The Trial of Gilles De Rais Read online

  XVII. Item, that the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, made a pact with the aforesaid evil spirits, by virtue of which he would do their will; and that by this pact the said accused secured that the same evil spirits would provide him with knowledge, riches and power; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering.

  XVIII. Item, that once, around the same period, the aforesaid François69 — whom a certain Milord Eustache Blanchet, a priest from the diocese of Saint-Malo, had sent for from Italy and introduced to Gilles, the accused, in order to initiate this latter into the art of conjuring evil spirits — in a field one quarter of a league outside the castle of Tiffauges, using fire and having traced a circle in the same place, summoned certain evil spirits in the company of the said Étienne Corrillaut, also known as Poitou, specially charged by the said Gilles de Rais to assist the said François; and that previously the same accused had delivered unto these same François and Étienne70 a note written in his own hand, destined for the evil spirit called Barron in the event that the latter responded to the said invocation and said conjuration, and to be exhibited and offered in the said Gilles name, which note said that the same Gilles, the accused, would give Barron everything he asked for with the exception of his soul and the curtailment of his life, provided he procured knowledge, power, and riches for Gilles; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering.

  XIX. Item, that on another occasion around the same time, the aforesaid Gilles de Rais and François Prelati, in a certain field near the castle and town of Josselin, that side of the suburbs adjoining the said castle and said town, summoned evil spirits and performed other superstitions there also; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering.

  XX. Item, that again around the same time, namely one year ago more or less, when he went to see the aforesaid Duke of Brittany for the last time, the said Gilles, the accused, finding himself in Bourgneuf, in the diocese of Nantes, in the house of the Frères Mineurs, in the company of the said François, had this latter invoke and conjure evil spirits several times, and summoned them himself in the hope of and intending for the same Lord Duke to take the said Gilles into his good graces; thus it transpired, and this is a true account.

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  (1. Bill of Indictment.)

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  XXI. Item, that at approximately the same time the aforesaid André Buchet, of Vannes, led the son of Jean Lavary, a young boy of about ten, from the marketplace in Vannes to where the said Gilles de Rais was staying, at the house of a man named Jean Lemoine, close to the episcopal palace of Vannes, outside and close to the walls of the city; which said young boy the said accused sodomized sinfully before putting him to death and while watching him die, abused him shamefully and disreputably, then cruelly killed him in the house of a neighbor named Boetden, and after having severed and retained the head, he had the body of this young boy thus massacred thrown into the latrines belonging to the said Boetden’s house; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering.

  XXII. Item, that the said Gilles, the accused, wrote notes in his own hand, concluding a well-established pact with the aforenamed evil spirit Barron and proposing such things as are mentioned above; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering.

  XXIII. Item, that each and every one of these things is common knowledge.

  XXIV. Item, that during the said forty years or thereabouts, the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, sent the aforesaid Gilles de Sillé, then his director, accomplice, abettor, instigator, and support, into many and various parts of the world and into various regions and various places, to seek after and see if he could locate and bring back to Gilles male or female diviners, invokers, and conjurors, who could secure him money, reveal to him and discover hidden treasures, initiate him into other magical arts, procure for him great honors, and permit him to take and hold castles and cities; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering.

  XXV. Item, that in the same period the said Gilles, the accused, sent also the aforenamed Eustache Blanchet into Italy and Florence to locate invokers, conjurors, and diviners, which Eustache, having then found the aforesaid François Prelati in Florence, brought him to the same Gilles; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering.

  XXVI. Item, that the said Gilles, the accused, more or less around the same time, as much in the city of Nantes in his house of La Suze as in Orléans in the house and under the sign of the Croix d‘Or, where he was staying, and in the said castles of Machecoul and Tiffauges, made many and various invocations and conjurations of evil spirits; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering.

  XXVII. Item, that during the said forty years approximately, Gilles de Rais, the accused, as much in the castles at Champtocé, in the Angevin diocese, and Machecoul and Tiffauges, as in the house of the said Lemoine, at Vannes, in the upper chamber of the same house where he was staying at that time, and in the said house called La Suze, situated in the Notre-Dame parish of Nantes; that is, in a certain upper chamber where from time to time and often he would retire and pass the night, killed treacherously, cruelly, and inhumanly one hundred and forty, or more, children, boys and girls, or had them killed by the said Gilles de Sillé, Roger de Briqueville, Henriet, Étienne,71 André72 and aforementioned others, respectively and successively; showing himself horribly and inhumanly guilty, since, according to what Hermogène says: “Each time a man usurps the office of the Creator by abolishing His creatures, the celestial Virtues will not cease crying before the divine Judge, until vengeance be exacted on the murderer who shall burn in eternal flames” — more especially as the said Gilles de Rais immolated the members of the said innocents as sacrifices to evil spirits; with which innocents, before and after their death and also during, he committed the abominable sin of sodomy, which defiles heaven, and which he abused contrary to nature in order to satisfy his carnal, illicit, and damnable concupiscence; and then burned and had the said Gilles de Sillé, Henriet Griart, and Étienne Corrillaut, also known as Poitou, burn in these same places respectively the bodies of these boy and girl innocents, and had them throw the ashes into the pits as well as into the moats73 of the said castles and into the sinks of the house of La Suze, so named of old after Lord Jean de Craon, his grandfather, the said Gilles de Rais’ mother’s father, who was during his lifetime Lord of the domain of La Suze and of the house where he lived and died. Into the hiding places of this same house of La Suze were thrown fifteen out of about one hundred and forty of the said innocents killed by order of the said Gilles, the accused, as much by himself as by the said Gilles de Sillé, Henriet, and Étienne, successively and respectively, in the same way as was done in other secret, out-of-the-way places in the aforesaid cities and castles; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering.

