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BOOKS BY ERNEST ALFRED VIZETELLY. 



WITH ZOLA IN ENGLAND : A Story of Exile. With four 
portraits. Crown 8vo., cloth. 3s. 6d. 

THE SCORPION : A Romance of Spain. With a frontispiece. 
Crown 8vo., cloth, 3s. 6d. 

A PATH OF THORNS. Crown 8vo., cloth, gilt top, 68. 

THE LOVER'S PROGRESS, told by Himself and Dedicated 
to All who Love. Issuid anonymously. Crown Svo., cloth, 
gilt top, 6s. 

Also a Uniform Edition of M. ZOLA'S NOVELS, translated 
or edited, with prefaces, by E. A. Vizbtblly. Crown 8vo., 
cloth, 3s. 6d. each. 



CHATTO & WINDUS, in, St. Martin's Lanb, W.C. 



J 



BLUEBEARD 



BLUEBEARD 



AN ACCOUNT OF 



COMORRE THE CURSED AND 
GILLES DE RAIS 



WITH SUMMARIES OF VARIOUS TALES AND 
TRADITIONS 



ERNEST ALFRED VIZETELLY 




WITH NINE ILLUSTRATIONS 



LONDON 
CHATTO & WINDUS 



/i 

75 



,0** 



f 



V 



e' 



P^9FA»E 



The scope and purport of this book being explained 
in the introductory chapter, I need oflFer no very 
lengthy prefatory remarks. It will be seen that the 
introduction glances at the folklore of the subject I 
have chosen, and that it is followed by accounts of 
Comorre and Gilles de Rais, two men who have 
long been mentioned in works of reference, all the 
world over, as the possible prototypes of Charles 
Perrault's *Barbe-Bleue/ The narrative of the 
career of Gilles de Rais forms by far the greater 
part of the book, which may be taken, therefore, as 
being chiefly an excursion (by no means the first I 
have made) into that field of historical biography in 
which one so often discovers that real life is a great 
deal stranger than fiction. 

Although I mention in my introduction many 
stories associated with Perrault's tale, I do not 
claim that the list is exhaustive. My object has 



345401 



vi PREFACE ^ 

been to give a variety of examples of the stories 
constituting what folklorists, I believe, call ' the 
Bluebeard group.' Moreover, if I have glanced at 
the views of the solar mythologists and others, I 
have done so merely in order that those readers 
who are ignorant of folklore theories may in some 
measure understand how it is that various mythical 
origins have been assigned to ' Bluebeard.' 

Turning to the question whether Perrault derived 
less, perhaps, the subject-matter of his story than 
the name of his ' hero ' from some such character as 
Comorre or Gilles de Rais, I have given a number 
of traditions and tales about those men, as well as 
accounts of their actual careers. The stories of 
Comorre are certainly more interesting than are the 
facts of his real life, although, within the limits of 
his sphere of action, he was a personage of real 
importance in his time* That time, however, is far 
removed from us — it is like a forgotten charnel- 
house, in which linger a few dry bones of history — 
and unless one possess the pen of a Thierry, as in 
the ' R6cits des Temps M^rovingiens,' it is difficult 
to make it live afresh. Nevertheless — ^apart from 
any Bluebeard theories — my account of Comorre, 
which differs in several respects from one which I 
contributed to the Gentlematis Magazine nearly a 



PREFACE vii 

quarter of a century ago {Eh^u fugaces iabuntur 
anni . . .), may be acceptable, perhaps, to the 
historical student, as I have now availed myself of 
the researches of M. de La Borderie, who has recon- 
structed the annals of a period of Breton history left 
by other writers in a state of absolute confusion. 

But it will be found that the chief interest of this 
book, if I may be so bold as to claim interest for it, 
centres in the personality of Gilles de Rms. My 
attempt to narrate his extraordinary career in some 
detail is, I think, the first of its kind in the English 
language, though in France of more recent times 
numerous works respecting him have been written. 
Quicherat necessarily had to refer to Rais in his 
' Proems de Jeanne d'Arc ' ; but the first modern 
French historian who gave an approximate account 
.of the Marshal's life and misdeeds was Michelet. 
The second, of note, was Vallet de Viriville, who 
wrote an article on Rais for the ' Biographic 
Didot,' and who afterwards transferred the informa- 
tion collected in that article to his well-known 
' Hlstoire de Charles VII.' Then M. Paul L^croix 
— the Bibliophile Jacob — recounted the Marshal's 
trial, more or less correctly, in his 'Curiosity de 
I'Histoire de France'; M. Armand Gu^raud, the 
Baron de Girardot, M. de Sourdeval, and others, 



Yiii PREFACE 

particularly M. Paul Marchegay, contributed to the 
literature of the subject ; and at last, after long 
years, M. Ren6 de Maulde transcribed the Latin 
text of the documents in the Ecclesiastical Pro- 
ceedings against the Marshal, and Abb^ Bossard 
gathered together all the available facts, and pro- 
duced a work of considerable magnitude, which has 
remained^ in France, the standard authority on 
Gilles de Rais. 

I have largely followed Abb6 Bossard, as was 
indeed inevitable, for nobody could attempt to write 
on Rais without frequently consulting the Abb6's 
book. But I have also studied the works of his 
forerunners, contemporaries and successors, as well 
as many of the documents, and have endeavoured 
to narrate the Marshal s career with more regard 
for chronological order than the reverend Abb6 
observed. He, moreover, throughout his book, 
dedicated to Bishop Freppel of Angers, held a brief 
for a fellow-churchman — that is, Jean de Malestroit, 
the Bishop of Nantes who instituted the prose- 
cution of Gilles de Rais — whereas I have held a 
brief for nobody. I have written at greater length 
than Bossard on some phases of Gilles' life, whilst 
dealing very briefly with others on which it seemed 
to me unnecessary to expatiate. For several reasons 



PREFACE ix 

I r^rard the career of Rais as one of the strangest 
the world has ever witnessed If, as set down in 
this book, it should fail to interest the reader, the 
blame must attach to myself. 

With respect to Comorre, as I have already men- 
tioned, one finds the truth inferior to tradition ; but 
the contrary may well be asserted of the extra* 
ordinary personage whom Michelet for ever branded 
as the Exterminating Beast. Beside the fiendish 
crimes of the high and mighty Marshal de Rais, 
those of Perrault's Bluebeard sink into insignificance. 
As for the question whether Perrault, when writing 
his story, derived any suggestion as regards either 
name or subject from the lives or traditions of Rais 
and Comorre, I need not discuss it in this preface, as 
I have dealt with it at length, first at the close of 
my account of Comorre, secondly at the end of the 
book. To those passages of my text I would refer 
the reader curious on the subject. 

In the appendix to the volume will be found some 
remarks on the alleged Beaumanoir Bluebeard, the 
Montfaucon portrait of Gilles de Rais, and the 
latter's supposed connection with Jean Chartier the 
chronicler, as well as an excursus into the subject 
of Ys and other lost cities — Gradlon of Ys and his 
daughter, the Princess A^s, figuring incidentally in 



X PREFACE 

my account of Comorre. Now and again, too, I 
have added to my narrative sundry notes on legends 
and traditions of St. Gildas, St Herv6, the Wild 
Huntsman, etc. I have also prepared an index, 
which I hope will be found adequate ; and I must 
plead guilty to eight of the nine illustrations which 
accompany the text. 

E. A. V. 

Merton, Surrey, 

Aprils 1902. 



CONTENTS 



INTRODUCTION 

PACK 

CHARLES PERRAULT AND HIS TALES — MYTH, FABLE, 

AND STORY- - - , - - i 



COMORRE THE CURSED 

A.D. 515—555 

I. LEGENDS OF COMORRE — BRITTANY IN EARLY TIMES - 37 

II. COMORRE'S CAREER — THE TRADITIONS AND PER- 

rault's tale - - - - 70 

GILLES DE RAIS, MARSHAL OF FRANCE 

A.D. 1404 — 1440 

I. DESCENT, PARENTAGE, POSSESSIONS, MARRIAGE, AND 

FIRST CAMPAIGNS - - - ' ^^S 

II. THE PATH OF GLORY — GILLES AND JOAN OF ARC — ^THE 

CLOSE OF GILLES* MILITARY CAREER - - 141 

III. SPLENDOUR AND PRODIGAUTY — 'THE MYSTERY OF • 

ORLEANS'— THE HOLY INNOCENTS- - - 1 77 

IV. THE RESIST OF PRODIGAUTY — THE SCRAMBLE FOR 

THE RAIS ESTATES ..... 208 



xii CONTENTS 



rAfii 



V. THB GRSAT P0RTRIS8 OF TIPPAUQISS — ALCHEMY AND 

MAGIC -..-.. sjO 

VI. THE HORRORS OP MACHBCOUL AND CHAMPTOCl— THE 

CRIMES OF THE EXTERMINATING BEAST • ' ^SS 

VII. FRANCESCO PRELATI, THE DEVIL-RAISER — ^THE SPURIOUS 
MAID OP ORLEANS — GILLES' LAST DAYS OF SIN, 
CRIME, AND VIOLENCE .... 282 

VIIL THE PRIVILEGES OF THE CHURCH — ARREST, TRIAL, 

AND EXECUTION OP GILLES, HENRIET, AND POITOU - 326 
IX« WIDOW AND DAUGHTER — GILLSS DB RAIS AS BLUE- 

BEAR1>— CONCLUSION - • 370 



APPENDIX 

A. THB BEAUMANOIR BLUEBEARD .... 400 
a YS AND OTHER LOST CITIES • - -401 

C. THE MONTFAUCON PORTRAIT OF GILLES DB RAIS • 405 

D. GILLES DB RAIS AND /BAN CHARTIER - - - 407 

INDEX - - - - • 409 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



CILLBS, BARON OF RAIS, UAKSHAL OF FSAKCR 
CASTEL riNANS, OR THE GIANT'S CASTLE - 
HACHECOUL, THE BIRTHPLACE OF OILLBS DE RAIS 
AN OLD GATE OF VANNES - - - 

CHAHPT0C£ FROM THS VILLAGE SIDE 
A TOWER OF TIFFAUGSS 
CHAUPTOCi FROU THE FISHPOND - 
THE CASTLE AND CATHEDRAL OF NANTES - 
EXPIATORY HONUMENT ERECTED BY UARIS DE RAIS 



Frtmtit^ttt 

To fate p. 40 



a64 

336 
38a 



BLUEBEARD 



INTRODUCTION 



CHARLES PERRAULT AND HIS TALES 
MYTH, FABLE, AND STORY 

Perrault's Writings— His Brothers— The Fame of his Faiiy Tales 
—His First VeDtures as a Story-teller— Was he helped by 
Children ?— Folk Tales traced from Myths—The Su^ested 
Solar Myth of Napoleon— The War between Light and Dark- 
ness—^' Bluebeard ' as a Solar Myth, and as an Example of the 
Contest of Day and Night— Blue-bou-ded Deities—' Bluebeard ' 
exemplifying Ferocity, Deliverance, and Inquisitiveness-^For- 
bidden Rooms in many Legends and Tales — Variations in the 
Number of Blnebeard's Wives — Possible Sources of Perrault's 
' Riquet,' ' Sleeping Beauty,' and ' Cinderella ' — The Absence 
of Reference to ' Barbe-Bleue ' in French literature before 
Perrault's Time— His Treatment of the Tale— A Curious 
Vendean Version — Allied Historical Bluebeards: Comorre, 
Beaumanoir, GiUes de Rais. 

It is not always the book an author most prizes — 
the one which he regards as his masterpiece — that 
wins for him the recognition and remembrance of 
posterity. Had anybody predicted to Charles Per- 
raulc. Comptroller of State Buildings and afterwards 
Secretary-General of Finance under Louis XIV.'s 



2 BLUEBEARD 

great minister Colbert, that his name would survive 
him only in connection with a little volume of nursery 
tales, he would doubtless have refused to believe it ; 
for did he not extol in polished phrases the age of 
the Roi Soleil, and contend, even against so redoubt- 
able an adversary as Boileau, on the subject of the 
relative merits of ancient and modern authors? 
And did not that acrimonious controversy long stir 
all the rival literary salons of Paris in a manner 
which seemed to indicate that even if it should 
end it would never be forgotten? Again, Charles 
Perrault penned some erudite reflections on the 
writings of Longinus, *the living library,' and made 
a metrical translation of the fables of Faerno, besides 
composing a poem on the art of Painting ; and, 
assuredly, even those minor literary performances 
must have seemed to him more worthy of fame, and 
more likely to secure it, than the stories of fairies, 
giants, dwarfs, and beautiful princesses which he put 
together for the entertainment of children late in the 
autumn of his life. Yet nobody nowadays reads the 
* Si^cle de Louis le Grand ' or the ' Parall^le des 
Anciens et des Modernes,' whereas all Christendom 
remains familiar with Bluebeard, Cinderella, Hop o* 
my Thumb, Little Red Riding Hood, Riquet with the 
Tuft, the Sleeping Beauty, and the other heroes and 
heroines of the little volume of stories which Perrault 
published almost surreptitiously when nigh to his 
seventieth year. 

Born in Paris in 1628, he was the son of an 
advocate, and the youngest of four brothers, all of 



INTRODUCTION 3 

whom cultivated literature. Pierre, the eldest 
(1608-80), wrote several books, the principal of 
which seems to have been a treatise on the origin 
of springs. He also was employed in the Finance 
department by Colbert, rising indeed to the rank of 
Receiver-General, from which position he was dis- 
missed, however, by reason of some irregularities in 
his accounts, though, according to his apologists, he 
was not really responsible for them. The next 
brother, Nicolas (i6i:-6i), became a ' Docteur- 
en-Sorbonne,' £md was one of the leading supporters 
of Arnault, in the famous controversy between the 
Jansenists and the Jesuits. Like Arnault, he 
attacked the latter in writing (a book of his, ' De la 
Morale des J^uites,' is still occasionally quoted), 
and on their triumph he figured, as a matter of 
course, among the seventy doctors expelled from 
the Sorbonne. Claude (1613-88), the next of the 
brothers Perrault, and the most versatile of them all, 
originally made medicine his study, but turned to 
architecture, and thereby became famous. As a 
literary man, he translated Vitruvius, and wrote on 
natural history, physics, mechanics, and other sub- 
jects ; whilst, as a disciple of art, he acquired con- 
siderable proficiency in painting and sculpture. But 
he is best remembered by the stately colonnade 
which adorns the Louvre, and which, curiously 
enough, was his architectural d^bui. 

It will be seen from the foregoing that each of 
the brothers Perrault was a gifted and able man ; 
but of all their work the world nowadays cares only 



4 BLUEBEARD 

for the first effort of Claude and the last effort of 
Charles — the great colonnade and the fascinating 
fairy tales. The latter have the gift of perennial 
youth ; they have been printed in hundreds of forms, 
translated again and again into at least a score of 
languages, and illustrated by artists innumerable. 
Indeed, in the whole field of European literature, 
one will find no more universal book than Perrault's 
fairy tales — a book which has held its own for more 
than two hundred years, in spite of every rival ; for 
Grimm and Andersen, and all the other tellers and 
collectors of stories for the young, have never suc- 
ceeded in dethroning Perrault, however widespread 
may be the popularity which they have acquired. 

On the disgrace of Colbert in 1683, Perrault 
retired from his official position, and although for 
some years longer he remained a very prominent 
figure in the literary salons then flourishing in Paris, 
he at last sequestered himself in his quiet home 
in the Faubourg Saint Jacques, where he died in 
May, 1703. His first attempt as a conteur was 
inspired by the success of his friend La Fontaine, 
and the first subject to which he addressed himself 
was the well-known story of ' Patient Grissel,* which 
he found in Boccaccio,^ who, according to some 
accounts, had it from Petrarch,^ though others say 
that the latter took it from the author of the 
* Decameron.' In England Chaucer appropriated 
it, and it became the Clerk's Tale in the Canterbury 

^ * II Decamerone,' x. 10, 

2 ' De Obedientia et Fide Uxoria Mythologia.' 



INTRODUCTION 5 

series. Perrault's version was called ' La Marquise 
de Salusses, ou la patience de Griselidis,' and was 
issued in 1691 by Coignard. Its reception en- 
cours^ed him, and two years later he produced 
* Les Souhaits ridicules '^ (* The Ridiculous Wishes*), 
which story was followed, in 1694, by * Peau d'Ane'^ 
(* Ass's Skin'), an arrangement of a popular tale long 
current in France, one version having been done by 
Bonaventure Des Periers in the time of Francis I. 
Finally, in 1697 appeared * Histoires ou Contes du 
Terns pass6, avec des Morality, '^ the general collec- 
tion of stories which was to insure Perrault's fame. 
It has been suggested that he may have given 
manuscripts of these tales to two publishers. At all 
events, those which had not previously appeared in 
Holland (where some earlier ones had been pub- 
lished) were seemingly issued there* at the same time 
as the general collection was produced in Paris. 

^ * Le Mercure Galant,' p. 37. 

^ ' Recueil de Pi^es curieuses et nouvelles,' vol L The Hague, 
Adrien Moetjens. Besides ' Peau d'Ane,' ' Les Souhaits ridicules ' 
and ' Griselidis ' are also printed in this volume. 

' ' A Paris, chez Claude Barbin, sur le second perron de la 
Sainte Chapelle ; au Palais. Avec Privilege de sa Majesty.' 1697, 
lamo., 230 pp. 

* See vol. V. of Moetjens's * Recueil de Pieces curieuses,' etc 
The title-page of this volume is dated 1696, but its Fourth 
Part bears the date 1697, and in this section will be found the 
Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard, Puss in 
Boots, the Fairies, Cinderella or the Little Glass Slipper (' Pantoufle 
de Verre '), Riquet with the Tuft, and Hop o' my Thumb. As 
M. Giraud has pointed out, the question arises whether the Paris 
edition can really be called the original one, however fabulous the 
prices paid for it in auction-rooms. 



6 BLUEBEARD 

Scholarly editors and commentators of our time — 
Messrs. Giraud,^ Deulin,^ Dillaye,* Lacroix,* Lang,* 
and others — have discussed, though they have not 
solved, the question whether these tales of Perrault's, 
or rather such of them as are in prose, were at least 
in part the composition of one of the ex-Comptroller's 
sons. M. Deulin finds in them more simplicity of 
diction than a perusal of Perrault's other works 
would lead one to expect, and is strongly inclined to 
the view that some child must have had a hand in 
them. Yet, if a man like the late Rev. C. L. Dodg- 
son — to take an example from English literature — 
could write both ^ Euclid and his Modern Rivals ' 
and * Alice in Wonderland, ' surely the author of 
* Le Si^le de Louis le Grand ' may have been quite 
capable of penning * Les Contes du Tems pass6 ' 
without assistance. From one point of view, indeed, 
Mr. Dodgson's achievement was more remarkable 
than Perrault's, for he was only two-and-thirty when 
his * Alice' was published ; whereas Perrault was sixty- 
nine at the time of the appearance of his collected 
stories. At the former age very few men indeed, even 
if they are fathers, are inclined to the telling of 

* * Les Contes des F^s . . .' revised by Charles Giraud. Paris, 
1S64, and Lyons, 1865. ^^o* 

^ * Contes de ma M^re I'Oye avant Perrault,' by Charles Deulin. 
Paris, 1879. lamo. 

* 'Contes de Perrault,' etc., notice by F. Dillaye. Paris, 1880. 
8vo. 

^ * M6noires de Ch. Perrault,' edited by Paul Lacroix. Paris, 
1878. i2mo. 

^ 'Perrault's Popular Tales,' edited, etc., by Andrew Lang. 
Oxford, 1888. 8vo. 



INTRODUCTION 7 

nursery tales ; but the sexagenarian is frequently 
drawn towards childhood. If there be little ones 
about him, particularly children or grandchildren of 
his own, he pictures himself living afresh in them, 
he watches their play, listens to their prattle, takes 
them on his knees, and, to tell them stories, finds 
once more the simple style, the easy words of the 
tales told him by his mother or his nurse when he 
himself was but a little lad. In Perrault's case some 
doubt exists as to the age of his children at the time 
his ' Contes * were probably drafted. Certain it is 
that in the Paris collected edition they were put 
forth as the work of a child, P. d'Armancour, who 
in a dedicatory epistle addressed to ' Mademoiselle ' 
— that is, £lisabeth-Charlotte d'Orl6ans, sister of the 
Due de Chartres, afterwards Due d'Orl6ans and 
Regent of France — apologizes for his presumption 
in offering his work to that Princess.^ The royal 
privilege or authorisation to print and publish was 
also granted to P. d'Armancour, which M. Deulin 
tells us should be read as ' Perrault d'Armancour,' 
the name which a son of Charles Perrault assumed. 
And the explanation given for all this is that although 
the authorship of the ' Contes ' was merely a secret 
de PolichinelU^ Perrault did not care to put his name 
to a book which he regarded as being more or less 
trivial and frivolous. Yet it was this very book 
which brought him fame. 

It is, of course, possible that he may have heard 

^ 'Mademoiselle' was twenty years of age in 1697; in the 
following year she nuurried the Due de Lorraine. 



g BLUEBEARD 

some of his tales from children, and have endea- 
voured to imitate their natveU of style ; and, again, 
he may well have recalled stories told him in his 
boyhood. It is in any case certain that several of 
those which he gathered together are, in their essen- 
tial lines, very old, and figured in one or another 
form among popular myths, legends and traditions.^ 
In these days the popular old tales have been often 
associated with myths and beliefs of the early ages. 
One particularly notorious school of folklorists 
carried back virtually everything to the sun, the 
moon, the aurora. It was asserted that the names 
given in the mythopoeic age to the celestial bodies, 
and the changing scenery of the atmosphere, lost in 
time a part or all of their original meaning, until 
they were at last looked upon as the names of real 
deities and beings, in whose actions and adventures 
one might trace disguised descriptions of the sweep 
of the clouds across the face of the sky, and the 
victory achieved over them by the sun. * A thousand 
phrases would be used to describe the action of a 
beneficent or consuming sun, of the gentle or awful 
night, of the playful or furious wind ; and every 
word or phrase would become the germ of a new 
story as soon as the mind lost its hold on the original 
force of the name. Thus, in the polyonomy (the 

^ A mere glance at Perrault's life and the circumstances under 
which his tales were published has seemed sufficient here. For 
fuUer information see the writings of Deulin, Dillaye, Lang, Lacroix, 
and the edition of the * Contes ' edited by A. Leffevre, Paris, 1882, 
which contains a good biographical essay. 



INTRODUCTION 9 

giving of several names to one object) which was the 
result of the earliest form of human thought, we 
have the germ of the great epics of later times, and 
of the countless legends which make up the rich 
stores of mythical tradition/^ 

Turning to the Vedic hymns, the sun was shown 
figuring therein as the bull, the beneficent ^^««^/^r 
of the beneficent fruitful power, which was the cow, 
typifying the dewy moon, or the dewy aurora.^ 
Elsewhere, also, bull and cow appeared as symbols 
of the chief celestial bodies. Soon, however, in one 
and another mythological system the sun takes to 
himself the guise of a man, a hero-deity, and, as 
such, accomplishes innumerable exploits ; poets 
transforming the war in heaven between the various 
forces of nature into the strife of gods and men on 
earth ; as, for instance, with the siege of Troy, 
which, according to solar mythologists, was merely 
a * repetition of the daily siege of the East by the 
solar powers that every evening are robbed of their 
treasures in the West' And at least it has been 
claimed by many mythologists that all the great 
ancient epics and cycles — the * Iliad,* the * Odyssey,' 
the ' Volsungs,' the ' Nibelungs,' * King Arthur and 
his Round Table,' * The Ram4yan4,' the * Mah4 
Bh4rat4,' the ' Shah Nameh,' and so forth — ^present 
similarities of incident and episode which point to a 

^ Sir G. Cox's ' Mythology of the Aryan Nations,' p. 4a, as 
quoted by Edward Clodd in ' Myths and Dreams ' (second edition, 
Chatto and Windus^ 1 891, p. 62. 

* Count Angelo de Gubematis' 'Zoological Mythology, or 
Legends of Animals,' etc. London, 1S72, a vols., Svo. 



lo BLUEBEARD 

common derivation from old myth. The folk tales 
are in much the same position. ' The* fact abides 
that nursery stories told in Norway and Tyrol, in 
Scotland and the Deccan, are identical.'^ When 
identity is not absolute, great similarity is found, 
and one rises from the study of old tales with a 
keen impression of the limited number of plots at 
the disposal of the storyteller, who is ever travelling 
over ground explored by his predecessors, piecing 
together narratives of which one feature has figured 
here, another there, a third elsewhere. 

But even should one assign a common mythic 
origin to the old tales, one is often forced to the 
conclusion that a certain amount of historical fact 
is blended with the fable and the symbolism to be 
found in them. We know nothing certain of King 
Arthur, whom the comparative mythologists regard 
as a mere myth, a variant of Sigurd and Perseus ; 
but, as Mr. Clodd has pointed out, in the romance 
woven around Arthur's personality, there was doubt- 
less something which corresponded to some probable 
event, fitted in with certain national traditions. The 
obscurity in which Arthur is enveloped is not proof 
of his non-existence. We might regard Alexander 
as mythical if merely the wondrous l^ends of him 
remained. Cyrus and Charlemagne might also 
become myths, if all true record of their doings 
were destroyed. And, in like circumstances, some 
thousands of years hence, it might be allowable 
for mythologists to adopt, in all seriousness, such 

^ Qodd, Ar., pp. 70, 71. 



INTRODUCTION 1 1 

a view as that of the French ecclesiastic who 
showed us ' that Napoleon is cognate with Apollo, 
the sun, and his mother Letitia identical with Leto, 
the mother of Apollo ; that his personnel of twelve 
Marshals were the signs of the Zodiac ; that his 
retreat from Moscow was a fiery setting ; and that 
his emergence from Elba, to rule for twelve months, 
and then be banished to St Helena, was the sun 
rising out of the Eastern waters to set in the 
Western ocean after twelve hours' reign in the 
sky/i 

This example — although many more might be 
adduced, even from among contemporary events ; 
for instance, the Boer War would make as good a 
myth as the Siege of Troy — will suffice to indicate 
the weak point in the theories of those who detect a 
mythical origin and belief in everything of the early 
ages that is nowadays wrapped in obscurity. Some 
counterpoise to a myth-making disposition may be 
found in the research and the labour of those ex- 
plorers and excavators who raise from the shrouding 
earth the relics of ancient civilizations ; while the 
march of history itself, with its thousand repetitions, 
its frequent similarity of incidents in one age and 
another, should warn one against yielding too 
readily to the tendency to found, merely upon repeti- 
tion and similarity, the theory of a common origin. 
Two rivers may flow in the same direction and find 
their outlet in one and the same sea, without rising 
from the same source ; as witness, for instance, the 

^ Qodd, U.^ p. 64. 



12 BLUEBEARD 

Loire, which comes from the C^vennes, and the 
Garonne, which rises in the Pyrenees. 

At the root of many of the mythical tales, accord- 
ing to some writers, one finds the never-ending 
battle between light and darkness, the former being 
usually symbolized by a hero, and the latter by a 
monster. Those taking this view have cited, for 
instance, the combats of Indra and Vitra, Traitana 
and Ahi, Ormuzd and Ahriman, Feridun and Zohak, 
Michael and Satan, Abel and Cain, David and 
Goliath, even Jonah and the fish, Osiris, Horus and 
Typhon, Apollo and Pythdn, Theseus and the 
Minotaur, Perseus and the sea-monster, Hercules 
and Cacus, Thor and Midgard, Siegfried and the 
Nibelungs, Sigurd and Fafnir, St. George and the 
Dragon, and Beowulf and Grendel, besides many 
others, such as those which may be found in the 
Arthurian and similar romances. But at the first 
glance, it might seem difficult to associate the 
subject of this present book, that is, one of the 
most popular of Perrault's tales — Bluebeard — with 
the great contest of the day and the night. Yet 
not many years ago commentators arose to do so. 
M. Hyacinthe Husson was content to picture Blue- 
beard as the sun devouring the aurora ; but for 
M. Dillaye^ he was the semblance of the dense and 
cruel night, who imprisoned and would slay his 
spouse the light, in whom was traced the highest 
expression of curiosity. For does not the light pry 
into everything, and even reveal everything to 

^ Dillayei /.r., p. 217 et seq. 



INTRODUCTION 13 

others? Happily, the supreme power, unwilling 
that mortals should have to exchange the benefi- 
cence of daylight for the cruelty of darkness, 
resolved to save the latter's imperilled victim, and 
sent to her relief two aurora, or rather the morn- 
ing and the evening stars^ — the A9vins of the ' Rig 
Veda,* the twin Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux. 

Here one may well pause to recognise the 
ingenuity of M. Dillaye's theory. He turned the 
tale of 'Bluebeard' into as pretty a little myth as 
could well be devised. 

Even the hue of the cruel husband's beard is 
indirectly accounted for by the bluish blackness 
ascribed to night by the poets of all ages. One 
was carried far from the theories in which Husson 
brought forward, as a prototype of Perrault s * hero,' 
a certain Egyptian deity, B^, who boasted an azure 
beard, whereupon another French commentator, 
following in the same track, turned to the * Rig 
Veda,' and quoted a passage which showed that Indra 
was blue-bearded also ; whilst Greek and Latin 
authors depicted Zeus himself, the almighty Jupiter, 
* with beard and eyebrows of such blackness ' {telle- 
ment noirs) ' that they appeared to be bluish, like 
the plumage of ravens !' But another writer, Abb6 
Bossard, whose researches^ will be largely followed 
in one section of this book, and who evinces, un- 
doubtedly, more scorn for myth than the occasion 
warrants, makes merry over the views of M. Husson 

^ 'Gilles de Rais^ Mardchal de France, dit Barbe-Bleue,' by 
Abb6 Eugene Bossard. Paris, 1S86. 8vo. 



14 BLUEBEARD 

and his partisans. 'Just reflect,' says he, ' that the 
god B6s was perhaps symbolical of the Blue Nile^ 
and that the origin of the tale ' (' Bluebeard ') * would 
be wonderfully enhanced if one found it in the 
hidden sources of that famous river! Reflect 
that all the deities of the sea and the rivers, every 
Proteus of pagan antiquity, had blue hair and beard 
— cceruleus Proteus! And that the tradition of 
'' Bluebeard," in coming down without a break to 
Perrault and ourselves, passed through the hands 
of Homer and Virgil ! What a splendid origin ! 
But to those who are fascinated by that fine reason- 
ing we will address only one question : What will 
future critics think if, after several centuries, there 
should be discovered a certain religious statuette, 
which we saw recently, and which an artist deemed 
it good taste to decorate with a beard of azure, of a 
brighter blue than the raven s wing ? There can 
be no doubt of the answer. That statuette will help 
to carry through future ages the tradition in which 
the god BSs supplies one link ; and our great-gp^nd- 
nephews will rear upon it the theory which the 
Egyptian deity strengthens and illumines in so 
powerful a manner.'^ 

On the other hand, it may well be admitted that 
' Bluebeard ' offers features which are very sugges- 
tive of a mythic origin. On considering the tale 
under various aspects one finds it in some measure 
typical of ferocity, deliverance, and, more particularly, 
inquisitiveness. The first and second subjects have 

^ Bossard, /.^, p. 393. 



INTRODUCTION 1 5 

not attracted much attention from commentators, 
unless it be to connect one with the sun devouring 
the aurora, and the other with the battle between 
darkness and light; but the third theme, that of 
imprudent curiosity and its consequences, has led to 
much research, particularly on the part of M. Charles 
Deulin, who since 1876, when he published the 
result of his first investigations,^ has been followed 
and paraphrased by nearly all the editors of Perrault^ 
some of whom have, now and again, added to his ^^ 
references^ Taking ' Bluebeard,* then, as typical of ^ 
curiosity in woman, one may trace it back to the 
very beginning of the world, according to the 
Mosaic view. Eve and her apple, Lot's wife and 
her backward glance, immediately suggest them- 
selves ; while the key which Bluebeard hands to his 
wife reminds one irresistibly of Pandora's box. 
Psyche's lamp, and Elsen's question to the Knight 
of the Swan. The subject of human curiosity and 
its fatal effects has tempted story-tellers from the 
earliest times, which will appear only natural to 
those who incline to the view that curiosity with 
respect to their surroundings must have been one of 
the very first feelings of the primeval race.O And 
in a world which we cannot even imagine, of which, 
despite all the discoveries and suggestions of science, 
we have only the vaguest notions, a world in its 
genesis, still subject to extraordinary convulsions 
and phenomena, peopled with huge, strange, and 

^ ' Revue de France,' tome xx. (number of March 30, 1876), 
p. 975 ei se^. 



1 6 BLUEBEARD 

fierce creatures, the consequences of curiosity must 
often have been dire to man, that comparatively 
puny being who, after first wondering, turned to 
examine the earth on which he found himself, con- 
fronted at his first steps by that mighty work of 
conquest which has been his task throughout the 
ages. Thus, in all such stories as * Bluebeard/ 
there lingers a lesson which must have come down 
to us from the remotest of our ancestor s^ / 

It may be pointed out, in this connection, that if 
we, accepting Biblical traditions, regard curiosity as 
being more largely an attribute of woman than of 
man, this idea has been by no means universal. In- 
quisitive men are found in many of the old tales. 
They appear in Russian as well as Oriental stories.^ 
A familiar instance is that of the Third Calender in 
the * Arabian Nights'; and French examples are 
supplied by Elias, the King of Albanie, who mar- 
ried the fairy Pressina, and by Raimondin, the son 
of the Count of Forez, who espoused Pressina's 
daughter, the famous Melusina, from whom the 
Lusignans of history claimed to descend. Pressina 
gave birth to three children, Melusina and two 
others ; and during a certain time Elias was for- 
bidden to enter the room which his wife occupied. 
He infringed the prohibition, and Pressina dis- 
appeared, carrying her children to a mountain sum- 
mit, whence she showed them the land where they 
would have liv^^.t^n princely splendour had it not 
been for their father's fatal curiosity. Again, we 

^ Lang, Z.^. 



INTRODUCTION 17 

find Raimondin breaking the vow he had made 
never to enter the room wherein his wife, Melusina, 
secreted herself every Saturday, on which day she 
was condemned to become a blue serpent. 

Forbidden rooms and mysterious keys abound in 
the ancient fables. There is the forbidden room in 
which the treasures of Ixion are amassed, and which 
none may enter under penalty of being devoured by 
ever-raging fire. There is the forbidden chamber 
in which Jupiter keeps his thunderbolts, and the 
keys of which are known only to Minerva, as she 
herself teltis the Eumenides, in iCschylus. Ag^ain, 
there is a forbidden room, with a golden door and a 
golden key, in the already-mentioned story of the 
Third Calender, Agib, the son of King Cassib. This 
tale^ is occasionally quoted in connection with * Blue- 
beard,' to which, however, it bears little resemblance, 
save in the matter of the room and the key. Agib, 
after being wrecked on a lodestone mountain, is 
carried by a roc to the palatial abode of forty 
princesses, with whom he dwells for a year. They 
then absent themselves for forty days, and give him 
their keys, with permission to enter every room but 
one. On the fortieth day his curiosity impels him to 
pry into that particular chamber, and he there finds 
a black P^asus, which he mounts, and which carries 
him through the air towards Bagdad, deposits him 
on the terrace of a castle, and knocks out his right 
eye with a flick of its tail — even as it had done with 
ten curious young princes encountered by Agib 

1 ' The Aiabian Nights,' Night 66. 

2 



1 8 BLUEBEARD 

earlier in the story. In this case, then, the for- 
bidden room is scarcely like that of ' Bluebeard.' 
It suggests rather the one which figures in the tales 
collected by Bechstein — a room entered by two 
children, who find there a golden fawn harnessed 
to a golden carriage, in which they flee. 

But, as M. Deulin and his followers have pointed 
out, there are many other forbidden rooms. Some 
will be found in 'The King Serpent,' *The Prince 
of Tr^guier,* ' Koadalan/ * Bihannic and the Ogre,' 
four of Luzel's * Contes Bas- Bretons ' ; in Miss 
R. H. Busk's 'Black King' ('The Folk Lore of 
Rome ') ; in MuUenhoflPs * Vigorous Franck ' ; in 
' Faithful John,' one of the ' Kinder und Haus- 
marchen ' of the Brothers Grimm ; in ' The Widow's 
Son ' and the * Mastermaid,' of the * Norske Folke- 
Eventyr ' of P. C. Asbjornsen and J. Moe ; in 
the story of Maria Morewna in Ralston's * Russian 
Folk-Tales ' ; in one of the ' Swahili Tales as told 
by Natives of Zanzibar,'^ translated by Dr. E. Steere ; 
and in the adventures of Saktivega, which figure in 
the * Katha Sarit Sfigara ' (* The Ocean of the Rivers 
of Tales'), compiled in the twelfth century by 
Samodeva Bhatta of Cashmere. In this story, an 
epitome of which is given by Mr. Lang, the ' for- 
bidden room* takes the form of a certain palace 
terrace and three pavilions, which the hero is pro- 
hibited from approaching. When he does so, he 

* Not having seen this book, the writer cannot supply the title 
given by Dr. Steere to the story referred to, but Deulin calls it 
* L'Esprit tromp^ par le fils du Sultan.' 



INTRODUCTION 19 

finds in each pavilion a dead maiden — a discovery 
that is certainly suggestive of * Bluebeard.' But 
there is no resemblance in the rest of the tale, which 
appears to be a confused medley of many incidents. 
We come now to an Esthonian legend set down 
by Kreuzwald,^ and cited by Gubernatis in his 

* Zoological Mythology.' Here we find a monster 
husband who has already killed eleven wives, and 
who is about to murder the twelfth for having opened 
a secret room with a golden key (* perhaps the moon/ 
says Gubernatis!), when a youth, a friend of her 
childhood, who tends some goslings, comes to deliver 
her. Here the resemblance to * Bluebeard' is striking. 
It is true that Perrault does not even specify the 
number of his hero's wives ; he uses the word 

* several,' but it is none the less generally accepted 
in both France and England that Bluebeard was 
married seven times. As F. W. N. Bayley wrote 
in the rhymed version of the story which he pre- 
pared for the * Comic Nursery Tales '^ : — 

' In former times, 

In the warmest of climes, 
A gentleman gloried in several crimes : 
Some terrible deeds he was known to have done, 
And 'twas hinted that murder was certainly one ; 

For six of his wives 

Had been rid of their lives 
In the darkest of manners under the sun.' 

^ ' Ehsthnische Marchen,' aufgezeichnet von Fried. KLreuzwald, 
aus dem Ehsthnischen iibersetzt von F. Lowe, etc. Halle, 1869, 
post 8vo. (Tale 20). 

* One of the early publishing ventures of the late Henry Vizetelly, 
father of the present writer. 

2—2 



20 BLUEBEARD 

That, of course, is only a modern instance, and an 
English one ; but the idea of the seven wives has 
always prevailed in France, though occasionally the 
number becomes eight — that is, seven slaughtered 
wives, and another who is saved by her brothers. 

It is useless to plunge into the so-called occult 
science of numbers. For some reason or other the 
Esthonian view is, or was, that there were twelve 
wives ; and those who are inclined to do so may trace 
those twelve Esthonian spouses back through the 
twelve Wise Masters, the twelve Paladins, the 
twelve Knights of the Round Table, the twelve 
Apostles, the twelve Roman Deities, the twelve sons 
of Jacob, the twelve Signs of the Zodiac, and so 
forth ; while the partisans of the seven French or 
English wives may take comfort in thinking of the 
seven Champions of Christendom, the seven Wise 
Men of Greece, the seven Wonders of the World, the 
seven Sleepers, the seven Virtues, the seven Mortal 
Sins, the seven Sacraments, the seven Seals of the 
Apocalypse, in addition to the yearly victims of the 
Minotaur, who, suggestively enough, were likewise 
seven in number. In this connection mention may 
be made of the Indian tale of the magician Punchkin, 
who changes into stone the seven princely husbands 
of the rajah's seven daughters, a tale having a 
counterpart in Norse folklore, for * The Giant who 
had no Heart in his Body *^ turns six princes and 
their wives into stone, whereupon * Boots ' (properly 

1 ' Popular Tales from the Norse,' by Sir G. W. Dasent Edin- 
buigh, 1859. 8vo. 



INTRODUCTION 21 

* Cinderson/ from * Askeladden '), the seventh and 
surviving brother, undertakes to avenge them, and 
does so with the help of a raven, a salmon, and a 
wolf.^ In * Punchkin ' the magician's fate depends 
on the life of a parrot, which the seventh princess's 
son tears to pieces ; in the story of the giant the 
latter bursts when an egg^ in which his heart is 
hidden, is squeezed to pieces. The petrified victims 
are restored to life in both of these tales, whose 
likeness to Perrault's ' Bluebeard ' is, after all, of 
the vaguest 

An incidental suggestion of Perrault's conU is to 
be found in the old Cornish tale of ' Tom and the 
Giant Blunderbuss,'^ in which it is said that the 
giant's wives were to be counted by the score. 
What became of them nobody could tell ; yet there 
were always more ready to take their places. Tom 
was curious on the subject ; and thus, while Blunder- 
buss was dying of his wounds, he sisked him : ' Did 
you kill all your wives ?' * No,' sighed the griant ; 
*they died natural.' One of them, named Jane, 
survived, however, and Tom ended by marrying 
her. Italy also supplies two suggestive stories, one, 
quoted by Mr. Lang, being * The Devil Wooer,'^ 
wherein the heroines are limited to three, the ' per- 

^ In like manner a fox, a redbreast, and a goldfish figure in a 
story of Comorre, one of the Breton Bluebeards, given /^j/, p. 47 
et se^, 

* • Popular Romances of the West of England,' etc, collected 
by Robert Hunt, F.R.S. New Edition, Chatto and Windus. 
London, 1896, 8vo., p. 55 et se^. 

» • Italian Popular Tales,' by T. F. Crane. London, 1885, 8vo. 



22 BLUEBEARD 

feet number' of Pythagoras, which in the present 
instance may perhaps be regarded by believers in 
numerical science as symbolical of the three Fates, 
the three Furies, or even the Trinity, for, curiously 
enough, as soon as the three women are resuscitated 
the Devil hurriedly decamps, daunted by the idea 
of having to face that number of wives. The other 
Italian tale is the * King of the Assassins,' quoted 
by Gubernatis,^ who had it from a peasant woman 
of Fucecchio. Here again the sister-heroines are 
three in number ; as is also the case in the Highland 
story of * The Widow and her Daughters,' published 
by Campbell,^ and in the tale of * Fichters Vogel ' 
(*The Feather Bird'), which figures in Grimm's 
• Marchen.'^ 

These Italian, Gaelic, and German stories come 
from a common source, as an epitome of their in- 
cidents will show. In * The Feather Bird ' a sorcerer, 
who takes the form of a beggar and steals children, 
carries off the eldest of three pretty sisters, lodges 
her in a splendid house in a forest, leaves her with 
the keys, an egg which she is to carry about with 
her (eggs figure largely and in all sorts of ways 
in these popular tales), and forbids her to enter a 
certain room. She, however, infringes the prohibi- 
tion, and finds in the room a block, an axe, and a 
basin full of blood, into which, in her fright, she 

1 * Zoological Mythology,' vol ii. 

