a generation that sees with both eyes open, and that is today no longer surprised to learn that a female Gilles de Rais existed … 61 that knows, above all, that child murders heightened by sexual desire are unfortunately frequent.

  TWO BRETON LEGENDS: GILLES DE RAIS-BLUEBEARD

  For a long time I have been anxious to cite (pp. 19-21) Abbot Bossard’s original inquiry into the local traditions relating the legend of Bluebeard to the story of Gilles de Rais. In tracing it, the author reproduces two texts62 borrowed from the Grand Dictionnaire Universel du XIXesiecle, by Pierre Larousse.63 I feel obliged to reproduce them here in turn. Above all, it is the first of them that succeeds in giving an indication that nothing is exactly situated, but is no less moving, in the formation of a legend based on frightening crimes. The following text is a Breton lament, obviously drawn up in old Breton, and given in translation in an anthology by Count Amezeuil.64

  OLD MAN. — “Lasses of Pléeur, why so silent then? Why go you not to feasts and gatherings?”

  LASSES. — “Ask us why the nightingale keeps silent in the wood, and who causes the orioles and bullfinches to stop singing their sweetest songs.”

  OLD MAN. — “Pardon, lasses, but I am a stranger; I come from afar, from beyond the land of Tréguier and Léon, and I know not wherefore the sadness o’ershadowing your faces.”

  LASSES. — “We cry for Gwennola, the most beautiful and beloved amongst us.”

  OLD NAN. — “And what has happened to Cwennola? … You keep yourselves silent, lasses! … What has happened here then?”

  LASSES. — “Las! alas! the villain Bluebeard has done the gentle Cwennola in, as he did his wives in!”

  OLD MAN, with terror: — “Does Blucbeard live near here? Ah! escape, escape quickly, children! The wolf who ravishes be ne’er more terrible than the ferocious baron; the bear be gentler than the damned Baron de Rais.”

  LASSES. — “We cannot escape: we are serfs of the barony of Rais, and body and soul we belong to Lord Bluebeard.”

  OLD MAN. — “I will deliver you, I, for I am Jean de Malestroit, Bishop of Nantes, and I have sworn to protect my flock.”

  LASSES. — “Gilles de Laval does not believe in God!” OLD MAN. — “He shall die a terrible death! I swear by the living God! …”

  Here is the end of that plaint:Today the lasses of Pléeur sing with open hearts and go dancing to feasts and pilgrimages. The nightingale’s sweet accents echo in the wood; the orioles and bullfinches resound their gentlest songs; all of nature has once again put on its festive attire: Gilles de Laval is no more! Bluebeard is dead!

  You can see how this version of the legend tries to reconcile the story of the seven wives with the true story of Gilles de Rais, who, not being a murderer of his wives any more than of girls, killed young boys. However, he also did kill girls; and it is Jean de Malestroit, Bishop of Nantes, who in fact has him condemned.