  XXVIII. Item, during the period of these said forty years or thereabouts, the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, and, in his name and by his order, the said Gilles de Sillé, Roger de Briqueville, Henriet, Étienne, and André Buchet, requested procurers, procuresses and old female go-betweens whom they charged — under the pretext of certain services that the said children might render the said Gilles, who himself would prove of service to these same children, their parents, and their friends — with procuring children, as many boys as girls, to nab them and bring them to him, so that Gilles de Rais, the accused, could perform the sin of sodomy on them, cut their throats and kill them, or have their throats cut and have them killed; which procurers and female go-betweens damnably procured the said innocents for Gilles de Rais and for his aforesaid accomplices; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering.

  XXIX. Item, that less than a year ago, by order of the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, then staying in the said place of Bourgneuf, in the house of the Frères Mineurs, the aforesaid Henriet and Étienne procured for and delivered to him a boy fifteen years old or thereabouts, so that the accused could commit on him the oft-mentioned sin of sodomy; the said Henriet. and Étienne took this adolescent, originally from Lower Brittany, who was living
in the house of a man named Rodigo, an inhabitant of Bourgneuf, and brought him to the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, in a room of the said convent, where the same Gilles de Rais, the accused, was lodged and regularly stayed, and he exercised the oft-mentioned detestable vice of sodomy on him, in the same way as on the aforesaid others, in damnable fashion, and then he killed him on the spot and had his body carried to the castle at Machecoul to be burned; this was done by the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, and by the said Henriet and Étienne; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering, notorious and public.

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  (1. Bill of Indictment.)

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  XXX. Item, that the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, ate delicacies and drank fine wines, hippocras, claret, and other sorts of alcoholic drinks for the purpose of working himself up to the said sin of sodomy and practicing it unnaturally on the said boys and girls with greater abundance, case, and pleasure, often and often again, in an excessive and unusual manner; and that he abused his eating and drinking habits daily; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering.

  XXXI. Item, that in his room in the castle at Tiffauges, the said Gilles, the accused, placed the hand, eyes, heart, and blood of one of the said children in a glass to offer it in homage and as tribute to the aforesaid demon Barron, and that he had this oblation offered in his name by the said François Prelati; the same François being designated for this and knowing how to conjure evil spirits, as abovenoted; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering.

  XXXII. Item, that for about five years, more or less, the said Gilles de Rais had celebrated, on many solemn feasts and in particular on last All Saints’ Day, a certain very conspicuous solemnity to honor the evil spirits, and in keeping with the pact concluded between him and the said evil spirits, as has been reported above; during which feasts, by virtue of the abovesaid pact, in the name of these same evil spirits and for their exaltation, he offered and caused to be offered alms to the poor; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering.

  XXXIII. Item, that the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, set his purposes, his hopes, and his belief in the invocation of evil spirits, divination, the murder of the said innocent children, the sin of sodomy, and unnatural lust; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering.

  XXXIV. Item, that more or less during the aforesaid forty years the said Gilles, the accused, conversed with diviners and heretics; that he repeatedly solicited their assistance for what he intended to perpetrate; that he communicated and collaborated with them, that he accepted their dogmas and studied and read their books touching on the interdicted arts; that he brought all his attention, hope, and mind to and fixed on these detestable dogmas to discover the ways and means proper to summoning evil spirits; and that he made a dogma of the conclusions and errors of diviners and conjurors; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering.

  XXXV. Item, that the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, more or less during these forty years frequented the invokers and conjurors of evil spirits, diviners and sorcerers, and that he received, favored, and protected them; that he believed them; that he learned, practiced, and held as dogma the magic arts of geomancy and necromancy forbidden by divine, canonical, and civil law; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering.