* * Popular Tales of the West Highlands,' etc., by John Francis 
Campbell. New Edition, Paisley and London, 1890-93. 4 vols., 
8vo. (Na 41.) 

» No. 46. 



INTRODUCTION 23 

drops the egg, which she is afterwards unable to 
cleanse. The man on returning home slays her;^ 
fetches the second sister, who shares her fate ; and, 
finally, the third, who cunningly leaves the egg in 
a safe place when she visits the secret room, where 
she miraculously restores her sisters to life by re- 
uniting their limbs. Then she makes the man 
carry them home in sacks, dips herself in a cask of 
honey and rolls among the feathers of her bed, till 
she looks like a marvellous bird, and cannot be 
recognised. In the result — the intervening incidents 
are immaterial — ^her brothers, who have been warned 
by her sisters, come to her rescue, and the sorcerer, 
who has returned home, is burnt to death in the 
house, which the brothers and other relations set 
on fire. 

All the commentators point to the resemblance 
of this tale to ' Bluebeard,' and even Abb^ Bossard, 
the champion of the Gilles de Rais theory, admits 
that there is considerable analogy between the two 
stories. In the Gaelic version, given by Campbell, 
there are sundry variations. For instance, the 
beggar-man becomes a horse, and the house to 
which he carries the sisters is inside a hill. Then, 
the part of the denouncing eggs is played by a cat, 
whose services the two elder sisters neglect But 
not so the youngest, who is cleansed of her blood- 
stains by the grateful animal. Turning to the 
Italian tale of the * King of the Assassins,' one there 

^ In some English adaptations of the story, the girls, instead of 
being killed, are simply shut up and starved. 



24 BLUEBEARD 

finds the cat replaced by a young dog, while the 
coffers in which the sisters of the Highland tale are 
carried off, when they are restored to life, are 
changed into jars. There are other incidents also 
in the Italian story which differentiate it from the 
others. For instance, the heroine resuscitates a 
certain French Prince Carlino, one of the Assassin's 
victims, and marries him ; and the Assassin, after 
placing a * soporific paper * under the prince s pillow, 
conceals himself in a golden column, whence he at 
last goes to the kitchen, to fill a large pan with 
boiling oil. The heroine, however, shakes the 
prince until he awakes, and in the end it is the 
Assassin himself who is burnt alive. 

In connection with * Bluebeard ' Mr. Lang men- 
tions yet another tale — one of Kaffir origin^ — but 
for the time this section of our subject need be 
carried no further. The question which presents 
itself is. What materials were used by Perrault when 
he wrote this particular tale ? Was it derived by 
him from any of those which have been mentioned ? 
It is allowable to surmise that he borrowed his 
* Riquet with the Tuft ' from the ' Nights ' of Stra- 
parola, even as he took his ' Griselidis ' from 
Boccaccio ; while ' The Sleeping Beauty ' may well 
have come from one of the romances of chivalry, 

1 « Nursery Tales of the Zulus '—the Kaffir Tale of the Ox— 
p. 23a In * Household Tales collected in the Counties of York^ 
Lincoln,' etc., by S. O. Addy, London, 1895, there is one 
(No. 18) entitled 'The Glass Ball,' which is likewise included in 
the ' Bluebeard ' group. We also refer, at the end of our account 
of Comorre, to two suggestive Breton stories. 



INTRODUCTION 25 

if not direct from the old Scandinavian legend of 
Brynhild and Sigurd, which is generally regarded 
as its earliest known form ; though, indeed, almost 
every nation has some tradition about a sleeper — 
usually of the malq. sex — who will some day awaken, 
in order, as a rule, to perform some mighty deed, 
as in the case of Arthur, who, when he emerges 
from his slumber, is to make Britain the head and 
front of all the kingdoms of the earth. 

Again^ 'Cinderella' is a story seemingly known 
in various countries before Perrault's time ; and 
although it is altogether unlikely that he ever heard 
of Sodewa Bai, the Hindu, or of Conkiajgharuna,^ 
the Georgian Cinderella, and may even have had 
no acquaintance with the German Aschenputtel, we 
know that he was a good classical scholar, and as 
such may well have been familiar, through Strabo 
or iElian, with the story of Rhodope, one of whose 
sandals was carried away by an eagle, which dropped 
it at Memphis, near King Psammeticus, who, after 
marvelling at its beauty and diminutive size, caused 
strict inquiry to be made for its owner throughout 
the known world, with the result that Rhodope was 
discovered, and, although at that time a courtesan, 
was married to the King. That Rhodope may have 
served as the original of Perrault's Cinderella is the 
more possible as she is described by some authors 
as having been originally a fellow- slave of iEsop's, 
in th^ palace of Xanthus of Samos, a circumstance 
probably known to Perrault, who, in translating 

^ Miss M. Wardrop's ' Georgian Folk Tales,' London, 1895. 



26 BLUEBEARD 

Faernus, had familiarized himself with the then 
generally accepted accounts of iSsop, Phaedrus, and 
the writings ascribed to them. At all events, one 
may at least say that Rhodope, the slave, suggests 
Cinderella, the house-drudge. 

But if in connection with the latter it is possible 
to point to a classical prototype, such as may well 
have been familiar to a writer like Perrault, no such 
suggestion can be offered with respect to ' Blue- 
beard.' If we regard the latter as an old-time story, 
adapted from popular oral tales, it is extraordinary 
that no earlier mention of it should be found in French 
literature. Neither irouv^re nor troubadour, neither 
historian nor moralist, neither chronicler nor poet, 
before Perrault's time, had ever referred to that 
legend of Bluebeard, great as is the position which 
it now holds in popular lore. No literary man ever 
wrote that name, Barbe Bleue, or alluded to Anne^ 
ma sceur Anne, before Charles Perrault did so. And 
it is remarkable that, disseminated among the people 
and kept alive by fireside traditions, the story should 
have left no trace in the works of Rabelais, Marot 
Montaigne, and all the other sixteenth-century 
writers, who were so partial to popular anecdote. 
As remarks Abb6 Bossard, who is here followed,^ 
it is as if Perrault had given new life to the story 
by drafting it in a literary form, had brought it 
into the full radiance of day by transferring it from 
the sphere of nurses and children to the more en- 
lightened sphere of literature. 

^ Bossard, /.^., p. 396. 



INTRODUCTION 27 

Of all Perrault's tales, * Bluebeard * is the least 
marvellous, the most * realistic,' the most * up-to- 
date/ It is quite grand siicle, as a Frenchman 
might say. Bluebeard has town and country houses, 
coaches, gold and silver plate, and even sofas ! His 
wife is a fit companion for Madame de La Fayette, 
Madame de Motteville, and Madame de S6vigne ; 
and the brothers also are essentially of Perrault's 
time, for one is a musketeer and the other a dragoon. 
To Abbe Bossard it seems as if Perrault had stripped 
the story of everything that appeared to him un- 
worthy of the bon-ton and politeness of society as 
it flourished under Louis XIV. ; and the reverend 
critic further suggests that Perrault deliberately 
altered the popular tradition when he made Blue- 
beard's wife solicit a short delay in order that 
she might prepare herself for death by prayer to 
God. 

In this connection Abb6 Bossard quotes a curious 
version of the tale which has long been current 
throughout La Vendue, though whether it be of 
earlier origin than the seventeenth century is un- 
certain. It is an interesting version, as the reader 
will perceive by the following extract^ : — 

* " You must die, and at once," said Bluebeard. 

* " If I must die," said the poor woman, **at least 
allow me, I beg you, to go up to my room, where 
are my wedding-garments; for, as a last favour, I 
entreat you to let me wear them once again, that I 
may die bedecked in them." 

^ Bossard, U,^ pp. 386, 38 . 



28 BLUEBEARD 

* " Go/* said Bluebeard ; " but make haste, for I 
have no time to wait" 

* More dead than alive, the poor woman went up 
to her room. And, forthwith, she said to sister 
Anne, who happened to be there : 

* " Go quickly to the top of the tower, and tell me 
if my brothers are coming." 

* Sister Anne went up swiftly. 

• " Anne, sister Anne, dost thou see nothing 
coming ?" 

' ** Alas ! no ; I see but the dust of the sunbeams 
scattering, and the grass a-greening."^ 

' Meantime Bluebeard was shouting to his wife 
from below : 

* " Come down, wilt thou ? Or I shall go up !" 

' " Husband, I have yet to put my pearl necklace 
round my neck." 

* '* Make haste ! For I have no time to lose," 
Bluebeard answered. 

'Then his wife repeated in a still more urgent 
voice : 

'"Anne, sister Anne, dost thou see nothing 
coming ?" 

* ** I see but the dust of the sunbeams scattering, 
and the grass a-greening." 

* '* Wilt thou come down ? Or I shall go up 
there !" shouted Bluebeard. 

' " Husband, I still have to put two golden brace- 
lets on my arms." 

^ £e soldi quipotidroU et Fherbe qui verdoie, — To green, Thomson ; 
greening, Keats. 



INTRODUCTION 29 

* ** Make haste !" Bluebeard answered, " for I have 
no time to lose." 

* " Anne, sister Anne, dost thou see nothing 
coming ?" 

' " I only see a cloud of dust which the wind is 
raising far away across the plain." 

* " For the last time, wilt thou come down ? Or 
I shall go up there !" Bluebeard shouted. 

' •* Ah ! for mercy's sake," his wife answered him, 
*' I still have to adjust my wedding head-dress." 
And at the same time, knowing naught else to say 
to him, that she might still tarry there : ** Anne, 
sister Anne !" she cried in a voice of terror, '* dost 
thou see nothing coming ?" 

* *' Ah !" said sister Anne, " I see two horsemen 
on the horizon." 

' But Bluebeard was becoming impatient ; so his 
wife said to him : 

* ** I am coming down, but let me still look for my 
wedding-ring, which I had forgotten."^ And again 
calling to sister Anne : ** Anne, sister Anne," she 
asked, " do they come this way ?" 

* ** Yes," said sister Anne, " they are coming at a 
gallop ; they are near, and I am signing to them to 
hasten.'* 

* At that moment, at the bottom of the tower, 
Bluebeard called in so terrible a voice that his wife 
began to tremble in every limb, for fear lest he 
should come up to her room. 

^ This is not out of the way, for the superstition which prevents 
so many Englishwomen from ever taking off their wedding-rings is 
scarcely known in France. 



30 BLUEBEARD 

' " I am coming down ! I am coming down !" she 
called to him. 

' For all that, she did not hurry. Only she made 
a clatter with her shoes several times upon the same 
stair, to make him think that she was hastening. 

* *'Come down quicker than that !" said Bluebeard, 
*• for I have no time to wait." 

'When she at last appeared before his eyes, 
she was pale and trembling, and clad in the same 
garments as she had worn when she went up ; 
for her fright had not allowed her to change 
them. 

'"False one! traitress!" he said to her, "it is 
thus that thou didst ever deceive me! But thou 
shalt gain nothing by having waited." 

* " My lord," she said to him, falling at his knees, 
" deign to pardon me !" 

' But he has already raised his cutlass above her 
head. He is about to lay her low with one stroke, 
when all at once the door opens with a crash, the 
brothers of the unfortunate spring towards Blue- 
beard, and run him through the body with their 
swords.* 

It is impossible to say whether this version of the 
story, current in La Vendue, is older than Perrault's. 
But it is a curious one, as illustrating the popular 
fancy. It would be easy to find many instances, 
even nowadays, of people desiring to be buried in 
their wedding clothes. There have been cases, too, 
of criminals putting on such garments before appear- 
ing on the scaffold. Lawrence, Earl Ferrers, did 



INTRODUCTION 3' 

so when he was hanged in i ;6o for murdering his 
land-steward. And thus there is a suggestion of 
quaint realism, such as would appeal to ttmaginatttm 
populaire, in Bluebeard's wife entreating a respite in 
order that "before dying she might deck herself in 
her bridal gown and ornaments.^ Moreover, one 
may perhaps picture her hoping that she m^ht 
soften her cruel husband by appearing before him 
in the garments she had worn when he wedded her. 
But either Perrault did not know this version — sup- 
posing it to be older than his own — or else, 3S Abb^ 
Bossard suggests, he was resolved to have none of 
it, being a religious man, one who held that the only 
proper thing for a woman to do, under such circum- 
stances, was to pray. It may be added that the 
peasants of La Vendue are also religiously inclined, 
yet there is nothing suggestive of any religious 
sentiment in their version of ' Bluebeard.' 

It now has to be pointed out that, whatever the 
folklorists may have to say on the subject, the vox 
populi throughout France has long assigned to Blue- 
beard a locfd habitation and a name. Historians, 
such as Daru, Michelet and Wallon, and more 
particularly the native writers of Brittany, Anjou 
and La Vendue, have long re-echoed the popular 
assertion that the real Bluebeard was the offspring 
of that strange wild land of Brittany, the ancient 
Armorica, which has given to the world, and pre- 
served for our generation, so many weird and quaint 

' The same occurs in S^billof s Breton siory oT ' Barbe Rouge,' 
epitomiied ftat, pp. 107, toS. 



32 BLUEBEARD 

l^ends and traditions. But whilst all French 
writers, apart from the mythologists, agree in assert- 
ing that the original Bluebeard was a Breton, there 
is difference of opinion with respect to the actual 
man whose career served as the basis of the tradition. 
Some hold that he was a certain Conomor, Comorus, 
Comor, Comorre, or Commorre, as the name is 
variously written, a Breton usurper of the sixth 
century. One writer, however, has suggested that 
he was a member of the famous house of Beau- 
manoir, originally of Maine, but connected with 
Brittany ; while many urge the claims of the high, 
powerful, and redoubtable lord, Gilles de Laval, 
Baron of Rais, Count of Brienne, and Marshal of 
France, the first specially appointed protector of 
Joan of Arc, and the companion-in-arms of Riche- 
mont, Dunois, Ambroise de Lord, Boussac, and 
many of the other paladins who at last succeeded in 
driving the English from France, in such wise that 
nothing of it remained to them, save the one port 
and stronghold of Calais. 

Passing, then, from the folklore of the subject as 
glanced at in previous pages, an attempt will now be 
made to recount, as far as the writer can ascertain, 
and as far as is, for various reasons, convenient, the 
careers of two of the historical personages to whom 
the dishonour of having been the original Bluebeard 
is imputed. It is unnecessary to discuss sundry 
suggestions that Perrault's hero was a Turk — with a 
harem, of course ; and it is not proposed to dwell on 
the life of our much-married Henry VI IL, though 



INTRODUCTION 33 

Perrault, while writing his story, may well have 

remembe ^ >hat libidinous monarch. As for the 

allegatio " "^'^anQir — a mere allqra- 

tion, ur ^ ' ^ •noticed 

briefly 

and t\ 

First, 

called 

his a 

cons 

intf 

mo' 

foU 

pe 



V 

f 



* . . . -^ 

, ■ . ,1 






id' 



the celebrateQ «.. 

example of the manner m «».^ 

^ See/ostf Appendix A. 



'J 



34 BLUEBEARD 

should be approached and treated. And after Abb^ 
Bossard, there are Vallet de Viriville, Quicherat, 
and Wallon, Paul Lacroix and Paul Marchegay, 
Armand Gu6raud, E. Cosneau, and many others 
of repute, to help one to narrate, in its essential 
features, the extraordinary career of one of the 
bravest captains, one of the most splendid prodigals, 
one of the most superstitious and credulous beings, 
and one of the very vilest monsters, that ever lived. 



COMORRE THE CURSED 

'COMOR AR MILIGUET' 



3—2 



COMORRE THE CURSED 

'COMOR AR MILIGUET' 
Or. A J). 515-555 

I 
LEGENDS OF COMORRE — BRITTANY IN EARLY TIMES 

The River Blavet and its Scenery — Qu^fcan, Broceliande^ and 
Arthurian Legends — Comorre's Castle of Finans — The Legend 
of Comorre and St. Tryphine according to the ' Grandes 
Croniques ' and Brother Albert of Morlaix— St. Gildas destroys 
the Walls of Finans as Joshua destroyed those of Jericho— 
Comorre is cursed and takes the Form of a Bisclavaret or 
Werewolf— The Comorre and Tryphine Legend as a Fairy Tale 
— Other Memories of Comorre in Brittany — The Legend of the 
Ferry of Cloar-Camo<^ — Comorre as Charon — From Legend to 
History — Confusion of the Early Annals of Brittany — La 
Borderie's Effort to reach the Truth— The Fate of Ancient 
Armorica — Hun, Alan and Saxon — Emigrations from Britain — 
Armorica becomes Brittany — Early Breton Rulers contemporary 
with Comorre — Gradlon the Great and the Submerged City of 
Ys — Werok of the Vannetais — Riwal of Domnonia — Withnr of 
Leon. 

Some five -and -thirty years ago one of the finest 
trout -Streams in France was the now partially 
canalized Blavet, which, taking its source near the 
squalid Breton hamlet of Querien — in a wild district 
of the department of Les C6tes - du - Nord, a 



38 BLUEBEARD 

region all up-hill and down -dale, fwith stretches 
of marshland intervening between [lofty hills — 
flows southward through the adjacent department 
of Le Morbihan, and, uniting with the Scorff, 
meets the sea just below Lorient. Now and again 
the Blavet, in its upper reaches, is pent between 
rocky hills ; but at times come furrowed slopes 
planted with buckwheat and colza, with intervening 
patches of brushwood, interspersed with clumps of 
beeches, or fringed with pines. Then the slopes 
retreat, offering a wider bed to the river, which 
pursues its course between verdant pasture-lands, 
where poplars and pollard willows dot either margin. 
Behind the apple-trees, clustering on some neigh- 
bouring hill, the thatch roof of a homestead may be 
occasionally descried ; but presently appear shady 
woods, in which one espies quaint gray rocks, now 
overgrown with moss or stonecrop, and now decked 
round about with eglantine or holly. The rushes 
bend to the breeze beside the deep blue water, in 
which a sunbeam dances ; small tributary rivulets 
gleam awhile amid fern, heather, and trailing peri- 
winkles, and then leap onward in miniature cascades, 
while, in the surrounding thickets, thrush and black- 
bird pipe right joyously. 

Beyond Gouarec, before the Blavet quits Les 
Cdtes-du-Nord, it skirts first the woods of L'Abbaye 
and Le Fao, and then the forest of Qu6n6can, which 
extends over some seven or eight thousand acres of 
Le Morbihan. Here the river is for a time shut in 



COMORRE THE CURSED 39 

by steep gray heights intersected by narrow gorges ; 
but a glimpse is obtained of the ruined abbey of 
Bon-Repos, founded by one of the Rohans, and 
devastated during the great Revolution ; and then, 
never heeding the huge overhanging rocks which 
for centuries have been threatening to fall and im- 
pede its progress, the river turns into the forest, 
which is a remnant of that great primeval, central 
forest of Brittany, still existent in early historical 
times. Fragments of it are yet found here and 
there ; one of them, towards Paimpont, even now 
retaining among the peasantry the ancient name 
immortalized by imperishable romance — that name 
of Brekilien, or Broceliande, which recalls Arthur, 
Merlin, Viviane, and even the fierce Esplandian, 
that son of Amadis and Oriana whom the lioness 
suckled. In the remnant of the old central forest 
existing near Landerneau you will be shown the 
ruins of the abbey built on the site of the castle of 
Joyeuse-Guarde which Arthur gave to Lancelot ; in 
the fragment near Paimpont you may see Merlin's 
magic fountain of Baranton, as well as the hawthorn 
bushes in which he was spellbound by the artful 
Viviane ; while on a hill towards St. M6en is the 
site of the palace of Gael, where Arthur himself 
dwelt (so you will perhaps be told) after his passing 
from Britain into Brittany. Thus, on learning that 
Qu^n^can, also, is a remaining portion of the vast 
woodland associated with the hero-king, who is to 
return one day to Britain, * full twice as fair, to rule 



rv 



■f 



40 ^ BLUEBEARD 

over his people/ you may well expect to find some- 
thing Arthurian there also. 

The fotest is dark, weird, impressive. One of its 
black gorges is called the Stang-en-Ihuem, or Valley 
of Hell ; there are huge and fantastic rocks among 
the clumps of oak-trees, and a very large dolmen 
called ' the house of the small people ' is to be found 
near the hamlet of Gouvello, in such wise that you 
feel yourself in a spot which the Druids must have 
chosen for their meditations and their mysterious 
rites. And fairyland also comes to mind. This is 
a fit home for the Korriganets, those spirits of native 
princesses who, having refused to embrace Christi- 
anity when it was first preached in Armorica, in- 
curred, it is said, the Divine displeasure, and were 
set the endless task of creating the springs and 
fountains which were to supply the water of baptism 
and health to true believers. And here also may 
well abide the Poulpiquets, those black, hideous, hairy 
dwarfs who built the dolmens, and whom every 
peasant in the old days vowed that he had seen on 
at least one occasion — most frequently after a drink- 
ing bout. Thus, some Breton Oberon may per- 
chance still hold his court in yonder glade, among 
the dark trees and the strange rocks which occasion- 
ally affect the aspect of grim giants or ogres, suggest- 
ing, indeed, that Quen^can may be the very forest 
where * Petit Poucet ' and his tribe of brothers were 
purposely * lost' And as nothing Arthurian is to be 
discovered in this particular part of old Brekilien, 
may one not content oneself with some relic or 



COMORRE THE CURSED 41 

suggestion of fairyland ? The suggestion is supplied 
by the forest itself; the relic is close at hand, for 
yonder, old peasants will assert, is all that remains 
of Bluebeard's famous castle. 

At the point, indeed, where the Blavet changes its 
eastern for a southern course, nigh to the lock of Guer- 
l^dan, it washes the base of a conspicuous gray, rocky 
promontory, the summit of which, showing traces of 
a stone fortification, is bright with purple heather, 
offering a lively contrast to the green foliage of the 
trees on the margin of the stream. The river skirts 
this promontory on three sides, which rise almost 
perpendicularly from the water to a height varying 
from one to two hundred feet. It would be almost 
impossible to scale those cliffs, and even from the 
land side the summit is difficult of access. For long 
ages this towering promontory has been known as 
Castel Finans ; and, according to tradition, it was 
here, in the sixth century, that Bluebeard had his 
stronghold, and murdered his hapless wives. 

Some forty years ago, whatever may be the case 
nowadays, the peasants of C16gu6rec, Ste. Brigitte, 
S^glien, Lescouet, St Aignan, and all the other 
villages and hamlets in or around the forest, signed 
themselves at the mention of the miscreant's dreaded 
name, for was he not * Comor ar Miliguet, ' 
• Coniorre the Cursed,' one on whom the saints of 
Brittany had called down the judgment of Provi- 
dence ; and being thereby denied access both to pur- 
gatory and to heaven, did he not roam Qu6n6can at 
night in the guise of a wolf, seeking whom he might 



42 BLUEBEARD 

devour? Imagination supplied most of the details 
of his career ; but of the facts of his last great crime 
and the miracle which followed it there was no doubt 
whatever. 

The legend has been briefly recorded by two of 
the older Breton historians ;^ and in rather more 
detail, most of which is imaginative embroidery, 
by Brother Albert Le Grand, a Dominican of 
Morlaix, who, in 1636, published a quaint work on 
the ' Life, Deeds, Death, and Miracles of the Saints 
of Armorican Brittany/^ 

* C6mor, a Breton King of the sixth century,* says 
Alain Bouchard, * had already put several wives to 
death, and Gu^rok, Count of Vannes, refused him 
his daughter Triphine. Vanquished at last by the 
King's pressing solicitations, he ended by granting 
her to him, on the promise, which at the request of 
King Comorus M. [Messire] St. Gildas made to 
him, that she should be well treated, and restored to 
him, healthy and whole, when he should demand her 
of him.'^ Brother Albert, on his side, asserts that 
Comorre had already had four wives, all of whom 
had perished, and that, being known for his cruelty 

^ Alain Bouchard, in his 'Grandes Croniques,' Nantes, 1531, 
folio, p. 52 ; and Dom Lobineau, in his ' Histoire de Bretagne,' 
1707, folio, p. 75. 

^ His full name was Albert Le Grand de Kerigouval, but he is 
generally catalogued as Le Grand or Legrand. Three editions 
of his book are known to exist : (i) *La Vie, Gestes, Mort et 
Miracles des Saints de la Bretagne- Armorique,' par le Fr^re Albert 
Le Grand, de Morlaix, Dominicain ; Nantes, 1636 ; (2) ' La Vie,' 
etc., Rennes, 1680 ; (3) * Les Vies,' etc., Brest, 1837. 

' Bouchard, /.^., p. 52. 



COMORRE THE CURSED 43 

and his vices, he resorted to strats^em in order to 
obtain the hand of Tryphine. Having attracted 
Gildas the Wise, Abbot of Rhuys, to his court, 
whither the holy man repaired in the hope of con- 
verting *that ravenous wolf into a meek lamb,' he 
prevailed on him to propose a durable peace and 
alliance to the Count of Vannes, on condition that 
the latter would give him the hand of his daughter, 
whom he promised to treat with all kindness, 
honour, and affection. The good Abbot, who 
desired above all things to put an end to disastrous 
wars, pleaded the cause of Comorre to the Count 
and his daughter so successfully, that in spite of 
their repugnance they accepted Comorre's proposals, 
on the express condition, however, that if he should 
some day lose his affection for Tryphine he was to 
send her back to her father without ill-treatment. 
The marriage took place ; but some time afterwards 
Tryphine discovered that her husband invariably 
killed his wives as soon as he found them to be in a 
certain condition ; and she was so terrified thereat 
(she herself being enceinte) that she resolved to flee^ 
According to one legendary account, she had a 
warning vision of the dead wives; according to 
another, she read her husband's fell purpose in his 
glances. • At all events, early one morning, mounted 
on her haquenie (an ambling nag), and attended, it 
would seem, by a few servants, she fled from her 
home. But Comorre, discovering her absence, 
followed in hot pursuit, and Tryphine, perceiving 
his approach, dismounted, and sought a retreat in a 



44 BLUEBEARD 

thicket, where her husband discovered her. ' Then/ 
says Brother Albert, *the poor lady flung herself 
upon her knees before him, her hands raised to 
heaven, and her cheeks bathed in tears ; and she 
implored his mercy ; but the cruel monster, unmoved 
by her weeping, seizes her by the hair, deals her a 
great sword-cut on the neck, and lops her head from 
off her shoulders/ 

While the murderer quietly rode back to his eyrie 
overlooking the Blavet, the servants, who had 
accompanied Tryphine without daring to defend 
her, hastened to her father's home. The Count of 
Vannes set out to succour his daughter, but found her 
dead ; and in his desolation, after he had removed 
her body to Vannes, where it was placed on a 
funeral couch in the great hall of the castle, he 
remembered that he had only given Tryphine to 
Comorre at the request of Gildas, who had promised 
that she should be restored to him 'healthy and 
whole * if ever he should require it. So he sent for 
the holy man, and, showing him the body of 
Tryphine, he asked him if that was how it had been 
agreed he should receive his cherished daughter, 
the child of his heart, from her husband. The 
reproach filled Gildas with emotion ; he knelt beside 
the decapitated body, and with all the people present 
he prayed unto Him who restored Lazarus, even 
four days after his death, to Martha and her sister 
Mary. The prayer ended, he approached the body, 
and, taking the head, placed it on the neck ; and 
then, speaking to the defunct, he said to her aloud : 



COMORRE THE CURSED 45 

* Tiyphine, in the name of Almighty God, Father, 
Son, and Holy Ghost, I command thee to rise upon 
thy feet ' (sur doui) ' and tell me where thou hast 
been.' ^ The lady rose, and, before all the assembled 
people, she said that the angels had been preparing 
to place her in Paradise, among the saints, when the 
words of St. Gildas had called her soul back to earth. 
But Comorre was not to go unpunished. The 
Abbot of Rhuys, we are told, betook himself to the 
monster's castle of Finans, where the gates were 
closed at his approach. And, having vainly de- 
manded admittance, the holy man took up a handful 
of dust and flung it against the walls, which, like 
those of Jericho at the sound of the trumpets of 
Joshua, immediately crumbled to pieces, at the 
same time seriously injuring Comorre, who was able, 
however, to flee to another castle which he pos- 
sessed—one near P^demec, some six miles from 
Guingamp, famous for its pilgrimages. Then, as 
he still continued his career of crime, undaunted by 
the warning of heaven, thirty Bishops of Brittany 
assembled in solemn council on the adjacent height 
of the Menez-Br6, on which Guin Clan, the pro- 
phatic bard,^ is said to have lived, and which is 
now crowned by a chapel dedicated to St. Herv6, 
whither people afflicted with neuralgia resort in 

^ Albert Le Grand, Lc. Alain Bouchard sajrs : 'The saint 
betook himself to the body, and by his prayers and by his tears he 
obtained from heaven the resuscitation of Sainte Triphine.' 

' According to some theories Guingamp derives its name from 
that semi-mythical personage ; but the more probable etymology 
is Gwen<amp, white field. 



Hcrrc TirtuaDy fM C si ded over the 
ltc of Bishops cxmimed to ponisii Comorre, 
mho V2S solemnly anatfaemazued br tfaem. And 

jcgtso^iY account — ^with a terrible malady* finom 
vfakb be died, his soul being borne away in a 
stream of blood. Nerertbeicss. in part, perfas^is, 
hrra;isr St. Herre is tbe patroo of s h ephe rds and the 
gxardxan of sbeepfalds against the attacks of vol ves,^ 
there is a traditioo that Comorre stiD vanders at 
night round the Menez-Bre, or in the glades of 
Qoenecany in the form of a great toIC ^Hio can <mly 
be OTercome b>' a stab with a knife in the centre 
of the forehead. The widespread werewolf super- 
stitioa. which onhr the steadfast mardi of education 
can dispd« was at one time shared by aD the 
peasantry of Le Morbihan. Les Cotes-du-Nord, and 
Finistere ; and it is not surprisii^ that those dwell- 
ing in the vidnitv of spots associated widi die 

the guise of a ^isc/myar/^ as the werewolf^ or loup 
gmram^ is g^anerally called in Brittany. 

We have the assurance^ that less than half a 

^ One of the iegeDds of Si. Hem anient in Mortahm is to the 
dBea tbat a vol( haTing deroored an ass wbich the sunt employed 
in pSd^ii^ his knd, was coodenned bj him to take the place 
of the animal he had eaten, and became dKXvw^ghhr domesticated, 
during at night the same pen as the saint^ ^Mcp» and never 
m ole stin g them. For kmg centuries lambs w«fe the osoal offer- 
ings of the Breton peasantry at the vanons shrines of Sl Herr^ 
sc a tte ied thioi^ their province. 

< ' Pderimiges de Bretagne (MorhihanV bj Hippoljle Vicdeau, 
second edition ; Faris^ iS59> p^ 40. 



COMORRE THE CURSED 47 

century ago the murderer of Tryphine was often 
recalled by the Morbiban peasantry, who designated 
him now by the name of Comorre, now by that of 
Finans, from the castle on the Blavet where his 
wives were said to have been slain. Moreover, in 
addition to what may be called, perhaps, Albert Le 
Grand's semi-official version of the legend of the 
tyrant and St. Tryphine, others existed — oral ver- 
sions, based on the same facts, but differing in points 
of detail, according to the vagaries of the popular 
fancy. A quaint example of how an old Church 
legend becomes partially transformed into a modern 
fairy tale is supplied by one adaptation of this 
Comorre and Tryphine story, which was current in 
the neighbourhood of Vannes about 1860-63.^ So 
well, indeed, does this version illustrate the changes 
wrought in ancient tales by time and the fancy of 
successive narrators, that one may give it here, 
slightly abbreviating it in parts, in order to avoid 
repetition. 

* Count Guerech of Vannes,' we are told, * was a 
wise prince, and in proof thereof had chosen for his 
counsellor St. Gildas, Abbot of Rhuys, the most 
sensible man of his time. It was by the advice of 
that holy Abbot that Guerech gave the hand of his 
daughter, the lovely Tryphine, to the fierce Comorre,^ 
Count of Tr^guier, and the Bluebeard of the age. 

1 * Ldgendes Bretonnes (Souvenirs du Morbihan),' by Count 
d'Amezeuil (C. P. Aclocque). Paris, 1863, post 8vo., p,iijet seg. 

^ ' Conamor ' in the work dted, but we prefer to adhere to the 
modem spelling which we have hitherto followed. 



48 BLUEBEARD 

Tiyphine, who had heard of the blackness of 
Comorre's soul — he was accused of having already 
killed four wives — long refused him her hand ; and 
he, infuriated thereby, raised a powerful army, and 
sent word to Guerech that if he did not deliver 
his daughter to him, he would tear her from his 
arms by force. Guerech was brave, but had few 
soldiers, so he sent for St. Gildas, and requested his 
advice. 

' " Count,*' said the saint, '* your daughter must 
marry Comorre." 

* " But what if he should kill her ?" asked Guerech. 

* **God will provide for it," replied St. Gildas. 

* And, having spoken those fine words, he sought 
the maid, and prevailed upon her to marry the 
Count of Tr^guier. 

* He, full of love, carried her to his fine castle of 
L6on, the most splendid of the region, and gave 
many entertainments and tourneys, in which he him- 
self took part in honour of his lady. Tryphine, at 
first astonished by his gallantry, became used to it, 
and at last sent word to her father that her husband 
was better than she had been told, and that she had 
even begun to love him slightly. But all at once an 
unforeseen occurrence changed her joy into mourn- 
ing. Festivities of all sorts followed one another at 
the castle, which was never empty, for fresh visitors 
arrived there every day. Among them was Comorre's 
cousin, the Count of Nantes, who came with a mag- 
nificent retinue of lords and ladies. One of the last 
was conspicuous for the brilliancy of her beauty ; 



COMORRE THE CURSED 49 

her name was Oltrogotha,^ and her father was the 
Marquis of Ass^rac 

* But she was a perfidious, cunning, evil-minded 
woman, whose soul was as hideous as her face was 
beautiful. She became jealous of Tryphine's happi- 
ness, and resolved to destroy it She allowed Count 
Comorre to court her ; and to inflame him the more, 
she one day let herself fall from her horse whilst 
hunting in his company, in such wise as to show 
him how shapely were her ankles. Count Comorre 
returned home afire with passion; and that very 
evening he began to illtreat Tryphine. The poor 
lady wept all night, and at daybreak, with her eyes 
still full of tears, she left the castle, and wandered 
through the neighbouring forest, in order that she 
might dream and sigh at her ease. 

' She had been walking along for about a quarter 
of an hour, when she met Master Fox in the com- 
pany of his wife. And at the sight of the smiling 
pair she envied their happiness, and exclaimed : 

* " How happy are the animals I They live in 
quietude, and love one another. And none come to 
interfere with their happiness." 

* " That is because we are sensible, " said the Fox 
on hearing Tryphine's words. 

* " Am I not sensible ?'* Tryphine asked. 
***You are a good girl {donne JiUe)" replied the 

Fox, "but your husband is a wicked rascal, and for 

^ A variant of Ultragotha, the name of King Childebert's wife, 
who was associated with the legends of St Samson, and indirectly 
connected with Comonre's real career. See/tfx/, pp. 961 97. 

4 



50 BLUEBEARD 

that reason I will give you some advice. Flee from 
him at once, for otherwise you will perish, for he is 
in love with Oltrogotha, and longs to see you 
dead." 

'"Alas! then I am lost," cried Tryphine, ''for 
how can I hope to escape him !" 

* " Be not alarmed," said the Fox ; ** you have more 
than once allowed me to carry off a cockerel or a 
pullet for my dinner, so I wish to save you." And, 
tearing three bristles from his breast, he added : 
** Take these ; they are a talisman, and will preserve 
you from all danger." 

* *' But what am I to do ?" 

' " Hope and wait Simply call on St. Gildas 
when any great danger threatens you, and you will 
then be saved. . . . And now farewell, Tryphine ; 
be brave !" 

* Then the Fox and his spouse, after bowing most 
politely, went their way. 

' The Countess did not know what to do with the 
three bristles, but she at last placed them in her 
alms-bag, and sighed : "I fear that the Fox was 
making fun of me. Why is it that everybody seeks 
to distress me ?" 

' ** There is only Comorre who wishes you ill, 
Tryphine, my dear," said a voice near her. 

' The poor lady looked around, and could only see 
a pretty Redbreast chirping on a bush. 

' " Who spoke to me ?" she asked. 

* " I, the Redbreast, for I love you, Tryphine, 
because you threw me bread-crumbs when I was 



COMORRE THE CURSED 51 

hungry, and let me warm myself at your hearth 
when I was cold." 

••'You are so charming, my pretty little Red- 
breast ! Who would not have done as I did !" 

• '• I love you, Tryphine, and wish to save you," 
replied the bird. •• Your husband, Comorre, has set 
assassins to watch for you and kill you. Take these 
three feathers, call on St Gildas, and you will be 
saved." 

•Then the Redbreast, resuming his song, flew 
away. 

•The Countess, who felt more and more astonished, 
put the three feathers with the three bristles, and 
went on until she reached a splendid pond, where a 
multitude of gold and silver fish were playing at hide- 
and-seek. 

' '* Ah !" she said again, •• how happy you are, little 
goldfish, for none thinks of tormenting you. You 
always live and die in peace !" 

' Her words were heard by a beautiful Fish, with 
glittering scales, who protruded his pointed head 
out of the water, and at the sight of her face, wet 
with tears, inquired : •• Why, what is the matter^ 
Trjrphine ?" 

• •* Dear little Fish," said she, •• you do not know 
what the Fox and the Redbreast have told me." 

• •• Alas ! they have told you no doubt of some 
fresh deed of cruelty done by Comorre, your hus- 
band," said the Fish. 

• •' You are right ; he wants to murder me." 

• *• Murder you !" cried the little Fish, turning a 

4—2 



52 BLUEBEARD 

somersault in the water^ such was his amazement. 
*• You ! who gave us such fine wheaten cakes ! Oh ! 
that shall not be ! Take these three scales, call on 
St. Gildas, and your enemies will at once be put to 
flight." 

* Tryphine took the three scales, which were of a 
beautiful golden red, and placed them with the 
bristles and the feathers. Then, as night was 
coming on, she retraced her steps to the castle. 
The guests were dancing in the great hall without 
griving a thought to her; for Oltrogotha occupied 
her place beside her husband. At the sight of her 
rival, anger and jealousy took possession of Try- 
phine, and wrung her soul. She sought a means of 
avenging herself on that perfidious creature, as well 
as on her unfaithful husband. In her fury her hand 
pressed the catch of her alms-bag, which opened 
unknown to her ; and as she saw her rival smiling 
at her spitefully, she suddenly exclaimed : '* Ah ! 
great St Gildas, deliver me from that woman I" 

' Scarcely had she spoken than the three scales of 
the Goldfish sprang out of her alms-bag, and fastened 
themselves upon Oltrogotha, who was instantly 
changed into a hideous sturgeon, which the scullions 
seized in astonishment, and carried away to the 
kitchen. 

* But when Comorre beheld that transformation, 
his rage was beyond description, for his heart was 
burning to cinders with love for the infamous 
Oltrogotha, and he was convinced that this change 
in her was the work of Tryphine. 



COMORRE THE CURSED 53 

•'•Guards!" he cried in a terrible voice, "seize 
that woman, and let her be burnt as a sorceress !*' 

' ** Help me, St Gildas 1" she murmured, while 
she trembled from head to foot. 

* Then the feathers flew from her alms-bag, and 
the guards were changed into birds, who began to 
fly and chirrup under the gilded ceiling of the great 
haU. 

* This time Comorre's anger knew no bounds ; 
he drew his great sabre, and with one slash he cut 
off* the head of the beautiful Tryphine. But oh! 
what a miracle ! Scarcely had the head touched the 
floor when the eyes looked at him again, and the 
lips, although they were already turning blue, 
murmured the words : " St. Gildas, help me I" 

' At this a frightful commotion shook the castle, 
a horrible rending resounded amidst the shrieks of 
the guests and the servants. Then no other sound 
was heard save the weeping of the wind among the 
foliage. The castle was destroyed, a great forest 
had taken its place, ^ and animals of the most various 
kinds ran, terror-stricken, hither and thither. 

' Tryphine, who had remained erect despite the 
awful blow dealt her by her cruel husband, found 
herself on a spot where four roads met, with her 
head in her hands, after the fashion of St. Denis ; 
and before her stood St. Gildas and her father. The 
latter wept at the sight of his dear daughter in such 
a pitiable condition. 

^ This is a reminiscence of the Castel Finans legend See 
p. 45- 



54 BLUEBEARD 

' ** Count !" cried the Saint, [the fairy-tale at this 
point becomes a legend again] " dry your tears. It 
is not fit that you should weep like an old woman. 
God is great, and, in His justice, He knows how to 
punish crime, and also how to reward virtue/' 

' Thus having spoken, the Saint touched the head 
with his abbatial crozier and added : 'Mn the name 
of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, head, 
take thy place again ; and thou, Tryphine, appear 
before us more beautiful than ever." 

* The head obediently took its place between the 
shoulders, and Tryphine appeared to them full of 
dazzling grace and beauty. 

* Then all three fell upon their knees, and 
with a canticle of gratitude thanked God for His 
exceeding goodness. And afterwards they took 
the road to Vannes, where St Gildas quitted 
his friends to repair again to his beautiful abbey of 
Rhuys. Guerech and Tryphine lived long years in 
restfulness and peace, and when they died they both 
found places in heaven by the side of the Almighty.' 

Le Morbihan is not the only part of Brittany in 
which traditions of Comorre and his crimes have 
lingered.^ The present writer well remembers 
having heard of him some thirty years ago in the 
vicinity of Guingamp, near the spot where he was 
cursed Again, his memory abides at Carhaix, where, 

^ In Le Morbihan itself there is a spot, north-west of Camors, 
where some vestiges of a castle called the Porh-houet-er-Saleu 
(The Court of the Wood of the Halls) are said to be the remains 
of one of Comorre's residences. 



COMORRE THE CURSED 55 

as will presently be shown, he first ruled. There 
are traditions of him also both in the neighbourhood 
of Goueznou (Finist^re), where he is said to have 
had a castle, and at Cloar-Camoet in the same 
department, where, in 1879, an English writer^ found 
the remains of another castle ascribed to him with a 
belief that the banks of the river Laita were haunted 
by his dead wives, whose cries and gestures troubled 
the reason of those who heard them. This is 
mentioned in connection with a curious legend of a 
young man, whose betrothed is carried to the shores 
of the departed by a sorcerer called Miliguet, that is 
* The Cursed ' — a name so widely given to Comorre 
that one need not hesitate to identify the sorcerer 
with the so-called Breton Bluebeard. 