  The great Larousse dictionary fails to give the source of the second legend known to him, which Bossard also reproduces, and which I shall cite now:Weary of fighting against the English, Milord Gilles de Laval retired to his castle in Rais, between Elven and Questembert. He spent all his time “at celebrations, banquets and merry-making.” One evening there passed by the castle, on his way to Morlaix, a knight, Count Odon de Tréméac, Lord of Krevent and other places; beside him was riding a beautiful young lady, Blanche de L’Herminière, his fiancée. Gilles de Rais invited them to rest awhile and emptied a glass of hippocras with them. But Gilles de Rais became so pressing, and above all so friendly, that evening came before anyone had thought of leaving. Suddenly, with a signal by the lord, archers seized Count Odon de Tréméac, whom they threw into a deep prison; then Gilles broached marriage to the young girl. Blanche shed abundant tears, while the chapel lighted up with a thousand candles, and the clock tolled joyously, and everyone prepared for the nuptials. Blanche was led to the foot of the altar; she was pale like a beautiful lily and trembling all over. Monsignor de Laval, superbly dressed, and whose beard was a most beautiful red, came and stood beside her: — “Come, Milord Chaplain, marry us.” — “I will not take Monsignor for my husband!” cried Blanche de L’Herminière. — “And I, I want us to be married.” — “Do nothing of the kind, Milord Priest,” responded the young girl sobbing. — “Obey, I order you.” Then, as Blanche was attempting to escape, Gilles de Rais grabbed her in his arms. — “I will give you,” he says, “the most beautiful finery.” — “Let go!” — “To you my castles, my woods, my fields, my meadows!” — “Let go!” — “To you my body and my soul! …” — “I accept! I accept! do you hear me, Gilles de Rais? I accept; and from now on you belong to me.” Just then Blanche changed into an azure-blue devil, taking her place beside the baron. — “Curses” cried the latter. — “Gilles de Laval,” says the demon with a sudden, sinister laugh, “God has abandoned you for your crimes; you belong to Hell now and from this day forward you shall wear its livery.” At the same time he makes a sign and Gilles de Laval’s beard, from the red that it was, turned the darkest hue. And that is not all; the demon says again: “You shall no longer be Gilles de Laval in the future; you shall be Bluebeard, the most terrifying man, a bogeyman for young children. Your name shall be cursed for all eternity and after your death your ashes shall be scattered to the wind, while your villainous soul shall drop to Hell.” Gilles shrieked that he was repenting. The devil told him of his numerous victims, of his seven wives whose cadavers lay buried in vaults within the castle. He added: “Lord Odon de Tréméac, whom I accompanied in the disguise of Blanche de L’Herminière, rides at this very moment on the road from Elven in the company of all the gentlemen of Redon.” — “And what do they want?” — “To avenge the deaths of all those you’ve killed.” — “Then I’m done for?” — “Not yet, because your hour hasn’t struck yet.” — “Who’ll stop them then?” — “I, who have need of your help and aid, my good knight.” — “Would you do that?” — “Yes, I will; for, alive, you’re worth a thousand times more than dead. And as for now, see you later, Gilles de Rais, and remember, you belong to me body and soul.” He kept his word in stopping the gentlemen riders of Redon; but from then on, Gilles was always known by the name of the man with a blue beard.

  Even though the writer of this version of the legend did not know that Rais’ body
was not reduced to ashes after his execution, he did have a relatively precise knowledge of events. It appears he must have known that at some point the demonic Marshal, who had proposed a pact with the devil, would have been careful to refrain from promising his body and soul (“his life and his soul” to be exact), which the devil took possession of by way of a ruse.

  The Trial Documents of Gilles de Rais

  « PART ONE »

  Verdict of the Ecclesiastical Court

  PRELIMINARY RECORDS

  July 29, 1440. Letters from the Bishop of Nantes. Information on the secret ecclesiastical inquiry and disclosure of Gilles de Rais’ infamy.

  To those who may see the present letters, we, Jean, by divine permission and the grace of the Holy Apostolic See, Bishop of Nantes, give Our Lord’s blessing, and ask that they lend credence to the present letters.

  Let it be known by these letters that, on visiting the parish of Saint-Marie, in Nantes, where Gilles de Rais, designated below, often resides in the house commonly called La Suze, and is a parishioner of the said church, and on visiting other church parishes designated below, frequent and public rumor first reached us, then complaints and declarations by good and discreet people: Agathe, the wife of Denis de Lemion; the widow of the deceased Regnaud Donete, of the said parish of Notre-Dame; Jeanne, the widow of Guibelet Delit, of Saint-Denis; Jean Hubert and his wife, of Saint-Vincent; Marthe, the widow of the deceased Éonnet Kerguen, of Saint-Croix-de-Nantes; Jeanne, the wife of Jean Darel, of Saint-Similien, near Nantes; and Tiphaine, the wife of Éonnet Le Charpentier, of Saint-Clément-hors-les-murs, of Nantes; all parishioners of the aforesaid churches, supported by synodic witnesses of the said churches and other prudent, discreet, and trusted persons.