  XXXVI. Item, that five years ago, more or less, when the aforesaid Lord Duke of Brittany attacked the castle of Champtocé, and before the siege of the said castle, which the aforesaid Gilles de Rais, the accused, then possessed, the said Gilles de Rais, the accused — for fear that the Lord Duke, his men, his officers, and other persons might discover them — had the said Gilles de Sillé, Henriet, and Étienne Corrillaut, also known as Poitou, remove and place in coffers, to be transported by them to the castle at Machecoul in order to be burned, forty-five heads, with the bones of innocents inhumanly killed by the said Gilles, the accused,74 on which children he had detestably committed the sin of sodomy and other crimes against nature; and at the said castle of Machecoul these heads and bones were burned by the aforesaid Henri Griart, Gilles de Sillé and Étienne Corrillaut, also known as Poitou, by order of the said Gilles, the accused; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering.

  XXXVII. Item, that Gilles de Rais, the accused, Henriet Griart, Étienne Corrillaut, Gilles de Sillé, Jean Rossignol, Spadine, Roger de Briqueville, André Buchet, and aforesaid others, as for each and every one of the crimes, offenses, and villainies, lent mutual assistance, counsel, and support, and were consenting agents and accomplices, each one among them respectively; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering, public, notorious, and manifest.

  XXXVIII. Item, that the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, two years ago, more or less, examining in himself the great number of villainies, to wit, perfidious apostasy of the faith, offenses, and accursed crimes and sins designated above and others that he had detestably perpetrated which his conscience was oppressing him with, swore, vowed, and promised by God and by His saints that never again from there on out would he perpetrate or commit similar horrors and abominations, that he would abstain immediately and absolutely, and that for this purpose he would go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem where he would visit the Holy Sepulcher of the Lord; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering.

  XXXIX. Item, that notwithstanding these aforesaid oaths, vows, and promises, the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, since then, as a dog returns to its vomit, inhumanly killed children and caused them to be killed, and cut their throats and caused their throats to be cut, both boys and girls, in the aforesaid places; and that he committed the said sin of sodomy, in which he wallowed, and that he continued, as abovesaid, in his accursed, unnatural lust; but it is because of the said unnatural sin of lust, according to the disposition of justice, that tremors, famines and pestilences occur here on earth; and that he invoked and conjured evil spirits and caused others to do so, and that for these reasons the said Gilles, the accused, relapsed into and persisted in the aforesaid crimes; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering, public, notorious, and manifest.

  XL. Item, that regarding each and every one of these crimes, there were and are public rumblings and clamor.

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  (1. Bill of Indictment.)

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  XLI. Item, that for the aforesaid reasons the abovenamed Gilles de Rais, the accused, should be taxed with infamy; that he has committed the sin of sodomy, and that he has lapsed and relapsed into heresy, idolatry, and apostasy of the faith; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering.

  XLII. Item, that two years ago the said Gilles de Rais, acting in a sacrilegious manner notwithstanding a fear of God, with several of his fellow accomplices furiously and recklessly dared to enter the said parochial church of Saint-Étennede-Mermorte, in the diocese of Nantes, with offensive arms; and that in a foolish display of violence he laid and caused others to lay hands on a certain Jean Le Ferron, cleric, originally of Nantes; and he had Le Ferron violently and forcibly chased and expelled from the said church by a certain Lenano, Marquis de Ceva,75 a Lombard, and by his other associates; then he had him imprisoned for days and months as much in the said castle at Saint-Étienne-de-Mermorte as in the aforesaid castle at Tiffauges, where he was detained, irons on his feet and hands; and that the said Gilles, the accused, violating the immunity of the Church, inasmuch as he violated it himself and also caused others to violate it, has incurred the sentence of excommunication, in accordance as much with the law as with the authority of the Council of Tours and the synodal statutes of the Church of Nantes; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering, public, notorious, and manifest.

  XLIII. Item, that the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, in many and various places and before many honorable persons said, divulged, and publicized the aforesaid crimes done and perpetrated by himself; and that he considered them as so much dogma; and that he had practiced and practiced often the said magic arts, the said invocations and divinations, and other superstitions, with the purpose of incr
easing his honor, knowledge, and power; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering, notorious and public.

  XLTV. Item, that the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, committed and perpetrated the sin of sodomy unnaturally, and the other aforesaid crimes, sins, and villainies, in each of the aforesaid places and their vicinities, as abovesaid; and thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering.

  XLV. Item, that the common opinion of men, the belief and assertion of the people, the true report, the common memory, the public voice and rumor, as much in the aforesaid parishes of Saint-Trinité, Machecoul, Saint-Étienne-de-Mermorte, Saint-Cyr-en-Rais, in the Nantes diocese, as in the greatest portion of the Breton duchy and in other adjoining regions, in which the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, was and is known, is that he was and is a heretic, a relapsed heretic, a magician, a sodomite, a conjuror of evil spirits, a seer, a cutter of the throats of innocents, an apostate, an idolater, having deviated from the faith and being hostile to it, a diviner, and a sorcerer. Thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering, commonly said, held, believed, presumed, seen, heard, reputed, public, notorious, and manifest.