He appears in the Carnoet legend in the guise 
of a mysterious ferryman, who plies for hire at a 
certain haunted part of the Laita, and * loses many 
souls.' Loik Guern and Maharit, two Breton lovers, 
are returning home one evening, when, on approach- 
ing the ferry, Loik momentarily quits his betrothed, 
whereupon she is urged by the ferryman to get 
into his boat. She does so, and, without waiting 
for Guern, the old, wild-looking man pushes off 
from the bank. But the boat, instead of going 
towards the opposite shore, swings round, and 
shoots rapidly down the river. Maharit is at first 

^ Mrs. Macquoid, ' Pictures and Legends from Normandy and 
Brittany.' London (Chatto and Windus), 1879, P* ^^ ^^ ^^- '^^ 
Carnoet here mentioned should not be confounded with the larger 
place of the same name in Les C6tes-du-Nord. 



56 BLUEBEARD 

astonished, then dismayed; but the ferryman pays 
no heed to her, and, carried along by the current, 
the boat descends the river with increasing swift- 
ness. ' Maharit bent towards the shore. ** Loik, 
Loik!" she cried. The words died away on her 
lips, for she saw shadowy forms standing on the 
gloomy banks ; they stretched their arms towards 
her with menacing gestures, and she drew back 
shuddering. She knew these were the spirits of 
the murdered wives of Comorre. Then Maharit 
uttered a loud cry, and fell lifeless in the bottom of 
the boat.'^ 

Loik Guern, on finding that his betrothed has 
disappeared, seeks her vainly in all the neighbour- 
ing villages and the surrounding forest. Three days 
later, however, while he is seated in despair on the 
river-bank, he is told by an old beggar-woman, 
who seems to him to have sprung out of the ground, 
that if he has lost Maharit it is because she had 
forgotten to make the sign of the Cross on getting 
into the boat, and had spoken and looked behind 
her, thereby giving the cruel ferryman power over 
her, in such wise that he has carried her to the 
shores of the departed. Then, after the old woman 
has pleaded hunger, and Loik has given her a loaf 
of black bread, she tells him what he has to do to 
recover his betrothed. He must first cut a branch 
of holly at midnight in Camoet forest, near the 
Stag's Leap, a spot haunted by the Korrigans. 
This branch must be steeped in holy water at the 

^ Macquoid, /.^., p. 21. 



COMORRE THE CURSED 57 

chapel of St Leger ; and, at dusk, Guem must go 
with it to the ferry. There he is to call the ferry- 
man, and, when he has got into the boat, he is to 
look neither around nor behind him, 'for every 
night the banks of the river are haunted by the 
dead wives of Comorre, and their cries and gestures 
will trouble his reason/ But he will neither see 
nor hear them unless he looks about or behind him. 
He must tell his beads diligently ; and, above all, 
he must make the sign of the Cross reverently. 
And when he has come to the thirty-third bead of 
his rosary, he must raise the blessed holly branch, 
and show it to the ferryman, and then, in the name 
of Christ, command him to take him living to the 
shores of the dead. Miliguet will tremble at the 
sight of the branch, lose all his power, and obey 
the behests of Guem. 

When the latter asks the old woman what will 
be the end of it, she answers that she can see no 
farther, that Guem must do as she has bidden him, 
and wait in hope for the end. Then she disappears 
as suddenly as she had come. 

At midnight the young man cuts a branch of 
holly at the appointed spot, dips it in the holy- 
water stoup at the chapel, and entreats the aid of 
St Leger. At dusk on the following evening, 
having hidden the holly branch under his jacket, 
he betakes himself to the ferry and calls the man. 
Miliguet appears, and Guern, entering his boat 
without a word, begins to tell his beads silently 
but fervently. But by the time the boat has reached 



58 BLUEBEARD 

the middle of the stream he is so overcome by the 
remembrance of his lost Maharit that he pauses 
in his prayers, and, forgetting the old woman's 
caution, looks behind him. Then his beads slip 
from his trembling hands into the water, where- 
upon the cries of Comorre's wives ring out, and 
the boat, caught by the current, swings round and 
dashes down the river. 

* Guern roused himself, and remembered the holly- 
branch ; he drew it forth and waved it before the 
silent ferryman. '* Conduct me to the shores of 
the departed," he said ; " take me to my betrothed !" 
But in his agitation he forgot to say the word 
** living." The boatman took no heed : the boat 
drove on. Then, with an impulse over which he 
had no control, Guern, in wild despair, struck the 
ferryman with the consecrated branch. The strange 
man uttered a terrible cry, threw down his oars, 
and plunged into the dark water. Still the boat 
drove madly on — on — on ! Guern could never tell 
how long — till it struck with awful violence against 
a rock, and was dashed to pieces beneath a gnarled 
oak that bent over the river. 

' For years afterwards, at all the Pardons of Clear, 
of St. Leger, and their neighbourhood, was to be 
seen a pale, distracted-looking man, who ran hither 
and thither among the crowd. He cried out pite- 
ously, while tears ran down his furrowed cheeks, 
'* Ah ! my friends ; ah, for the love of God and the 
saints, take me to the shores of the dead !" The 
young people used to look at him with surprise and 



COMORRE THE CURSED 59 

pityi but the older folk only shook their heads, and 
said : ''It is the poor madman of the ferry ; it is 
Loik Guern/"! 

Here, then, assuming Comorre and Miliguet to 
be the same, and there can be no doubt in the 
matter, we find the Breton * Bluebeard ' transformed 
after death into a kind of Charon, who makes it his 
business to hurry folk, and particularly young maids 
(when, as we are told, they forget to make the sign 
of the Cross on entering his boat), to some Stygian 
shore, where their souls are for ever lost 

But the reader will naturally inquire what truth, 
if any, lies beneath all such stories. Did such per- 
sonages as Comorre and Tryphine really live, or are 
they mere myths, personifications, for instance, of 
evil and good, darkness and light ? For an answer 
to that question one must go to history, and there, 
indeed, they will both be found, though, in many 
respects, their lives and their fates were not such 
as the legends tell us. It is never an easy task to 
disentangle the historical facts of far-off centuries 
from the mass of romance and superstitious lore 
that enwraps them. Moreover, Brittany is one of 
the lands whose history in early Christian times is 
most shrouded in romance, superstition and false- 
hood. On approaching the subject one is imme- 
diately confronted by Arthurian heroes and their 

^ Macquoid, /.^., p. 27. Mrs. Macquoid had the legend, which 
she has given in perhaps too polished a form for some of the folk- 
lorists of nowadays, from an old woman, one of the professed 
story-tellers of Brittany, who are akin to the well-known droll- 
tellers of CorawalL 



60 ELUEBEAKD 




niififhty dM<b» Kings wbo never ifigucd, 9oores» if 
ncn hundrrds. of saints a aximpfe imig nucades wfaidi 
CiUK M those of Holv Writ &r into die siade. And 
to {>orp)ex one die more, oome ^mioos diarters 
und dc'cyK often ferried bf nbbejs so give tfaem a 
piHiif^w title to knds diey had nyiMiyiiaip d ; whilst 
fHirty c^ir^midefs «nd btsKcrans umyrsHj/ &cts« now 
^^ h)iic4(<^ dK" TffiiitsitNtt ol sQoie pci^ 
m«i^>ifint)v s^^mrnent or Ajuwatius so ^ke Chnrdi, 
n%AW to onKMKt' ^Mne 
)VAtHiK\ ?K^w to docTv «MdKr wAiidb shcj htid 

?ii^|iM^ ^or^T ^^>«m^MW9$ies: joine ns m 
^«^:v4^ «^I^rMw^^ «Ai^!itfrir^ sai£ 

9i^vl^>i- Kt<«klw<MQ!K ,N :ftin]^yaT^ t^tfe «saec in sSad.^ 
.>c^,\vm^ i*^ •:!s;^':h^ lu^ 4lir »if«t: tr :j*nn,* 

^•* v^ >^<pK^ 4Vm^ 4iiir n<wniff m 



f t ^ » • 







COMORRE THE CURSED 6i 

authors of these histories have treated their subject 
For instance, Count Dam, the first, believes in 
Conan Meriadec and all the spurious Kings of 
Brittany chronicled by Geoffrey of Monmouth ; and, 
incidentally, he confounds our Comorre (whom he 
speaks of as the personage * on whom the roman- 
ciers have conferred a frightful immortality, under 
the name of Bluebeard'^) with a certain Canao, 
otherwise Conober, to whom reference will be made 
hereafter. Next, M. de Courson, while making a 
serious effort to arrive at the truth, and showing 
that the so-called kingdom of Brittany was in reality 
ruled by a number of chieftains, falls into numerous 
errors, again confusing one personage with another, 
after the fashion of Count Dam, and citing charters 
and deeds which are now regarded as apocryphal 
Finally comes M. de la Borderie, with his monu- 
mental * History of Brittany,' the outcome of long 
years of patient study, in which he revises many 
views expressed by him in earlier works, corrects 
his predecessors, and, whilst availing himself of 
anecdote and legend to relieve the monotony of 
discussion and strict historical narrative, strives, 
without prejudice, to picture for us the ancient 
Brittany, such as it really was. Thus our version 
of the real Comorre's career will be based in a large 
measure on his researches. 

But before turning to Comorre again it is as well 

^ It w9l be noticed that Dani's book was published in 1826. 
Something will be said on the subject of the above quotation 
when we discuss the story of Comorre. 



62 BLUEBEARD 

to explain the state of Brittany at the time he lived ; 
and to do so one must go back to a somewhat earlier 
time. The Bretons, so it is nowadays generally 
held, are only in a small degree the descendants of 
the Armoricans of the Roman era, though they 
belong to a kindred race. They descend principally 
from the Britons who dwelt in England. The 
Armoricans, at the collapse of the Roman Empire 
in Gaul, were decimated by the incursions of Hun, 
Alan, and Saxon. Aetius, for reasons on which the 
historians are not agreed, virtually assigned Armorica 
to the Alans, and whatever be the l^ends about the 
intervention of St. Germain of Auxerre, they traversed 
at least some part of it, which they ravaged with fire 
and sword. Abundant relics of Roman times have 
been discovered (often chancewise) in Brittany — 
methodical excavation would bring to light many 
more ; and in almost every spot where tokens of 
Roman or Gallo- Roman civilization have been dis- 
interred, traces of fire and destructive fury have been 
found. The wonderful vitrified * camp of Peran ' is 
perhaps the most remarkable example of all ; but 
there are many others, all pointing to conflagra- 
tion, rapine, and massacre. Some of the Armoricans 
saved themselves by withdrawing into their great 
central forest, but those along the coasts more often 
fell victims to the Saxons, who swept down on the 
shores of Armorica — even as they swept down on 
those of Britain — and devastated every spot where 
they landed. La Borderie mentions Saxon descents 
in or about the years 351, 353, 358, 368, and 37a 



COMORRE THE CURSED 63 

It was on the shores of the peninsula, and on the 
inland borders of Armorica, that Gallo-Roman 
civilization flourished. Roman roads certainly 
traversed the country, but there were no consider- 
able cities or townships^ in the central part, which 
was chiefly wood and mountain. Thus it was only 
occasionally that the Saxons found it worth their 
while to go any great distance inland. They de- 
stroyed Armorica chiefly by ravaging its coasts. A 
few little colonies of theirs are known to have existed, 
but it would not seem that they ever made any 
serious attempt to establish themselves in the 
country. The island of Britain proved more attrac- 
tive to them, and Armorica was left little better than 
a waste, whither the Britons, pressed by Pict, Saxon, 
and Angle, betook themselves for refuge. 

The exodus from Britain, says La Borderie, began 
soon after the first Saxon victories there, probably 
about 460. Breton records point to immigrations on 
a large scale in or about 468, 470, 510, 513-15 ; and, 
indeed, these immigrations extended over a period 
of 150 years. Some of the emigrant Britons even 
entered Gaul, notably those led by * Riothamus ' 
(or • Riothime,' as French writers call him), who 
brought 1 2,000 men to fight the Visigoths in Berry, 
but who did not sail expressly from Britain in order 
to help the expiring Roman dominion, as historians 
formerly contended, for he was already established 

^ Pontivy, for instance, dates from the seventh, and I^ud^c 
from the tenth century. Many other examples might be cited 
in support of this view. 



64 BLUEBEARD 

on the Loire when his services were solicited. He 
is regarded by various French writers as having 
been in all probability the first of the British chiefs 
to emigrate in consequence of the condition of 
Britain. Without entering into the migrations of 
prehistoric times, one may admit that Britons had 
passed in small numbers from one country to the 
other before the Saxons appeared upon the scene ; 
but from that time the emigrant Britons became so 
numerous, and the Armoricans were so few, that 
the latter, even if minded to do so, could offer no 
resistance to the continuous immigration. The new- 
comers changed both the name and the language of 
the country, and often gave to the ruined Gallo- 
Roman cities, which they raised again under a new 
guise, and to the various other townships which they 
founded, names that recalled those of places where 
they had dwelt in their native island. American, 
Australian, and other colonists have frequently acted 
in a similar manner in our own times. Further, the 
Britons carried Christianity to Armorica. French 
writers generally agree that, although at the end of 
the fourth century there were Gallo- Roman mission- 
aries at Nantes, Rennes, and Vannes, and a few 
Christians scattered here and there about Armorica, 
no great diffusion of Christianity is to be found 
in that country until after the arrival of the British 
immigrants. 

Among the British chiefs who, in the fifth century 
(dr. 470-75), landed in Armorica or Brittany, as one 
may henceforth call the region, there was a certain 



COMORRE THE CURSED 65 

Gradlon or Grallon, who, according to La Borderie, 
came from the vicinity of the Tyne and the wall of 
Severus, and who established himself in a part of 
the country which became known as Cornouaille,^ 
the equivalent of our Cornwall. This chief acquired 
the appellation of Gradlon Mur, signifying Gradlon 
the Great ; and early writers describe him as having 
engaged the Saxons, at the mouth of the Loire, 
with such good result that he captured five vessels 
and decapitated five chiefs. He is said to have 
founded the famous abbeys of St. J^fut and 
Landevennec, but the latter's charters, often quoted 
by early historians, were forged, says La Borderie, 
in the eleventh century, and evidence of the ninth 
shows that the abbey was really the creation of 
St. GuinoU (Wingaljeus), on whom Gradlon be- 
stowed nothing. Whilst it is certain that Gradlon 
really existed, much that is recorded of him is un- 
true ; for the compilers of romances and legends 
associated him with all sorts of marvellous things, 
notably the notorious lost city of Ys, which he was 
said to have founded on the jutting headland bound- 
ing the Bay of Douarnenez on its southern side. 
Ys may have existed, and have been submerged 
by the sea, as the legends assert ; but that it was- 
destroyed by Heaven in consequence of the profli- 
gacy of Gradlon's court, and notably that of his 
daughter Afes, is quite another matter.* We only 

• Quimper was probably its chief city. 

* The legend of Ys, though gimikr to that of other lost cities, 
is an interestiDg one ; and as M. de la Borderie has made some 

5 



66 BLUEBEARD 

know that when Gradlon died he was buried at 
Landevennec, where, according to Brother Albert 
of Morlaix, the biographer of the Breton saints, his 
tomb still existed early in the seventeenth century. 

He had a son, named Riwelen Mur Marc'hou, 
who predeceased him ; and about 510, when he had 
been dead some four or five years, his State passed, 
it seems, into the possession of a chief called laun 
Reith, the leader of another exodus from Britain. 

While Gradlon still ruled Cornouaille, a certain 
Weroc or Werok (otherwise Guerech) held another 
part of Brittany, the region of Vannes, which became 
known as the Bro- Weroc or Browerech ; and, about 
513-15, a British chief named Riwal, landing at the 
mouth of the Couesnon, established, with the coun- 
tenance of the Franks, a State called Domnon^e in 
French and Domnonia^ in Latin, an appellation 
borrowed from Britain. This State would seem to 
have extended over the present department of 
Ille-et-Vilaine, and a portion of Les C6tes-du-Nord. 
In the northern part of Finistere, named L^on, there 
was another British chief whom La Borderie calls 
Withur (510-30). Then there are indications of 
various chiefs having exercised authority at different 
points of the coast, and of others established in or 

ingenious suggestions with respect to its origin, a few particulars 
are given in our Appendix B. 

^ The name is written in various fashions. At times it 
becomes Damnonia, at others Dumnonia. In England the form 
Danmonium — as applied to ' Old Cornwall,' or Devonshire, as far 
east as Exeter — ^appears to have been current, as it is frequently 
given by Hunt in his ' Popular Romances of the West oi England.' 



COMORRE THE CURSED 67 

about Broceliande ; whilst at Rennes, Nantes, and 
Vannes (the city of that name, it would seem, was 
not held by Weroc, though he ruled some of the 
adjacent country) there appear as time goes on 
sundry Prankish Counts and Dukes, Wardens of the 
Marches as it were, representing the Merovingian 
Kings. The long controversy between French and 
Breton historians with respect to the alleged con- 
quest of Brittany by Clovis has ended in the recogni- 
tion that it never took place, but that as the power 
of the Merovingian princes increased, they exercised 
a kind of suzerainty over the country — a suzerainty 
which the Breton chiefs accepted or denied, as 
seemed best suited to their interests, and which, 
judged by the endless disputes and wars which 
sprang from it wholly or in part, suggests in various 
respects the relative positions of Great Britain and 
the South African Republics prior to the present 
Boer War. 

The foregoing rough sketch^ of the origin of 
Brittany and its state about the time when the real 
Comorre made his first appearance in history may, 

^ It is, of course, one of the roughest ; but those whom the 
subject may interest must turn for particulars to La Borderie's 
History, of which an abridged English adaptation might well be 
made for the use of students who are not familiar with the French 
language. This is the more desirable by reason of the connection 
of Brittany with England at various times. For instance, the 
Breton Dukes were often important factors in the foreign policy 
of the Plantagenets. But if there are numerous English works 
on Norman, there is, the present writer believes, virtually none 
of value on Breton, history. The picturesqueness of Brittany 
alone seems to have appealed to English writers. 

5—2 



68 BLUEBEARD 

to some readers, seem an unpardonable digression ; 
but it must be pointed out that the chiefs who have 
been mentioned, or their heirs, or their possessions, 
figure repeatedly in the story of Comorre s life. 
Moreover, the somewhat intricate nature of that 
story has induced the writer to attempt a chrono- 
logical table, which will explain Comorre's connection 
with the various petty States and rulers that have to 
be mentioned in narrating his career. 



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II 

COMORRE's career — THE TRADITIONS AND PERRAULT's 

TALE 

Carhaix and Princess Abs— Comorre's Original Dominions- He 
assists Harwian, the Bard, to win Rivanone — He is a Great 
Helper of the Monks — He annexes Portions of Cornouaille and 
Leon — He seizes Domnonia and marries the Widow of lona, 
whom he is said to have killed — ^The Mutilation and Murder of 
Melar — Comorre regards Judwal, his Stepson, with Distrust — 
The Dream of Comorre's Wife — Judwal's Flight— Comorre 
strikes a Saint, and is thrown from his Horse by Heaven — His 
Quarrels with the Clergy — His Wife vanishes : did he kill her ? 
— He solicits the Hand of Weroc's Daughter, Tryphine — 
St. Gildas of Rhuys— The Oratory on the Blavet— Gildas 
assists Comorre to marry Tryphine — Comorre urges Weroc to 
divide his Territory — Weroc refuses — Comorre vents his Rage 
on Tryphine — Her Flight and Comorre's Attempt on her — 
Interpretation of the Legend — ^Tryphine's Son and After-Life — 
Comorre is solemnly cursed — Conoo and his Brothers — 
St. Samson of Dol brings Judwal back to Brittany — ^Three 
Batdes and the Death of Comorre — The End of Tryphine's 
Brothers — Comorre confounded with Conoo — Growth of the 
Comorre Legend — ^The Paintings at St. Nicholas de Bieuzy — 
A Breton Tale of Redbeard, another of a Much-married Giant 
— The Possible Derivation of * Bluebeard * from the Comorre 
Legend. 

Comorre makes his first appearance in history at 
the town of Carhaix, in Finist^re, which, before his 
time, had been one of the chief cities and fortresses 



COMORRE THE CURSED 71 

of Roman Armorica — the Vorganium of the Osismii» 
the Vorgium of the Theodosian table. Very 
numerous remains of the Roman dominion have 
been found at Carhaix — remnants of aqueducts, bricks 
in abundance, vases, bronzes, innumerable articles 
of pottery, silver coins and medals of various 
Emperors ; while seven distinct Roman roads, 
radiating chiefly towards different points of the 
coast, have been traced in the vicinity of the town. 
Situated at an altitude of some 500 feet above the 
sea, amid forest and mountain, it was probably the 
only inland fortress of the Romans in that part of 
the country. According to some accounts, it was 
occupied after the arrival of the Britons by Gradlon 
of Cornouaille, from whose daughter, A^s or Ah^s, 
it is said to have derived its modern name. M. de 
la Borderie, however, on the ground that the British 
immigrants often gave British names to their new 
homes, suggests that Carhaix took its appellation 
from Carhayes, a little place north-east of Falmouth. 
Yet, remembering the situation of the spot, and all 
the roads that radiate from it, one may perhaps be 
allowed to surmise that Carhaix is only a corruption 
of Carfax. 

The true Breton, at any rate, clings to the 
etymology of Ker-A^s. The Roman road which 
goes from Carhaix towards the Raz, where Ys is 
said to have been submerged, is called Hent-A^s, 
* the road of Aes,' by the peasantry, who, well within 
our times, still sang a woeful ballad of Gradlon's 
hateful daughter : * See ! she is coming ; let us carry 



72 BLUEBEARD 

big stones to the roads. Big and little stones, to 
the roads, let us carry them all I Better death than 
A^s ! For taxmasters come in her train. The 
white plague, the black plague, and cruel war with 
eagles, with wolves, and with ravens, all follow Aes T^ 
In this ballad, derived, it may be, from ancient 
Armorican sources, the semi-fabulous Princess of 
Ys, whom the legends describe as having been 
thirty feet in height — for Brittany, like Cornwall, 
believed in an age of giants — is simply a symbol of 
the Roman dominion, its fiscal system, and the 
harshness of its pro-consuls. And perhaps it was 
the oppression of feudal times and the hateful corvie 
of the old French monarchy that helped to perpetuate 
until our own day that cry of the downtrodden 
peasantry, toiling on the highways. 

But whatever may be the origin of the name of 
Carhaix, it is there, on the ruins of Vorganium, that 
Comorre is found between the years 515 and 5 20, 
perched, among forest and mountain, like some 
baron of later days on the banks of the Rhine. He 
was certainly a Briton, but whether an immigrant 
or a native of Brittany cannot be said. And nothing 
is known of his personal appearance, though one 
may assume that at the date mentioned he was a 
young man, bold, enterprising, and in some things 
unscrupulous. He is occasionally called a praefect 

^ Adapted from a ballad called 'Groacli Aes' given in the 
'Annuaire historique et arch^ologique de Bretagne' — Ann^e 
1861-2. Rennes, 1861-2, x2mQk Groacli here means a malignant 
fairy. 



^H 



COMORRE THE CURSED 73 

of Childebert, the King of the Franks, but it seems 
more correct to say that he was one of those petty 
Breton chiefs who had placed themselves under the 
patronage, among the tributaries perhaps, of the 
Merovingian rulers of France. He exercised sway 
over the northern part of the basin of the Aune, a 
poor and arid r^ion, then called Pou-Caer — the 
Land of the City — and afterwards by corruption 
Poher — a region bounded on one side by the 
Montagnes Noires, and on the other embracing, 
perhaps, both slopes of the Montagne d'Arr^e. 
And remembering the Roman roads which crossed 
Comorre's possessions, one may surmise that he 
subsisted, in part, by toll, and, perhaps, occasionally 
plunder. 

At the same time he protected and assisted those 
travellers who brought with them the recommenda- 
tions of King Childebert. Indeed, he is first 
mentioned by the hagiologists in connection with 
a certain Harwian, a British bard, who, after resid- 
ing some time at the Frankish court, was consigned 
on his homeward way to Comorre's care. Harwian, 
however, whilst sojourning with the so-called Count 
of Pou-Cagr, cast loving eyes on a maiden named 
Rivanone, who lived with her brother Rigour 
(Rigurius), and who was piously inclined. Eager 
to marry the damsel, Harwian applied to Comorre 
for his help, which was accorded. If one account 
may be believed, force was used to overcome the 
maid's resistance, and, on being wedded to Harwian, 
she bitterly bewailed her fate. She cursed the ties 



74 BLUEBEARD 

she loathed, she cursed the man who had married 
her by force, and when she found herself likely to 
become a mother, she cried aloud that she hoped 
her child might never see the light of day. And 
that dread wish was fulfilled ; the child, who in later 
years was to become famous as St. Herv6, and who 
was destined to curse, in the name of the Breton 
clergy, the Fman who had forced his mother to wed 
a stranger — was bom blind !^ 

In those rough times, perhaps, little heed was 
paid to the wishes of a maid when a man desired 
to wed her, and Comorre may have felt no prickings 
of conscience with respect to his share in that 
transaction. For the rest, whether from piety or 
policy — a desire to get on in the world — he be- 
friended the clergy ; we are told that he was at this 
time very devoted to the saints, a great helper of 
the monks. He protected an anchoret, afterwards 
known as St. Hernm or St. Harn, who dwelt on 
the borders of Broceliande, where he assisted him 
to build a chapel or church, with which the present 
village of Loc-Ham originated. But Comorre was 
ambitiously inclined, and made expeditions down 
the Elorn as far as the remains of a Roman station 
on the site of Brest, annexing some of the country 
thereabouts, for Gradlon, who in all probability had 

^ This is based on the account borrowed by La Borderie from 
some of the hagiologists ; but there is a very different version 
describing the marriage as a love-match ; and even fragments of 
a song, in which after Harwian's death Rivanone is represented 
bitterly bewailing the loss of her beloved bard, are quoted. 



IT 



/ 



COMORRE THE CURSED 75 

previously held the r^ion, Mi^as now dead, and 
all was confusion under the laun Reith line of 
Comouaille. At all events, charters of the eleventh 
century mention as then still existing in a ruined 
state a stronghold raised by Comorre at Lan 
Goueznou, which derived its name from St. 
Goueznou, another holy man whom the Count of 
Pou-Caer is said to have protected 

But he cast covetous eyes towards L^on, a fertile 
region on the north, far richer than his original 
possessions, or even Cornouaille, for (as the legends 
say) the giants, after arriving in Brittany from 
Britain, had, in reward for their welcome in L6on, 
cleared its soil of all the stones they could find 
there, hurling them revengefully into Cornouaille, 
whose inhabitants had given them the coldest of 
receptions. But L6on was held by a certain 
Withur, who, like Comorre himself, had accepted 
the suzerainty of Childebert, and thus, until Withur's 
death, which took place about 530, the ruler of 
Pou-Caer did not venture to encroach on his 
neighbour's territory. Circumstances changed when 
Withur died, and Comorre then appropriated the 
greater part of L6on. His earth hunger, his craving 
for dominion, increased with years. The incidents 
of his career conclusively prove that he dreamt of 
making himself sole master of Brittany. Riwal had 
founded the state of Domnonia about 515, and 
his son Deroch (520-35) was more than once at 
logg^i'heads with Comorre. The latter at last found 
his opportunity in the time of Deroch's son, lona. 



76 BLUEBEARD 

who ruled Domnonia from 535 to 540, and who 
married a daughter of Count Budic I. of Comouaille. 
Between Comorre and lona there was intercourse, 
outwardly of a friendly character. But one day the 
subjects of these chiefs heard that lona was dead — 
killed by some accident whilst following the chase. 
Soon, however, the most sinister rumours were in 
circulation. None dared to accuse Comorre openly, 
but it was whispered that he had rid himself of 
lona in order to gratify his ambition. One thing is 
certain : lona was scarcely dead when Comorre 
married his widow ^ and virtually appropriated his 
possessions. 

The chroniclers generally assert that the lady 
was forced to this match,^ but it is possible that 
she did not accept it unwillingly ; for whatever 
Albert of Morlaix may assert of Comorre's passions, 
saying that * he only took wives to gratify his lust, 
and treated them rather as concubines than as law- 
ful spouses/ it seems certain that Comorre and 
lona s widow, for a time at all events, lived together 
in good accord. We do not know whether Comorre 
had been previously married, though such may well 
have been the case, for at this time (dr. 540) he 
was certainly over forty years of age. 

^ The writer has searched several works for her name, but has 
failed to find it. 

^ The original authority for this statement appears to be the 
' Vita S. Leonor ' (St Lunaire), in the * Acta Sanctorum * of the 
Bollandists, Antwerp edition, § 13. It should be pointed out, 
however, that there was bitter enmity between Comorre and 
St Lunaire, as our narrative will show. 



COMORRE THE CURSED 77 

By her first marriage with lona, his wife had a 
son named Judwal, the rightful heir to the State of 
Domnonia, which Comorre ruled with the title of 
regent. He is found living with his wife and step- 
son at Pou-castel, near Beuzit (previously Buxidus), 
west of Lanmeur, near the northern shore of Finis- 
t^re. Early in the nineteenth century an esplanade 
and a moat were still to be seen there, testifying to 
the existence of the destroyed castle.^ From this 
spot Comorre, still under the suzerainty of Childe- 
bert, ruled more than half of Brittany, Domnonia, 
Poher, and L6on ; and, content for a time with his 
increase of power, he behaved, it would seem, with 
propriety and prudence. 

But one must now turn to Cornouaille, where 
Budic, the father of Comorre's wife, had been suc- 
ceeded by his son Meliau, who, dying in or about 
537, had left his possessions to his only child, a 
boy named Melar or Meloir. Rivod, Meliau's 
brother, had been entrusted with the regency and 
the guardianship of the young count ; but he be- 
came more and more jealous of the boy as the 
latter grew in years. A mere regency did not satisfy 
him, and in order that the lad might never be able 
to exercise sovereignty, he treated him with a 
cruelty more ferocious even than that which is 
imputed to our English Richard Crookback. He 
caused the boy's left foot and his right hand to be 
cut off, so as to prevent him from ever mounting a 

^ Albert Le Grand, edition of 1837, M. de Kerdanel's notes, 
p. 619. 



78 BLUEBEARD 

horse or using a sword. And incredible as such 
fiendishness may seem to people nowadays, there 
is really no reason to doubt the statements of the 
hagiologists and the chroniclers, for we know, by 
the researches and narratives of many modern his- 
torians, what horrible and loathsome deeds were 
perpetrated in those Merovingian days by ambitious 
princes eager to prevent children from ever ui^ing 
their claims. 

But the mutilation of Melar — inspired perhaps 
by Prankish practices of which Rivod had heard — 
was foreign to the Breton character, and filled the 
people of Cornouaille with indignation. Many of 
the clergy and the chiefs assembled, and although 
they were unable to deprive Rivod of the regency, 
they removed Melar from his custody and placed 
him in that of one of his cousins, named Keryaltan. 
And the legends add, but this the reader may 
believe or not, as he pleases, that the unfortunate 
youth was provided with a hand of silver and a foot 
of iron. 

Rivod, however, if baulked, was not defeated. 
He resolved to rid himself of Melar altogether ; 
and with this object he strove to corrupt Keryaltan. 
The two men soon came to an agreement. Kery- 
altan, as the price of his crime, demanded, and was 
promised, certain lands. The legends say that he 
asked for all the territory that he might be able to 
see from the summit of a certain hill. Then, every- 
thing being agreed, he confided in his wife Barilia, 
who, at the first moment, was fascinated by the 



COMORRE THE CURSED 79 

prospect of a great increase of wealth. But pity for 
the unfortunate, mutilated youth afterwards came 
upon her ; and she resolved to save him. For this 
purpose she carried him with a few attendants to 
Comorre's castle,^ which seemed to be the safest 
place of refuge, for Comorre s wife was the sister 
of both the deceased Meliau and the regent Rivod, 
and therefore Melar's aunt. It was reasonable to 
expect that she would take pity on her nephew. 
From some accounts the flight would seem to 
have been a very dramatic one ; but the fugitives 
ultimately reached Pou-castel, and were made wel- 
come there. 

Unhappily Keryaltan, hungering for his promised 
lands, followed them, feigned contrition, and was 
reconciled to his wife and the unfortunate Melar. 
Then, one night, when all suspicion had disappeared, 
he stole, accompanied, it would seem, by his own 
son, into Melar s chamber, and promptly despatched 
the sleeping youth, one account saying that with 
a single stroke of his sword he severed Melar's 
head from his body. Then the assassin fled, re- 
paired to the residence of Rivod, and claimed his 
due. But at the moment when he reached the 
summit of the hill, whence he was to designate the 
territory which was to form his reward. Heaven — 
so say the legends, which intrude upon one at each 
step of Breton history — was pleased to intervene, 
and Keryaltan fell to the ground blinded. M. de la 

^ *Ad castellum Comori, Regis Francorum praefecti, cum 
epdum, trans Montem, aufugit' — 'Acta Sanctonim (S. Melar).' 



8o BLUEBEARD 

Borderie suggests that, if any such incident occurred, 
the miscreant may have had a stroke of apoplexy, 
consequent, it is to be presumed, on his exertion 
in climbing. 

Melar, meanwhile, had been buried in the church 
of Kerfeunteun, now Lanmeur. The present edifice 
dates from the eleventh century, but a crypt of much 
earlier date still existed in 1867. In this crypt, 
whose vaulted roof was upheld by thick squat 
pillars, on which twining serpents were carved, there 
was to be found an old statue of Melar (who after 
his death was ranked as a saint), a statue showing 
him with only one foot and one hand in accordance 
with tradition ; but the stone coffin in which his 
remains were laid behind the high altar of the upper 
church disappeared long ago. It is believed that 
St Melar's bones were for safety carried to Paris in 
the tenth century, when the Normans preyed on this 
part of the Breton coast. 

It may be that this dreadful tragedy had rendered 
Pou-castel odious to Comorre and his wife. At all 
events they are next found dwelling at another of 
their castles, between Corseul (the famous capital of 
the Curiosolites) and Plancoet in Les C6tes-du-Nord. 
Roman remains have been found on the site, and it 
is known that the Breton chiefs often turned the 
half-demolished fortresses of the Imperial days into 
residences. At the present time, however, the spot 
where Comorre dwelt is occupied by the ruins of the 
feudal castle of Montafilant, which, from the twelfth 
century onward, was owned by the houses of Dinan, 



COMORRE THE CURSED 81 

Laval, ^ and Toumemine. Comorre's residence 
there became before long the scene of incidents 
which ultimately led to his overthrow. He began 
to regard his stepson Judwal, the heir of lona, with 
suspicion. He doubtless foresaw the day when 
this youth would be claiming his rights, and, in- 
fluenced perhaps by the example of Rivod with 
respect to Melar, he may have resolved to imitate it- 
The legends, of course, describe what happened in 
a very melodramatic manner. One night, it is said^ 
Comorre's wife had a dream, in which she saw 
her son crowned and wearing all the apparel of 
sovereignty. She imprudently recounted this dream 
to her husband, who responded that she would never 
see it fulfilled, and who determined from that hour 
to slay this Judwal who might some day rise up 
to dispossess him. Some knowledge or idea of 
Comorre's intention came to his wife, who immedi- 
ately warned her son. 

Judwal fled for protection to St. Lunaire, who 
then (czr. 545) dwelt at a monastery he had estab- 
lished on the sea- shore. A village bearing the 
saint's name now stands on the site of that monas- 
tery,^ whither Comorre promptly pursued his stepson. 
But with St Lunaire's help Judwal had already 

^ To which Gilles de Rais, the other reputed * Bluebeard,' 
belonged. A Toumemine, too, was Gilles' first guardian. 

' St. Lunaire is between Dinard and St. l^nogat The church 
is partially of the eleventh and partially of the fifteenth centuries. 
There is a twelfth-<:entury tomb of the saint with an effigy show- 
ing him clad in his pontifical vestments, with the staff of his 
crozier thrust between the jaws of a monster. 

6 



82 BLUEBEARD 

embarked, bound for Prankish territory ; and when 
Comorre galloped up to the monastery and imperi- 
ously demanded the surrender of his stepson, the 
holy man pointed, perhaps derisively, to a bark 
which was already quitting the bay. In his exceed- 
ing wrath Comorre struck the Abbot, and, accord- 
ing to some accounts, would still have attempted 
pursuit, but his horse suddenly became unmanage- 
able, reared, and fell with its rider, who had one of 
his thighs broken, and long lingered between life 
and death. The moral, of course, was that one 
ought never to raise one's hand against an Abbot. 

When Comorre recovered, however, he sought 
revenge by persecuting the clergy. He threatened 
St. Tudual, behaved haughtily with St Malo, and 
would have made short work of St Lunaire if the 
latter had not been protected by Childebert. More- 
over, the people had now begun to murmur. It was 
said on all sides that Comorre had attempted 
Judwal's life, and the mysterious death of lona was 
also imputed to him. Thus confronted by the 
enmity of the monks and the discontent of his 
subjects, it was necessary that he should remain on 
good terms with the King of the Franks, particu- 
larly as the latter had received Judwal at his court, 
and might be disposed to assist him in recovering 
his inheritance. For some years, indeed, this 
menace hung over Comorre's head, inclining him to 
good behaviour in all that served the Merovingian 
interest. However, Judwal having fled the country, 
Comorre dropped the title of regent, and, according 



COMORRE THE CURSED 83 

to some writers, became known as * Dux Domnonicae 
regionis.' There was probably some agreement 
between him and Childebert, he undertaking to 
spread the Prankish authority, and the King pro- 
mising to detain, in semi-captivity, lona's heir. 

At this point Comorre's wife suddenly vanishes 
from the scene. It is not known when or how she 
died. La Borderie says that Comorre treated her 
kindly and well, apart from his sudden jealousy of 
her son. Did his conduct alter after the latter's 
flight? Did he quietly put the mourning mother 
out of the way ? If so, would not the dark deed 
have been cast in his teeth a little later by some 
of the Breton clergy and the hagiologists ? But 
though he is constantly reproached with the death 
of lona and the attempt on Judwal, nothing is said 
of ^is wife. The silence is absolute, until, in later 
centuries, the tradition arises that this man Comorre 
had several wives, all of whom disappeared in so 
mysterious a manner that nobody could ever tell 
what became of them. To the very silence of 
the hagiologists and chroniclers one may, perhaps, 
trace the origin of the legend of wives fiendishly 
slaughtered. 

We assume that Comorre's wife died, because the 
next notable incident in his career is his application, 
some time in 547 or 548, to the Count of the Van- 
netais for the hand of the latter s daughter, Tryphine. 
For nearly half a century the Vannetais had been 
ruled by one of the most notable, and, considering 
the exceptional duration of his sovereignty, perhaps 

6—2 



84 BLUEBEARD 

one of the most diplomatic, of the Breton chiefs, 
Weroc (otherwise Guerech), whose eminence and im- 
portance are shown by the fact that the region he held 
took and long retained his name — Patria Warochii, 
Bro-Werech. This Weroc had six children, five 
sons and a daughter, and if Comorre solicited the 
latter's hand it was probably from a desire to extend 
his rule yet further. But Weroc, a pacific, ex- 
perienced man, ripe in years, was aware of Comorre's 
rapacity and unscrupulousness. He remembered 
also the mysterious death of lona and the attempt 
on Judwal, and was at first by no means inclined to 
place his daughter in the hands of the ruler of 
Domnonia, even though the latter had chosen as his 
matrimonial ambassador a man whom all revered. 

It is now that St. Gildas enters into the story, and 
it may at once be said that there is no intention here 
of attempting to solve the problem of how many 
saints of that name there may have been. Con- 
fronted by the contradictory statements of hagio- 
logists and chroniclers, Ussher and Bale long ago 
came to the conclusion that there must have been 
at least two St. Gildases — the Badonian and the 
Albanian ; and some subsequent writers even dis- 
tinguished both of the foregoing from the Gildas the 
Wise who wrote the famous unreadable * Liber 
querulus de Excidio Britannia^.' Others again have 
imagined even seven and eight saints of the name ; 
but Professor Tout, in his article in the * Dictionary 
of National Biography,' is of opinion that there was 
only one. This may be right or wrong ; but in any 



COMORRE THE CURSED 85 

case an article which, however great the ability dis- 
played in it, evades many points of bitter contro- 
versy is not likely to end a discussion that has lasted 
for centuries among those interested in the subject 
M. de La Borderie having been followed in many 
respects in the course of the present narrative, it 
may be allowable to take his view in this instance 
also. He, after studying the latin * Lives ' of the 
Abbot of Rhuys, and also the manuscript ' Histoire 
de Saint Gildas de Ruis, 6crit en Tan 1 668, par un 
B6n6dictin,*^ arrives at the conclusion that the 
Gildas who became renowned in Brittany was bom 
in or about 493-94 ; that he was a discjple of St 
Illtyd ; that he attained to the priesthood when five- 
and-twenty years of age (518); that he went to 
Ireland and ministered there ; that he returned to 
Britain about 530 ; ' that he found a refuge in 
Glamorganshire, whence he was driven by the raids 
and invasions of the time ; and that, after writing the 
first part of his ' De Excidio, ' he repaired to Armorica, 
landing on the isle of Houat off the coast of 
Le Morbihan in or about the year 538. Later dates 
than these have been suggested both for the birth 
of Gildas (516) and for his arrival in Brittany (550) ; 
but the last does not fit in with revised Breton 
chronology. 

In order that one may the better understand 
Gildas's intercourse with Comorre, it is necessary to 
pursue the subject somewhat further. In coming to 
Brittany, Gildas's first object was probably quietude 

^ Biblioth^ue Nationale, Paris, MSS. Fond 16822. 



86 BLUEBEARD 

and repose ; but he belonged to the Church militant, 
and before long, when he saw the inviting green 
peninsula of Rhuys on the horizon before him, he 
crossed from Houat to the mainland, and eventually 
established there the famous abbey which bears his 
name, and which six centuries later was ruled by the 
unhappy Abelard. From this spot Gildas at last 
made journeys through Brittany, perhaps for the 
purpose of ascertaining its condition, preaching, and 
disseminating religion, for pagans still existed in the 
country. He had with him a companion, a brother- 
monk called Bihi, afterwards Bieuzy,^ and the pair 
of them entered and explored the great forest lands 
and the moors, where Gildas beheld all those 
Druidical remains the sight of which exasperated 
him. Eventually, on the banks of the Blavet, at a 
spot midway between the present towns of Pontivy 
and Baud, they found a little grotto in which they 
resolved to dwell awhile.^ The grotto being small, 
they resorted to excavation. It is now about 22 feet 
in depth and from 1 6 to 1 8 feet wide, and a stone, 
which rings sonorously on being struck, and which 
Gildas and Bihi are said to have used to summon 
the faithful to prayers, is preserved in it. On the 
overhanging rocks is a stone cross, and the spot 
is still known as the Oratory of *La Roche sur 
Blavet.* Near at hand, in the hamlet of Castennec, 
where the notorious * idol of Quinipily ' was first 
discovered, and where the Roman station of Sulim 

^ He was subsequently killed by a pagan. 

' ' Histoire de S. Gildas,' etc, Bib. Nat, Paris. 