  We, visiting these same churches according to our office, have had them diligently examined and by their depositions have learned, among other things of which we have become convinced, that the nobleman, Milord Gilles de Rais, knight, lord, and baron of the said place, our subject and under our jurisdiction, with certain accomplices, did cut the throats of, kill, and heinously massacre many young and innocent boys, that he did practice with these children unnatural lust and the vice of sodomy, often calls up or causes others to practice the dreadful invocation of demons, did sacrifice to and make pacts with the latter, and did perpetrate other enormous crimes within the limits of our jurisdiction; and we have learned by the investigations of our commissioners and procurators that the said Gilles had committed and perpetrated the abovementioned crimes and other debaucheries in our diocese as well as in several other outlying locations.

  On the subject of which offenses, the said Gilles de Rais was and is still defamed among serious and honorable persons. In order to dispel any doubts in the matter, we have prescribed the present letters and put our seal upon them.

  Given in Nantes, July 29, 1440.

  By mandate of the said Lord Bishop of Nantes,

  [Signed:] j. Petit.

  September 13, 1440. Letters from the Bishop of Nantes. Summons of Gilles de Rais before the ecclesiastic tribunal.

  We, Jean, Bishop of Nantes, by the grace of God and the Holy Apostolic See, to each and every one of the rectors and their vicars of church parishes, chaplains, curates and non-curates, clerics, notaries and notaries public, constituents of our city and diocese of Nantes, and to each of them in particular, send Our Lord’s blessing and request their firm obedience to our mandates.

  You should know that recently in our city and diocese of Nantes, and principally in the church parishes of Notre-Dame, Saint-Denis, Saint-Nicolas, Saint-Vincent and Saint-Croix of Nantes, Saint-Similien near Nantes, Saint-Clement-hors-les-murs of Nantes, and Saint-Cyr-en-Rais, in our said diocese, in the course of our visit to which we are bound by our pastoral office, we listened repeatedly to the shocking complaints made by as many good and discreet synodic witnesses of the said churches as by several other credible people of probity, at the same time as by many parishioners of these same churches, whose depositions we have directed our notaries public and scribes to draw up and publish in the registers of the said pastoral visits, and as well by the oft-repeated public rumor as by the preceding denunciations, we discovered that the nobleman, Milord Gilles de Rais, baron of the said lands in our diocese, had killed, cut the throats of, and massacred many innocent children in an inhuman fashion, and with them committed, against nature, the abominable and execrable sin of sodomy, in various fashions and with unheard-of perversions that cannot presently be expounded upon by reason of their horror, but that will be disclosed in Latin at the appropriate time and place; that he had often and repeatedly practiced the dreadful invocation of demons and took care that it be practiced; that he sacrificed and made offerings to these same demons, contracted with them; and wickedly perpetrated other crimes and offenses, professing doctrinal heresy in offense against Divine Majesty, in the subversion and distortion of our faith, offering a pernicious example unto many.

  We, not intending that like crimes and a like heretical malady, which “spreads like a canker” if not immediately extirpated, should go unremarked because of dissimulation or heedlessness; moreover, desiring to apply suitable remedies swiftly, by the terms of the present letters, require and demand of you, each and every one, barring one’s relying on another, or exculpating himself through another, that you peremptorily summon, by a single peremptory edict, to appear before Us or our official in Nantes, on the Monday following the feast of the Triumph of the Holy Cross, namely September 19th, the noble Lord Gilles de Rais, knight, our subject and justiciable in this case, whom We summon accordingly by the terms of the present letters before Us as well as before the case prosecutor of our court in Nantes, charged with proceeding in the affair, in order to answer for its protection in the name of faith, as well as law; and for this, it is Our wish that our present letters be duly executed by you or by another among you.

  Given the previous Tuesday,65 September 13th, in the year of the Lord 1440.

  Signed as such: by mandate of the said Lord Bishop,

  Jean Guiolé

  who transcribed it.

  Legal notice for the letters of September 13, 1440.

  I, Robin Guillaumet, cleric, notary public in the diocese of Nantes, was careful to render executory as intended these letters promulgated against the said Gilles, knight, baron of Rais, named as principal in this same writ, and executed by me in my own right this September 14th, in the aforesaid year, according to the form and manner mandated by the same letters.