COMORRE THE CURSED 87 

— on the road from Carhaix to Vannes — is supposed 
to have been situated, abundant relics of the im- 
perial age have been discovered ; and it is possible 
that Gildas*s oratory was less lonely in his time than 
it is now. Almost in front of it, but on the other 
side of the Blavet, is the chapel of St. Nicod^me, 
renowned alike for its stone spire, which is 160 feet 
in height, and for its pilgrimages ; for the saint is 
credited with the power to preserve both the faithful 
and their cattle from epidemics, in such wise that 
numerous oxen and calves are presented at the chapel, 
and sold by auction for its benefit, every year. 

But, to return to St. Gildas, it may be assumed 
that he was at his oratory on the Blavet when 
Comorre requested him to solicit the hand of 
Tryphine from he ^ather Weroc. Comorre, on his 
side, must have ' s a at Castel Finans,^ probably 
the extreme limi^fr-'f his possessions in this part of 
Brittany, and, as the crow flies, only some fifteen 
miles from Gildas's oratory, though by road the 
distance may be two or three and twenty. It is 
virtually certain that when Comorre summoned 
Gildas the latter consented to assist him in his 
suit,^ being influenced by the fear that a terrible 
war might ensue if the marriage should not take 

^ Sec antey p. 41. Roch le Baillif asserts in his * Petit Traict6 
de I'Antiquit^ et Singularitds de la Br^tagne-Armorique,' Rennes, 
J 577> that he himself found in the old ruins of Castel Finans, other- 
wise Castel G^ant, various ancient silver coins, some marked 
illegibly, others on which could be distinguished a tower and the 
inscription Castri Gigantis. 

« La Borderie cites * D. Viu !!.• S. GUd«, § 21 ; Mabillon 
edition, p. 145/ 



88 BLUEBEARD 

place. And though he was acquainted with 
Comorre's grasping disposition, he was not dis- 
posed to think that Tryphine would suffer at her 
husband's hands. In any case, he pledged his word 
to Weroc that she would be well treated, and by 
dint of persuasion obtained the old chiefs reluctant 
consent to the alliance. 

Thus Comorre and Tryphine were married, and 
for a short time there seemed to be every prospect 
of peace and harmony. Then, however, Comorre 
threw off the mask, and revealed his motive in 
desiring the match. In addition to his daughter, 
Weroc had five sons, the names of only two of 
whom have come down to us. One of these sons, 
the eldest, was named Conoo or Canao, while the 
other (who seems to have been the youngest of the 
five) was known as Macliau or Madiavus. Comorre, 
it may be inferred, became friendly with Macliau, 
who, as the sequel will show, was jealous of his 
brother Conoo, as the latter would inherit the 
Browerech territory whenever Weroc died. Now 
Weroc was an old man, perhaps seventy years of 
age, if not more, and it was unlikely that he would 
live much longer. Thus Comorre suddenly pro- 
posed to him that he should divide his possessions, 
giving one half of them to Macliau and the other 
half to himself (Comorre), as husband of Tryphine. 
No doubt some suitable provision was proposed for 
the old ruler of the Vannetais, but the latter was 
not tired of governing, and he indignantly rejected 
Comorre's suggestions. 



COMORRE THE CURSED 89 

Comorre, thwarted in his designs, and restrained, 
perhaps, from plunging Brittany into war by the 
direct orders of Childebert, or by the thought of 
Judwal, could not conceal his fury, but cast angry 
glances upon Tryphine, whom he had only married 
for purposes of aggrandizement His manner un- 
doubtedly filled her with alarm. Perhaps she had 
heard horrible stories of him from some of those 
about her ; perhaps he actually threatened her with 
violence. At all events, one morning, attended 
by a few servants, she stole down from the height 
of Castel Finans for the purpose of placing herself 
in safety. 

Modern investigation has shown that the great 
Roman road from Rennes to Carhaix passed by way 
of Mur-de-Bretagne, Caurel, Gouarec, and Ros- 
trenen ; and La Borderie thinks that, on quitting 
Castel Finans, she sought that road, then, on find- 
ing herself pursued, plunged into the forest land, 
and was overtaken by her husband about four miles 
north of the present village of Gouarec, at a spot 
where now stands a church of St. Trephine, in 
which some say she was buried, and which was 
first raisedf perhaps, to commemorate her tragic 
adventure. 

That view, however, may be erroneous. Brittany 
numbers several churches and chapels of St. Trd- 
phine, St Tr6fine, and St Triphyne, as she is 
variously called. There are two in the very region 
mentioned by La Borderie — the one he specifies, 
and another in the vicinity of Callac ; and thus the 



90 BLUEBEARD 

presence of a church dedicated to Tryphine in 
any particular spot does not seem sufficient evidence 
that this spot was the scene of Comorre's murderous 
onslaught. Moreover, in fleeing from her husband, 
Tryphine must have been anxious to reach her 
natural protectors, her father and Gildas ; and thus, 
instead of seeking the Roman road from Carhaix to 
Rennes, she would rather have directed her course 
towards that which ran from Carhaix to Vannes. 
In any case, she was pursued and overtaken by her 
husband. 

Albert of Morlaix says that this occurred near 
Vannes, an assertion which, given the distance 
from Castel Finans to that city, is nonsensical. 
Besides, there is evidence which tends to show that, 
although Weroc ruled over what is called the Van- 
netais, he did not hold Vannes itself, some Prankish 
Warden of the Marches being stationed there. And 
as Tryphine was undoubtedly overtaken in a wood- 
land, it seems more reasonable to suppose that this 
woodland was the present forest of Qu6n6can. The 
historical, or perhaps it is best to say the semi- 
historical, account agrees with the legend in telling 
us that the unfortunate woman heard the approach 
of her pursuers, and hid herself among some bushes. 
But Comorre galloped up, and scoured the wood 
like an expert sportsman who knew how to unearth 
his game. He discovered his trembling wife, he 
drew her forth, and, raising his blade, he dealt her a 
terrible blow on the head, inflicting a horrible wound 
and stunning her. She sank senseless to the ground, 



COMORRE THE CURSED 91 

and the ruffian, believing her dead, rode back to his 
castle.^ 

Albert of Morlaix, in his legend, asserts that 
Weroc was informed of the tragedy by his daughter's 
servants, that he recovered the * decapitated ' body, 
caused it to be laid in state in the great hall of the 
castle of Vannes, and then ' posted ' ( * prit la poste *!) 
towards the Blavet to consult Gildas, who hospitably 
kept him to dinner before going to attend to the 
dead woman, who, being dead, was no doubt well 
able to wait. But wherever Tryphine fell, whether 
north of Gouarec or in the vicinity of C16guerec, 
she was certainly nearer to Gildas than to her 
father; and one may accept the view that Gildas, 
after being informed of the tragic occurrence, was 
conducted to the spot where the unhappy woman 
lay, found her still senseless — suffering, no doubt, 
from concussion of the brain, in addition to which 
her skull may have been fractured — and then by 
dint of extreme care and skilful science — a science 
derived perchance through St. Illtyd from those 
expert * medicine-men * the Druids — revived and 
healed her. As soon as possible he led her back 
to her father, and bade him take every care of her 
and of the child whom she would soon bring into 
the world. All this seems simple enough ; but the 
ignorant, as was natural in those days, regarded the 
recovery of Tryphine as a resurrection, a miracle 
performed by Heaven at the intercession of the 
saintly Abbot of Rhuys. 

^ La Borderie, U. 



92 BLUEBEARD 

That the latter, in his indignation, betook himself 
to Castel Finans to upbraid Comorre for his cruelty, 
that the gates were closed at his approach, that the 
watch on the rampart had orders to decline any 
parley, may be well believed ; but the legend of the 
handful of sand thrown at the castle walls, and the 
crumbling of those walls immediately afterwards, is 
merely an example of many legends devised, in 
later ages, to account for the destruction of one or 
another famous stronghold. 

The reader may ask, however, what became of 

Tryphine after the * miracle.'^ Albert of Morlaix 

asserts that when she was brought to life again her 

gratitude to Gildas was so intense that she vowed 

never to leave him. But the holy man rebuked her, 

saying *it was not meet for a woman to follow a 

^ In a canticle sung every year at Auray on the occasion of the 
festival of St. Gildas (January 29) the following occurs : 

' Sancti Gildasi, 
Qui Tryfinam suscitasti, 
Quam tyrannus occiderat 
Inter sylvarum pascua.' 

The resuscitation of Tryphine is not the only miracle ascribed 
to St. Gildas in the Breton legends. There are many others. 
Perhaps his most wonderful legendary adventure was a trip he took 
on the sea with four demons, who had disguised themselves as 
monks, and who, at some distance from the shore, suddenly dis- 
appeared together with their boat, leaving the holy man standing 
upon the water, with one foot resting on a comer of his cloak, 
and his staff caught in another corner of it, in such wise that the 
garment served him as a sail to catch the sudden breeze which, 
coming from heaven, wafted him safely to land. There is a 
similar legend about some women of the Isle of Arz, and another 
of St Nennoch crossing the sea from Britain to Brittany in a stone 
trough. 



COMORRE THE CURSED 93 

monk/ And as she evinced great piety, he promised 
that after her delivery * he would dedicate her to 
the service of God in a monastery of holy virgins.* 
This, apparently, was done. All the available 
accounts agree in saying that Tryphine founded a 
convent and dwelt therein after giving birth to a son, 
who, like herself, received canonization after his 
death.^ The Bretons call him St. Trever, the 
French Tremeur or Tremor6, and it would seem 
that he was educated at the abbey of St. Gildas of 
Rhuys ; but the writer has failed to ascertain any- 
thing else about his career, apart from the fact that 
on the west door of a church dedicated to him at 
Carhaix there are or were a series of carvings stated 
to represent certain incidents in his life, one of them 
showing him as a Breton St. Denis — that is, holding 
his head in his hands. It is asserted, indeed, that 
he was decapitated by his father, but this seems 
unlikely, for he cannot have been more than seven 
years old at the time of Comorre's death. 

Comorre, after his murderous attempt on Tryphine, 
would appear to have embarked on a career of 
violence, excesses, and exactions, the outcome, per- 
haps, of his mortification and resentment at having 
failed in his designs upon the Vannetais. Though 
he could assume friendliness with a man like Gildas 

^ As the Protestant reader may wonder at the great number of the 
Breton saints, ft is as well to point out that canonization was then 
conferred by Bishops and Churches, without reference to the Court 
of Rome. It is asserted that the first canonization by Papal 
authority was that of St. Udalricus in 993 (* Recueil des Historiens 
de France,' preface, vol x.). 



94 BLUEBEARD 

when it suited his purpose to do so, he had repeated 
quarrels with the Breton clei^y. It may be also 
that he was jealous of the latter^s increasing wealth 
and influence, and desired to keep it in check. But in 
those days the ruler who came into conflict with the 
Church was seldom victorious, and though Comorre 
contrived to hold his own for a few years longer, his 
fall may be directly traced to his struggle with the 
priesthood. It is certain that a council of Bishops 
assembled on the Menez Br6 near Guingamp to 
deliberate on the subject of his misrule and the 
crimes imputed to him. There was a vast concourse 
of prelates and people. The death of lona was 
recalled ; the attempts on Tryphine and the absent 
Judwal were denounced, and Judwal's rightful claims 
to Domnonia were urged. This council was held in 
the year 550, or perhaps a little earlier. St. Gildas 
does not seem to have attended it. Perhaps he was 
still on the Blavet, or had returned to Rhuys.^ But 
another very famous Breton saint was present. 

^ He died, it is said, on the isle of Houat on January 29, 570. 
According to one legend there was a dispute among his monks as 
to where he should be buried, and a boat, in which his remains 
were at last placed, sank between Houat and the mainland. At 
this the monks were in great distress, but, three months later, the 
boat was washed up near Rhuys, and St. Gildas's body was found 
in it, fresh and whole, 'even as on the day when he died,' the salt 
water having miraculously preserved it Glastonbury is said, by 
some English writers, to have been Gildas's resting-place, but a 
skull and arm-bones, alleged to have been his, still figure among 
the relics of Rhuys. The oldest part of that abbey, however, is 
of the twelfth century. It is known to have been destroyed by 
the Normans in the tenth. 



COMORRE THE CURSED 95 

This was the blind St. Herv6, at that time neither 
deacon nor priest, but merely an exorcist. To do 
him honour, as he was late in arriving, the council 
deferred its business for a whole day. The result of 
its deliberations was the solemn cursing of Comorre 
for his crimes and his tyranny. Throughout Brittany 
he received the name of *Comor ar Miliguet' — a 
name still universal in the sixteenth century, as 
D'Argentr^ has recorded in his history. 

Nevertheless, Comorre showed a bold front. The 
thunders of the Church had no terrors for him ; he 
was not the man to quail before any St. Dunstan. 
For a time, indeed, he seems to have taken more 
interest in what was happening in the Vannetais 
than in the proceedings of his priestly adversaries. 
Old .Weroc having died, Conoo, his eldest son, had 
succeeded to his possessions, and, fearful of the 
rivalry of his brothers, had savagely put three of 
them to death. A similar fate seemed likely to 
overtake the remaining one, Macliau, who was 
thrown into a dungeon, and only released after 
humbling himself and renouncing every right. Even 
then he did not deem himself in safety, but fled to 
his old friend Comorre, with whom, a few years pre- 
viously, he had proposed to divide the Vannetais. 
Comorre concealed him, and when Conoo*s envoys 
came to claim the fugitive, he pointed to a tomb — 
perhaps a tumulus — which he had raised, and told 
them that Macliau was dead. 

In the end, however (552), Macliau renounced all 

claim to dominion, put away his wife, and accepted 



96 BLUEBEARD 

priesthood and the tonsure in order to secure eleva- 
tion to the bishopric of Vannes. This fact is cited, 
among several others, as showing that the Vannetais 
or Browerech ruled by Weroc and Conoo did not 
include the city of Vannes, for Macliau, who still 
meditated revenge, would never have placed himself 
again in Conoo's power. Thus it is argued that 
Vannes was garrisoned by the Franks. 

A few more years went by, Comorre and the cler^ 
still at variance. But one of the latter, Samson of Dol 
— St Samson, as he became — had repaired to the 
court of Childebert to solicit the release of Judwal, 
the rightful heir of Domnonia. Suitable pledges 
were doubtless offered with respect to the Prankish 
suzerainty over Brittany, and, after a time, Childe- 
bert, apparently, was willing to sacrifice Comorre, 
But we are told that Ultragotha, Childebert's wife, 
had cast lascivious eyes on young Judwal, and would 
not let him go. Naturally enough, the legends step 
in at this particular point ; the opportunity was too 
good a one to be missed by them. They pretend 
that Ultragotha caused a poisoned beverage to be 
offered to Samson at the royal table, but that when 
he made the sign of the Cross over the cup it was 
shivered to pieces, while as the liquor dropped upon 
the cup-bearer's hand ulcers immediately formed on 
it, Samson, however, considerately curing them by 
another sign of the Cross. In like manner he 
rendered an untamable horse, which was presented 
to him by the Queen, as gentle as a lamb, and had 
only to pronounce the Lord's name in order to cause 



COMORRE THE CURSED 97 

a monstrous lion to recoil in respect and fear when 
the wicked Ultragotha summoned the beast from 
Hades in the hope that it would devour the holy 
man. Finally, all her enchantments having failed, 
her opposition ceased ; but when Samson celebrated 
Mass for the last time before quitting the court with 
Judwal, she impiously turned her back on the altar, 
and in punishment for her irreverence she was struck 
dead — an assertion utterly at variance with the 
historical account, which shows that Ultragotha sur- 
vived her husband. 

Having removed Judwal from Childebert s court, 
Samson found him an asylum on one of the Channel 
Islands, either Jersey or Guernsey, and it was 
arranged that he should remain there until all was 
in readiness for a rising in Domnonia. When, 
about 554-55, the young man, like some * Bonnie 
Prince Charlie,* landed on the Breton shore, he was 
met by a crowd of eager adherents. 'Come and 
avenge lona! Avenge your father!' they cried to 
him. • We will help you !' 

Judwal's forces appear to have been mustered near 
Dol ; but Comorre was not idle, he still had his 
partisans, whatever might have been the harshness 
of his rule and the effects of the solemn cursing of 
the Church. A first battle was fought — perhaps 
between St Malo and Chiteauneuf — ^and he was 
worsted in it But although he retreated, he still 
held the field. A like result, however, attended a 
second engagement, and at last the contending 
parties met for the third time on the wild heather- 

7 



98 BLUEBEARD 

lands south of Morlaix (Finist^re), between the 
forest of Gerber and the first slopes of the Mon- 
tagne d'Arr^e. Spots bearing very significant names 
are still shown there ; for instance, the Rosarc'ham, 
the slope of the battle; the Ban Lac'h, the knoll 
of the massacre; and the Roc'h Conan, the rock 
of the chief. And here, then, on the scene of his 
early exploits, his first march upon L^on after 
Withur s death, Comorre turned to bay and met his 
fate. A wound laid him low, says the Mabillon 
Life of St. Samson, but another account of the 
same saint's career (Angers MSS.) describes his end 
more graphically : ' Comorre was vanquished ; a 
javelin from the hand of Judwal struck him down ; 
he died.' And, the usurper killed, the rightful heir 
reigned in his stead. 

Such, so far as fact can be disentangled from 
l^end, seems to have been the life and fate of 
the man who for a century has been openly called 
* the Breton Bluebeard.' Some years ago a large 
block of schistous slate, designated as the ' Men Bez 
Comor,' was shown on a spot named Brank Halleg, 
or the Willow Bough, near the hamlet of Mengleuz, 
which adjoins the battlefield. Beneath that block of 
slate, said the peasants, lay the bones of the tyrant, 
awaiting the sounds of the judgment trump.^ 

Before examining Comorre's career in connection 
with the l^ends based on it, some mention must 
be made of incidents which occurred after his death. 

^ Some historians cite a second Comorre, a mler of L6oa ; but 
La Borderie declares that there was never any such personage. 



COMORRE THE CURSED 99 

Conoo, or Canao, the ruler of the Vannetais, who 
had put three of his brothers to death and com- 
pelled Macliau to enter the priesthood, was, like 
Comorre, a stern, harsh ruler, a terror to his sub- 
jects. Ambition came to him as it had come to the 
usurper of Domnonia, but unluckily for his schemes, 
after the death of Childebert, he gave an asylum to 
Chramn. the son of Childebert s successor, Clothaire. 
Chramn, after various quarrels with his father, 
followed by a reconciliation, had remained appre- 
hensive of future punishment (we here follow 
Gregory of Tours), and therefore fled to Brittany 
with his wife and children. It may be that Clothaire 
only desired a pretext to invade Brittany, or else he 
regarded the hospitality accorded to Chramn by 
Conoo as an unpardonable action. In any case he 
collected an army and invaded Conoo*s possessions. 
A battle ensued on a spot west of Vannes, near the 
shore of the 'inland sea,' and Conoo — these Bretons 
were as brave as they were savage — fell fighting. 
But Chramn, who had a bark waiting on the shore, 
might have escaped had he not desired to save his 
wife and children, who had taken refuge in a hut. 
In trying to do so he was made a prisoner. If he 
expected any mercy from his father, he was deceived. 
By Clothaire's orders he was bound to a bench in the 
hut, which was set on fire, in such wise that he was 
burnt to death there with his wife and his daughters. 
Directly Macliau, the Bishbp of Vannes, heard that 
Conoo was dead, he cast his priestly vestments aside, 
took his wife back, let his hair grow again, and asserted 

7—2 



loo BLUEBEARD 

his rights to sovereigfnty. But it was a sovereignty 
of little account for a time, for the Franks spread 
through the Browerech and ravaged it At last 
Macliau came into possession, and subsequently 
seized Cornouaille also; but the young Theodoric 
(son of Budic II.), whom he then drove away, 
returned, surprised him, and showed him no mercy. 
He was slain, with one of his sons named Jacob, in 
or about 577. Thus died the last of St. Tryphine's 
brothers. 

If these final incidents, particularly those connected 
with Conoo, have been related, it is because con- 
fusion long existed among the chroniclers and his- 
torians, as well as in the popular mind, with respect 
to Comorre and Conoo. Many writers confounded 
the two men, with the result that their readers were 
confronted by a perfect monster — a ruffian who had 
killed lona of Domnonia, who, perhaps, had mur- 
dered even lona's widow after forcibly making her 
his wife ; who had certainly threatened the life of 
Judwal ; who had killed three of his own brothers, 
persecuted a fourth (Macliau), and decapitated his 
second wife (and sister) Tryphine. Briefly, a 
monster whose whole life was assassination, and 
whose deeds might serve as the basis of a far more 
horrible tale than * Bluebeard.' And Conoo being 
confounded with Comorre, a perfect pot-pourri of 
Breton history ensued. It became necessary to 
imagine all sorts of things in order to reconcile 
conflicting dates and events. It would require 
many pages Co point out all the blunders made by 



COMORRE THE CURSED loi 

writers of one and another century, and it is not 
proposed to do so here. Those curious on the 
subject may compare M. de La Borderie's history 
with the others.^ 

Some of the older chronicles and histories of 
Brittany must indeed be read, so far as they deal 
with the early centuries of our era, in much the 
same spirit as one might read the ' Chansons de 
Geste/ whose writers, between them, took the 
events of three or four centuries, and adapted them 
to the reigns of a trio of rulers. Those writers, 
whatever their claims, were, as a matter of fact, 
but versifiers and romancers ; and their versions of 
history need not surprise, though they may well 
puzzle, one, particularly as when — to quote a recent 
work on * L'6pop6e Romane* — one finds 'certain 
religious legends respecting the Vandal invasion of 
France in 406, and a more or less authentic Arlesian 
martyr of the fifth century, St. Vezian, transferred 
from the Merovingian to the Carlovingian period ; 
Charles Martel being made to fight against the 
Vandals in Lorraine; St. Vezian falling beneath 
the blows of the Saracen **Aucebier" (Alsamah), 
who invaded the south in 721 ; then that invasion 
\ being confounded with that of " Desrame " (Abder- 
rhaman) in 732, and finally identified with the 

^ We have not followed M. de La Borderie blindly in our n'arra- 
live. We have checked several of his statements, and have 
occasionally drawn somewhat different conclusions from the facts, 
conclusion»such as M. de La Borderie, a devout Catholic, would 
not have drawn ; but he may be consulted with advantage for 
references to authorities, etc. 



I02 BLUEBEARD 

struggles waged by Guillaume of Toulouse from 
ygo to 806/ Nor was this all, for 'Vezian's 
character was changed ; he was made a knight, and 
his name was altered to Vivian, which was better 
known in the West of France/^ 

This passage has been quoted because the fate 
of Vezian in the * Matter of France ' illustrates the 
f^e of Comorre at the hands of many historians and 
popular raconteurs. It must be added, however, 
that the errors of the Breton writers arose in part 
from a n^lect of philological considerations. 

Throughout this narrative the usurper of Dom- 
nonia has been called Comorre, the form of his 
name which has prevailed in modern times ; but 
his real name was Conomor, meaning Conoo the 
Great, according to La Borderie, who objects to the 
etymology of Courson and others, who took * Cono * 
as the equivalent of Conan, and made the name 
signify 'great chief* Now, Conoo of the Van- 
netais, called sometimes Canao, is also repeatedly 
referred to by both the hagiologists and the older 
chroniclers by the names of Conober, Conoberus, 
Conoborus, Chonobarus, and so forth. Conober 
signifies Conoo the Little or the Short, and it is 
allowable to surmise that this was a nickname given 
him by his contemporaries for the express purpose 
of distinguishing him from Conomor. Had a little 
attention been paid to this matter some hundreds of 
years ago, when it was first assumed that the two 

1 ' Les Personnages de F^pop^ Romane,' by Vicomte Ch. de 
la Lande de Calan, Paris^ 1901. 



COMORRE THE CURSED 103 

men were identical, there might have been much 
less confusion in the particular period of Breton 
history to which they both belonged. It may be 
repeated that they were quite distinct Comorre or 
Conomor never ruled the Vannetais ; Conoo or 
Conober never encountered the forces of Judwal 
between St Malo and Chiteauneuf. He fell at the 
time when Chramn was taken prisoner in the battle 
fought west of the city of Vannes. 

That confusion should have arisen in the popular 
mind respecting the two personages is a different 
matter. Fourteen centuries now separate us from 
the days of Comorre and Conoo, and even if there 
had been books to tell the Breton peasantry the 
truth, they, with their fervent belief in legend and 
tradition, would scarcely have accepted correction. 
It is more than probable that the stories told of 
Conomor and Conoo had already become entangled 
and blended in their minds many hundreds of years 
ago. One man had heard a tale of how the tyrant 
had murdered his brothers ; another was sure that 
his victims had been his wives. The brothers were 
added to the wives, perhaps, and by degrees became 
part and parcel of them, in such a way that the 
tyrant was believed to have killed quite half a dozen 
spouses, and the foundation was laid for a tale 
of the Bluebeard kind. Brittany used to have its 
itinerant story-tellers ; moreover, the Bretons often 
crossed their peninsula, going in pilgrimage from 
one pardon to another, when they not only told and 
heard marvellous stories of Our Lady and the 



I04 BLUEBEARD 

Saints, but narrated and listened to other curious 
legends, Arthurian, Druidical, and medieval. The 
years rolled on, and at last, from one to the other 
end of Brittany, in the lands which Conomor had 
usurped, and in those where Conober had ruled, 
there only remained the memory of one tyrant— 
* Comor ar Miliguet' One thing is virtually cer- 
tain : the Comorre remembered in our days in the 
vicinity of Camors, and again at Cloar Carnoet, the 
Comorre transformed into a ferryman, was Conoo, 
who reigned in that region ; whereas the Comorre 
of Castel Finans, Carhaix and the Willow Bough, 
was Conomor, the usurper of Domnonia. 

It must be admitted that, however widespread the 
tradition in these later centuries, there is no proof 
of Perrault having borrowed his tale of * Bluebeard * 
from the Comorre legend. No ancient chronicler 
ever refers to Comorre as * Barbe-bleue.' Nor does 
the writer know of any very old story connecting 
the two. Daru, in his * Histoire de Bretagne,' 
published in 1826, refers, however, to the novelists 
{romancters) who had conferred * a frightful immor- 
tality on Comorre under the name of Bluebeard.' 
And in this connection the writer remembers having 
read in his youth (which was spent in France) an 
old novel which he has vainly endeavoured to trace 
recently. It was a two- volume work, issued either 
at the end of the eighteenth or early in the nineteenth 
century, and its title was * Le Roi Comor ' or some- 
thing very similar. No doubt it was one of the 
books referred to by Daru. The latter's statement 



COMORRE THE CURSED 105 

at least shows that Comorre was associated with 
Bluebeard in his time — that is, in the twenties of the 
nineteenth century ; and this is of some little interest, 
because various critics of more recent times have 
asserted that the two were first coupled in 1850, when 
certain paintings were brought to light in a chapel 
dedicated to St. Tryphine at St. Nicolas de Bieuzy,^ 
which is in the immediate vicinity of St. Gildas's 
oratory on the Blavet. These paintings were then 
said to be of the thirteenth or fifteenth century, and 
their discovery created quite a stir on account of 
their identity with the chief incidents of Perrault's 
tale. They decorated the lambris of the chapel, the 
subject depicted in the first compartment being the 
marriage of Tryphine to a Breton lord (Comorre) 
whose beard was coloured a bluish black ; next the 
husband was shown quitting his castle on some 
warlike expedition, and handing his wife a little key ; 
and then appeared the mysterious chamber with the 
bodies of the murdered wives — seven in number — 
hanging in it. Afterwards came the terrible inter- 
rogatory, with Bluebeard scowling at his unhappy 
wife ; farther on, she was portrayed praying on her 
knees, while Sister Anne anxiously scanned the road 
from a little window. And finally, while the cruel 
husband was shown passing a noose round his wife's 
neck, Tryphine's brothers and St. Gildas appeared, 
the first ready to run their swords through Comorre's 
body, and the last all anxiety to revive the victim. 

^ 'Bulletin arch^logique de T Association Bretonne,' 1850, 
toL iL, p. 133. 



io6 BLUEBEARD 

Now, if these paintings — brought to light from 
under the ever-recurring coat of whitewash which 
has blotted out so much artistic work in churches all 
the world over — ^had really belonged to the thirteenth, 
or fifteenth, or sixteenth century, if they could even 
have been traced to the earlier part of the century 
in which Perrault wrote, they would have proved 
conclusively that he derived his famous tale from 
some adaptation of St Tryphine's story .^ But those 
who first examined the paintings, and thought them 
very ancient, perhaps by reason of their damaged 
condition, were quite mistaken. Several years later 
the paintings were scrutinized by more competent 
persons, whose verdict was that they had been 
painted early in the eighteenth century. And sub- 
sequently, after various researches, M. Rosenzweig, 
the departmental archivist, ascertained the very year 
of their execution — 1704.* 

Thus another legend has been swept away. In 
1 704 Perrault's tales had been six or seven years in 
circulation. It is known that quite a furore arose 
when they first appeared ; that they were in demand 
on every side. The artist who executed the paint- 
ings at St Nicolas must have been acquainted with 
them. Whatever his name, he was no peasant ; he 
came from a town, a city, where books were read ; 

^ There is a quaint old Breton mystery in which she figured as a 
princess of Hybernia wedded to Arzur, the hero-king, and perse- 
cuted by her jealous brother, Kervoura. ' Sainte Tryphine et le 
Roi Arthur,' edited by F. M. Luzel. Quimperl6, 1863, 8vo. 

' Bossard, /.^., p. 402. From the ' Statistiques archtologiqoes 
de TArrondissement de Pontivy,' article on ' Napol^ooviUe.' 



COMORRE THE CURSED 107 

and for some reason or other, on being called in to 
paint the l^end of St Tryphine, he depicted, in 
lieu thereof, the story of Perrault's Bluebeard. Was 
it, then, his shocking audacity in this respect which 
subsequently led some indignant curi to cover the 
paintings over ? 

The course taken by the painter is, indeed, at the 
first glance, so suggestive of rank impudence as to 
make one pause. He may have been a sceptic. 
Indeed, his portrayal of Tryphine with a rope about 
her neck is strongly suggestive of scepticism. He 
declined to believe that the unlucky woman could 
be revived by St. Gildas after decapitation ; but he 
knew that people who are hanged may occasionally 
be cut down in time to have their lives saved. 
Thus, in Brittany of all places in the world, in one 
of its most superstitious regions, too, one finds a 
Voltairean spirit displaying itself at a time when 
Voltaire was only ten years old But, however 
sceptical the painter may have been, he cannot have 
desired, he would not have dared, to insult his 
priestly patrons, from whom he expected payment 
for his work, by depicting something which had no 
relation whatever to the subject that he had been 
commissioned to treat. What had he been told of 
the legend of St. Tryphine before he started on his 
work 'i Assuredly he must have heard something 
which had brought 'Bluebeard' to his mind. He 
must have had some basis to work on ; he must at 
least have been told that Tryphine's husband had 
killed several wives. Everything indicates, indeed. 



io8 BLUEBEARD 

that there were stories of Comorre current in the 
region at that time — 1704 — which suggested Per- 
rault*s tale. If one only knew what they were, one 
would probably be able to say whether Perrault did 
or did not derive his Bluebeard from some Comorre 
legend, told perchance by some Breton servant 
to his children ; for it does not appear that he 
himself was ever in Brittany. 

So far as the writer has been able to ascertain, no 
legends of Comorre and Tryphine appear in M. 
S6billot*s numerous books on the folk-lore of Upper 
Brittany ; but in one volume^ a * Bluebeard/ or, rather, 
a * Redbeard,' story is to be found. Here we have a 
husband who has lost seven wives,^ and lived ten 
years with the eighth, whom he at last hates to such 
a degree that one Sunday, on returning home from 
high Mass, he resolves to kill hen When he tells 
her his purpose she contrives to slip a note into the 
ear of a little dog, which she sends to fetch her 
brothers. And afterwards she asks permission to 
put on her wedding garments (as in the Vendean 
version of * Bluebeard *), while her husband, taking 
his sabre, sings : 

' I'm sharpening, I'm sharpening my knife 
To kill my wife, who is upstairs.' 

Then, as at intervals he calls to her to comedown, 

1 • Litt6ature Orale de la Haute-Bretagne,' by P. SAillot 
Paris, 1881, 8vo. (* Barbe-Rouge,* pp. 40-43). 

^. The Bretons are very partial to the number seven. There are 
many tales of seven brothers, seven sisters, seven children, and so 
forth. 



COMORRE THE CURSED 109 

she responds with various excuses : she has only 
just slipped on her petticoat ; she is putting on her 
stockings ; she is combing her hair ; she is looking 
for her large coif; she has only to put in another pin. 
And meantime she looks out of the window, and at 
last perceives several horsemen, to whom she makes 
signs. Redbeard hides in the corridor when the 
soldiers knock, but they find and kill him, and one 
of them ends by marrying the widow. 

S^billot also gives a story of a giant with seven 
wives,^ the last of whom rids herself of her cruel 
husband with the help of a soldier. In this tale the 
giant is a magician who will always remain invulner- 
able unless a certain egg should be crushed on his 
breast. The egg is inside a pigeon, which is inside 
a hare, which is inside a wolf, which is inside the 
griant's brother, who lives some leagues away. When 
the wife has learnt the secret from her husband, she 
confides it to the soldier, who, after various adven- 
tures, secures the egg, which the lady duly crushes 
on her husband's chest, with the result that he 
immediately expires. 

This, however, is a tale of a familiar type (the 
egg business suggesting ' The Giant who had no 
Heart in his Body'), whilst Redbeard may be 
merely an adaptation of Perrault's story. Thus one 
remains confronted by the tradition of the tyrant 
Comorre who killed many wives, and who became 
here a werewolf, and yonder the ferryman of hell. 

^ 'Contes Populaires de la Haute-Bretagne.* Paris, 1880 
(Na 19, p. 61 ei seq.). 



no BLUEBEARD 

And the vox pofmli^ so fiu* as can be ascertained, 
having always pointed to Brittany as the original 
home of ' Bluebeard/ it may be said in favour of 
those who picture Comorre as the prototype of 
Perrault's ' hero/ that at the time when Perrault 
wrote, the Comorre l^ends were certainly far more 
familiar to the Breton peasantry than they are 
nowadays. And owing to the confusion between 
Conomor and Conober, the ' Miliguet/ the cursed 
one, was regarded as a most bloodthirsty, in- 
human monster. Hagiologists, members of that 
Breton clergy with which he was so long at 
variance, had painted him in the blackest colours, 
making his crimes even worse than they really were. 
Chroniclers had taken the same line, and legends of 
horror and infamy had spread among the people. 
But before expressing any decided opinion upon 
Comorre's connection with ' Bluebeard,' it is pre- 
ferable to turn to another period and examine the 
claims of the second candidate to the odious honours, 
Gilles de Rais, a man by the side of whom Comorre 
might be accounted a saint. 



GILLES DE RAIS 

MARSHAL OF FRANCE 
1 404- 1 440 



GILLES DE RAIS 

MARSHAL OF FRANCE 

I 
1404.1424 

DESCENT, PARENTAGE, POSSESSIONS, MARRIAGE, AND 

FIRST CAMPAIGNS 

The Descent of Gilles from the First Barons of Christendom — 
The Blood Royal of France— Genealogical Tables— The 
Ancient House of Rais — ^Jatie the Sensible adopts Guy II. de 
Laval — He assumes the Name and Arms of Rais — Birth of 
Gilles — His Education and Accomplishments — He loses his 
Parents — His Guardian, Jean de Craon — His Great Barony and 
other Possessions — His Successive Betrothals — His Fiancees all 
die — He turns to the Career of Arms — ^Hie English Invasion 
and the Civil War in France — The Struggle of Montfort and 
Penthi^vre in Brittany — Duke Jean V., seeking Beautiful 
Damsels, is trapped and imprisoned — Gilles de Rais at the 
States-General of Brittany — The Duchess as Maria Theresa — 
The Penthifevres ravage Rais — ^Jean V.*s Curious Vows in his 
Captivity — Gilles raises Men and joins Alain de Rohan — The 
Penthi^vres vanquished and the Duke released — Rewards for 
Gilles — He marries Katherine de Thouars and again takes the 
Field — ^The Penthibvres finally sentenced — Gilles assumes the 
Government of his Fiefs. 

Gilles, Baron of Rais, first and last of his name, 
sprang from four of the most illustrious houses of 

8 



114 BLUEBEARD 

medieval France. On the side of his father, Guy de 
Laval de Rais, he claimed descent from the Mont- 
morencys, the first Barons of Christendom ; whilst 
on the side of his mother, Marie de Craon, he could 
boast connection with the blood royal, for she 
descended from the famous Renaud of Nevers and 
Adela of France. Nor was that all ; for Gilles' 
grandfather, the renowned Brumor de Laval, had 
married the daughter of Clemence, sister of the 
immortal Bertrand du Guesclin. Again, Gilles' 
mother represented not only the opulent house of 
Craon, but the doughty lords of Machecoul also, and 
was allied to the Thouars, the Beau^ays, the Roche- 
forts, and the Beauvaus — all names which are written 
on splendid pages of French history. Finally Gilles 
could claim that some of the blood of the ancient 
house of Rais, whose wealth he inherited, flowed in 
his veins ; for Eustachie, only daughter of Chabot L, 
Baron of Rais, had married Gerard de Machecoul 
in the thirteenth century, and Girard Chabot IL had, 
about the same period, espoused Jeanne de Craon ; 
whilst Jeanne la Folle, the * Crazy Jane of Rais ' — 
a grand-daughter of Gerard Chabot III. and Marie 
de Parthenay — had afterwards become the wife of 
Foulques de Laval. Thus Montmorency- Laval, 
Rais, Craon, and Machecoul all met in Gilles and 
his younger brother, who became known as Rend de 
La Suze, from property in Maine which had come 
to his mother s family by matrimonial alliance. 

To Gilles as Baron of Rais one might have 
applied, with the alteration of one word, the famous 



GILLES DE RAIS 115 



GENEALOGY OF GILLES DE RAIS. 

I.— HOUSE OF LAVAL. 

Guy DE Montmorency, 

Sixth of the name ; called ' of Laval,^ Younger son 
of Mathieu II., Lord of Montmorency and Constable of France. 

I 

Guy DE Laval VII. 

I 

Guy DE Laval VIII. 

I 

Guy DE Laval IX. 

Brother of Foulques de Laval, who married Jeanne la Folle 

(' Crazy Jane ') of Rais, who died 1358, and had : 

(Junior^ or * Brumar * Branch), 

Guy de Laval I., called Brumor. 

Married : (i) Jeanne de Montmorency ; 

(2) Tiphaine, daughter of the Chevalier de Husson 

and of Cl^mence, sister of Bertrand 

Du Guesclin, Constable of France. 

I 

Guy de Laval II., de Rais. 

t 1415- 
Adopted by Jeanne la Sage ('Jane the Sensible') of Rais, 

which name he takes ; married, 1404, Marie de Craon. 



GILLES DE BALi. BEN^ DE LA 8X7ZB. 

1404-1440. t 1474- 

Married Katherine Married Anne de 

de Thouars, by whom Champagne, by whom 

he had : he had : 

I I 

Marie de Rais. Jeanne de Laval. 

Married Married Fran9ois de 

(i) Pr^ent de Coedvy, Chauvigny, Prince 

Admiral of France, of D^ls. 
'became Baron of Rais. 



(2) Andr^ de Laval, Andr^ de Chauvigny, 

Lord of Lohdac, Prince of Dtols. 

Admiral and Marshal t 1520. 

of France. No Issue. No Issue. 



8- 



ii6 BLUEBEARD 

lines subsequently addressed to Austria, when, 
through the marriages of the children of Maxi- 
milian I., Bohemia, Moravia, and Hungary fell to 
the house of Hapsburg : 

* Bella gerant alii, tu felix Radesia nube ; 
Nam quse Man aliis, dat tibi r^[na Venus.' 

For the vast estates of which Gilles became possessed 
were not the fruits of feudal warfare ; they had been 
gathered together mostly by the marriages of his 
forerunners. His father, Guy de Montmorency- 
Lavaly Knight and Lord of Blaison and Chemill^ in 
Anjou, acquired great wealth by a curious combina- 
tion of circumstances. The last Baron of Rais, 
Chabot v., had died childless, and the ancient 
house had but one representative left, Jane the 
Sensible (Jeanne la Sage), whose marriage with 
Jean de Parthenay had been annulled on the ground 
of consanguinity, and who had no hope of children. 
She therefore cast her eyes upon her cousin Guy 
de Laval, but the mere tie of relationship did not 
entitle him to succeed to her property ; for a decree 
of disherison had fallen on his grandmother, the 
Crazy Jane of Rais, on account of a love match she 
had made with a mere squire, Jean de la Musse, 
prior to her marriage with Foulques de Laval, a 
decree barring her rights and those of all her ' 
descendants to the barony of Rais. Only a special 
act of adoption on the part of the last heiress of Rais 
could give Guy de Laval the rights which that decree 
had annulled. Jane the Sensible expressed her desire 
to adopt him, and indeed, in 1401, she did so, solemnly 



GILLES DE RAIS 



117 



GENEALOGY OF GILLES DE RAIS. 



i 

GODBFROY, 

Lord of 
La Maurice. 



II.— HOUSE OF RAIS. 

[Old Line.] 
GARSIR& Living in II 6i. 

Harcoubt or Arcoit. t 1190. 

I 
Garsir£ or Garsile. 1220-1225. 

Raouu 1 237-1 248. 

Married Fran9oise Salvagie de la Motte-Achard» by 

whom he had issue one daughter, Eustachie, who 

married (1254) Girard Chabot, younger brother d 

Thibaud Chabot, Lord of Aulnesand Rocheservi^re. 

, I 
[JVew Line.} 

Chabot I. 1 254-1 264. 

I 



I 



1 — 

RaouL 
No issue. 



GiRARD Chabot II. 

1265-1298. 

Married: 

1. Emma de Chateaugonthier. 

2. Jeanne de Craon (t 1264). 

3. Marguerite des Barres (t 1289). 

By the second he had : 
I 



I 

EUSTACHIB, 

Md. Gerard 
de Machecoul. 
(Table III.) 



I 
GERARD Chabot III. 

1 298-1 336. 

Married Marie de Parthenay. 



I 
Guillaume. 

No issue. 



Gerard Chabot, eldest son, 
Married Katherine de 

i_ 



died before his father. 
Lavali and had : 



I 
Jeannb la Follb. 

Married Foulques de Laval. 

See Table I. 



I 
GERARD Chabot IV. 

1337-1344. 

Md. Philippe Bertrande 

de Rouxeville. 

I 



I 
Jbannb la Sagb. 

1371-1406. 

Her marriage annulled. 

Adopted Guy de Laval II., 

father of Gillbs db Rais. 



GERARD Chabot V., 
* The Posthumous.' 
t 1351 ; married 
Marguerite de Sancerre. 
No issue. 



ii8 BLUEBEARD 

acknowledging him to be her heir, on the express con- 
dition, however, that he should renounce the name 
and arms of Laval and assume for himself and his 
descendants those of Rais. In default thereof 
Jeanne chose as her successor Jean, son of Katherine 
de Machecoul and Pierre de Craon, Lord of La 
Suze in Maine, and of Ingrandes and Champtoc6 on 
the borders of Brittany and Anjou. But Guy de 
Laval did not for a moment think of refusing an 
inheritance which would so largely increase his 
fortune. On September 23, 1401, he accepted the 
stipulated condition, and on the last day of the month 
relinquished the name and arms of Montmorency- 
Laval, and took the name and arms of Rais, diose 
arms being or with a cross sable. ^ 

For some reason or other — none of the writers on 
the subject have been able to account for it — Jane 
quarrelled with the successor whom she had chosen, 
and in his stead selected another and rather more 
distant cousin, the Katherine de Machecoul who has 
been previously mentioned, and who was now ( May, 
1402) a widow with one son. Guy, the first chosen 
heir, was indignant at this alteration, and cited 
Katherine and her son Jean de Craon before the 
Parliament of Paris in order that the provisions in 
their favour might be set aside. It would appear 
that the lawsuit was for a time conducted with 
great bitterness by all parties, but a settlement 

^ *Gilles de Rais,' etc., by Abb^ Bossard. See posi^ Ap- 
pendix Cy on the Montfaucon Portrait of Gilles. 



GILLES DE RAIS ii 



GENEALOGY OF GILLES DE RAIS- 



III.— HOUSE OF MACHECOUL. 

Raoul DE Machecoul. 
t 1160. 

Bernard. 

I 

AlMERY. 

I 

OUVIER I. 



Olivier II. 
t 1264. 

I 

ouvier iii. 

G£rard. 
Married Eustachie, daughter of Chabot I. of Rais (Table II.) 

by whom he had three children. 

GERARD. 

Married Ahette de Thouars. 

I 

Louis. 

Lord of La B^naste and Le Coustumier. 

Married Jeanne de Beau9ay. 

I 

Katherine DE Machecoul. 

Married Pierre de Craon (Table IV.) ; had three children 

of whom Jean was father of Marie de Craon, 

the mother of 
GiLLES de Rais. 



no BLUEBEARD 

was eventuaUy effected on the basis of a marriage 
between Guy and Jean de Craon's only daughter^ 
Marie. All rights to the barony of Rais were ceded 
to the former, and the wedding was celebrated on 
February 5, 1404*^ Of this marriage two children 
were bom : first Gilles de Rsds* and secondly his 
brother Ren& There was formerly considerable 
controversy as to the date of the former^s birth, 
many authorities suggesting the year 1396, and 
others 1406 ; but Ahh6 Bossard has fully established 
the fact that Gilles came into the world at the castle 
of Machecoul in September or October, 1404,^ a 
date which shows that he evinced extraordinary 
precocity in his youth, marrying at the age of 
sixteen, acquiring military skill and almost renown 
before a score of years had passed over his head, 
and attaining to the exalted rank of Marshal of 
France when he was only five-and-twenty. 

Two years after his birth Jeanne la Sage of Rais 
departed this life, and her territories passed to 
Gilles* father, of whose subsequent career not much 
is known. It is difficult even to say how Gilles and 
Ren6 were educated, though we have it on record 
that both were very talented. Gilles spoke Latin 
elegantly, and cultivated several of the arts. We 
find him in after-life illuminating manuscripts, and 
preparing enamels, with which he enriched the 
bindings of his books ; we see him studying science, 
cultivating music, initiating, and perhaps helping to 

^ ' G^n^alogie de^ plus iUustres Maisons de Bretagne,' Du Paz. 
' Bossard ix.^ pp. 5-8. 



GILLES DE RAIS 121 



GENEALOGY OF GILLES DE RAIS. 

IV.— HOUSE OF CRAON. 

RsNAUD I.y Count of Nevers. 
Married Ad^le of France. 

I 

Robert db Nevers, 
Called Lord of Craon. Married Avoise de Sabl^ 

Renaud I., 
Called the Burgundian, Lord of Craon. 

Amaury, or Maurice I. de Craon. 
Married Tiphaine de Champtoc6 and d'Ingrandes. 

HUGUES. 

I 
Maurice II. 

I 

Amaury II. 



Maurice IV. 
Maurice V. 

I 

Maurice VI. 

I 

Amaury III. 
Married Beatrix de Roucy, Lady of La Suxe. 



Pierre de Craon. 

Lord of La Suze> Ingrandes and Champtoc^. 

Married Katherine de Machecoul (Table III.). 



I 

Pierre. 

t 1415- 
No issue. 



I 

Jeanne. 

M. (i) Ingerger d'Amboise IL 

(2) Pierre de Beauvau. 



Jean de Craon. 

Lord of La Suze, etc. 

Married Beatrix de Rochefort, and had 

one daughter, Marie de Craon, wife 

of Guy de Laval de Rais, and moUier of 

GiLLES DE Rais. 



122 BLUEBEARD 

compose, theatrical mysteries and moralities — to say 
nothing of an alleged treatise on the Art of Evoking 
the Devil. Thus, he certainly had many gifts in 
addition to the brilliant courage and the military coup 
dcdl which, at an early age, brought him to the front 
as a captain. One so gifted surely ought to have left 
behind him a name of eminence, instead of one asso- 
ciated with crime and turpitude. Alas ! in our own 
time we have seen the fall of a man of culture and 
high literary talent, who ended ignominiously, from 
lack of moral principles. As for Gilles de Rais, 
there was doubtless great truth in the words which 
he spoke when he stood at the bar of justice : 

* Fathers and mothers, all ye who hear me I 
Keep yourselves, I entreat you, from all lax rearing 
of your children ! For my part, if I have committed 
so many and such great crimes, the reason is that in 
my youth I was always allowed to do as I listed and 
follow the bent of my desires.' 

Those are words for every age, and well may 
they be applied to ours ; for in no period of civili- 
zation can one find such an absence of parental 
control and guidance as is nowadays manifest among 
virtually every class of the community. 

Gilles, unfortunately, lost his father when he was 
only eleven years old ; and his mother soon after- 
wards married Charles d'Estouteville, Lord of 
Villebon, in such wise that her children were re- 
moved from her control. Guy de Rais, prior to his 
death in October, 141 5, had evidently feared for the 
future of his young children, as is evidenced by his 



C m 



• • « 



• • ••# 



GILLES DE RAIS 123 

willy in which he appoints a distant relative, Jean de 
Touraemine, Lord of La Hunaudaye and husband 
of his ' dear cousin de Saffr6/ as ' guardian and 
defender of his sons and heirs, Gilles and Ren6, and 
legitimate administrator of their estates/ In the 
ordinary course of things one might have expected 
that their guardianship would have been entrusted 
to their mother's father, Jean de Craon, but the 
latter was old and prone perhaps to extreme 
indulgence. Thus Abb6 Bossard may be right in 
suggesting that Guy feared the result of confiding 
the boys to their grandfather, and preferred to select 
a younger and stronger-minded guardian. In some 
way or other his plans were frustrated. A few 
months after Guy's death Jean de Tournemine dis- 
appears from the scene — perhaps he died, or was 
unwilling to discharge his office — in any case, 
the boys passed into the care of their maternal 
grandfather. A memorial with respect to Gilles' 
property, drawn up a year or two after his death, 
says : 

'After the demise of the said Messire Guy de 
Rais, father of the said Messire Gilles, this Messire 
Gilles remained a minor, and of tender years {6as 
age\ under the guardianship {baiiy and rule of the 
said Messire Jehan de Craon, his maternal grand- 
father, who was old and ancient, and of exceeding 
great age {sicy^ 

^ • Bail — tutelle^ tuteur/ (Ducange's * Glossaire Fran9ois.') 
' 'M^moire des H^ritiers de Gilles de Rais,' folio 6, recto 
(cited by BossardX Setpasf, footnote, p. 140. 



1 24 BLUEBEARD 

Moreover, every original document, pertaining to 
Gilles' career, in which mention is made of Jean de 
Craon, describes the latter as aged, weak, and 
indulgent. Yet what we know of his public life 
shows him to have been a man of considerable 
acumen, entrusted at times with important political 
duties ; and the truth would seem to be that, on 
finding himself the guardian of two high-spirited 
and perhaps self-willed boys, his destined heirs, he 
proved a doting grandfather, while still remaining a 
man of good counsel and even energy in affairs of 
state, one on whose assistance the Duke of Brittany 
could rely in difficult circumstances. Briefly, he 
must have been one of those men, by no means 
rare, whose private and whose public life are in 
some respects contradictory. 

One of the very first matters to which Jean de 
Craon gave attention, when Gilles and Ren6 de 
Rais became his wards, was the finding of a wife 
for the former. Gilles was a first-rate partly for on 
reaching his majority he would come into possession 
of the great bulk of his father's property, besides 
eventually succeeding to most of Jean de Craon's 
wealth ; for Ren6, being a younger son, was entided 
to comparatively little. It would be very difficult, 
if not impossible, to enumerate all the possessions 
of Gilles at the outset of his career ; but some idea 
of their extent may be gleaned from a few available 
data. For instance there was first the barony of 
Rais itself — the senior barony of Brittany — a great 
stretch of country, bounded on the north by the 



GILLES DE RAIS 125 

Loire, on the west by the Atlantic Ocean ; and ex- 
tending on the east to the farther shore of the Lac 
de Grandlieu, and on the south to the frontier of 
Poitou. The isle of Bouin likewise formed part 
of the territory of Rais. Machecoul, which had 
previously belonged to another house, but was now 
included in the barony, was the principal fortress of 
the region, which also numbered the castellanies of 
L6g6 and St. l^tiehne de Mer-Morte on the south, 
Bourgneuf and Pornic on the western coast, and 
Vue near the Loire, whilst, in the interior, were 
Prin9ay, La B6nate, and Prigny or Prign6. 

The barony had long been r^arded as the key of 
Brittany on its southern side, for Poitou and Brittany 
as semi-independent States had more than once been 
at war together. The soil was very fertile ; the salt 
marshes on the coast yielded considerable revenues ; 
while there was abundant plough-land and forest- 
land on the banks of the Loire and in the direction 
of Poitou and the Vendean Bocage. It is thought 
that the region derived its name from a Gallic city, 
Ratiastum or Ratiatum, the exact site of which has 
not been ascertained. In the Latin of the Middle 
Ages the barony is called Radesia and Radesie, and 
in French Raiz, Rays, Rayx, and Rais. Ahh6 
Bossard, who is here followed, states that Rais was 
the prevailing form in the time of Gilles. It was 
only in 1581, when the barony was raised to the 
rank of a duchy in favour of the Gondi family, with 
which Gilles had no connection whatever, that the 
modern spelling, Retz, was introduced. 



126 BLUEBEARD 

But this great tract of country was not the only 
possession of the fortunate Gilles. From his father 
and his maternal grandfather — we here slightly 
anticipate events — he inherited the lands and lord- 
ships of Fontaine- Milon and Grattecuisse, the lands 
and castles of Blaison, Chemill6, BrioUay, and 
Loroux-Bottereau — all in Anjou ; the lands and 
castles of Champtoc^ and I ngrandes, on the borders 
of Anjou and Brittany ; the lands and lordships of 
Ambrieres, St Aubin-de- Fosse- Lou vain, LaVoulte, 
and S6n6ch6, in Maine ; and of Auzence, Clou^ 
Lignon, La Mauri^re, and Breuil-Magnon, with the 
stronghold of La Motte Achard, in Poitou ; besides 
the castles of Verri^res and Treilli^res in Brittany, 
a house at Angers, and a splendid mansion, the 
* H6tel de La Suze,* at Nantes ; whilst he even 
levied certain tolls on the Loire, and a charge on 
the revenues of the ducal forest of Broceliande. 

Owner of or heir to all those lordships, lands, 
and castles, the youthful Gilles could surely have no 
difficulty in finding a damsel of high degree willing 
to place her hand in his. Jean de Craon looked 
about him, and on January 14, 141 7, when his ward 
was only thirteen, he betrothed him to a Norman 
maiden, Jeanne, daughter of Foulques Peynel, Lord 
of Hambuie and Bricquebec. But no marriage 
ensued, for Jeanne Peynel died. Then Jean de 
Craon again looked around, and this time a splendid 
alliance was arranged. A contract of marriage was 
prepared between Gilles, Baron de Rais, and Beatrix, 
the eldest daughter of Alain IX., Viscount de Rohan 



GILLES DE RAIS 127 

and Count de Porhoet, by his wife Marguerite, 
daughter of Duke Jean IV. of Brittany. It was a 
seemly match. The houses of Rohan and Laval 
were already distantly allied, through the marriage 
of a daughter of the famous Olivier de Clisson and 
Katherine de Laval with Alain VIII. of Rohan. 
Thus the contract was signed at Vannes in the 
presence of the most illustrious members of the 
Breton noblesse on November 28, 14 18. But, before 
there could be any wedding, Beatrix de Rohan, like 
Jeanne Peynel, died. 

Some legendary accounts of Gilles de Rais say 
that his grandfather chose two or three other Jianc^es 
in turn, and that all were thus snatched away. In 
Italy, in such a case, people would have regarded 
both grandfather and grandson as possessed of the 
evil eye. In Brittany and the adjacent province of 
La Vendue, these numerous alleged betrothals, 
always followed by the death of the fiancieSy gave 
rise, in later days, to the tradition that Gilles had 
been married repeatedly, and that all his brides, 
save the last, had mysteriously disappeared. In 
that one legend alone lay the germ of a • Bluebeard ' 
story. But tradition, in all likelihood, exaggerated 
the facts, as it often does. One may admit the 
possibility of Jean de Craon having sought other 
brides for his grandson, between the two girls who 
have been mentioned and the one who ultimately 
became the young man's wife ; but, if so, history 
has not preserved their names. In the interval, 
moreover, Jean de Craon, as will be shown, had 



128 BLUEBEARD 

other and most important cares ; whilst Gilles 
turned to that career of arms in which his grand- 
father Brumor de Laval and his great grand-uncle 
Bertrand du Guesclin had previously achieved 
renown. 

It was not, however, in order to charge the 
English that the youth first learnt to couch his 
lance, though they, at this time (1419), had been 
prosecuting the conquest of France for some years. 
And here, in order that the times in which Gilles 
lived may be understood, it is as well to recall a few 
famous historical events. 

Henry V. of England had landed in Normandy 
for the first time in August, 141 5, Agincourt had 
followed in October of that year ; then the English 
King had returned in 141 7, and by the middle of 
the autumn had subjugated all Lower Normandy. 
France was torn by dissensions ; plunged into 
civil war by the rivalry of Jean-sans-Peur (John 
the Fearless) of Burgundy and Bernard VII. of 
Armagnac, the Constable of Charles VI., that 
sorry King who had lost his reason, largely if not 
entirely in consequence of the frantic debauchery 
which had marked his earlier years, notably at the 
time of a certain progress that he had made through 
the South of France, when he had abandoned him- 
self to excesses which had wrecked his frame and 
impaired his intellect. Isabeau of Bavaria, his 
wife, the memory of whose chaste and virginal 
beauty at the time of her marriage is perpetuated 
by a painting now in the galleries of the Louvre, 



GILLES DE RAIS 129 

had been polluted by her surroundings, and had 
taken to courses similar to those of the King. 
Removed from power by Bernard d'Armagnac, she 
had escaped his control, and entered into an alliance 
with Jean-sans-Peur, although the latter was the 
murderer of her first and most notorious lover, 
Louis d'Orleans, brother of the King, her husband. 
And in May, 1418, the Burgundians had made 
themselves masters of Paris. Bernard VII., dis- 
guised as a beggar, had sought a refuge with some 
poor citizen who had delivered him to his enemies. 
The Armagnacs of the capital had then been 
butchered, and Charles, the Dauphin and heir of 
France, had fled to Bourges (June 21, 14 18) — all 
this occurring while the English were making 
steady progress. 

Jean V., Duke of Brittany — which State had 
remained virtually neutral both in the great inter- 
necine struggle and the war with the English — 
had twice endeavoured to patch up an s^reement 
and alliance between the contending factions of 
France, in order that they might present a united 
front to the invaders ; but his efforts had proved 
fruitless. Thus Henry V. had taken Rouen, and 
made himself master of the whole of Normandy. 
There had been conferences, in which Henry had 
demanded the hand of Katherine, the young and 
handsome daughter of Charles VI. and Isabeau. 
And meanwhile the Dauphin, with Tanguy-Duchitel 
as his Mardchal des guerres^ had carried on a desul- 
tory warfare, occasionally with detachments of the 

9 



I30 BLUEBEARD 

invaders, but chiefly against the partisans of the 
Duke of Burgundy. Further attempts at a recon- 
ciliation between the latter and the heir of France 
had come to nothing. Finally the Duke had been 
murdered at Montereau (September, 14 19), to the 
great profit and advantage of the English King, 
who, by the terms of a treaty between himself, 
Charles VI., and Philip the Good, the new ruler of 
Burgundy, covenanted to avenge the death of John 
the Fearless. It was at this time that the Dauphin 
betook himself to Languedoc in the hope of ensur- 
ing its fidelity to his cause, while civil war suddenly 
broke out in Brittany, as the result of the revival of 
ancient feuds — a revival brought about by the action 
of the Dauphin himself. 

Even as France had been torn asunder by the 
struggle between Burgundy and Armagnac, so 
Brittany, indeed, had long been rent by the con- 
tentions of the houses of Montfort and Penthi^vre. 
Duke Artus II., who died in 1312, had been twice 
married, and the century-old feud had originated in 
the rival pretensions of the children of his two wives. 
There had been wars, attended by various changes 
of fortune, women on both sides embittering and 
prolonging the struggle. At times the Penthi^vre 
branch had seemed to triumph in the person of 
Charles de Blois, the husband of its heiress ; but 
Jean de Montfort, thanks to Chandos, was victorious 
at Auray, and thereby secured recognition as the 
sole sovereign Duke of Brittany. Yet Penthi^vre 
did not entirely disarm ; and when Olivier de Clisson, 



GILLES DE RAIS 131 

Constable of France, who at the outset had been a 
partisan of the house of Montfort, gave his daughter 
Marguerite in marriage to Jean, son of Charles de 
Blois, the feud acquired fresh force. Marguerite 
brought up her four sons in hatred of the Montforts, 
married the eldest, Olivier de Blois, to a daughter of 
Jean-sans-Peur of Burgundy, and was at one moment 
hopeful that the latter would place his son-in-law 
in possession of the Breton throne. In the result 
Jean V. of Brittany — of the Mont fort line — ravaged 
many of the domains of the Penthi^vres (1409), and 
brought English auxiliaries into the duchy to help 
him to maintain his authority, by which means 
Marguerite and her sons were temporarily restrained 
from urging their claims, though their ambition re- 
mained as great as ever. 

It so happened that throughout this long struggle 
the ancestors of Gilles de Rais had supported the 
cause of the Penthi^vres. The Lords of Machecoul 
and Rais, who belonged to South Brittany — and 
those of Laval, who were allied to them by blood — 
had fought, side by side with Charles de Blois, 
Du Guesclin and Clisson, s^ainst the Montforts, who 
had recruited their partisans chiefly in the northern 
and eastern parts of the duchy. But when young 
Gilles stepped upon the scene, in 1420, circum- 
stances had changed, and one finds him, with most 
of the old adherents of the Penthi^vres, ranged on 
the side of Montfort against the heirs of Charles de 
Blois. 

The fact is a treacherous plot had beem devised 

9—2 



132 BLUEBEARD 

against Duke Jean V. by Marguerite de Blois, act- 
ing in conjunction with the Dauphin. The latter, 
as Regent of France, had applied to Duke Jean for 
a military contingent to assist him, less in fighting 
the English than in contending with the Burgun- 
dians ; and the Duke, who had previously striven 
to reconcile the contending factions of France, had 
not complied with the royal demand. The Dauphin 
was anxious to revenge himself, and as he could not 
do so personally by force of arms, he resorted to a 
stratagem. He gave Marguerite de Blois sealed 
letters, recognising as legitimate the claims of her 
house to Brittany, and authorizing Olivier de Blois, 
Count de Penthi^vre, her son, to seize and hold the 
person of Duke Jean, he having shown himself to 
be a rebel and enemy of the kingdom by his refusal 
to succour his liege lord. 

The Duke was trapped. At that time he did not 
suspect the machinations of the Penthi^vres, who 
feigned all friendship and loyalty ; and when Olivier, 
on his mother s behalf, invited him to their castle of 
Champtoceaux on the Loire, near Ancenis, barely 
two days* ride from Nantes, he repaired thither in 
all confidence. The Duke was young (about one- 
and-thirty), with fair hair and attractive features — 
* a right handsome and amorous prince,' says one of 
the old chroniclers ; and Marguerite de Blois, it 
seems, proposed to lure him into captivity by pro- 
mising him the society of some * young, beautiful 
and lively damsels.'^ Indeed, to quote another old 

^ 'Preuves de THistotre de Bretagne,' etc., by Dom Morice, 
ToL i., p. 476. 



GILLES DE RAIS 133 

chronicler, on being asked to repair to Champto- 
ceaux, he was told that he would find there * a 
gracious banquet, and would be served by the most 
comely damsels he could wish for, and would have 
right pleasant pastime ; to which the Duke willingly 
condescended.'^ 

But by an artful stratagem Duke Jean was sepa- 
rated from his escort. On approaching Champ- 
toceaux it was necessary to cross a wooden bridge, 
thrown over a little river, La Divatte. Olivier de 
Blois had caused the planks of this bridge to be 
loosened, and, on reaching it with the Duke, he 
began to jest about its bad condition. As it was 
impossible to ride across, Olivier, Jean V., and the 
latter's younger brother, Richard, with one or two 
servants, dismounted, taking their way on foot over 
the loose planks. Then, before the ducal escort 
could follow, some of Olivier's men, still jesting, 
flung the boards into the water. Thus the Duke 
could not retreat, nor could his guards join him. 
And now, instead of 'young, beautiful, and lively 
damsels ' and ' right pleasant pastime,' Jean V. found 
himself confronted by Olivier's brother Charles, with 
forty horsemen, who carried him to a dungeon, and 
provided him with coarse fare in lieu of ' a gracious 
banquet.' 

Had he thought more of his devoted wife arid 
less of the belles damoyselleSy he might have escaped 
this unpleasant adventure ; but it would be difficult 



1 ( 



Les Grandes Cronicques,' etc, by Alain Bouchard. 



134 BLUEBEARD 

to name any prince of that age who really had any 
inclination to conjugal fidelity. 

Brittany, however, rose at the news of its Duke's 
imprisonment, and on February 23. 1420, we find 
Gilles de Rais, with his grandfather, Jean de Craon, 
attending the States - General of the duchy and 
swearing on the cross to employ their bodies and 
their estates, and to g^ve their whole hearts and 
even the last drop of their blood to effect the 
deliverance of their prince. Duke Jean's wife, 
Jeanne of France, sister of the Dauphin, appeared 
before the States in tears, with her two young 
children beside her, and spoke to the Breton nobles, 
even as, some centuries later, Maria Theresa spoke 
to the magnates of Hungary. And the Breton 
nobles acclaimed her, vowed to die for her, and 
promised her every assistance. The young Lord 
of Rais arose, and offered money and men ; Alain 
de Rohan was appointed Lieutenant-General ; and it 
was settled that an Embassy should proceed to 
England to beg the release of the Duke's brother, 
the gallant young Artus de Richemont, who had 
been a prisoner there since Agincourt, in order that 
Brittany might have the advantage of his services 
in this hour of trial. The Duchess Jeanne wrote 
personally to Henry V., entreating him at least to 
lend her Artus for a time, if he would not release 
him altogether. 

But the Penthi^vres, full of hope, and relying on 
the promises of the Dauphin, who was now in 
Languedoc, invaded and ravaged the barony of Rais 



GILLES DE RAIS 135 

and the possessions of Jean de Craon, south oi the 
Loire, whilst carrying the unhappy Duke of Brittany 
and his brother from castle to castle in Anjou, 
Poitou, and even Saintonge. Duke Jean showed 
no great courage, it is said, but he had reason to 
fear the worst from his captors, in whom was per- 
sonified the hatred of a hundred years. And thus 
it is not surprising that he should have offered to 
consent to anything provided that his life were 
spared. Further, that in return for salvation on 
earth, he should have vowed to make the most costly 
presents to famous shrines, to give his weight in 
gold to the church of the Carmelites at Nantes, and 
his weight in silver to St. Yves of Tr6guier, and 
even to go on pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre, 
was, after all, but natural in that age, when super- 
stition was still so prevalent. More practical, per- 
haps, was his promise (of the piecrust variety) that 
he would never more ask his subjects for subsidies 
if they would only deliver him. They certainly 
made all efforts to do so, and if the Penthievres 
carried the Duke — tied to a horse and half starving 
— from castle to castle, night being the time selected 
for these journeys, it was in order to deceive and 
elude his partisans. 

A force of 50,000 Bretons, it is asserted, had 
responded to the call of Alain de Rohan. Among 
the leading contributors to that host was young 
Gilles de Rais, who marched at the head of his own 
levies and his grandfather s vassals. The strength 
of the force equipped at his expense, the splendour 



136 BLUEBEARD 

of his armour and equipage, the gallantry displayed 
by this boy in his sixteenth year, attracted universal 
attention. Flatterers already flocked around him 
and fanned his ambition and vanity. 

While the barony of Rais was being ravaged, 
and Gilles' castle of La Motte-Achard in Poitou 
fell into the hands of the enemy, the latter's strong- 
holds of Lamballe and Guingamp were besieged. 
Both ultimately surrendered, and then La Roche- 
Derrien, Jugon, Ch&teaulin, and Broon in like 
manner opened their gates. Finally the partisans 
of Jean V. directed all their efforts against Champ- 
toceaux, to which fortress Marguerite de Clisson 
had at last retired with her family and the captive 
Duke. She ended by capitulating and surrendering 
her prisoner, though some accounts say that she 
only did so by the advice of the Dauphin, who had. 
thrown her over. At all events, on July 5, 1420, 
her son Jean, Sire de TAigle, came forth from 
Champtoceaux in all humility, and handed the Duke 
of Brittany over to his subjects. Marguerite and 
her forces, to whom the honours of war had been 
accorded, were suffered to depart ; and Duke Jean V., 
having issued orders that the fortress should be 
razed to the ground, made a triumphal entry into 
Nantes. In the rejoicings which ensued there was 
no more conspicuous personage than the youthful 
Gilles de Rais, all splendour and prodigality. 

Various confiscated lands were assigned, by way 
of recompense, to him and Jean de Craon, the Duke 
declaring that he knew not how-to requite their 



GILLES DE RAIS 137 

services ;^ and in some respects the proffered 
rewards were excessive, for the Breton Parliament, 
while acknowledging the good and loyal conduct of 
Rais and La Suze (as Jean de Craon was called), 
remonstrated, and, eventually, annual charges on 
various revenues were granted in lieu of territory — 
of which, assuredly, both Gilles and his grandfather 
already had quite enough. 

In that same hour of victory a wife was found for 
the young Sire de Rais. On the limits of Poitou 
and Brittany, near the boundaries of his own fiefs, 
were several large and rich domains destined to pass 
into the possession of a girl of high lineage, an only 
child, who was of much the same age as Gilles. This 
girl was Katherine de Thouars, daughter of Miles 
de Thouars and Beatrix de Montjean. And her 
inheritance comprised the important and wealthy 
barony of Tiffauges, and the lordship and castle of 
Pouzauges, both in La Vendue ; with Savenay in 
Brittany, near the Loire, between Nantes and St. 
Nazaire ; Grez-sur-Maine ; and Confolens, Chaba- 
nais, Chiteaumorant, Lombert, and other lordships 
in Poitou. Young Gilles, on his side a high-born 
and wealthy noble, who, however few his years, had 
already borne himself gallantly in the wars, and had 
been complimented and rewarded by the Duke of 
Brittany, was regarded as a very fit suitor for 
Katherine's hand. He was promptly accepted, and 
the marriage was celebrated on the last day of 

^ ' Cartulaire des Sires de Rais,' Nos. 16 and 249. See note, 
p. 140. 



138 BLUEBEARD 

November, 1420, Gilles then being rather more 
than sixteen years of age — not fourteen, afi Vallet 
de Viriville surmised.^ 

But the Penthifevres, though sorely worsted, were 
not yet absolutely crushed. On being summoned 
to appear and answer for their conduct before the 
States of Brittany, which again assembled at Vannes 
about the end of 1420 — both Gilles and his g^rand- 
father attending as councillors of the duchy*-they 
entered no appearance. Jean V., indulgendy enough, 
prorogued the States twice in order that the leaders 
of the vanquished faction might attend ; but they 
either disdained or feared to do so. Thereupon, 
at the last meeting of the States, February 25, 142 1, 
all their property in Brittany was confiscated, to be 
divided by the Duke among his relations and friends. 
To carry the decree into full effect, it was once more 
necessary to appeal to arms. Gilles de Rais there- 
fore quitted his bride to attach himself, with the 
Lords of Rohan, Rieux, and Laval, to the person of 
Artus de Richemont, whom Henry V. of England^ 
had released on parole. However, Clisson and Les 
Essarts, the two strongholds remaining to the 
Perithi^vres, were very speedily reduced, and the 

1 « Histoire de Charles VII.,' etc., by Vallet de ViriviUe. Paris, 
1863, vol. ii., p. 412. 

^ They were almost related, for Artus de Richemont, like Dake 
Jean V., was the son of Jeanne de Navarre by her first husband, 
the Duke of Brittany, after whose death she became the second wife 
of our Henry IV. By her influence with her stepson (Henry V.) 
the captivity of her son, Artus de Richemont, in England was 
made supportable. 



GILLES DE RAIS 139 

duchy of Brittany was then for ever lost to that 
tenaciously ambitious house. On February 16, 1422, 
the Breton Parliament^ declared the Penthifevres to 
be gfuilty of felony, treason, and Use-majesU : con- 
demned them to decapitation, and ordered that their 
heads should be set in turn upon the gates of Nantes, 
Rennes, and Vannes ; excluded them and their de- 
scendants in perpetuity from all honours in the 
duchy ; prohibited them from bearing the name and 
arms of Brittany, and once again pronounced the 
confiscation of all their belongings. They escaped 
death by avoiding Breton territory, to which — as a 
price was set upon their heads — they never returned. 
But if war was in this wise brought to an end 
in Brittany, it still raged in France, where the 
Dauphin, with little apparent hope of success, was 
struggling s^ainst the victorious English. In that 
struggle Gilles de Rais was to take part after the 
lapse of a few more years, which he doubtless spent 
in Brittany, Anjou, and Poitou, leading for the most 
part a life of pleasure, and contracting habits of 
prodigality. At least this is the only inference to 
be drawn from certain passs^es in a document which 
has been previously cited — the 'M^moire' of his 
heirs after his death. In one part of it we read : 
'The said Messire Gilles ... by the inducement 
and counsel of certain of his servants and others, 
who desired to enrich themselves with his wealth, 

^ Not a legislature but a court of justice, which (as shown on 
p. 137) had the right of remonstrating when the ducal edicts were 
against the common weal. 



I40 BLUEBEARD 

did take unto himself the government of all his 
lands.' Further on, this statement is repeated and 
emphasised. We are told that Gilles was ' so 
swayed by the falsity, craft, and malice of his ser- 
vants that he took in hand the rule and management 
of his lands and lordships ; and from that moment 
did with them as he pleased, without seeking the 
advice of his grandfather, or listening to him further 
in any respect' He is said to have been twenty, 
or thereabouts, at this time, but it is virtually cer- 
tain that he was a year or two youngen As a noble 
he would probably have attained his majority on 
reaching his eighteenth birthday. That he found 
himself in very bad hands is repeatedly evidenced 
by the * M^moire.* For instance, nothing could be 
more significant than these words : * He was ever 
pressed by the counsel and the exhortations of those 
who were around him, and who wished to enrich 
themselves at his cost* And again : * He was 
seduced by the false craft and damnable covetous- 
ness of his servants.'^ 

Unfortunately, we have no precise information 
respecting his doings at this period, which must 
have strongly influenced his subsequent life. Sur- 
rounded by parasites and flatterers, he disappears 
from view, and only comes into prominence again 
when he has nearly completed his twenty-first year. 

^ ' M^moire des H^ritiers/ etc., and Letters Patent of 
Charles VII. under date January 13, 1446, in the ' Cartulaire des 
Sires de Rais ' (now at Serrant), published by M. Paul March^;ay 
in the 'Revue des Proirinces de POuest,' Nantes, 1853-6. 



II 

1425— 1434-5- 

THE PATH OF GLORY — GILLES AND JOAN OF ARC — 
THE CLOSE OF GILLES' MILITARY CAREER 

The Anglo-French War — Cravant and Verneuil — Gilles at St 
James-de-Beuvron — Malestroit, Chancellor of Brittany — Gilles 
at Rainefort, Malicome and Le Lude — The French chased by 
Talbot— The Crisis of Charles VIL's Fortunes— The Royal 
Favourite, La Tr^mouille — The Maid of Orleans — Joan and 
Gilles — A Curious Compact — The Relief of Orleans — The 
Fight at Patay — The Coronation at Rheims — Gilles created 
Marshal of France — He escorts the Holy Oil — Charles VII. 
and Joan of Arc — ^The March on Paris — Gilles and the Maid 
at the Attack on the St. Honor^ Gate— The Withdrawal to the 
Loire — ^The Arms of France granted to Gilles — His Associa- 
tion with the Maid — His Expedition to Louviers — His Presence 
at Beauvais and Lagny — He fights at Sill6 and Conlie — His 
Withdrawal from Active Command — His Military Services and 
the Historians. 

The years during which one loses sight of Gilles de 
Rais were gloomy ones for France and the French 
monarchy. The death of Henry V. of England on 
August 31, 1422, and that of the wretched Charles VI. 
towards the end of the following month of October, 
in no wise tended to improve the circumstances 
of the unlucky King of Bourge^, as the Dauphin- 



142 BLUEBEARD 

regent was derisively called. John of Lancaster, 
Duke of Bedford, governed the northern provinces 
of France on behalf of the infant Henry VL; and 
the English work of conquest proceeded steadily, 
helped by the alliance with Burgundy, into which 
unholy compact Brittany seemed likely to enter; 
for Duke Jean V. was sorely embittered against the 
Dauphin, who, contrary to repeated promises, had 
failed to dismiss from his council and court the 
various personages compromised in the enterprise 
of the Penthievres. 

Thus, at the moment when Henry V. was near 
his death, Breton ambassadors arrived in Paris, and 
a little later arrangements were made with Bedford, 
by which Brittany engaged to help the English to 
secure possession of La Rochelle. The Dauphin, 
however, heard of what was brewing, and, in his 
anxiety — for La Rochelle was the only port by 
which he could communicate with his allies of Scot- 
land and Castille — he hurried to that city, and placed 
it in a state of defence. The Anglo- Breton designs 
were frustrated ; and when the royal levies of Sain- 
tonge found that a Breton force had crossed the 
frontier, they attacked and defeated it at Montaigu 
(October, 1422), driving it back into the neighbour- 
ing barony of Rais. It is not known whether Gilles 
was present on that occasion, but the geographical 
position of his territory points to the conclusion that 
the measures against La Rochelle were concerted 

there. ^ 

^ Massiou's ' Histoire de Saintonge,' vol iL, part 2, p. a6i ; 
Thibaudeau's ' Histoire de Poitou,' vol. ii., p. 4. 



GILLES DE RAIS 143 

In spite of the failure of that enterprise, Brittany 
and England remained on good terms, and it seemed 
more probable than ever that the former would give 
the latter active support, especially as about Easter, 
1423, Artus de Richemont, brother of the Breton 
Duke, wedded one of the two daughters of the Duke 
of Burgundy, her sister at the same time being 
espoused by Bedford. Thus the position of the 
Dauphin-regent, or Charles VII., as he may hence- 
forth be called, appeared more and more desperate. 
Before long, moreover, his forces sustained two 
memorable defeats. The first was at Cravant, on 
July 31, 1423, when the Franco-Scottish army, led 
by the Marshal de S6v6rac and James Stuart, Lord 
Damley, was totally defeated by the Anglo- Bur- 
gundians under Salisbury, Suffolk, and Jean de 
Toulongeon. Yet more disastrous for the French 
arms was the Battle of Verneuil, on August 17, 
1424 — a battle less familiar to Englishmen than 
Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt, but as well worthy 
of remembrance as any of those famous fights. 
Bedford led the Anglo-Normans, some 14,000 
strong, and did powerful execution in the fray. 
The French King's army of 20,000 men — chiefly 
Scots, Lombards, and Spaniards — was decimated by 
the English archers. Most of its leaders fell, and 
with them 9,000 of their men, Bedford's losses being 
estimated at about one-third of that number.^ 

After that * bloody daye of old Vernoyle ' the 
cause of Charles VII. seemed almost hopeless. He 
^ Vallet de Viriville^ /.r., vol iL, pp. 412-418. 



144 BLUEBEARD 

had as yet shown none of the high qualities which 
marked the latter part of his reign. Supine and 
indolent, he left everything to favourites, and had 
it not been for the intervention of three women, 
Yolande d'Aragon, Joan of Arc, and Agnes Sorel, 
who between them ended by making almost a great 
ruler of him — so true it is that certain men are 
entirely the work of women — he would^ perhaps, 
now figure in history as one of the very weakest 
princes that ever reigned. 

In the crisis of his fortunes it was Yolande 
d'Aragon, his mother-in-law, who came forward 
with good advice. Artus de Richemont, scurvily 
treated by the Duke of Bedford, had retired, in 
high dudgeon, into Brittany ; and Yolande pre- 
vailed on Charles to send for him and create 
him Constable of France. This — in spite of the 
opposition of the favourites and other obstacles — 
was effected in March, 1425, and it has been sur- 
mised by some writers that Gilles de Rais then 
accompanied Richemont to the French court There 
is no proof of it, however ; indeed, Gilles* adhesion 
to the French cause appears to date from Sep- 
tember 8, 1425, when, in the company of his grand- 
father, Jean de Craon, he was present at an inter- 
view between Charles VII. and Duke Jean V. at 
Saumur. After the appointment of Richemont and 
the negotiation of a truce with Burgundy, Yolande 
d'Aragon had employed Jean de Craon in the 
delicate task of drawing France and Brittany 
together, and the Saumur interview was the result 



GILLES DE RAIS 145 

of Craon's diplomacy,^ Chiarles VII, having solemnly 
undertaken, once again, to remove from his court 
the favourites and other personages inimical to the 
Dukes of Brittany and Burgundy, besides formally 
disavowing all connection with the sequestration of 
Duke Jean V. by the Penthifevres. 

It is n(OW, then, that we find Gilles de Rais con- 
sorting with the French court Handsome, clever, 
possessed of a ready wit, and — what was of far more 
importance in those days — a very large fortune, it is 
certain that he was well received by the nobles who 
surrounded Charles VII. But he did not linger 
among the pleasures of Saumur or Chinon. Ever 
since the earlier part of 1425, Richemont had been 
endeavouring to raise men in Brittany — a task 
attended by considerable difficulties until the recon- 
ciliation of Saumur. Now, however (February, 
1426), Jean V. himself desired active hostilities 
against the English, particularly as they had seized 
Le Mans, the appanage of his ward and son-in*law, 
Louis III. of Sicily, Duke of Anjou and Count of 
Maine. Thus the young Baron of Rais was able to 
come forward, raise seven companies of men at his 
own expense, and join the banner of Richemont. 

He fought for the French cause for the first time 
at the attack on St James-de-Beuvron, a little town 
on the Norman frontier (between Avranches and 
Foug^res), which, with its castle built by William 
the Conqueror, was held by three English captains — 

^ Chartier's 'Troubles sous Charles VII.* Nevers, 1553, p. 53 
(cited by Bossard). 

10 



146 BLUEBEARD 

Ramston, Branch, and Burdett, who commanded 
some 700 men. Richemont had perhaps 16,000 
followers; but they were raw Breton levies, and 
when some of the English soldiery stole out of 
the stronghold and appeared on one of their flanks 
with shouts of 'Salisbury and St George!* the 
Bretons, imagining that a large English relieving 
force was at hand, were seized with panic, and fled, 
despite the efforts of Richemont and his captains. 
Many were drowned in their flight, others were put 
to the sword, and the English took possession of 
eighteen banners and immense booty. 

Jean de Malestroit, Chancellor of Brittany and 
Bishop of Nantes, said to be an accomplice of the 
English, with whom, it appear, he had often n^o- 
tiated on behalf of the duchy, and from whom he 
had received a pension and lands in Normandy, 
was openly accused of having planned or helped on 
this disgraceful rout ; and when Richemont, who 
with a few captains remained on the lost field till 
midnight, returned to Rennes, he caused Malestroit 
to be arrested. The Chancellor, however, escaped 
punishment by dint of excuses, protests, and 
promises.^ The incident has been mentioned here 
because this same Jean de Malestroit in after-years 
sat in judgment on Gilles de Rais. He will appear 
more than once in this narrative, for if it is im- 
portant that the reader should be made acquainted 

1 Guillaume Gruel's * M^oires de Richemont,* p. 364^. V. de 
Viriville, /.r., voL ii., p. 15. < Le Conn^table de Richemont/ by 
£. Cosneau, Paris, 1886, 8vo., p. 121. 



GILLES DE RAIS i47 

with the character of Gilles, the culprit, it is also 
essential that something should be said of the 
character of his judge. 

After the disaster of St James, the Duke of 
Brittany sued the Earl of Suffolk, then the English 
Lieutenant in Lower Normandy, for a three months' 
truce, which was granted on onerous conditions, and 
not renewed. Moreover, if the English for a time 
refrained from invading Brittany, they carried war 
yet farther into Maine, where they seized several 
castles, including La Suze, then belonging to Jean de 
Craon, and afterwards to Gilles* brother Ren6. 
About the end of 1426 various French forces were 
disposed in this region in order to resist the English 
advance. There was one body of men under 
Ambroise de Lor6, a second under the Sire de 
Beaumanoir, and a third under Gilles de Rais,^ who 
acted on some occasions independently, and at times 
in conjunction with the others. The chief duty of 
these captains appears to have been the defence of 
the country around La F16che, but they also made 
frequent efforts to retake the various neighbouring 
fortresses which the English had occupied. 

Richemont repaired to the region after the relief 
of Montargis, at which the English were badly 
beaten by that energetic rascal La Hire and the 
young Bastard of Orleans. The Constable drove 
the enemy out of Galerande,^ while Ambroise de 

* Jean Chartier's * Chronique de Charles VII.,' etc., Elzevir 
edition, Paris, 1858, 8vo., vol. i., p. 51 et seq, 

* Near Chateaugontier (Mayenne). 