  II

  RECORDS OF THE HEARINGS

  Monday, September 19, 1440.

  * * *

  Gilles de Rais’ first appearance.

  * * *

  The Monday following the feast of the Triumph of the Holy Cross, in trial before the Reverend Father, Lord Bishop of Nantes, sitting on the bench to administer the law in the great hall of La Tour Neuve in Nantes, personally appeared the honorable Master Guillaume Chapeillon, case prosecutor of the said court, reproducing in fact the said summons inserted above, with the published execution, on the one side, and the said Milord Gilles, knight and baron, the accused, on the other.

  Which Milord Gilles, knight and baron, after numerous accusations on the part of said prosecutor against the said Milord Gilles, to ascertain whether he would admit to doctrinal heresy, insofar as the said prosecutor affirmed, expressed a desire to appear personally before the said Reverend Father, Lord Bishop of Nantes, and before any other ecclesiastical judges, as well as before whatsoever examiner of heresy, to clear himself of the same accusations. Whereupon the said Reverend Father Bishop fixed and assigned to Milord Gilles, aforesaid knight and baron, and consenting thereto, the 28th of the said month, to appear also before the male religious, Friar Jean Blouyn, Vice-Inquisitor into Heresy in the aforesaid realm, to answer for the crimes and offenses brought against him by the said prosecutor, in order to proceed, with the aforesaid Reverend Father Bishop, Vice-Inquisitor, and prosecutor, in the name of faith as well as
law and as it ought to be, and was assigned to the said prosecutor.

  In the said place in the presence of discreet men, Master Olivier Solidé, of Bouveron, Milord Jean Durand, of Blain, church parish rectors in the Nantes diocese, witnesses specially called and requested.

  [Signed in the margin:] J. Delaunay, notary, J. Petit and G. Lesné.

  Wednesday, September 28, 1440.

  * * *

  Hearing of complaints in Gilles de Rais’ absence, whose second appearance is adjourned to October 8.

  * * *

  In the name of the Lord, amen.

  Wednesday, September 28, 1440, the tenth year of the pontificate of the Most Holy Father in God, Monsignor Eugène, by Divine Providence Pope, the fourth of that name, and during the general council of Basel, before the Reverend Father of God, Lord Jean de Malestroit, by the grace of God and the Holy Apostolic See, Bishop of Nantes, and before the male religious, Friar Jean Blouyn, of the Dominican Order, bachelor of Holy Writ, and Vicar of the male religious, Friar Guillaume Mérici, of the aforesaid Dominican Order, professor of theology, Inquisitor into Heresy in the realm of France, delegated by apostolic authority and by this same Friar Guillaume, specially appointed to the office of inquisitor in the city and diocese of Nantes, presently in the chapel of the episcopal manor of Nantes and in the presence of us: Jean Delaunay,66 Jean Petit, Nicolas Géraud, and Guillaume Lesné, notaries public and scribes before the same in the case and the cases of this order, expected to write faithfully before these same Lords Bishop and Vice-Inquisitor aforesaid on each and every one of the things that occur in the said cases, and, finally, deputized and entrusted to draw this up in a public form, according as they deputized all and every one of us; and in the presence of the witnesses inscribed below, personally appeared the persons named below who exposed to the said Lords Bishop and the aforesaid Vice-Inquisitor, while complaining tearfully and grievously, the loss of their sons, nephews, and others, assuring that the said sons, nephews, and others had been treacherously seized and then inhumanly butchered and massacred by the said Gilles de Rais and certain of his accomplices, abettors, followers, and familiars; that the same had abused them shamefully and unnaturally and that they had wickedly committed the sin of sodomy on them; that they had many times both summoned evil spirits and rendered them homage; that they had perpetrated many other enormous and unusual crimes and offenses as far as ecclesiastical jurisdiction is concerned; which plaintiffs humbly supplicated the said Reverend Lords Bishop of Nantes and Friar Jean Blouyn, Vicar of the aforesaid Inquisitor, to deign to apply a swift, just, and timely remedy to the above appeal.