148 BLUEBEARD 

Lor6, directing his efforts on Rainefort,^ assaulted 
that castle with such good effect that he had already 
carried a part of the boulevard or rampart when night 
set in. At ten on the following morning the English 
garrison agreed to surrender on the morrow if no 
succour should then have reached it; but a few 
hours later Gilles de Rais and Beaumanoir arrived 
to reinforce De Lor6» and capitulation was then no 
longer delayed. The English were spared, but some 
French renegades among them were hanged by the 
orders of Gilles, in spite of De Lor6*s remonstrances. 

In this connection it may be mentioned that both 
Henry V. and the Duke of Bedford had more than 
once made examples of those who, after swearing 
allegiance to England, had* passed over to the other 
side. Indeed, all such renegades are, by the uss^^es 
of war, liable to the death penalty. 

Rainefort having been reoccupied, Gilles and 
Beaumanoir marched on Malicorne, near La Fl^che ; 
but this fortress resisted stubbornly until first De 
Lor6, and then the Sire de Chartres, arrived upon 
the scene with powerful artillery. Malicorne was 
cannonaded and assaulted, but only at the last 
extremity did the English captain capitulate. He 
and his compatriots were held to ransom ; ' but those 
of the language of France who had surrendered to 
the said Lords of Rais and Beaumanoir were all 
hanged.'^ 

^ ' M6moires concemant la Pucelle' (Petitot), vol. viii., p. 129. 

' Bourdign^'s ' Chroniques d'Anjou et de Maine,' 1529 (Quatre- 
barbes' and Faultrier's reprint). Angers, 1842, voL ii., p. 155. 
J. Chartier, /.r., vol i., p. 53. 



GILLES DE RAIS 149 

From this time Gilles and Beaumanoir are con- 
stantly found together. It would seem that they 
were not only of much the same age and disposi- 
tion, but that some ties of relationship existed 
between them. They are found joining De Lori 
at Ambriferes, where they again defeat a small Eng- 
lish force ; and soon afterwards they appear under 
the walls of Le Lude, one of the region's strongest 
castles, situated on the left bank of the Loire. Here 
the English captain, Blackburne by name, had re- 
solved to fight to the last extremity, and in order to 
reduce Le Lude artillery again had to be employed. 
At last the assault was given, led by Gilles de Rais 
in person. He was the first to reach the summit 
of the rampart, where, encountering Blackburne, he 
fought and slew him. The English, seeing their 
captain fall, speedily surrendered.^ 

The capture of Le Lude opened the road to Le 
Mans, whose inhabitants were eager to throw off 
the foreign rule; but an enterprise on that city 
could only prove successful if it were undertaken 
by a large force. This was brought together by 
Guillaume d'Albret and La Hire, joined by Beau- 
manoir, Rais, and others. Talbot, who commanded 
at Le Mans, was momentarily absent at Alen9on, 
and, with the connivance of the inhabitants, the 
French, towards the end of May, 1428, made them- 
selves masters of the town after very little resist- 
ance. But the English garrison, which withdrew 

* Bourdign^, /.r., vol. ii., p. 156. 'Chronique de la Pucelle* 
(Biblioth^ue Gauloise), p. 250. J. Chartier, /.r., vol. i., p. 57. 



150 BLUEBEARD 



»,: 



into a part of the fortifications, sent messages to 
Talbot, who at once set out with all his forces. His 
advance guard, under Matthew Gough, arrived at 
Le Mans before dawn, thus surprising the French, 
who had spent the previous day drinking heavily, 
and were in no fit condition to fight They fled, 
chased to Le Lude by Talbot, who afterwards put 
to death those inhabitants of Le Mans by whom 
they had been admitted to the city.^ 

With this discomfiture, the share of Gilles de Rais 
in the campaign seems to have ended. He was now 
altogether in the French service, for the Duke of 
Brittany had long previously ceased to support the 
cause of Charles VH. Bedford, enraged by the 
Breton attempt on St, James-de-Beuvron, had sent 
Warwick and Talbot against Brittany early in 1427, 
and Jean de Malestroit, the Bishop-Chancellor, *a 
traitor sold to the English, '^ had speedily come to 
terms with them. Finally, in January, 1428, Jean V. 
had acknowledged Henry VL as his only li^e lord, 
and disowned all alliance with France ; Scales and 
Talbot repairing on this occasion to Nantes, where 
the Duke — a puppet in the hands of the wily 
Malestroit — loaded them with gifts by way of pur- 
chasing their forbearance.^ 

Thus Charles VII. was again reduced to his own 

* V. de Viriville, /.r., vol. ii., p. 27. 

* /did., vol L, p. 480. Cosneau, /.r., p. 121. 

^ The Lavals, the Lord of Rais, the Viscount of Rohan and 
the Bishop of St. Malo refused the oath to the English. (Letters 
patent of Charles VIL, Loches, June 28, 1428.) Cosneau, /^^ 
p. 531. 



GILLES DE RAIS 151 

resources, and never had his position been more 
critical. The Duke of Bedford having decided to 
carry the war beyond the Loire, the Earl of Salis- 
bury marched triumphantly on Orleans, reducing, as 
he proudly wrote to the City of London, forty towns, 
castles, or fortresses on his line of march. At last, 
on October 12, 1428, the memorable siege of Orleans 
began. Who was to save France ? Richemont, 
the Constable, a brave captain, whom fortune had 
deserted at St James-de-Beuvron, was no longer 
beside Charles VII.; for he had not only acquired 
the surname of the Justiciar, but had also incurred 
the royal distrust by his summary treatment of the 
favourites, some of whom he had driven away, 
whilst others — the infamous Pierre de Giac and the 
aspiring Le Camus de Beaulieu — had been put to 
death by his commands. In the result, a third 
favourite, George de La Tr^mouille, fearing that 
his own influence might have a similar ending, had 
induced Charles VII. to exile Richemont from the 
court, and deprive him of active command. 

In the Constable's absence, however. La Tr^- 
mouille was not the man to take his place. He, the 
favourite, was no captain. In that age, which, 
whilst warlike and bloodthirsty, was also full of 
intrigue, venality, and grasping egotism. La Tr^- 
mouille, like Philip of Burgundy, represented the 
latter characteristics. Yet Vallet de Viriville has 
assuredly painted him blacker than he really was. 
It is exaggeration to r^ard him as a Burgundian 
henchman, treacherously installed by the side of the 



152 BLUEBEARD 

French King. He played his own game, not that 
of Duke Philip. Possessed of a natural talent for 
intrigue and diplomacy, he was essentially an egotist, 
a jouisseur^ fond of pleasure and particularly of 
money. That he w^s venal is certain — he is known 
to have practised usury, to have built himself a large 
fortune on the ruins of his country ; but, whatever 
may have been his jealousy of others, his enemies 
have assuredly gone too far in basing on three or 
four coincidences a theory that he planned the ruin 
and downfall of Joan of Arc from the very hour of 
her advent. His disastrous management of public 
affairs is amply explained by the fact that he was 
a diplomatist, not a soldier. And what France 
needed in that terrible crisis was a captain of genius. 
No diplomacy could cope with the wily arts of 
Philip of Burgundy, or prevent the progress of the 
English, whose banners, now planted about the 
Loire, might soon advance into Southern France. 

But already at that hour the saviour of the 
country had arisen. In a little village by the 
Meuse, in the remote province of Lorraine, there 
was a maid in her seventeenth year, a tall, comely, 
thoroughly healthy, strong and active girl, one with 
a winning, kindly heart, one who was never idle, 
who helped her mother in her housework, and spent 
long hours sewing and spinning beside her, one, too, 
who went into the fields and put her hand to plough 
and harrow whenever occasion required, and who at 
other times led the sheep of the villagers to pasture. 
She was no sickly weakling like Bemadette of 



.* 



GILLES DE RAIS 153 

■w. 

Lourdes, she was no mystic even in the sense in 
which that word is often taken ; yet visions had 
come to her, and she had heard commands. The 
voice that spake to her was the voice of a sensitive 
conscience and of untutored genius — natural genius, 
dawning triumphantly in a pure and pious mind. 
The visions she beheld were in like way the splendid 
visions of genius, blended with the most trustful, the 
most fervent religious faith. And the genius arising 
in that young maid was that of the most ardent and 
courageous patriotism. For long years, amidst the 
rivalries and jealousies, the eager and conflicting 
passions of princes and nobles, the real question at 
issue in those dolorous and bloody days had been 
lost sight of, simple though it was. And she came 
forward to bring it back to recollection. Was 
France to belong to its own children, or was it to 
pass for ever under the sway of the Anglo-Saxons ? 
* France for the French ' — ^such, virtually, was the 
answer of Joan of Arc. And, though the end came 
long after her cruel martyrdom, she it was who saved 
France, who saved her race. In her, indeed, glowed 
the flame which, in another supreme moment of 
French history, shone in Danton. Long before his 
time she was the apostle of audacity. * De I'audace, 
encore de I'audace, toujours de Taudace ' — and, not 
miracles, but marvels would follow ! 

* Brief, brave, and glorious was her young career ;' 
and she is still so near to us that when we think of 
what she did and what she suffered, epopceia ceases 
to be fantasy and becomes reality. Joan, all uncon- 



154 BLUEBEARD 

scious of it, was a poet in action. Her few years 
formed a splendid pathetic living epic, soaring to the 
very acme of earthly glory, ending in the most dire of 
human sufferings. As for the men who sent her to 
her death, they were less to blame than was the 
cruel, revengeful, and superstitious age in which 
they lived. When one remembers how low Chris- 
tianity was allowed to sink by those who had taken 
on themselves to diffuse and guide it, one marvels 
that it should ever have revived, ever have attained 
again even to semi-purity. 

Fascinating, however, as is the story of the Maid 
of Orleans, this is not the place to tell it in detail. 
Nor would it be necessary to recapitulate its chief 
features — which are almost as well known to English 
as to French children^ — if it were not for the fact 
that throughout a considerable period Gilles de Rais 
figured prominently by the side of Joan, in such wise 
that one is forced to tread well-worn ground in order 
to make the narrative of his career intelligible. It 
was early in March, 1429, when Joan reached 
Chinon, saw Charles VII., and told him of her 

^ Should this book fall by chance into the hands of any French 
readers, it is as well perhaps that they should know that the story 
of Joan of Arc, in its broad lines, is taught in English Board and 
National Schools, and is thus as familiar to the young of this 
country as is the story of King Alfred and the cakes. The writer 
has questioned several children on the subject, and has been both 
surprised and pleased by the knowledge and sympathy displayed 
by them. This ought to show French Anglophobists in some 
measure how absurd it is on their part to cast Joan, her exploits, 
and her death, as a menace and a reproach at the English of the 
twentieth century. 



GILLES DE RAIS 155 

mission. After being taken to Poitiers and interro- 
gated there, she returned to Chinon with the King 
about the end of the month. The expedition for 
the relief of Orleans had now been decided on, and 
an establishment and a command were assigned to 
Joan. At this moment, according to some accounts, 
the duty of watching over her and protecting her — 
apart, of course, from the immediate services of her 
squire and other personal attendants — was assigned 
to the young Baron of Rais, who was also to com- 
mand a part of the relieving forces. Abb6 Bossard 
insists even that, as Gilles discharged the afore- 
mentioned duty, he must have been selected for it 
by Joan herself, and in support of that contention 
the Abb6 quotes the * Geste des Nobles,' which 
shows the Maid asking ' that, to serve as her escort, 
it might please the King to grant her such men, 
and in such number, as she might request* The 
* Chronique de la Pucelle '^ adds : ' Then the King 
ordered that whatever she might ask should be 
given unto her ; and afterwards the Maid took leave 
of the King to go to the city of Orleans.' 

It is said, however, that Joan repaired to St. 
Florent and Tours whilst the military preparations 
were being made at Blois, and one must therefore 
assume (if the story be true) that Gilles only entered 
on protective duties — such as were subsequently 

^ V. de Viriville's edition, p. 280. Bossard also cites ' Proems 
de Jeanne d'Arc,' J. Chartier, voL iv., pp. 41-53; Monstrelet, 
voL iv., p. 363; Jean de Wavrin, p. 407; 'Chronique de la 
Pucelle' (Biblioth^ue Gauloise), p. 278. 



156 BLUEBEARD 

assigned to Alen^on — ^when the Maid arrived there 
on April 25, with Regnault de Chartres (Chancellor 
of France) and the Sire de Gaucourt. 

On the 8th day of that month, before leaving 
Chinon for Blois, Rais entered into a curious engage- 
ment with the royal favourite La Trimouille, an 
engagement which has been the subject of con- 
siderable speculation. 'Gilles, Lord of Rais and 
Pouzauges,' says the deed,^ ' engages on his honour 
to observe inviolable fidelity towards George, Lord 
of La Tr^mouille, Sully and Craon,^ for the King's 
service.' In recognition of the 'great rewards, 
honours, and acts of courtesy ' for which he has to 
thank the favourite, he swears ' to serve him until 
death against all lords and others of whatever estate 
they be, always with regard to the good grace and 
love of the King.* 

Some writers have thought that this deed was 
connected with a plot — even at that early stage 
— against Joan of Arc, who undoubtedly was not 
regarded with favour by certain prominent person- 
ages. But, leaving the Maid altogether on one side, 
the document is amply accounted for by the dis- 
trustful and jealous disposition of La Trdmouille. It 
was in all likelihood a precaution taken by him to deter 
the young and flighty Gilles — at a moment when with 
the favourite's sanction, and probably by his help, he 

^ Cited by Bossard. There is a copy among Dom Fonteneau's 
MSS. at Poitiers (Redet's Catalogue, No. 329), which copy is said 
to be from the original at Thouars. 

^ La Tr^mouille was a distant kinsman of Jean de Craon and of 

Gilles. 



GILLES DE RAIS 157 

was being entrusted with an important command — 
from entering into any conspiracies with other nobles. 
There is nothing to show that La Tr^mouille then 
hated the Maid, though, like many others, he 
probably doubted her assertions, for she had not 
yet won her spurs. But, on the other hand, he, 
the favourite, was unpopular among many who ap- 
proached Charles VI I. And, again, the deed may 
have been directed more particularly against Riche- 
mont, the Constable, who was very desirous of 
quitting his retirement and exercising a command 
now that active warfare was imminent Richemont 
and Rais had been on friendly terms, and La Tr6- 
mouille may have wished to prevent the latter from 
using his new rank, as one of the chief captains of 
the French forces, in the dreaded Constable's interest 
In that respect, however, Rais remained indepen* 
dent ; at a later stage he even helped Richemont to 
return for a brief period to the royal service. Thus if 
— ^in order to secure command — he did covenant to act 
as La Tr^mouille's ' man and spy ' on the expedition 
to Orleans, it is certain that he afterwards attached 
very little importance to his undertaking. Princes 
and nobles, it may be added, were constantly enter- 
ing into solemn covenants and breaking them in 
those suspicious and changing times. 

Orleans was reached safely, and Joan entered the 
city ; Rais apparently being among those who 
returned to Blois for fresh supplies, artillery and 
ammunition. But he participated in the desperate 
fighting, and was certainly with the Maid during the 



158 BLUEBEARD 

various attacks on the fortresses held by the English 
around Orleans.^ Some chroniclers say he hurried 
to her side to succour her when she was wounded 
in the breast by an arrow at the memorable assault 
of Les Tourelles. Again, when the si^e was raised, 
Gilles was one of those who strongly advised that 
the Loire region should be purged of the English 
before any attempt were made to carry the King to 
Reims for his coronation. This is shown by the 
* Mystery of the Siege of Orleans,' which by reason 
of Gilles's share in its production — of which further 
mention will be made hereafter — may be regarded 
in some respects as a historical document 

It is also beyond question that the young captain 
rendered important services in the reduction of the 
town of Jargeau, when, after a desperate onslaught 
gallantly led by the Maid, the English were over- 
come and Suffolk was taken prisoner. A State 
document^ shows that Charles VII. afterwards 
granted to the Baron of Rais 'the sum of i,ooo 
livres to recompense him for the great expenditure 
he had incurred by assembling, according to agree- 
ment, a certain large body of men-of-arms and bow- 
men, whom he had kept at his own expense and 
employed for the service of the King and in the 
company of the Maid, in order to reduce to obe- 
dience the town of Gergeau {stc\ which was held by 
the English.' 

^ J. Chattier, /.^., vol. i., pp. 73-77. 

' Archives de la Chambre des Comptes. Quicherat : * Procte 
de Jeanne d'Arc,' vol. iv., p. 261. 



GILLES DE RAIS 159 

Again — and this proves that Gilles did not attach 
much importance to his covenant with La Tr^mouille 
— he is found among those who signed and sealed 
guarantees of the fidelity of Richemont^ when the 
Constable (early in June, 1429) was for a brief space 
again allowed to bear arms for France. Rais 
helped him to reduce Beaugency.^ And he fought, 
too, at Patay (June 18), when Talbot's men got 
into confusion, and when the doughty warrior him- 
self was taken prisoner, philosophically exclaiming : 
* It is the fortune of war * — a battle which, as distinct 
from si^e operations, was the first gained by the 
French in the Maid's company. It was not a great 
engagement, perhaps ; for it would seem that on 
either side there were only about 6,000 combatants ; 
but its effect on the morale of the French can 
hardly be overestimated. They, in the first in- 
stance, awed by the recollection of Agincourt, 
Cravant, and Verneuil, had been almost unwilling to 
fight ; but Joan had urged them on. 

* Have you your spurs ?' she cried. * Go at them 
and they will flee. . . . And your spurs you will 
need to follow them !' 

This prophecy was not fulfilled to the letter ; for 
Sir John Fastolfe — who has received more justice 
from French than from English historians — drew off 
his division in good order ; but victory rested with 
the French, who now felt that in the inspiring com- 
panionship of the Maid they could beat their 

^ Desonneaux, 'Histoire de la Maison de Montmorency'; 
Guillaume Gniel, etc ; cited by Bossard, p. 40. 
' Cosoeau, /.r., p. 171. 



i6o BLUEBEARD 

enemies in the field as well as recover their lost 
towns and castles. 

When the time came for the bold and eventful 
march on Reims (June 27-29), Rais figured among 
the commanders of the force escorting Charles VII. 
and Joan of Arc The * coronation city' was reached 
on July 16, and on the morrow Gilles was promoted 
to the dignity of Marshal of France. He had cer- 
tainly rendered good service at Orleans, Jargeau, 
Beaugency, and Patay, and was entided to reward. 
Yet this particular honour, at this particular moment, 
was due, perhaps, to the fact that usage required two 
Marshals to be present at the coronation, and the 
force accompanying the King and the Maid counted 
only one — that is, Jean de Brosse, Lord of Boussac 
and Ste. S^vfere, who had held the office since 1427, 
having gained it, some assert, by the help he had 
given Richemont in putting the ignoble royal 
favourite, Le Camus de Beaulieu, to death. 

Invested with his new dignity, Rais and his 
brother Marshal, with the Sire de Culant, Admiral 
of France, and the Sire de Graville, Grand Master 
of the Archers, rode in brave array, with banners 
flying, to the ancient abbey of St Remi to serve as 
an escort^ for the ' Sainte Ampoule ' — the holy oil 
said to have been brought down from heaven by a 
dove expressly for the coronation of the Kings of 
France. The Abbot received them, mounted a 
horse provided by Charles VII., and — with the 

^ J. Chartier, /.r., vol i., p. 97. Letter of Three Angerai 
Noblemen: facsimile in Wallon's ' Jeanne d'Arc,' ilhis. edit, p. 136, 



GILLES DE RAIS i6i 

golden dove, in which the phial of holy oil was 
encased^ hanging by a chain from his neck^ — repaired 
with his pompous guard of honour to the cathedral, 
where Regnault de Chartres, Chancellor of France 
and Archbishop of Reims, received the dove from 
his hands. Rais, Boussac and the rest, still acting 
as escort, rode clattering up the nave as far as the 
choir, at the entrance of which they dismounted. 
Charles stood in readiness, took the customary oaths, 
and was knighted by the Due d'Alen9on. Then 
Berry, King at Arms, called the twelve Peers of 
France. Three of the six ecclesiastical peers were 
present, but all the others, it is said, were repre- 
sented by deputies, respecting whom the historians 
are greatly at variance. Father Daniel and Desor- 
meaux^ both assert that ' Gilles de Laval, Sire de 
Rais,' figured among those deputies ; but he is not 
mentioned by others, and it may well be that this 
honour did not devolve on him.^ Another state- 

^ Daniel's * Abr^ de THistoire de France,' voL iv., p. 399; 
Desonneaux, /.r., vol l, pp. 121, 371. 

* The ecclesiastical peers — the peerage going with the sees — 
were the Archbishop Duke of Reims, the Bishops-Dukes of Laon 
and Langres, and the Bishops-Counts of Beauvais, Chalons, and 
Noyon. Their number was not increased until 1674, when the 
Archbishop of Paris was created a peer, with the title of Duke of 
St Cloud The lay peers were originally the Dukes of Burgundy, 
Guienne, and Normandy, and the Counts of Flanders, Cham- 
pagne, and Toulouse. But at the time of Charles VII.'s corona- 
tion the peerages of Normandy and Guienne had passed to the 
Crown, the English titles of Duke of Normandy and Duke of 
Guienne not being recognised by the French. In like way Cham- 
pagne and Toulouse had gone to the Crown, as had also Flanders, 
so far as it was French. Thus, at this particular time, the six lay 

II 



1 62 BLUEBEARD 

ment is to the effect that he was at this time created 
a Count ; and this may be accurate, as in later 
documents we find Gilles styling himself Comte de 
Brienne as well as Sire de Rais. 

However hasty had been the preparations for the 
coronation ceremony, nothing was lacking. The 
cathedral treasury supplied a crown, the real crown 
of France being then at St. Denis ; and when the 
Archbishop had placed the symbol of royalty on the 
King's head the trumpets sounded, ' till it seemed 
that the roofs would split asunder,' and a great shout 
of * Noel r went up from the assembled throng, while 
the deputies of the peers, according to ancient usage, 
stretched forth their hands as if to press the crown 
on the royal brow, thus signifying that they, as the 
great vassals of the State, confirmed the coronation. 
Meantime, below the altar, with her standard raised, 
stood the Maid who had brought the once vanquished 



peers seem to have been : Burgundy, senior and chief peer ; 
Anjou, created by Philip the Fair 1297, recreated 1360 ; Brittany, 
created 1297; Orleans, created 1344-45 ; Saintonge and Roche- 
fort (James I., King of Scotland), created 1421 ; and either 
Evreux (J. Stuart, Lord Damley), created 1424, or Alen^on — that 
is, if the Maid's 'Beau Due' inherited the peerage created in 
1360. Until the middle of the sixteenth century the new peerages 
were not additional to the old ones, but replaced such of the latter 
as became extinct. This is proved by the preambles of the Letters 
of Creation and the decisions of the Parliament of Paris. Thus, 
there were never more than six lay peers until peerages were 
lavished on the Guises (1527, 1547). The Parliament then 
remonstrated, but in vain, and from that time the number of peers 
frequently increased, and the peerage was finally shorn of all 
its ancient significance. 



GILLES DE RAIS 163 

and forsaken Prince to be anointed, like his ances- 
tors, in that splendid fane. And, to quote one of 
the old chronicles, when the ceremony was at last 
finished, 'whosoever had seen the Maid fall upon 
her knees before the King, and clasp him by the 
legs, and kiss his feet, weeping the while hot tears, 
would have been moved by it. And many did she 
provoke to tears when she said : " Gentle King, 
now is accomplished the pleasure of God, Who 
willed it that you should come to Reims to receive 
your stately sacring, thereby showing that you are 
the true King and the one unto whom the kingdom 
should belong." ' 

After that memorable coronation came the march 
on Paris, so es^erly desired by Joan, but opposed 
by several of the courtiers, and notably by La 
Trimouille. Indeed, when the royal army ap- 
proached Bray, the King purposed crossing the 
Seine there, and taking the road to Berry. But 
some English forces threw themselves into Bray, and 
the royal design was frustrated, to the great delight, 
not only of Joan, but of Rais and other captains, 
who were bent on proceeding to Paris.^ Bedford, 
however, moved from the capital to meet the royal 
army, and when, on August 14, the contending 
parties met between Baron and Senlis an engage- 
ment seemed inevitable. The French even formed 
in order of battle, the Due d'Alen^on and Louis 
d'Anjou commanding the centre, Rais one wing^ and 

^ ' Proems ' and Desoraieaux, cited by Bossard. 
' J. Chartier, /.r., voL i., p. 103. 

II — 2 



1 64 BLUEBEARD 

Boussac the other ; but the English, who had en- 
trenched themselves in a kind of zareba, remained 
on the defensive, and finally retreated, first to Senlis 
and thence to Paris ; whilst Charles VII. moved on 
Compi^gne, which, like many other towns, now 
declared for him, and where he arranged a fresh 
truce with the envoys of the Duke of Burgundy, 
who gulled him with promises to place him in pos- 
session of Paris if he would only refrain from 
hostilities. Joan likewise proceeded to Compi^gne, 
whilst Rais forcibly occupied Senlis, where he was 
at last joined by the Maid, to whom the King's 
dilatoriness and belief in Burgundy were a constant 
source of grief. Charles VII. and his councillors 
were left to their own devices, and Joan and Rais 
pressed on towards the capital, followed by Boussac 
and Alen^on. 

On August 26 St. Denis was reached, and 
Charles VII. was then obliged to draw nearer to 
his forces, finally joining them on or about Sep- 
tember 7. A famous attempt to assault Paris 
ensued on the morrow. The army had moved to 
La Chapelle in two bodies, first an attacking force 
under Joan, Rais and Gaucourt, and secondly a 
corps commanded by Alen9on and Clermont, which 
was to cover the other, and resist any attempt at a 
sortie. Joan and Rais marched to the St Honor^ 
gate, forced the outer barrier, and the boulevard 
protecting it. Then the Maid, banner in hand, and 
regardless of the fire of bombards and culverins, 
sprang into the first fosse and crossed it with her 



i 



GILLES DE RAIS 165 

followers. But as the second one was full of water, 
the city walls could not be reached. Joan and her 
companions remained therefore on a kind of glacis 
between the two ditches, exposed the while to all the 
projectiles of the garrison. 

The Maid was sounding the depth of the water 
with the staff of her banner, when a shaft from a 
cross-bow,^ glancing off one of her thighs, pierced 
the other. Some accounts, inimical to the French, 
say that she fell into the dry ditch and was long 
abandoned there, but Wallon assures us that she was 
carried behind an ipaulement^ which sheltered her, 
and that she lay there in grievous pain,^ yet 
still urging on her men, pressing them to fill the 
ditches with faggots in order that an assault might 
be attempted. Rais, we are told, ' remained beside 
her all that day, both in the crossing of the dry 
ditch and at the water-side where she was wounded. '^ 
But night fell, and, though Joan besought her men 
and captains to persevere, the attempts to force an 
entry, which had been going on since noon, were at 
last abandoned. 

In spite of her wound the Maid would have 
renewed the effort on the morrow. It is certain 
that there was a considerable French party in the 
city — the Baron de Montmorency and fifty or sixty 
nobles made their way out to join the royal 

^ 'Chronique Normande ' (Brit Mus. MSS. 11,542) annexed 
to Chartier, /.£, p. 205. 

* The Latin text of Chartier's Chronicle sa^rs of her wound : 
' atrocissime in crure cum sagitta vulnerata.' 

' Bossard, /.r., p. 44 ; }• Chartier, Ix,^ p. 109. 



1 66 BLUEBEARD 

standard^ — but pusillanimous counsels prevailed 
with Charles VII. 

Moreover, another herald from that accomplished 
trickster the Duke of Burgundy had just reached 
the King with a message, b^ging him to cease 
hostilities, and again promising to place him there- 
after in possession of Paris. Thus the captains 
were ordered to withdraw, and although Joan, 
defying the royal commands, made yet another 
attempt with Alengon to approach the city, nothing 
came of it, and she was compelled to accompany the 
court and army on the road to the Loire. 

Charles VII. proceeded to Jargeau and Gien, and 
between those towns he made a halt at SuUy-sur- 
Loire, where La Tr^mouille had a castle, at which 
the King had stayed on previous occasions. This 
time, whilst he was there, he caused letters-patent 
to be drawn up, conferring a great honour upon 
Gilles, Lord of Rais and Pouzauges and Marshal of 
France, in recognition of ' his glorious services and to 
perpetuate the memory thereof.' This was nothing 
less than the grant of a right to add the arms of 
France as a border to the shield of Rais. * The said 
escutcheon,' says the document, ' shall bear an orle of 
our arms — that is, a field azure charged with flowers- 
de-luce or, in such form and manner as is here 
portrayed, figured, and emblazoned. '^ 

^ The English subsequently condemned Montmorency for Ikse* 
majeste towards Henry VI., and confiscated his barony. 

^ The document was discovered in the Archives of Thouars by 
M. Paul March^ay. It is on parchment and has suffered from 
dampness ; the new shield of Rais is painted on it 



GILLES DE RAIS 167 

It is perfecdy true that these letters-patent, pre- 
pared during the royal journey, were never sealed 
and roistered, probably because there was no 
opportunity to do so at the time, and because other 
circumstances subsequently arose to prevent the 
execution of the final formalities. Nevertheless, in 
conjunction with other documents, discovered of 
recent years, they serve to show that Gilles de Rais, 
at the time they were drafted, was held in very great 
honour by the King. The royal arms had been 
granted a few months previously to Joan of Arc and 
her family, and if they were now bestowed on Gilles, 
his services must have been considerable. Such an 
honour, indeed, was reserved for exceptional occa- 
sions, and, in that age, was conferred more often on 
towns— distinguished for their patriotism and fidelity 
— than on individuals. It is true that Charles VII., 
in May, 1432, made similar grants to Nicholas of 
Ferrara, Marquis of Este, and Visconti, Duke of 
Milan, in recognition of their great assistance in 
placing contingents of troops at his disposal ; but 
Este and Milan were sovereign houses, whereas 
Gilles de Rais was only a subject — the first Baron 
of Brittany,^ it is true, but none the less an imme- 
diate vassal of the duchy, and, for some of his 
possessions, of the French crown also. If he were 
singled out for a distinction similar to that conferred 
on the Maid herself, it must have been therefore 
because he was regarded as one of her best lieu- 

^ Mourain de Sourdeval*s ' Les Seigneurs de Rais.' Tours, 
1845, 8vo., p. 18. 



1 68 BLUEBEARD 

tenants. And this shows that one is justified in 
assigning to the young Marshal a more prominent 
position in the record of Joan's campaigns than has 
been granted him, first, by chroniclers writing a few 
years afterwards, and, secondly, by several genera- 
tions of modem historians. 

In this connection it must be pointed out that 
eleven years after that grant of the right to emblazon 
the arms of France in his escutcheon Gilles died a 
death of infamy. It is possible that from that very 
moment men shrank from associating his name with 
that of the national heroine, the pure and pious 
Maid of Orleans. In any case, that prejudice, a 
very natural one, is to be traced in the works of 
various modern writers. For instance, Gilles is 
mentioned in documents and books which Vallet 
de Viriville, the historian of Charles VII., is known 
to have consulted ; but even that painstaking author, 
who, when he is not dealing with his particular 
bite noire. La Tr^mouille, is usually so reliable and 
impartial, seems desirous of ignoring Rais until 
the Maid is dead and gone, and occasion arises to 
speak of the crimes for which the Marshal under- 
went the capital penalty. It seemed, perhaps, to 
M. Vallet de Viriville that the name of Rais, in con- 
junction with that of Joan of Arc, was calculated to 
befoul the latter ; and thus, in pages of the ' Histoire 
de Charles VII.,* where Gilles should have been 
named with other leading captains, a convenient 'etc.' 
often does duty for him. M. Wallon was probably 
swayed by feelings similar to those of M. Vallet de 



i 



GILLES DE RAIS 169 

Viriville, though it must be acknowledged that the 
Marshal's military services are mentioned not un- 
favourably in 'Jeanne d'Arc * — that fine literary effort 
of the * father * of the present French constitution. 

In the first place, even the devil is entitled to 

his due, and the present writer holds that Gilles de 

Rais was, as a military man, a trusty, energetic, and 

able servant of France. This is the view taken by 

Abb6 Bossard, who, as a minister of religion, has 

shown considerable courage in dealing with Rais's 

career. Again — and on this point also one may 

express cordial agreement with Abb^ Bossard — 

nothing can besmirch the pure glory of the Maid. 

She had no connection whatever with the crimes of 

Gilles, whether they began prior to her arrival at 

Chinon, or whether they were altogether of a later 

date, which is a matter for consideration hereafter. 

In any event they were absolutely unknown to Joan 

of Arc. And thus any attempts to banish Rais from 

her side — from the history of France, in fact, to 

consign him solely to its ' Newgate Calendar ' or 

* Causes C^l^bres ' — are foolish. 

To show how far the prejudice has gone, it must 
be mentioned that some years ago even those 
historians who had condescended to name Rais in 
connection with Joan, the relief of Orleans, the 
march on Reims, and the assault of Paris, were said 
to have been entirely mistaken. Rais had no share 
in all those exploits, it was asserted ; the Marshal of 
France who assisted Joan of Arc was Rieux. But 
investigation has completely disproved that theory. 



170 BLUEBEARD 

It is true that in certain documents the name is 
written 'Rees,' which, allowing for the fact that 
accents were not used at that time, would, accord- 
ing to modem orthography, be R6es — that is, a 
phonetic equivalent of * Rais,' and not of Rieux. 
Moreover, Pierre de Rieux-Rochefort was far more 
generally known as the Mar^chal de Rochefort. It 
is unnecessary to recapitulate his career, but one may 
mention that he was created a Marshal of France as 
far back as 141 7, gained a reputation for timidity, not 
to say cowardice,^ was taken prisoner in 1438, and 
died in captivity in England in 1439. It is true that 
in the latter part of Gilles' military career Rieux 
appeared somewhat prominently on the scene, and 
in some minor matters there may have been a litde 
confusion between the two men. But the one who 
fought beside Joan of Arc was undoubtedly Gilles 
de Rais. 

After the return of the French court to the Loire 
in the autumn of 1429, Gilles may have repaired 
for a time to his own possessions. That would, 
indeed, be virtually certain were it true, as Vallet 
de Viriville asserts, that his only child, a daughter, 
named Marie, was born during the following year. 
But there is great doubt on that last point^ We 
know, however, by another document discovered 
by M. Marchegay, that in the winter of 1430 Gilles 
was at Louviers in Normandy, which in December, 
1429, the famous La Hire had occupied for the 
French King. Joan of Arc, it should here be 

^ Cosneau, /.^., pp. 56S-69. ^ Bossard, pp. 370-71* 



GILLES DE RAIS 171 

mentioned, had been taken prisoner at Compiegne 
on May 24, 1430 ; and, transferred from dungeon to 
dungeon, had been finally carried to Rouen about 
the end of the year. The English fully intended 
to drive the French out of Louviers, but had 
adjourned the enterprise until after the trial of the 
Maid. She, it is known, evinced the greatest con- 
fidence throughout the earlier proceedings against 
her ; and it has more than once been surmised that, 
however strictly she may have been guarded, she had 
some positive reasons for hoping that Charles VII. 
would deliver her by force of arms. He has always 
been reproached with having absolutely deserted her. 
His Chancellor, Regnault de Chartres, was certainly 
no friend of Joan's ; besides, his favourite. La Tr6- 
mouille, always preferred negotiation to military 
eflfort. Yet it is possible that the King may have 
been judged too harshly by historians. La Hire 
was so often accustomed to act on his own behalf 
that his doings at Louviers need occasion no sur- 
prise, but the Marshal de Rais can only have gone 
thither under orders. 

The document which shows that he repaired to 
this town is an acknowledgment that he owes to 
' Rollahd Mauvoisin, his squire, captain of Le 
Pringay, the sum of eighty golden crowns for the 
purchase of a black horse {cheval moreau), saddled 
and bridled, which he promised to give to his very dear 
and well-beloved squire, Michel Machefert, captain 
of the men-of-arms and bowmen of his company, 
directly they arrived at Louviers, to induce him to 



172 BL0EBEARD 

come with him on that journey/ The acknow- 
ledgment is dated December 26, 1430, and signed 
simply ' Gilles/ in the sovereign style the Marshal 
affected, though even the brother of the Duke of 
Brittany signed ' Le Cte. de Richemont, Artus/ 

Now, one may well agree with M. Marchegay 
and Abb6 Bossard that the presence of Rais at 
Louviers — less than sixteen miles from Rouen, where 
Joan was imprisoned — is a very significant circum- 
stance. Some writers have suggested that, being 
a mere spy employed by La Tr^mouille, Rais 
abandoned the cause of the Maid after the failure 
of the attempt on Paris. We think otherwise, and 
are inclined, moreover, to give Charles VII. credit 
for some desire to save the unfortunate Joan. It 
is certain that in March, 1431, the force at Louviers 
was joined by Dunois, the Bastard of Orleans, with 
* a certain great company ' sent * to resist our ancient 
enemies the English, who were then assembled there- 
abouts in great strength,' and that Dunois carried 
out * two secret enterprises against our said enemies.'^ 
Vallet de Viriville suggests, however, that the King's 
only desire was to prevent Louviers from being 
retaken by the English, and that he cared nothing 
about the fate of Joan. In any case, whatever may 
have been the desires of Charles or Rais or Dunois, 
we know only too well that the heroic Maid went to 
her cruel death to become, for all ages, the martyr 
and the saint of patriotism. 

^ Royal donation of 1,200 livres granted to Dunois ; V. de 
Viriville^ /.^., vol. iu, p. 244. 



GILLES DE RAIS 173 

Louviers was finally seized by the English in 
October, 1431, and Gilles de Rais is next found 
with his colleague Boussac at Beauvais» in the 
following March, when an unsuccessful attempt is 
planned to surprise Rouen and kidnap the young 
English King, Henry VI. Next Gilles is traced to 
Lagny, where he participates in the engagement of 
August 10, when Bedford is repulsed and compelled 
to raise the siege of the town.^ Then, on December 
14, old Jean de Craon, the Marshal's grandfather, 
dies, and Gilles no doubt proceeds to Brittany. We 
find nothing about him in connection with military 
matters during the ensuing year (1433),^ when the 
grasping La Tr^mouille is at last driven from power, 
though this is an event in which he is certain to have 
taken the side of the Constable de Richemont, for 
in February or March, 1434, in response to the 
request of Charles d'Anjou, he hastens into Maine 
with a body of troops, appears at the demonstration of 
Sill6-le-Guillaume and at Sabl6 by the side of the 
Constable, the Sire de Bueil and Pr^gent de Co^tivy* 
— the very three men by whom La Tr^mouille had 
been overthrown ; whilst, in the latter part of the 

^ Chartier en's in saying that Gilles de Sill^ (the Marshal's 
cousin) was then taken prisoner. It was Michel de Sill^ who was 
captured, as is shown in connection with the Marshal's crimes. 
Setposi^ p. 274. 

' We believe that Gilles went to Lyons with the King that year, 
after the overthrow of La Tr^mouille. See/^j/, p. 187. 

* Bossard, /.r., p. 51, refers to Gruel, edit 1622, pp. 55-58; 
Chartier, edit. 1597, Nevers, pp. 72, 73; Martial d'Auveigne's 
' Vigiles de Charles VII.,' 1493, p. 137. 



174 BLtlEBEARD 

following year, he again appears in the same region — 
the Laval country — to do battle at Conlie. The con- 
nection of Rais with the spurious * Maid of Orleans,' 
La des Armoises, belongs to a later period — 
1 438-39 — when he had become demoralized. 1 1 may 
well be the case that when he placed this woman at 
the head of a body of his men, and allowed her to 
figure as the real Maid, it was from a desire to 
exploit the prestige attaching to the memory of 
Joan, whom many still thought to be alive. But 
he removed her from the command soon afterwards, 
as is mentioned in certain letters of remission granted 
to one of his captains, Jean de Siquenville, for various 
offences,^ 

Whatever may be the exact date of Gilles's 
retirement from active service, documents in the 
Archives of Orleans show that he always retained 
his rank of Marshal of France ;^ and, indeed, accord- 
ing to the * M^moire ' of his heirs, the emoluments of 
his office were paid to him until his death, or at 
least until his prosecution. Vallet de Viriville and 
others have stated that there were never more than 
two Marshals in office, at one and the same period, 
during Charles VII.'s reign ; but the list of the nine 
Marshals created by that King, and the records of 
their careers — to say nothing of the Marshals sur- 
viving from the reign of Charles VL — scarcely bear 
out that contention. It may be taken that in 
previous times the Marshals were only appointed for 
limited periods, and that there were then never more 

^ Secposf^ p. 296 efse^. ^ Bossard, Ic,^ p. 51. 



GILLES DE RAIS 175 

than two exercising active command ; but this rule 
may well have been relaxed during the more 
eventful years of Charles VII.'s struggle with the 
English. In any case the assertions which will be 
found in some writers, that Rais was disgraced in 
1433, at the same time as La Tr^mouille, and sup- 
planted in the marshalate by Gilbert de la Fayette 
— who, removed from all command by La Tr6- 
mouille, was reinstated after the favourite's over- 
throw — are at variance with his participation with 
Richemont, Bueil, and Co^tivy in military operations 
after 1433, ^^^ ^^^^ documentary evidence existing 
at Orleans and elsewhere. 

Detested — and not without cause — by historians, 
the Marshal de Rais, one may repeat it, has never 
received from them the recognition to which his 
military merits entitled him. Besides being a 
courageous, a diligent, an energetic and a trusty 
soldier, he expended, there can be no doubt of it, 
very large sums in the cause of France, at a time 
when Charles VII. was little better than a beggar, 
and when the royal favourite, La Tr^mouille, and 
the right reverend Chancellor Regnault de Chartres 
were preying greedily on the misfortunes of their 
country. As Vallet de Viriville has shown, the 
French army was then seldom paid by the King. 
Gilles de Rais therefore repeatedly raised, equipped 
and kept large bodies of men at his own expense. 
Occasionally, as in the Jargeau alBfair, he was reim- 
bursed, but his great military expenditure may well 
have been the beginning of his ruin. At the same 



176 BQUEBEARD 

time, however, he was certainly a prodigal, one who 
was bent on having all his fancies satisfied regard- 
less of the cost And he found a Duke of Brittany, 
a Bishop, a cathedral Chapter, and others only too 
willing to avail themselves of his eagerness to turn 
his possessions into money. One may now pass 
then from Gilles de Rais, the soldier, the Marshal 
of France, to Gilles the spendthrift and the patron 
of dramatic literature and the arts. 



."rt"' 



III 



1434-35 

SPLENDOUR AND PRODIGALITY *THE MYSTERY OF 

ORLEANS* — THE HOLY INNOCENTS 

The Marshal's Valuable Furnishings — His Large Income — His 
Military Expenses and Receipts — His Grand Bodyguard and 
his Herald — His Chantry and Chapter — ^The Magnificence of 
his Chapel — His Passion for Music — He keeps Open House — 
His Pompous Progresses — His Library and his Reader — His 
Predilection for the Stage — Mysteries, Moralities, Farces, and 
Morris Dances — *The Mystery of Orleans' — Gilles and his 
Retinue invade the Hostelries of the City — They make Costly 
Trips into the Bourbonnais — Gilles' R61e in the * Mystery of 
Orleans '—The Rondeau of * St. Michael and the Maid '—The 
Foundation of the Holy Innocents — Gilles' Anxiety to save 
his Soul — A Glimpse of his Crimes — His Estrangement from 
his Wife and Daughter — Pleasure and Remorse — Financial 
Troubles. 

On introducing Gilles de Rais to the reader some 
mention was made of the great extent of his terri- 
torial possessions, his many lordships, his castles 
and fortresses, and his superb mansion of La Suze 
in the city of Nantes. The previously quoted 
* M^moire ' of his heirs, drawn up in the course of 
litigation with successive Dukes of Brittany, also 
tells us that Rais inherited from his father and his 

12 



178 BLUEBEARD 

maternal grandfather, and received as part of his 
wife's dowry, a great variety of splendid furnishings, 
tapestries, examples of the art of the gold and silver 
smith, jewels, and so forth, the value of these 
belongings being estimated at more than one 
hundred thousand crowns. In 1445 the crown was 
worth twenty-five sols, and according to Abb6 
Bossard's calculation — based on Leber's researches 
and estimates^ — the value assigned to Gilles' fur- 
nishings would be equivalent to more than ;^ 180,000 
of our present currency. The young noble's annual 
income was also very large. He derived more than 
thirty thousand livres from his personal domains, 
without counting all the produte received as tribute 
or tithe from vassals. Indeed, Desormeaux, who 
wrote with all the documents of the House of Mont- 
morency before him — and Gilles, it should be 
remembered, whether one call him * of Laval ' or * of 
Rais/ was really a Montmorency — states that the 
Marshal's full revenue amounted to nearly double 
the amount given above ; his fortune being the more 
conspicuous ' as the appanage of the brothers of the 
Duke of Brittany then only represented six thousand 
livres a year.' 

One may take exception to Abb^ Bossard's view 
that Gilles, apart from his private wealth, was also 
in receipt of large pensions and grants from 
Charles VII. He was doubtless entitled to them 
by letters-royal, but it is far from certain that he 

^ * Essai sur Tappr^iation de la Fortune priv^e au Moyen Ag^i' 
by C. Leber. Paris, 1847, 8vo. 



GILLES DE RAIS 179 

ever actually received them. Charles VII. was 
remarkably lavish with grants on paper, but it often 
happened that they were not carried into effect. 
Powerful men like La Tr6mouille and Regnault de 
Chartres undoubtedly took good care to secure 
every gift which the King signified his intention 
of bestowing on them ; but others were less fortunate 
in those troublous times, when the royal treasury was 
almost always empty, and when a donation often 
took the form of an assignment of confiscated pro- 
perty or of a charge on some source of revenue, 
which the grantee had to recover by personal 
authority, and occasionally even by force of arms. 
Moreover Charles VII., like most Kings swayed 
by successive favourites and parties, revoked all royal 
donations at various periods of his reign ; and, on the 
other hand,Gilles,as previously mentioned, long main- 
tained considerable bodies of men in the royal service 
at his own expense. In the course of the litigation 
between his heirs and Francois I. of Brittany, we 
find the latter stating that if Gilles sold certain 
property, it was by reason *of the great necessity 
in which he was to maintain himself in the exercise 
of his office of Marshal at the time of the wars and 
divisions then existing in this realm, for which office 
he received but very little wage or profit.' And, 
again, in equipping men and providing money for 
the public service, the Marshal, it is said, simply did 
* as was often done by the late Messire Bertrand de 
Glesquin, in his lifetime Constable of France, and 
as in like way many other g^eat lords of this realm, 

12 — 2 



i8o BLUEBEARD 

wise men and valiant, did in those wars, for the 
defence of the commonwealth, even as they were 
bound to do ; and, in any case, it was for the King 
to reward the said late Messire Gilles or the said 
plaintiff, his heir.'^ 

This tends to show that the dignities acquired by 
Gilles proved a source of expenditure and not of 
profit. Whatever he may have received from 
Charles VII, represented but a portion of his 
outlay for the State. But, apart from all question 
of the royal generosity, the young noble's income, 
at a moderate estimate, represented not less than 
;^8o,ooo and perhaps as much as ;^ 100,000 a year. 
Such a revenue is not despised even in these days 
of American plutocracy ; and, at the time of the 
Marshal de Rais, it was altogether exceptional. 
Thus, from the standpoint of his wealth, he may be 
regarded as one of the millionaires of the first half 
of the fifteenth century, whilst in prodigality he set 
an example unsurpassed by any of the * Jubilee ' and 
other plungers of our own times. His magnificence 
was conspicuous already in his earlier days, when, 
as the * M6moire ' of his heirs tells us, he was 
' seduced by the false craft and damnable covetous- 
ness of his servants,' and took in hand 'the 
government of his lands and lordships, doing with 
them as he pleased, without seeking advice from his 
grandfather or listening to him further in any re- 
spect.' There can be no doubt that the flatterers 

^ * Intendits du Due de Bretagne.' Archives of the Loire 
Inf(6rieure, Nantes. 



GILLES DE RAIS i8f 

and companions of those times completely turned 
the young man s head, even if they did not then 
debase his nature, as we shall presently inquire^ 
And, intoxicated with vanity, he strove to vie, not 
with other nobles even of the highest degree, but 
with Kings and sovereign Princes. 

After his appointment as Marshal of France he 
surrounded himself — at home as well as at the wars 
— with a military household. He maintained a 
private bodyguard of thirty chosen men-at-arms 
and more than two hundred horse. There were 
pages, squires and knights around him, all splendidly 
equipped and clad ; a perfect court, such as many of 
the highest could not provide for in those days. We 
know he signed simply * Gilles' like a monarch; and 
in the same spirit he had heralds and pursuivants, 
the chief of whom was called * Rais-le-h6raut.'^ Roger 
de Bricqueville, a Norman noble of a good house, 
was his major-domo; Hicquet de Br^mont, another 
noble, was the governor of his pages ; and Abb6 
Bossard thinks that Jean Chartier, the famous 
chronicler, who of all the contemporary writers 
gives the most particulars about the Marshal, 
was at least for a time attached to his chantry. 
All his retainers were lodged, fed, and well paid. 
He provided them with horses and harness, and 
replenished their wardrobes two or three times 
a year ; such indeed was the pride which he 
took in surrounding himself with a well-equipped 

^ From a document communicated to Abb^ Bossard by M. 
DoineL 



1 82 BLUEBEARD 

bodyguard, and in living, as' his heirs subse- 
quently complained, ' not according to the condition 
of a Baron, but according to that of a Prince.*^ 

Gilles also maintained an ecclesiastical household 
— a chantry and a chapter — in such wise that at 
Machecoul and Tiffauges, two of his principal 
residences, one found some five-and-twenty or 
thirty clerics, who, like his military retainers, lived 
splendidly at his expense. There was a Dean, 
Messire de la Ferri^re ; several chanters ; an Arch- 
deacon, Messire Jourdain ; a Curate, Olivier Martin; 
a Treasurer of the Chapter, Jean Rossignol ; a 
schoolmaster; with Canons, chaplains, coadjutors, 
and clerks, in addition to numerous choir-boys. 
Gilles, who, by virtue of his fiefs in Poitou, was, 
himself, a lay Canon of St Hilaire-le-Grand of 
Poitiers,^ bestowed the title of Bishop on the chief 
dignitary of his collegiate, and his great ambition 
appears to have been to raise his clerics to the 
status enjoyed by the clergy of a cathedral. If one 
may believe the * M^moire ' of his heirs, he actually 
sent deputations to Rome requesting that his Canons 
might be authorized to wear the cappa magna and 
the mitre, like prelates or like certain Canons of 
Lyons. But the Pope, warned by the Rais family, 
who at last took steps to check the Marshal's pro- 
digality, would never allow this request, nor even 
authorize the collegiate which Gilles had endowed. 

^ Bossard, /.r., p. 60. 

' The Counts of Poitou were tx officio Abbots of St HiUure, 
and their great vassals were Canons. 



GILLES DE RAIS 183 

The Marshal, it would seem, repeatedly had 
trouble in this matter with Jean de Malestroit, the 
Breton Chancellor and Bishop of Nantes. Still, 
that did not disturb the churchmen who had rallied 
to him ; and they had good reason for remaining at 
their posts, as they were remunerated, says Abb6 
Bossard, with ridiculous prodigality, some of them 
receiving as much as four hundred crowns — about 
;^8oo — a year, and at the same time being lodged, 
boarded and clad entirely at their patron's expense, 
so that they never had occasion to disburse a single 
sol. Even as Joan of Arc was preceded on the 
advance to Orleans by priests and monks chanting 
the * Veni Creator,' so Gilles — who, it may be, 
borrowed the idea from what he had witnessed 
during the Maid's Progress — was accompanied on 
all his journeys by his clerical retainers, each 
mounted on horseback and followed by a body 
servant They lived on the fat of the land 
wherever it pleased Monseigneur le Mar6chal to 
halt. At home and in the towns where he sojourned, 
he arrayed them, says the ' M6moire ' of his heirs, 
in long sweeping robes of scarlet and other fine 
cloths, * furred with sable, badger and minever, and 
other splendid furs, and plumes besides.' In church 
they wore surplices of the finest tissue, * with amices 
and choir-hats of badger lined with minever, such 
as the Canons of cathedrals have, and as if they had 
really been of great estate and great science.' For 
travelling wear, their patron furnished them with 
chaperons and gowns of the best cloth, but these 



1 84 BLUEBEARD 

gowns were 'short in order that they might ride 
more comfortably.' Then horses and ambling nags 
were provided for them, with servants and chests to 
carry their belongings, to such effect 'that none 
remembered nor ever expected to see such super- 
fluity, excess, and unreasonable expenditure even in 
the chantry of a King of France.*^ 

Whenever Gilles desired to secure the services of 
any particular cleric he did not hesitate to offer him 
the most costly presents ; and if he heard of a man 
or boy with a particularly fine voice in any church, 
however distant, he made every effort to procure 
him for his chantry. Rossignol, who became the 
treasurer of his collegiate, had been a choir-boy at 
St Hilaire, at Poitiers ; and Gilles was so struck 
with his fine voice that to induce him to enter his 
service he gave him an estate called La Riviere, 
near Machecoul, yielding two hundred livres a year ; 
besides offering his parents, needy people of La 
Rochelle, a gift of three hundred crowns. 

Again, Mass was celebrated with the greatest 
magnificence at the Marshal's castles. Cloth of 
gold and silk of the finest quality procurable served 
for the vestments of his chaplains. He never 
bargained with merchants. He paid them whatever 
they asked, and his prodigality was so well known that 
they did not hesitate to charge him twice and three 
times as much as they charged other customers. 
The ell of cloth of gold, then worth from twenty-five 
to thirty golden crowns, was sometimes paid by him 

^ ' M^moire des Hinders.* 



GILLES DE RAIS 185 

at the rate of sixty and even eighty. He would 
purchase a pair of Paris orphreys for three or four 
hundred crowns, when their value was less than one 
hundred ; and it is recorded that once he went 
so far as to give fourteen thousand crowns (about 
;^2 5,000!) for three copes of cloth of gold, when 
they were worth less than a third of that amount.^ 

But all that was as nothing. A Parisian goldsmith 
was specially attached to the Marshal's service- 
His candlesticks, censers, crosses, osculatories, 
servers, chalices, pyxes and reliquaries — among 
them being, it seems, a bust or head of St. Honor6 
— were all of massive gold or silver, finely chased, 
adorned with precious stones and brilliant enamels, 
the perfection of the workmanship surpassing even 
the splendour of the materials. And to increase the 
pomp of his religious services Gilles procured several 
organs, large and small ones, which cost him con*- 
siderable sums. Music indeed was one of his great 
passions — he often chanted the psalms with his own 
chantry — and he at last had some portable organs 
made, which followed him on all his military expedi- 
tions and journeys, borne sometimes on chariots, 
sometimes on the shoulders of six vigorous men. 
Thus there was nothing novel in the practice of 
those English officers who carried pianos with them 
in the course of the Boer War. 

Rais did not confine his liberality to his retainers. 
He kept open hall wherever he might be. The 
traveller might enter freely, the board was always 

^ ' M^moire des H^tiers.' 



1 86 BLUEBEARD 

spread for him, and hypocras and fine wines flowed 
abundantly.^ Gilles even clothed strangers, not 
merely beggars, but all who chose to accept his 
gifts ; distributing at times as many as lOO and 120 
gowns among as many people. 1 1 is not surprising, 
therefore, to find that he was surrounded by parasites 
in addition to his ordinary retainers. And one and 
all helped themselves freely, junketing at his ex- 
pense, now at Tiffauges, now at Machecoul, now at 
Nantes, now at Angers, now elsewhere. He had 
mansions in both of the last-named cities. Of that 
at Angers we only know that it was called the 
Hdtel de la Belle-Poigne. The one at Nantes, the 
Hdtel de la Suze, faced the Rue Notre Dame, near 
the Cathedral, its site now being occupied by the 
Hdtel de la Thuillaye. It surpassed in magnificence 
the palace of the Duke of Brittany. The vaulted 
roof of the oratory was finely painted, we are told ; 
the windows were of stained glass of rare artistry ; 
and the walls were covered with cloth of gold. In 
other parts of that splendid abode, in addition to 
the tapestry of Flanders and the stamped leather 
of Spain, one found Oriental hangings and carpets 
acquired from the few merchant-princes who then 
traded, either through the Genoese or the Venetians, 
with the East. But Gilles, it appears, regarded his 
mansions of Nantes and Angers as m^r^pieds-d-terre; 
he preferred his various castles, where he ruled in all 
sovereignty, dispensing high and low justice as he 
pleased — Champtoc6, Machecoul, Pouzauges, and 

^ ' M^moire des Hitlers.' 



GILLES DE RAIS 187 

Tiffauges, the last-named, which was both the most 
formidable as a fortress and the most magnificent 
as a pleasure-house, being his favourite place of 
sojourn. 

Yet his was a restless nature. Apart from the 
campaigns already chronicled, he seems to have 
undertaken many journeys. There are indications 
that he once went to Lyons, perhaps with the King, 
in June, 1433 (when there is no trace of him else- 
where), for we know that if he desired to clothe the 
Canons of his Chapter like those of that city, it was 
because he had been personally struck by the latter's 
appearance ; and it seems^ that on the occasion 
indicated Charles VII. visited the primatial church 
of St Jean of Lyons, garbed himself in a Canon's 
vestments, and, thus attired, took his seat in the 
choir. It is possible, therefore, that this was the 
particular ceremony which impressed the Marshal 
de Rais and impelled him to solicit permission to 
array his own Canons in the cappa magna. Again 
there is evidence^ that, some time between 1430 and 
1436, Gilles made extensive military preparations 
for an expedition to Langres, on the confines of 
Champagne and Burgundy, perhaps in connection 
with the vigorous efforts of the famous Barbazan 
to prevent Duke Philip the Good from exercising 
authority in the former province, which the English 
had assigned to him. Then, in other documents 
concerning the Marshal, there are references to 

^ V. de Viriville, vol. iL, p. 310. 

' ' lotendits da Due de Bretagne.' Archives, Nantes. 



1 88 BLUEBEARD 

several journeys or expeditions to Le Mans in 
Maine ; whilst he made progresses — royal in their 
pomp and splendour — to some of the chief cities of 
the Loire region. He was fond indeed of display- 
ing himself and his magnificent retinue in one and 
another part of France, and this brings us to the 
consideration of another of his costly passions — a 
passion for the stage, as it then existed, with its 
mummers, dancers, mysteries, and moralities. 

This extraordinary man had a taste for all forms 
of literature and art. We know the names of 
several precious books which he possessed, and there 
is reason to believe that he had a considerable 
library in the charge of a certain Henri Griart, 
commonly called Henriet, who, bom in Paris in 
1402, had graduated at the then renowned univer- 
sity of Angers, and, entering the Marshal's house- 
hold, bore therein the titles of Chamberlain and 
Reader to Monseigneur. It was he who read to 
Gilles the * Lives of the Caesars ' by Suetonius, the 
* Annals ' of Tacitus, the * Metamorphoses ' of Ovid, 
the * Deeds and Sayings ' of Valerius Maximus, the 
' Livre des Propri6t6s des Choses,' which Jehan 
Corbechon had translated from the Latin by order 
of Charles V., and the * City of God,' by St. Augustin,^ 
of which Gilles possessed both the Latin text and a 
translation, probably that by Raoul de Presles. And 
as Henriet was himself a man of letters, he may 
perchance have helped to prepare some of the 

^ In all likelihcxxl the magnificent copy now in the Libxary of 
Nantes. 



GILLES DE RAIS 189 

mysteries and moralities devised and performed for 
the delectation of his patron, the Marshal. 

But the latter's passion for the stage must have 
dated from his youth if it be true, as is affirmed by 
some writers, that it was he who caused Jean 
Michel's • Mystery of the Holy Passion ' to be 
performed at Angers in 1420, in honour of his 
marriage with the heiress Katherine de Thouars, 
on which occasion the chief parts were taken by 
Canons of the Cathedral, two of them representing 
the Virgin and Mary Magdalen. 

The ' M^moire ' of Gilles' heirs tells us that he 
celebrated all the great festivals of the year — 
Christmas, Easter, Ascension Day, Whitsuntide, 
and All Saints* Day — by great performances of 
mysteries and moralities. And as farces and soties 
(the last being variants of the first) came largely 
into vogue in those years of incessant warfare, when 
the French people apparently sought amusement in 
order to forget the bloodshed of the times, it is 
not surprising to find it stated that Gilles pro- 
vided himself with a company of * comedians, 
troubadors, and minstrels,' who frequently played 
before him.^ We read also of jugglers, and of real 
mauresque dancers whom he procured from Spain. 
The * M^moire ' of his heirs says that he often caused 
* games, morris-dances, farces and personages' {sic) 
to be performed, as well as more ambitious dramatic 
ventures, for which he provided ' great scaffoldings, 
garments, decorations, and apparatus of divers kinds,' 

^ Desormeaux, /.r., vol. i., p. 123. 



I90 BLUEBEARD 

which cost him immense sums, the more particularly 
as he invariably • had everything made expressly 
and afresh, thereby incurring great expenditure.* 
With respect to the splendour of a mise-en-scine he 
was as exacting as any theatrical manager of our 
own times, and in the matter of costumes he was 
often more prodigal, for it was in no imitation 
stuff that he clad his actors : they wore real cloth of 
gold, real cloth of silver, as well as the finest silk 
and velvet. 

The cost of staging a mystery was enormous. 
The buildings, erected for the performance, spread 
over a large area, at times along an entire street, 
with a depth of more than a hundred feet Then 
the characters were almost innumerable. There 
were a hundred dressed in silk and velvet in the 
' Myst^re de Sainte Barbe,* which a cousin of 
Gilles caused to be performed at Laval in 1493. 
All this implied great expenditure, and it is not 
surprising to read that Ren6 d'Anjou was almost 
beggared by a performance which he gave of the 
* Resurrection ' in 1456. Indeed, of all the passions 
swaying Gilles de Rais, this passion for the stage 
was the most costly. When cities caused mysteries 
and moralities to be represented they recouped 
themselves for their outlay by charging very high 
prices to the spectators. Some folk, says Abb6 
Bossard — following M, Petit de Julleville — paid as 
much as eighty-five francs, and the worst places cost 
an average of a franc, which was a very high price 
in those days for the needy multitude. But Gilles 



GILLES DE RAIS 191 

had no thought of asking any payment. His per- 
formances, not only those which he gave at Tiffauges 
and Machecoul, where, so to say, he was at home, 
but also those which he gave at Angers, at Nantes, 
and at Orleans, were gratuitous. Special places 
were reserved for great lords, bishops, royal officers, 
magistrates, dames and damsels of high degree, 
churchmen of various ranks, while the multitude 
had free admission to all other parts. And as a 
crowning stroke of prodigality banquets were 
spread, tables were laden with viands, and * hypo- 
eras and claret wine flowed as if they had been 
water.' 

In the opinion of Abb6 Bossard, M. Vallet de 
Viriville and others, it was Gilles de Rais who 
caused the famous * Mystery of Orleans ' to be 
written and acted. Several writers have assigned 
the work to a date posterior to that of the 
Marshal's death, 1440. Indeed, taking the * Mystery ' 
in the form in which it has come down to us, it 
appears evident that some portions were written 
about the middle of the century. But M. Wallon 
and others take the view that the style of the com- 
position varies, and that the work of various authors 
writing at different periods can be detected in the text 
now extant.^ Moreover, the opinion is expressed 
that this * Mystery,' revised and amplified at various 
times, was performed in its first state at Orleans in 
1435, on the anniversary of the raising of the siege 

^ MS., Vatican Library. First printed by Guessard and De 
Certain in the ' Documents inddits de i'Histoire de France.' 



192 BLUEBEARD 

of the city. It may have been represented there again 
four years later — in the presence of Charles VII. 
and his court — but this is uncertain. The question 
whether it was ever actually performed after the 
execution of Gilles de Rais (even if additions were 
made to it for that purpose), raises an extremely 
delicate point; for it would, at first sight, seem 
impossible that a play in which the Marshal is a very 
prominent personage could be publicly performed 
after he had died a death of infamy. But strange 
things happened after the death of Gilles, as will be 
presently shown. And although it is certain that the 
memory of Rais was never formally rehabilitated, 
there is something to be said on the subject of 
documents and incidents which indicate attempts 
to palliate his guilt. 

One thing is certain. The Marshal has a con- 
spicuous rSle in this * M ystery of Orleans ' — the 
historical value of which, disputed by Quicherat, has 
been fully recognised since his time by Vallet de 
Viriville, Guessard, Tivier, Wallon, Petit de JuUe- 
ville, and many other scholars. If it is so accurate 
in many particulars of Joan of Arc's life, this may 
well be because it was written under the direct 
inspiration of Rais himself, to whom it assigns so 
prominent a place beside the Maid, and who was 
certainly acquainted with the real facts of the 
early part of her career. The author is generally 
supposed to have been some native of Orleans ; 
but this is not certain. And if the Marshal was 
responsible for its production, it may have been 



GILLES DE RAIS 193 

the work of one of his literary retainers. In this 
connection it is curious to find a certain 'Jean 
Chartier/ accompanying him to Orleans in 1434.^ 

It was in the middle of September that year that 
the Marshal made this journey — probably to arrange 
for the performance of the ' Mystery ' on the eighth 
day of the following month of May. He was 
accompanied by his brother Ren6 de La Suze and by 
his military and his ecclesiastical households. He 
himself with some of his immediate favourites and 
attendants lodged at the hostelry of the Golden 
Cross, and his other people found accommodation 
at the other inns of the city. His chapter put up 
at the St George's Arms (Ecu de Saint-Georges), 
kept by Guillaume Antes ; his chanters lodged at 
the sign of the Sword, where Jean Fournier was 
host; his men-of-arms, his herald, his retainers, 
Galard de Galardon (one of his captains), Temberel, 
Challeney, Sainte-Croix, Guyot, and Jean Chartier, 
made themselves at home at the Black Head, where 
a landlady, Agnes Grosvillain, a comely dame, no 
doubt, to the taste of messieurs les militaires, offi- 
ciated. But another captain of his guards, Loys 
the Angevin, called Louynot, and his councillors, 
Gilles de Sill6 (his cousin), Guy de Bonni^re, Guyot 
de Chambrays, Guillaume Tardif, and Guy de 
Blanchefort, betook themselves to the Great Salmon, 
kept by Guyot Denis ; whilst his armourer, Hector 
Broisset, lodged with Mac6 Dubois at the sign of 
the Cup. 

^ See/^i/, Appendix D. 

13 



194 BLU£BEARD 

Ren^ de La Suze, meantime, sought the hospi- 
tality of the Little Salmon, kept by Regnard Provost ; 
and the Marshal's knights, Monseig^eur de Mar- 
tigne, Monseigneur Foulques Blasmes, Jean de 
Rains and Baul^is took their ease at the Image 
of St. Mary Magdalen. Then Jean de Montecler, 
another leading retainer, lodged with Colin le 
Godelier^ (the brewer ?) ; Monseigneur Jean de 
Vieille, like Bois-Roulier, the Marshal's provost, 
and George, his trumpeter, found rooms with Jean- 
nette la Pionne ; and Thomas, his scribe and illumin- 
ator {enlumineur), resided at the sign of the God of 
Love, kept by Marguerite. Nor was this all ; the 
Marshal's chariots and horses — the latter including 
his favourite black steed named Cassenoix (Nut- 
cracker) and a valuable long-tailed bay — were, like 
those of his brother Ren6, stabled at the Hdtel de 
la Roche- Boulet, kept by Marguerite Hu6, awidow. 
The horses of his chapter, together with CoUinet, 
vicar of his chantry, a certain squire. Petit Jean, a 
priest named Le Blond, and a barber, were all pro- 
vided for by Jean Couturier, called Thursday (Jeudi), 
who lodged man and beast at the sign of the Fur- 
bisher. And there were other and other retainers 
and servants, staying, some at the White Horse, 
kept by Charles of Halot, some at the Wild Man, 
kept by Sebille la Trasilonne, and some at the 

^ From 'good ale,' an expression introduced by the English 
into France, whence *godale' (Froissart), ' goudale,* ' goudalier ' 
(brewer : Ducange, ' Glossaire Fran9ois '), and the modem French 
word * godailler ' — * to go about tippling.' 



GILLES DE RAIS 195 

Arms of Orleans, where Foulques of Estrepon was 
host.^ Briefly, there was no hostelry in all Orleans 
which did not accommodate some of the splendid 
retinue of Monseigneur Gilles, Baron of Rais, Count 
of Brienne, Lord of Champtoc^ and Pouzauges, and 
Marshal of France. 

All these folk remained in the city until October, 
when Gilles, who was fond of change, moved with a 
part of them into the Bourbonnais, sojourning at the 
Arms of France at Montlu9on until the following 
December. The bill then presented to him by the 
host, Guillaume Charles, called Guillou, amounted 
to 810 gold * royals,' and the Marshal certainly lacked 
sufficient ready cash to pay the full sum just then, for 
he handed only 490 * royals ' to Maltre Guillou ; and 
two of his retainers, Jean le Sellier and Huet de 
Villarceau, had to become sureties for the remainder 
of the money. From Montlu^on Gilles betook him- 
self to Montmoreau, and after various peregrinations 
returned to Orleans in March, 1435. All the accounts 
of him — confirmed by various notarial documents 
found in the city — agree in saying that he spent 
vast sums on that journey of his, which lasted until 
the following August. Vallet de Viriville estimates 
his expenditure at between 80,000 and 100,000 
crowns — that is, ;^ 150,000 or more of our present 
currency ; and it may therefore be allowable to 
assume that the greater part of this prodigious out- 
lay was devoted to the production of the famous 

^ Documeots discovered at Orleans by M. Doinel, archivist, and 
communicated by him to Abh6 Bossard. 

13—2 



196 BLUEBEARD 

* Mystery/ at the performance of which Gilles, in any 
case, must have presided. Perhaps it was for future 
representations of this very work that the city 
purchased ' the standard and the banner which had 
belonged to Monseigneur de Reys, to imitate the 
manner of the assault by which Les Tourelles were 
taken from the English on the eighth day of May.'^ 
It has been mentioned previously that the Mar- 
shal is a prominent character in the Mystery, and in 
support of that statement just a few passages may 
be quoted. After Charles VII. has received the 
Maid and has decided to follow her inspiration, he 
says to her : 

' £t pour vous conduire voz gens 

Aurez le mareschal de Rais, 
£t ung gentilhomme vaillant 

Ambroise de Lor^, ar^ ; 

Esquelz je commande exprbs 
0(i il vous plaira vous conduisent, 

En quelque lieu, soit loing, soit prbs.'* 

And afterwards Rais inquires of the Maid : 

' Dame, que vous plaist il de fiaire ? 
Nous sommes au plus prbs de Blois ; 
Se vous y voulez point retraire 
Et reposer deux jours ou trois, 



^ Accounts of the City of Orleans. 

^ ' And to lead your men (troops) for you, you shall at once 
(ar^s) have Marshal de Rais, and a valiant nobleman, Ambroise 
de Lor^ whom I expressly command to conduct you whither 
you please, whether the spot be fieur or near.' 



GILLES DE RAIS 197 

Pour savoir oil sont les Anglois, 
Aussi pour rafraichir vos gens, 

Ou se vous aymez mieux ain9ois 
Aller droiet jusques h, Orleans P*^ 

Joan approves of the assembling of the relief 
forces at Blois, but when the English have arrested 
her herald, she becomes anxious to proceed to the 
besieged city. Rais answers her that they will do 
so without further delay ; and, a discussion arising 
between the captains as to the road which should be 
taken, it is Gilles who suggests going by way of 
Sologne, as ' the strongest force of the English is 
in the Beauce region, where, indeed, they hold the 
entire country.'^ As soon as this suggestion is 
adopted, Jean de Metz inquires if it be time to warn 
the Maid ; and Gilles, after retorting that he is 
ready to go whenever she desires, tells her that if it 
pleases her to start, he now has all the men in 
readiness. Again, when the English retreat, Rais 
is the first to propose pursuit ; and it is he who, 
with much eulogy of Joan, supports the Due 
d'Alen^on's proposal that the Loire country should 
be cleared of the English prior to the march on 
Reims. Then the Maid is confided by the King to 
the protection of Alen9on ; but until after the victory 
of Patay, when the Mystery closes with Joan's 
triumphant return to Orleans, Gilles remains near 

^ * Lady, what would it please you to do ? We are very near to 
Blois. Will you retire there, rest there for two or three days, to 
ascertain where the English are, and also to refresh your men? 
Or would you rather go thus straight to Orleans?' 

^ Corroborated by Chartier, /.^., p. 73. 




198 BLUEB 

her, ever evincing the greate^K^evotion to her 
person — a devotion which, if fine speeches mean 
anything, is much appreciated by the Maid. 

From the poetic standpoint the ' Mystery of 
Orleans * is for the most part mere doggerel. But 
some of the patriotic passages are really vigorous 
and enthusiastic, and one finds here and there some 
little gracefulness and pleasing nMveti, as in the 
following rondeau, which closes Joan's interview 
with the Archangel St. Michael, after she has 
promised to obey the behests of God : 

'S. Michel. 

' A Dieu, Jehanne, vraye pucelle 
Qui est d'icelui bien aym^e, 
Ayez tousjours ferme pens^ 
De Dieu estre sa pastorelle. 

* Pucelle. 

' En nom Dieu, je vueil estre celle 
De le servir, si lui agr^e. 

'S. Michel. 

* A Dieu, Jehanne, vraye pucelle. 
Qui est d'icelui bien aym^e. 

* Pucelle. 

' Mon bon seigneur, vostre nouvelle 
De par moi sera reclam^e 
Au seigneur de ceste contr^e, 
Par la voye que dictes telle. 

' S. Michel. 

* A Dieu, Jehanne, vraye pucelle, 
Qui est d'icelui bien aym^e, 
Ayez tousjours ferme pens^ 
De Dieu estre sa pastorelle.' 



GILLES DE RAIS 199 

This rondeau is perhaps the only thing in the 
entire work which is at all worthy of quotation as 
verse. But in other respects the * Mystery ' has the 
value of a human and historical document. As it 
has come down to us it is of great length, comprising 
no fewer than 20,529 lines, whilst, in addition to 
large parties of citizens, soldiers and trumpeters, it 
embraces no fewer than 140 distinct rSles. Again, 
so many scenes and incidents are represented — 
England and the English preparations for the 
expedition to Orleans, the visions of Joan, while she 
tends her sheep, her interview with Charles VII., 
the relief of Orleans and her triumphant return to 
the city after the victory of Patay — that the staging 
must have cost a very large amount of money. 
And thus, assuming that Gilles de Rais was at least 
largely responsible for its production, one is not 
surprised to find him in financial embarrassment at 
the end of his sojourn on the Loire. 

But before turning to the consequences of his 
prodigality something mu^t be said of a very 
remarkable deed which Jean Caseau and Jean de 
Recouin, sworn notaries of the Chastellets of 
Orleans, prepared for him during his stay in the 
city — that is, soon after his return from the Bour- 
bonnais. The minute of this deed found by 
M. Doinel among Jean de Recouin's papers begins 
as follows : * Saturday, the twenty - sixth day of 
March, 1434 (1435, ^-S-)- Whereas, the noble and 
powerful Lord, Monseigneur Gilles, Lord of Rais, 
Count of Brienne, Lord of Xhamptoc6 and Pou- 



200 BLUEBEARD 

zauges, Marshal of France, did, not long since, for 
the welfare and salvation of his soul, and in order 
that his deceased father, mother, relations, friends 
and benefactors might be held in the memory of 
Our Lord Jesus Christ, make a Foundation in 
memory of the Holy Innocents at the spot called 
Machecoul in Rais, which is in the Duchy of 
Brittany ; and whereas, in this said Foundation, he 
did make and ordain a curate, dean, archdeacon, 
treasurer, canons, chapter and collie, and did order 
and provide revenues and possessions for their live- 
lihood and necessaries, . . . and whereas the said 
Lord did have and still has a full intention and firm 
resolve to maintain the said Foundation, as he has 
shown, and does each day show, by his deeds, now 
he, desiring with all his heart that the said curate, 
dean and chapter shall, after his death, remain in 
good and peaceful possession of the revenues and 
possessions thus assigned to them, and shall be 
preserved and defended from all oppression, hath 
given first the castle and castellany of Champtoc6 
to the King of Sicily and Duke of Anjou^ . . . from 
whom they are held in fief ; and, secondly, one-half 
of all the lordship, barony, and land of Rais to the 
Duke of Brittany,^ in order if Madame Katherine 
de Thouars, wife of the said Monseigneur de Rais, 
or Mademoiselle Marie de Rais, his daughter, 
or any other relatives, friends, heirs, or claimants 
. . . should, by whatever title or manner or for 
whatever cause, deny and prevent the said Founda- 

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GILLES DE RAIS 201 

tion, then that they, the said Lords, the King of 
Sicily and Duke of Anjou, and the Duke of Brit- 
tany, shall help, sustain, and defend the members 
of the said Foundation"^ in order that they may enjoy 
it fully and peaceably/ 

Next the minute confirms the Foundation and 
the gifts, and in addition to the latter conveys to 
Louis d' Anjou and Jean V. all that Gilles has ever 
inherited, or may in the future inherit, from his 
ancestors to the fourth degree, always with the 
proviso that the Princes are to maintain the Foun- 
dation in memory of the Holy Innocents. And if 
they refuse the gifts on those terms, the mainten 
ance of the Foundation is entrusted, on the same 
conditions, to the King of France; if the King 
should refuse, the Emperor (Louis of Bavaria) is 
designated ; if the Emperor will not accept, the 
Pope (Eugenius IV.) is named ; and if, finally, the 
Pope will have nothing to do with the matter, 
the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem and of St. 
Lazarus are chosen, each of those Orders to hold 
half the gifts. Moreover, Gilles urges si desire that 
the Apostolic Chamber will, under penalty of ex- 
communication, compel his heirs to respect this his 
express will. But in the whole document the 
most pregnant words are the first ones, coupled 
with the following passage which enforces and 
amplifies them : ' Considering that neither he 
[Gilles] nor any other human creature can requite 
his Creator for the benefits derived from His 
Grace and benevolence, and that it is a necessary 



202 BLUEBEARD 

thing to acquire an intercessor, by the help of 
whom, one may, in continuation of temporal welfare* 
attain to the glory of spiritual prosperity.' 

Here one may well pause. This Foundation of 
the Holy Innocents sprang from Gilles* desire to 
save his soul. At the first glance there would seem 
to be nothing extraordinary in such a proceeding 
on his part. For many centuries the wealthy and 
the powerful had frequently raised splendid fanes, 
established or endowed abbeys and shrines, in the 
hope of thereby securing admittance to Paradise. 
Each had his or her favourite saint, whose inter- 
cession was relied upon at the hour when the spirit 
would burst its bonds and go to meet its God. 
Gilles, however, chose no particular saint, selected 
none of the great miracle-workers to be found in 
the Breton calendar ; he desired the intercession of 
the Holy Innocents, the little children io inhumanly 
slaughtered by King Herod. They were to pray 
for him, they were to plead for him, whenever 
he might shuffle off this mortal coil. They, in 
their sanctity, were the natural representatives of 
childhood, they typified all the little ones of suc- 
cessive centuries, and if they would only intercede 
for him, then, surely, he would be forgiven and 
saved. 

Forgiven ! What were his crimes then ? What 
particular reason had this bold, spendthrift soldier 
for self-reproach, he who had fought valiantly for 
France, who had stood beside the good and glorious 
Maid in the hour of peril, who had given freely of 



GILLES DE RAIS 203 

his substance both to the state and to the poor? 
He had killed his fellow-man undoubtedly, but in 
batde and for a righteous cause ; responsibility for 
deeds of war cannot have filled his mind with any 
exceeding dread. Was there something else then, 
was he guilty of secret crimes, had he murdered 
outrageously, abominably, had he spilt innocent 
blood in such wise that only the intercession of 
the Holy Innocents, nestling round the throne of 
the Almighty, could possibly save him from the 
damnation of Hell ? Answer, ye dungeons of 
Champtoc6 and Tiflfauges ! Answer, oubliettes of 
Machecoul ! Answer, Signior Prelati, learned 
magister and necromancer, man of the bloody 
sacrifices, intimate with ' Barron ' and Bedzebub ! 
Answer, Etienne Corrillaut, otherwise * Poitou,' 
page and pimp.^ Answer Henriet, chamberlain and 
reader, did you indeed abet your master in the 
perpetration of the foulest crimes ? And answer, 
La MefTraye ! hag with the glowing eyes, the soft 
voice, the fair words, you who with eager steps went 
scouring the roads. What did you seek there? 
Unsuspecting victims ? And answer, mothers of 
Nantes, of Rais, of Anjou, of La Vendue, the 
weeping Rachels of towns and villages, who have 
lost your straying children and will never see them 
more! 

But is it possible? Is this great and gracious 
lord a monster? See how liberal he is, what 
splendid entertainments he provides! He smiles 
right pleasandy as he shakes his fair locks and 



204 BLUEBEARD 

strokes his dark^ perfumed, ' swallow-tailed ' beard, 
which (so tradition has it) assumes, in the sunlight, a 
bluish tinge ! Nor wife nor daughter dwells beside 
him; both are parted from him, have remained in war 
days in seclusion at Machecoul and Champtoc6, then 
at one time have gone to Thouars, and now dwell 
alone in the grim keep of Pouzauges. Does the wife 
know the dread truth ; or is there merely * incom- 
patibility of temperament' between Monseigneur 
Gilles and Dame Katherine? Have they simply 
been married in haste in order to repent at leisure ? 
Such is the outcome of many a mariage de canven-^ 
ance ; and in any case Monseigneur Gilles does not 
appear distressed by the estrangement. Has he not 
mysteries and moralities, farces, morris-dances, and 
minstrelsy to divert him ? Is not the winecup 
always at hand? Is he not ever encompassed by 
mirth and bustle ? Ah I it may indeed be that the 
life of perpetual excitement which he leads, the 
splendour with which he surrounds himself, the 
prodigality which he incessantly displays, are all 
due to the dread of recurring bloody visions — the 
dread, too, of a certain persistent still, small voice, 
whose reproach he would fain escape. 

Yet no ! For if at times he repents, at others he 
sins again, perhaps imagining that he is certain of 
Divine pardon, whatever his misdeeds ; for has he 
not done penance, by establishing right lavishly that 
Foundation of the Holy Innocents; is he not sur- 
rounded by Churchmen, ministers of the Deity, on 
whom he bestows a profusion of the most costly 



GILLES DE RAIS 205 

grifts ; do not his chanters sing the Songs of praise 
with a melodious excellence, unsurpassed by any 
cathedral choir ? And is not the greatest magnifi- 
cence observed at the daily celebration of Mass, 
which he never fails to attend ? Is not the Host 
that is raised before him lodged in a monstrance 
of the most precious metal, flashing with the most 
glorious gems ? Again, did he not devote himself 
to Joan the Maid because she was the envoy of 
heaven ? Ay, he has done a great deal for God 
and for His ministers. He will even dedicate all 
his possessions to their use, thereby disinheriting his 
only child. And thus, no matter how he may sin, 
he will be sure of salvation. After being a prince 
of earth, he will become a prince of heaven, the 
Baron of some celestial Rais, the Marshal of the 
archangels, higher even than Michael himself! 

From what we know of the man, from what we 
can guess of his character, there were hours when 
some such visions must have filled his mind ; though 
at other times his thoughts were undoubtedly very 
different. But if his prodigality and his incessant 
quest of pleasure were inspired by some desire to 
rid himself of the prickings of conscience, they 
ended by placing him in many difficulties. It is 
certain that he had squandered large sums prior to 
his costly journey to Orleans ; and that at its close 
he was on the highroad to beggary, with all sorts 
of litde debts to worry him until he could sell some 
of his estates, on which he had already borrowed 
large sums of money. Perchance he might even 



2o6 BLUEBEARD 

have a difficulty in carrying out his intentions with 
respect to that Foundation of the Holy Innocents 
which was to save his soul ; for he owed money 
upon all sides : * Monseigneur de Rais, Marshal of 
France, confesses that he owes to Jehan de Laon, 
furrier, the sum of sixty-four gold royals and sixteen 
sols parisis. . . .' ' My said Lord of Rais con- 
fesses that he owes to Jacques Bouchier, residing at 
Orleans, the sum of one hundred and ninety golden 
royals, lent to him by the said Jacques Bouchier, 
being a new debt, apart from other sums owing for 
wines and other merchandtse, etc. . . .' That is the 
kind of entry which one finds in the minute-book of 
Jean de Recouin, sworn notary. And copes, and 
baldachins, and chasubles, the long-tailed bay horse, 
the favourite black horse, Cassenoix, and eight 
harness horses, together with the Marshal s splendid 
parchment copy of ' Ovide Metamorphoseos,' covered 
in gilt leather, protected by copper nails, and with 
clasps of silver gilt, and even his * crucifix of wood 
covered with silver gilt, and bearing a figure of 
Christ in massive silver,' are deposited as pledges 
with one and another creditor. At other times, his 
retainer, Guyot de Chambere, or Chambrays, aiti 
Squire Petit Jean offer personal security for money 
owed by the Marshal, notably when Galardon, one 
of the captains of Monseigneur's men-at-arms and 
bowmen, purchases a number of new bows and 
quivers for his troop, and has not received from his 
master the wherewithal to defray their cost. It is 
true that the accommodation granted to the Marshal 



GILLES DE RAIS 207 

is often for a very short time. The bows and 
quivers, for instance, are to be paid for in twelve 
days ; the debt contracted with Bouchier on June 14 
is to be settled on the loth day of July, and so forth ; 
but everything points to embarrassment, following 
unreasonable extravagance, and to distrust, also, on 
the part of merchants and others in that city of 
Orleans where the Marshal de Rais, by reason of 
his connection with the Maid and the relief of the 
city, had some right to expect more confidence. But 
traders, though they are willing to accept the fruits 
of prodigality, often look askance at the simpleton 
whose puree they are draining ; and, remembering 
how freely Gilles had scattered his gold for months 
past, many may well have wondered if he really had 
any belongings left to enable him to pay the debts 
which he now contracted. However, the story of 
his downward course must be told in another 
chapter. 



IV 

1436— 1438 

THE RESULT OF PRODIGALITY — THE SCRAMBLE FOR 

THE RAIS ESTATES 

GiUes anticipates his Income and borrows from Parasites whom 
he has enriched — He lives on Credit, and is at a Loss for a 
Meal — He pledges Books, Candlesticks, Vestments, Baldadiins, 
Bedclothes, and even the Silver Head of St Honors — Nobles, 
Burgesses, and Hinds account him Mad and void of Sense — 
His Parasites raise Money for him and secure Secret Commis- 
sions — He sells many Lordships and Lands — Prosperity of the 
Barony of Rais — Lack of Prosperity in Anjou and Poitou — 
Sales and Purchasers — Jean de Malestroit's Share in ' La Cur^ ' 
— Malestroit's Character — The Bishop of Angers and the 
Chapter of Nantes — Alarm of Gilles' Relatives — Interdict of 
Charles VII. — ^Jean V. scorns the Royal Injunctions, makes 
Gilles Lieutenant-General of Brittany, perjures himself and 
purchases many of the Rais Estates — Some Curious Deeds of 
Defeasance — Gilles' Relatives seize Champtoc^ and Machecoul 
— The Great Alarm of Gilles, Proof of whose Crimes is to be 
found at Champtoc^. 

Prodigality usually, if not invariably, ends in 
disaster. However large might be the fortune of 
Gilles de Rais, much of it was bound to melt away 
in the blaze of incessant extravagance. The raising 
of troops, the maintenance of military and eccle- 



GILLES DE RAIS 209 

siastical households, the lavish hospitality bestowed 
on sycophants, the love of display, the gratification 
of costly passions and whims, the expense attendant 
on frequent journeyings, which Gilles could never 
undertake unless surrounded by the pomp and 
circumstance that properly pertained to royalty — 
all these things helped to drain the purse of the 
premier Baron of Brittany. At an early stage 
Gilles had begun to anticipate his income. He 
could never wait for his revenues to be collected. 
He needed ready money for the satisfaction of his 
cravings and the maintenance of the court around 
him. Thus he borrowed freely, and was fleeced by 
those who accommodated him with cash. For in- 
stance, in return for an immediate loan of a thousand 
crowns, he would assign for two or three years the 
revenues of some estate, yielding almost that 
amount annually — with the result that he ended by 
paying double or treble the sum which had been 
lent to him. The salt marshes of the barony of 
Rais supplied an abundance of salt which in certain 
years he sold for a third of its value. And matters 
were made worse by his generosity to his parasites. 
He would give one a charge on his corn, another a 
charge on his wine, while a third secured for two or 
three years the entire income of some considerable 
property. And curiously enough, Gilles, in the 
course of his downward career, ended by borrowing 
money of the very men whom he had enriched. 

Roger de Bricqueville, his cunning major-domo, 
Gilles de Sill6, his profligate cousin, Petit Jean, his 



2IO BLUEBEARD 

favourite squire, lent him cash, of which they had 
really defrauded him. At other times he obtained 
large sums from Jacques Boucher, or Bouchier, the 
treasurer of the Duchy of Orleans, whom he had 
known since the days of the Relief, when Joan of 
Arc and her brothers had lodged at Boucher s 
house. And whatever money the Marshal bor- 
rowed slipped between his fingers immediately. It 
was squandered on some whim, or distributed as 
largesse to favourites and servants — in such wise 
that Gilles was perpetually buying goods on credit, 
which was duly charged for, so that in the end he 
paid considerably more than the real value of his 
purchases. One not only reads of pieces of cloth, 
pieces of silk, horses, harness, furs, rings and jewels, 
bought in this manner ; but one even finds Gilles 
securing his daily fare on credit, and this although 
his domains yielded corn and wine in plenty, although 
his forests were full of game, although his pasture 
lands were peopled with flocks and herds, and 
although fish could be caught in his rivers as well 
as off the coast of his barony of Rais. And it came 
to pass that this whilom millionaire was occasionally 
at a loss how to procure a meal, ' as, from lack of 
management, nothing had been provided.' Mean- 
time, however, * those who had control of his estates 
lived lavishly, like lords of the highest degree, at the 
cost of the said Messire Gilles.'^ 

A constant source of impoverishment was the 
erratic nature of the Marshal's disposition. He 

^ ' M^moire des H^ritien.' 



GILLES DE RAIS 211 

squandered a large sum on some coveted object ; 
but within a week it had ceased to please him, and 
he either resold it for half, or perhaps a third, of its 
cost, or else gave it as a present to some retainer. 
His lavishness on his travels often placed him in 
great difficulties ; and then, as previously mentioned 
in connection with his sojourn at Orleans, he 
virtually pawned all the precious things which he 
carried with him. Not only were his favourite 
books, his ' Valerius Maximus,' his ' St. Augrustine,' 
and his * Ovid,* deposited as pledges with creditors ; 
but he was at times so seriously embarrassed that he 
left the vestments and ornaments of his travelling 
chapel with money-lenders, merchants, and inn- 
keepers as a guarantee of the payment of some 
loan or account. 

On one occasion we find him pledging some gold 
candlesticks used in the celebration of Mass ; at 
another time he leaves a cope in green damask, a 
silver chain, a damask altar-cloth embroidered with 
gold, and his bed-hangings and sheets — that is, four 
curtains of green silk and two sheets of the same 
material and colour, besides a coverlet of cloth of 
gold — with an innkeeper, to whom he has become 
indebted. Elsewhere he parts with * a cope without 
a cape, another of damask, and a chasuble of black 
satin.' Then we read of *a silver-gilt baldachin, 
figrured with green, and embroidered with gold birds/ 
of 'two chaperons for church copes, embroidere^d, 
one with a Trinity and the other with a Crowning of 
Our Lady '; of a cope of crimson and violet velvet, 

14—2 



212 BLUEBEARD 

of a satin dalmatic ; and even of the silver head of 
St. Honor6 being thus left in pawn. It must be 
admitted that Gilles generally redeemed these 
pledges, though at times long months elapsed before 
he did so. Indeed, his circumstances were becoming 
more and more critical, and to provide for an ex- 
penditure which he never attempted to curtail, he 
began to sell his estates, on which, indeed, he^had 
borrowed money more than once already. 

It was, however, beneath the dignity of the Baron 
de Rais to attend to such matters personally. Some 
retainer always acted for him, even when a petty loan 
was negotiated. And all his friends were eager to 
serve him, being well aware that in any transaction 
conducted on his behalf there would be plenty of 
pickings for themselves. Judging by one of the 
documents connected with the lawsuits which his 
heirs subsequently brought against the Dukes of 
Brittany, it would appear that Gilles was regarded, 
at least in some quarters, as quite a fool in money 
matters as well as a prodigal. * The said Duke 
Jean,' we read, * was well acquainted with the indis- 
cretion, lack of understanding and notorious prodi- 
gality of the late Messire Gilles ; nor could he 
indeed be ignorant of it, for it was notorious in all 
the land and Duchy of Brittany, in Anjou, in 
Poitou, in the city and Duchy of Orleans, as well 
as in divers other lands, cities, towns, and places. 
. . . And it will be proved and demonstrated that 
- . . the said Duke Jean, the late Messire Jean de 
Malestroit, Bishop of Nantes, his Chancellor and prin- 



GILLES DE RAIS 213 

cipal Councillor, Geffroy le Perron, his Treasurer, and 
his other Councillors and Officers, and the nobles, 
burgesses, hinds, and inhabitants of the said Duchy 
of Brittany, did publicly hold and account the said 
late Monseigneur Gilles to be mad and senseless, 
and did mock and laugh together as at the sight 
of a fool, every time that they saw him. . . . Item^ 
they; did know and repeat many times and in many 
places that he was mad, void of sense, and a prodigal, 
wherefore they each sought to acquire whatever 
they desired of his belongings, knowing that they 
could make him accept and pass all such contracts 
as they might please. And [in such matters] no 
sensible and prudent men of the country did ever 
attach any importance to anything that he might do 
or say.'^ 

The fact is that Gilles took no thought of the 
morrow ; he was intent on dissipation, regardless 
of the consequences. He invested several of his 
retainers and parasites with full powers to transact 
business on his account, giving them blank forms 
{blancs-seings), which he duly signed and sealed, and 
which, in the hands of these improvised ag^ents, 
became deeds of sale, mortgages, acknowledgments 
of debts, which subsequently fell heavily, not only on 
himself, but on his heirs, and kept lawyers busy foir 
long years after his death. And the * M^moire * of 
his heirs |ells us that he went even further than this, 
that he actually gave his evil counsellor, Roger de 
Bricqueville, full power to find a husband for, and 
^ ' Intendits des H^tiers de Gilles de Rais.' Archives, Nantes. 



2 14 BLUEBEARD 

many off, his only daughter^ the n^lected Marie de 
Rais. Thus, as Abb6 Bossard remarks, he disposed 
of his flesh and blood, even as he disposed of his 
wealth. 

When Gilles had anticipated his revenues as far as 
was possible, and had parted with a few little estates 
here and there, and a large amount of portable pro- 
perty, the whole with the assistance of his retainers, 
who carried on the work of dilapidation as quietly as 
possible for fear lest Dame Katherine, the Lady of 
Rais, or Messire Ren6, the Marshal's brother, who 
had attached himself to the fortunes of Constable de 
Richemont, should intervene — when he had done all 
this, Gilles, still largely through the medium of his 
servants, disposed of many of his casdes, lordships, 
and lands. In this connection all the authorities 
say that he was generally fleeced by those who 
bought of him. Quite as often, however, he was 
robbed by his intermediaries, unscrupulous men, 
chiefly desirous of securing large secret commis- 
sions for themselves. In any case his necessities 
were often so pressing that he was forced to sell 
at whatever price might be fixed. In fairness, 
one is bound to mention that the Duke of Brittany's 
lawyers subsequently urged that Gilles had not been 
badly treated in certain transactions, for it had been 
found that too high a value had been set on some 
lands, which had failed to produce the, revenue 
ascribed to them by the Marshal or his inter- 
mediaries at the time of sale.^ On the other hand, 
^ ' Ilitendits du Due de Bretagne.* Archives, Nantes. 



GILLES DE RAIS 215 

those particular instances were few, and the number 
of sales effected by Gilles or his representatives was 
enormous. 

Another point worthy of consideration is the 
value of landed property at that particular time. 
There is no reason to suppose that the barony of 
Rais itself was otherwise than prosperous. It had 
escaped the incursions of war ever since the last 
despairing effort of the Penthi^vres (1421). But 
in other regions, where the Marshal had extensive 
property, matters were different. Not many years 
had elapsed since the English had penetrated into 
Anjou, first for their own purposes, and again 
to assist the Duke of Brittany in rescuing his 
Chancellor, Jean de Malestroit, from the hands of 
Alen9on, by whom he had been kidnapped. Alen9on 
was the nephew of Jean V. ; and impoverished by 
a heavy ransom which he had paid the English, 
whose prisoner he had been, he had claimed of 
the Duke certain moneys to which he was entitled 
through his mother. But both the ruler of Brittany 
and his Chancellor remained deaf to these appeals ; 
and Alen9on, in the hope of compelling payment, 
eventually seized Malestroit, one evening, when he 
was crossing a moor near Carquefou, in the vicinity 
of Nantes, and carried him from castle to castle 
until he consigned him to that of Pouanc6 in Anjou. 
Jean V» thereupon appealed for English help. 
Willoughby and Scales promptly marched into 
Anjou, and invested Pouanc6 ; and Alen9on had to 
capitulate, surrender his prisoner, humble himself 



2i6 BLUEBEARD 

in the Cathedral of Nantes, and pay a large 
pecuniary indemnity, instead of receiving the money 
he desired. At the time of this affair — September 
to March, 1431-32 — Gilles de Rais seems to have 
been absent from Brittany. Nevertheless, he may 
have been indirectly concerned in it ; for Alen9on 
was a friend of his, and to effect his purposes with 
Malestroit had freely lodged himself in certain 
of Gilles' lordships, which were overrun by the 
soldiery on either side, and naturally suffered from 
those incursions. 

Again, in Poitou and Saintonge, where Gilles 
also possessed numerous territories, there had been 
trouble ever since La Tr6mouille had attempted to 
seize the viscounty of Thouars (which had passed 
from the family of Gilles* wife to the house of 
Amboise) — an attempt which had led to the 
favourite s overthrow, so far as his presence at Court 
and influence with the King were concerned, but 
which had left him free to pursue his designs of 
aggrandisement and rebellion in Poitou, Saintonge, 
and Aunis. Those regions, therefore, were in a 
state of chronic unrest, which a few years later, at 
the time of the Praguerie revolt (1438-42), became 
intensified. Rival lords — those who upheld the 
royal authority, and those of La Tr6mouille's faction 
— were continually invading one another's domains, 
besieging castles and raiding villages, in such wise 
that this part of France cannot have been in a con- 
dition of normal prosperity. 

Yet, when all is said, it remains certain that 



GILLES DE RAIS 217 

Gilles parted with many of his estates for sums 
which cannot have represented their value. The 
number of sales effected by him was so great that 
even the industrious Abb6 Bossard has recoiled 
from the attempt to prepare anything like a com- 
plete list of them. He tells us, however, that the 
Marshal disposed of the towns and lordships of 
Confolens, Chabanais, Chiteaumorant and Lombert, 
in Poitou, to a certain Gautier de Brussac. Then 
he sold the ' castellany, land, and lordship of 
Fontaine-Milon ' in Anjou to Jean de Marsille for 
the bagatelle of four thousand crowns.^ Again, the 
lands and castles of Blaison and Chemilld, also in 
Anjou, were bought by Guillaume de la Jumelifere, 
Lord of Martign^-Briand, for five thousand crowns, 
and the purchaser, it seems, paid only half of the 
covenanted amount.^ Next the lands and castles 
of La Motte Achard and La Mauri^re — yielding 
twelve hundred livres per annum — were sold to 
Messire Guy de la Roche Guyon, for a sum which- 
Bossard does not specify. Guillaume de Fresni^re 
and Guillemot le Cesne, merchants of Angers, in 
like way bought the lands and lordships of Ambri^res 
and St. Aubin de Fosse- Lau vain, in Maine ; Jean 

^ This sale was impugned by the heirs of Gilles, but was 
upheld by the Courts. It is probable that this Angevin domain 
had suffered by acts of warfare. 

^ This sale was also impugned ' as the act of a spendthrift,' but 
was upheld, perhaps for the same reason as mentioned in the pre- 
vious note. With respect to the figures given above, a thousand 
crowns maybe taken as representing about ^1,800 of our present 
corrency. 



21 8 ^ BLUEBEARD 

de Montecler, one of the captains of GiUes* men- 
of-arms, an adventurer whom he had enriched, pur- 
chased of him, in conjunction with Guillemot le 
Cesne, the lands and lordships of Voulte and 
S6n6ch6 ; Guillaume, an apothecary of Poitiers, 
acquired Le Brueil-Magnon ; while Perrinet Pain, 
a citizen and merchant of Angers, secured various 
charges on the revenues of a number of lordships, 
in return for money lent 

There is reason to suspect that the names of the 
buyers given above were not in some instances 
the names of the real purchasers, but simply those 
of intermediaries, acting more than once on behalf 
of the Duke of Brittany. However, La Tr^mouille, 
the fallen favourite, notorious as a money-lender, 
is found holding an annual charge of twelve hundred 
golden royals on the revenues of Champtoc6, as 
interest for a loan of twelve thousand royals ; and 
there is a further charge on the same estate in 
favour of Jean de Malestroit, the Breton Chancellor 
and Bishop of Nantes. The clergy, indeed, seem 
to have secured a considerable share of Gilles' 
estate, in that eager scramble or curie. Malestroit 
himself purchased the lands and castles of Prign6, 
Vue, Bois-aux-Tr6aux, the parish of Saint Michel- 
S6n6ch6, and many other properties in the barony 
of Rais. But Abb6 Bossard exaggerates matters 
when he asserts that the prelate paid an * enormous * 
sum for those domains ; for on referring to the state- 
ments of the heirs of Rais we find that the pur- 
chase-money paid by the Bishop-Chancellor was 



GILLES DE RMS' 219 

twelve thousand crowns — that is, ^'20,000 of our 
present currency,^ 

The fact is that Abb£ Bossard, anxious for the 
honour of his cloth, paints Jean de Malestroit — 
Gilles' future judge — as a high-souled individual, 
a model of the most perfect integrity, almost too 
good for this mundane sphere ; whereas in matters 
of business he was really quite as grasping as his 
master, the Duke of Brittany. His influence with 
Jean V. was enormous ; it was he who so strenuously 
endeavoured to keep Brittany friendly with England 
through all the years when France was vainly 
begging for Breton help. In his favour it may be 
said that he was simply a man of his times, full of 
the old feudal notions, one who cared nothing what 
might become of France provided Brittany remained 
independent ; and it may be added that in striving 
(though not always successfully) to keep the duchy 
out of the sphere of hostilities, he certainly promoted 
its immediate welfare. But his policy was deficient 
in foresight, and was extremely ungenerous towards 
France ; for if Brittany had steadily co-operated 
with the latter, the close of the English dominion 
might well have been accelerated. Thus, from the 
standpoint of French independence, the influence 
of Malestroit with Jean V. was pernicious ;^ and 
although historians are at variance on the point 

^ This must have been a mere bagatelle to a man accustomed 
to spend quite ;^ 100,000 a year. 

' M. £. Cosneau throws considerable light on Malestroit in 
numerous passages of his exhaustive biography of Richemont. 



220 BLUEBEARD 

whether he was personally bribed to favour the 
English, it is certain that belief in his corruption 
was widespread among his contemporaries. It is 
known, moreover, that he was the bitter foe — 
tennemi achami — of the gallant and tireless Con- 
stable de Richemont ; and one cannot therefore 
accept as genuine the very flattering portrait which 
Abb6 Bossard has drawn of him, on the basis, 
perhaps, of statements to be found in the 'Gallia 
Christiana,'^ which could hardly refer otherwise 
than favourably to one who was a great dignitary 
of the Church as well as a Breton Chancellor. 

One of Malestroit's episcopal colleagues, Hardouin 
de Bueil, Bishop of Angers, secured some of the 
property of Gilles de Rais, giving, indeed, twelve 
thousand crowns for the estate of Grattecuisse, the 
land and lordship of Savenay, and a charge on the 
forest of Broceliande. Then the splendid mansion 
of La Suze was sold with all its appurtenances to 
the Chapter of Our Lady of Nantes,^ while Jean 
Rabuteau, one of the Presidents of the Breton 
Parliament, bought the lordships of Auzence, Clou6, 
and Lignon ; and the Duke of Brittany himself 
entered into direct negotiations for the acquisition 
of Champtoc6, Ingrandes, and other domains. 

But the Marshals family — his wife, his brother, 
his cousins of Laval, and others — had ended by 
hearing of several of the sales which have been 
mentioned. Whatever secrecy may have been 

^ He is there called Jean de Chiteaugiron. 

^ We think Gilles retained a life interest in this house. 



GILLES DE RAIS 221 

observed in those transactions, it was no longer 
possible to conceal them when new owners arose on 
one side and another; and, naturally enough, the 
alarm of the Marshal's relations impelled them to 
seek some means of restraining him from stripping 
himself of any more of his domains — domains which 
in the event of his death would, under ordinary 
circumstances, pass to themselves. At last Dame 
Katherine, Ren6 de La Suze, who was co-operating 
with Richemont in the reduction of Paris,^ and Guy 
de Laval, as senior representative of the house 
whence Gilles himself had sprung, made formal 
complaint to Charles VIL, with the result that 
letters patent were issued by the King in Council 
(Amboise, 1436), setting forth that, having been 
informed of the bad rule and management of the 
Sire de Rais, he thereby forbade him to sell or 
alienate any of his lands, lordships, and revenues. 
Letters were also addressed to the Court of Parlia- 
ment that it might likewise prohibit Gilles, in proper 
judicial form, from selling his property, and others 
from purchasing it. Notification of these royal 
commands was then sent to the various authori- 
ties, by whom the captains and guards of the 
castles still held by the Marshal were forbidden 
to hand those fortresses over to others, until the 
Court of Parliament should have signified its 
decision. 

The prohibitions were made known by the public 
criers d son de trotnpe (a trumpet or horn being 

^ Cosneau, /.^., p. 245. 



222 BLtJE^EARD 

sounded), in the cities of Angers, Orleans, and Blois, 
and at Machecoul, 'which is the principal place in 
the barony of Rais, and that where the Lords of 
Rais are accustomed to hold speech and fix their 
abode/^ Bossard adds that similar proclamations 
were made at Tours, Champtoc6, Pouzauges, Tiff- 
auges, St. Jean d'Angely, and many other places; 
and quotes Desormeaux to the effect that Guy de 
Laval personally notified the prohibitions to his 
father-in-law, Duke Jean V., besides making them 
known to the governors of Gilles' fortresses, and 
particularly to Charles de Layeul, his captain of 
Champ toc6. It is also stated that when a copy 
of the prohibition was affixed to the gate of the 
castle of La Motte Achard, in Poitou, it was carried 
away and delivered to Jean de Malestroit, the 
Duke of Brittany's ' chief councillor, who took it 
and read it in its entirety, and warned the said 
Duke Jean/2 

* This royal interdict,' says Bossard, * interfered 
with the egotistical views of Jean V., the covetous 
(cupide) Duke of Brittany.* But it must be pointed 
out that those views were not absolutely egotistical 
in the strict sense of that word. Jean V. had three 
sons — Francois, his successor, Pierre, and Gilles — 
and he was at that time extremely anxious to con- 
stitute suitable appanages for the two younger men.* 
It was particularly this desire, and not merely a 
sharp man's craving to effect a good bargain with 

1 * Intendits des H6ritiers.' 2 /^^, 

' Cosneau, /x, pp. 270-280. 



GILLES DE RAIS 223 

Gilles de Rais, which prompted the Duke to pur- 
chase some of the latter's domains. At the outset 
of the imbroglio he did not openly disregard the 
injunctions of Charles VII. He sent his son Pierre 
on an embassy to the King, with the object of 
securing authority to enter into contracts with the 
Marshal. But Charles, influenced no doubt by the 
Lavals, by Richemont the Constable, who took the 
part of his Lieutenant, Rend de La Suze, and by 
Frigent de Codtivy, one of the most prominent of 
the royal councillors, who afterwards married the 
Marshal's young daughter, Marie de Rais — whom it 
was already his ambition to wed — refused to comply 
with the request of the Duke of Brittany, who was 
nettled, if not enraged, by that refusal, and at once 
decided on reprisals. 

Jean V., like others of his house, admitted that 
he held Brittany of France, even as he held the 
so-called ' Comt6 de Richemont * — which was really 
the earldom of Richmond in Yorkshire^ — of England ; 
but he contended that he owed only simple homage, 
and not liege homage, to the French King, and that 
he was therefore free to disregard the latter's in- 
junctions, to which he denied all force of law in his 
duchy. Briefly, in spite of all the appeals made to 

^ The grant of this earldom dated from William the Conqueror 
(1067). Since that time it had been confiscated — perhaps more 
than once — and transferred to others ; but the Dukes of Brittany 
had never ceased to claim it and to bear the title, unless, indeed, 
there were two brothers, as in the case of Jean V. and Artus, 
when the elder succeeded to the title of Duke of Brittany, and the 
younger became Count de Richemont. Cosneau, ix. 



224 BLUEBEARD 

him ' by the wife, relations, and friends of Gilles de 
Rais/ he and Malestroit absolutely refused to allow 
the royal interdict to be published in Brittany. And 
in his resentment the Duke went further. Although 
Guy de Laval was his son-in-law, he abruptly de- 
prived him of the Lieutenancy-General of the 
duchy, in punishment for having presumed to notify 
him of the royal letters patent ; and he gave that 
very Lieutenancy to Gilles de Rais! Again, *on 
November 2, 1437,' says Bossard, 'he concluded 
with him a pact of friendship, a fraternity darmes^ 
such as had linked Bertrand du Guesclin to Olivier 
de Clisson/ 

One may here well pause to inquire whether 
Jean V. can possibly have been acquainted at tfiat 
time with the private life of Gilles de Rais, with the 
horrible rumours which must then already have 
begun to circulate among the artisans of the towns 
and the hinds of the villages. Jean V., as will be 
shown almost immediately, was not a man of high 
principles ; yet it is only charitable to assume that, 
at the moment of entering into that solemn pact of 
knightly brotherhood, he must have been absolutely 
ignorant of the secret life of the man to whom he 
pledged himself, whatever he may have thought of 
his vanity, recklessness, and prodigality. In any 
case, the negotiations for the acquisition of Gilles 
property proceeded. The Duke, in point of fact, 
had already purchased several domains either per- 
sonally or through intermediaries, and the better to 
conceal the transactions which he now meditated he 



GILLES DE RAIS 225 

did not scruple to write and speak untruly. He 
gave Rend, now Duke of Anjou and King of Sicily, 
a signed and sealed promise that he would buy no 
domain of the Marshal's in Anjou, and, what was 
more serious on the part of a professed Christian, in 
order to quiet Ren6 de La Suze and the Lavals, he 
took an oath in church, on the body of the Redeemer, 
that he would never, under any circumstances, pur- 
chase Champtocd and Ingrandes. Yet, in spite of 
those solemn promises, he acquired the title to both 
domains early in 1438. Bossard tells us that there 
were two charges upon the revenues of the estates 
—one of a hundred livres a year belonging to Rend 
de La Suze, and another of nine hundred standing 
in the name of Perrinet Pain of Angers — who may 
merely have been the agent of La Tr^mouille or of 
Malestroit, both of whom had previously held charges 
on Champtocd. There is nothing to show that they 
had ever been repaid, though Malestroit*s claim may 
have been met when other lands were sold to him. 
Jean V. acquired the estates ' with all that belonged 
to the Sire de Rais, within the line of the river 
Mayenne ' for ' one hundred thousand old gold 
crowns ' — at least ;^ 180, 000 — and to provide for the 
charges or mortgages it was stipulated that the 
Duke should also receive the domains of Prin9ay, 
Bourgneuf and La Benate, a sum of one hundred 
livres a year from the revenue of Machecoul and a 
part of the isle of Bouin, Soch6 and Les Jamonnidres, 
all in the barony of Rais. Further, with Champtocd 
and Ingrandes went the tolls on the Loire of one 

15 



226 BLUEBEARD 

jalaye out of every queu^ of wine conveyed up or 
down the river. But this matter led to interminable 
and costly proceedings before the Parliament of 
Paris after the death of Gilles de Rais, who left his 
heirs a series of lawsuits by the side of which 
Dickens' famous case of Jamdyce v. Jarndyce would 
seem a bagatelle. 

In connection with the sale of Champtoc6 and 
Ingrandes, Abb6 Bossard quotes three deeds of 
defeasance (cantre-lettres) given on January 22, 
1438, by Jean V. to Gilles, and now preserved in 
the Archives of Nantes. In the first deed the Duke 
agrees to restore Champtoc6 to the Marshal in a 
delay of three years ; declares that the castellanies 
of Bourgneuf and La Benate are already restored to 
him ; but reserves to himself a thousand livres a 
year in exchange for the castellanies of La Motte- 
Achard, La Mauri^re and Les Chines should Gilles 
desire their restitution.^ In the second deed the 
Duke and his son Pierre covenant that, if the 
Marshal restores those estates to them, the time that 
elapses shall not be counted in the term granted 
for their redemption. Finally, in the third deed, 

^ The qtietu contained about 80 imperial gallons. Thejaiaye 
oxjaille seems to have been identical with the old French gallon 
of ' two pots.' As a rule, however, tolls of thb kind were, for 
convenience, paid in money. 

* It was mentioned previously (p. 217) that La Motte-Achard, 
and La Mauri^re had been sold to a Sire de la Roche Guyon. 
Perhaps, however, that sale was annulled in consequence of 
Charles VIL's prohibition ; or La Roche Guyon may have trans- 
ferred the property to the Duke of Brittany. 



GILLES DE RAIS 227 

Jean V. grants Gilles the faculty of repurchasing 
the domains of Champtoc6» Ingrandes, Bourgneuf, La 
Benate and Prin9ay within a delay of six years for 
the sum of one hundred thousand crowns. Perhaps 
the various redemption clauses figuring in these 
deeds were inserted chiefly in order to make it 
appear that the Duke had not taken a false oath in 
swearing that he would never buy the Marshal's 
estates. As there was power of redemption, there 
was no absolute purchase on his part, and thus he 
could, if necessary, plead that he had not perjured 
himself. In other respects the first two deeds are 
somewhat obscure ; they may indicate that Gilles 
wished to repurchase portions of his property while 
he sold others, or that certain modifications in the 
original contract had become advisable. It is certain 
that the Duke only handed over a portion of the 
covenanted price in 1438, for we have a receipt for 
a large sum paid on account of Champtoc6 in May, 
1439. We know also that Gilles, in the spring of 
the former year, ended by accepting the third deed 
of defeasance, which granted him a delay of six years 
to recover the property of which he was stripping 
himself. The Duke of Brittany, as Abb6 Bossard 
points out, can have had no fear of repayment occur- 
ring, for he knew that the Marshal was sinking deeper 
and deeper into difficulties. But Gilles was doubtless 
all hopefulness, for, renouncing the substance for the 
shadow, was he not prosecuting with every prospect 
of success in his laboratory of Tiffauges the wondrous 
task of making gold and silver by the aid of all the 

15—2 



228 BLUEBEARD 

arts of alchemy ? And whatever might be his 
present difficulties, would he not soon be as wealthy 
as he had ever been — wealthy, indeed, beyond all 
the dreams either of avarice or of prodigality ? 

But all at once consternation fell upon him. His 
brother and his cousins, who had doubtless heard of 
what was brewing (there may well have been traitors 
among the Marshal's unscrupulous henchmen), re- 
solved to oppose cunning by force of arms. They 
threw themselves into Champtoc^, Machecoul and a 
few other places among those still held by Gilles, 
and the only course then open to him was to band 
his own men together and drive out the intruders. 
For, on the one hand, no more money to relieve his 
present necessities could be expected from the Duke 
of Brittany until he handed Champtoc^ over to him ; 
and, on the other, that castle must not be left long 
in the hands of his relatives, for dreadful deeds had 
been done in it, and horrible proofs of those deeds 
might be discovered if he did not promptly repossess 
himself of the invaded stronghold. He deemed 
himself fortunate, no doubt, in having succeeded in 
destroying similar proofs of crime at Machecoul — 
impelled thereto by some presentiment, or some 
warning that he might soon have trouble with his 
relatives. But he had lacked the time to act in a 
similar manner at Champtoc6, and, liowever much 
he relied on his name and position, the thought of 
what might be found there must have alarmed him. 

It will soon be necessary to draw aside the veil 
of gprgeousness, prodigality, culture, valour, and 



GILLES DE RAIS 2^9 

even charity, which hid the real Gilles de Rais from 
the eyes of the world. But one must do so cautiously 
and gradually, with a proper sense of one's responsi- 
bility, for the crimes of Gilles were crimes such as 
shock the conscience, crimes from the consideration 
of which even the historical student recoils with 
dismay and horror. And they become the more awful 
when one reflects that they were perpetrated by no 
wretched outcast, no wild man of the woods, no 
untutored savage scarce emerging from animality 
and possessed of instinct rather than intelligence ; 
but were the deeds of one endowed with every 
earthly advantage, robust health, a commanding 
figure, an engaging countenance, a ready wit, an 
education liberal for the times, a great fortune, a 
large share of power and authority, a lofty name, 
a distinguished record for valour and military skill. 
Many, as the writer unfolds the story, so far as it may 
be unfolded, will probably regard this high and power- 
ful Lord, this Marshal of France, this premier Baron 
and Lieutenant-General of Brittany, as demented, 
but it is best to reserve all opinion till the end. 
Before dealing, however, with his actual crimes, 
one must refer to his passion for alchemy and his 
belief in sorcery : two crazes of his period which 
he fervently shared, and the consideration of which 
will throw some light upon his real character. 






1426—1440 

THE GREAT FORTRESS OF TIFFAUGES — ^ALCHEMY 

AND MAGIC 

The Favourite Residence of Gilles de Rais— The *Teffalian 
Scythians ' — ^The Pleasure-house, Crypt, K6ep, and Towers of 
Tiffauges — Pouzauges and its Fierce Black Castle — Alchemy, 
the Laws and the Church — Gilles seeks the Philosopher's Stone 
— A Charlatan of Angers gets Drunk on his Money — His 
Alchemists — The Wondrous Powers he demands — The 

• Dauphin intrudes on his £xperiment9— From Alchemy to 
Magic — Giac and his Right Hand — Alen9on and his Herb 
to wither the King — How Jean I'Anglais tried to raise the 
Devil, and how Gilles got very Wet — The Devil appears as a 
leopard — Beelzebub considers Gilles too Religious — How the 
Devil beat a Necromancer and raised a Great Bump on his 
Forehead — The Compacts with the Devil which Gilles signed 
with his Blood — His Horrible Promises to the Fiend and his 
Abominable Cruelty and Wickedness. 

The castle of Tiffauges, the favourite residence of 
Gilles de Rais, formed part of the dowry brought 
him by his wife, Katherine de Thouars. For several 
centuries it was one of the most formidable fortresses 
of the north-western district of Poitou ; and it is not 
surprising, therefore, that Richelieu should have 
refused to spare it when he took upon himself the 



GILLES DE RAIS 231 

great experiment of suppressing feudality and raising 
in its place that absolute monarchy, which he deemed 
essential for France, but which did not really flourish 
till nearly a score of years after his death, and which 
collapsed, in blood and mire, in less than a century 
and a half. Dismantled by the orders of the power- 
ful Cardinal, Tiffauges is now a place of ruins, which 
may be visited by alighting at the station of Torfou, 
on the railway-line from Nantes to Cholet A walk 
of less than two miles, along a road skirting a forest 
abounding in oak-trees, brings one to the once 
fortified bourg of Tiflfauges, through which one may 
make one's way to the castle, unless one should 
prefer to take a path following the bank of the 
little river Crdme, near the point where it falls into 
the S^vre, a tributary of the Loire. In former times 
those watercourses — the Criime and the Sfevre — 
largely defended the castle, whose triple enceinte of 
great walls and proud towers, all of glistening 
granite, rose in formidable splendour above the 
narrow valleys through which the rivers take their 
course., 

Tiffauges was originally a Roman castrum, raised, 
it is said, by Agrippa, and deriving its name from 
certain inhabitants of the region, a tribe of bar- 
barians distinct from the ordinary Gallic race. 
According to Marcellinus Ammianus and Sidonius — 
fourth and fifth century writers — these 'Teffaliao 
Scythians,' as they were called, were folk of great 
ferocity and gigantic stature, averaging a height of 
seven feet— a statement which, in some measure, has 



232 BLUEBEARD 

been corroborated by the discovery in modem times 
of various large skulls and bones. ^ It is said that a 
community of these ' barbarians ' subsisted until the 
eleventh century on the confines of Aunis and 
Poitou, dwelling there in a state of comparative 
isolation, feared as they were by their neighbours. 
Those of Tiffauges and its vicinity, however, mingled 
with the Gallo- Romans at an earlier date ; but the 
inhabitants of the district still have a reputation for 
exceptional stature and sturdiness. 

Agrippa's castrum was taken by both the Bretons 
and the Normans in the ninth century ; but it was 
never entirely destroyed. It had become a feudal 
castle already in the eleventh century ; and at the 
end of the twelfth or early in the thirteenth — that is, 
during the Philip Augustus and St. Louis period — 
a great fortress was wrought of the old remains and 
of the granite abounding in the valley of the S^vre. 
In the time of Gilles de Rais, the buildings^ to 
which frequent additions had been made by their 
possessors, the Viscounts of Thouars, were of great 
extent, and the fortifications embraced such a lai^e 
expanse that within their limits there nowadays 
appears a farm-house with garden, orchard, meadows, 
and plough-land. Amidst the latter one finds the 
remains of a large pleasure-house which faced the 
south, and overlooked the valley of the S^vre, shady 
with oaks and alders. This pleasure-house was 
finally wrecked, it seems, at the time of the War of 

^ It is possible that these people were simply the descendants 
of some Roman auxiliaries stationed in the region of TifEuiges. 






• • t • • 



GILLES DE RAIS 233 

La Vendue. Portions of the portico and of the 
choir of a chapel — dedicated to St. Vincent — still 
exist, covered with ivy and carpeted with brambles ; 
and an aperture offers access to a crypt, which 
dates from the eleventh century. But of recent 
years the descent has become dangerous by reason 
of the frequent subsidence of the soil, which is 
gradually filling the crypt, in some parts rising 
almost to the capitals of the columns, which are 
some twenty in number. 

The fortress proper was separated from the 
pleasure-house, and its numerous attendant piles 
for the accommodation of the Marshal's household 
by a moat spanned by a drawbridge, which rested 
on a granite column planted in the water. A large 
pait of the keep^built, it would seem, in St. Louis' 
time — has fallen, forming as it were a hill of granite ; 
but a few fine halls, and winding stairways, leading 
simply into space, may still be seen. On one side 
of the keep is the site of the court of honour, the 
entry of which was formerly commanded by a 
massive porticuUised gateway. Huge towers over- 
looked the Criime and the S^vre, and two of these 
are still in a fair state of preservation. In the larger 
one will be found a stone staircase, the pivot of 
which is hollow, having been made thus in order 
that it might serve as a speaking-tube for the trans- 
mission of orders. At the entry of the guard-room 
there appears a kind of sentry-box, fashioned in the 
wall ; at its far end is a huge fireplace. Then, 
encompassing the guard-room, there is a vaulted 



234 BLUEBEARD 

ciemin de ramde, which nobody can enter, however 
softly, without beii^ heard. A word whispered at 
one end of it is re-echoed aloud at the other. In 
another chamber of the same tower — ^a dark, cold 
room — there is an opening conducting to some 
onblUttes^ into which* more than once, imprudent 
tourists have fallen. Quaint little cells or cabinets^ 
whose vaulted roofs are curiously ribbed and 
decorated with broken escutcheons, adjoin the 
chambers of this large tower, which on the side 
facing the castle grounds has some lofty windows. 

The highest chamber of all is said to have been 
frequently occupied by Gilles de Rais, and when he 
slept in it, the watch on the platform of the tower 
was often horrified by unearthly groans. But it was 
in the upper chamber of the smaller tower that 
Gilles installed his laboratory and practised alchemy 
with the assistance of various charlatans. This 
smaller tower, like the larger one, contains a guard- 
room, on the left of which is a little cell where at 
the utmost only two or three prisoners could be 
lodged. An opening, about two feet square, in the 
stone flooring affords access, however, to an under- 
ground cellar, or perhaps dungeon, large enough 
for a score of captives. And the guard-room of this 
smaller tower, like that of the large one, is encom- 
passed by a chemin de ronde, where, again, every 
word that is whispered is re-echoed aloud in the 
most startling fashion. The walls verily had ears in 
the castles of Gilles de Rais. 

Many fallen portions of the fortress have doubtless 



GILLES DE RAIS 235 

been carried away for building purposes; others 
have formed hillocks over which time has cast a 
layer of soil and a plentiful growth of briars and 
nettles. Yet enough remains standing to give one 
an idea of the great fastness as it was in former times, 
with its triple belt of ramparts, its huge towers, its 
belfry-like keep, its fish-pond or vivter^ its moats 
into which the waters of the Crflme and the S^vre 
were turned at will, its great court of honour, its 
lordly pleasure-house and gardens, its chapel and 
chapter-house, its dozen buildings for retainers and 
servants, in such wise that, quite s^art from the 
dourg at its feet, it was of itself a fortified town where 
the Marshal de Rais reigned and ruled in all 
sovereignty over his priests, deacons and chanters, 
his chamberlains, valets and pages, his knights, 
archers and men of arms, and all his other retainers, 
vassals and servants.^ 

Tiffauges is perhaps fifteen miles from the limits 
of the barony of Rais, and thirty from Machecoul, 
the barony's chief place. Rather more than twenty 
miles on the south-east, but still within the limits of 
the modern department of La Vendue — as in the case 
of Tiffauges itself — is Pouzauges, where for some 
years the Marshal's wife dwelt with her daughter 
Marie« The castle, like the bourg, stands on the 
side of a hill crowned by a wood called the Bois de 

^ The ruins are now the property of the Marquis de Couboureau. 
The farmer, established in the centre of the fortified space, gives 
permission to visit the estate. Many of the remaining fragments 
of the castle are now in a dangerous state of collapse, and lights 
are essential for purposes of exploration. 



236 BLUEBEARD 

la Folic, and from the summit of the height — more 
than 900 feet above the sea-level — the eye may roam 
over the undulating plain and leafy bocage of La 
Vendue, explore the northern horizon for the towers of 
St. Pierre of Nantes, and gaze southward and east- 
ward at the restless sea forty and fifty miles away. 
The fierce black keep of Pouzauges is square, each 
face, about sixty feet in width, being flanked by towers, 
and around it are the remnants of a rampart among 
which a dozen other towers may be distinguished. 
One of them, called the Tower of Brittany, and 
probably dating from the fifteenth century, is said to 
have been erected by Gilles de Rais ; but although 
he occasionally tame to Pouzauges in the earlier 
years of his married life, it is virtually certain that he 
never visited the spot after his estrangement from 
Katherine. Thus the occasional references to 
Pouzauges which are to be found in some of the 
records of his trial may be regarded as the errors of 
a scribe who ought to have written Tiffauges.^ 

It was principally at the last-named castle, and at 
that of Machecoul, of which some account will be 
given a little later, that Gilles de Rais sought to 
restore his fortunes, first by means of alchemy, and 
secondly by the practice of the black art Alchemy 
counted many disciples in the time of Gilles. The 

^ The references to Pouzauges occur notably in the Latin 
records of the ecclesiastical proceedings. On turning to those of 
the civil trial, which are in French, one finds Tifiauges speci6ed ; 
and from all that is known of the Marshal's career it is certain 
that the latter is correct 



GILLES DE RAIS 237 

vulgar still deemed each and every student of science 
to be a wizard. Perhaps the prejudice was a trifle 
less universal than it had been in the days of Roger 
Bacon and Albertus Magnus, or even in those of 
Raymond LuUy. But, on the other hand, two 
centuries were destined to elapse before a writer like 
Naud6 could venture, with a due regard for his 
personal safety, to issue, urbi et orbi, such a book 
as the • Apology for the Great Men who have been 
suspected of Magic' 

In 131 7 Pope John XXII. had launched a Bull 
against the alchemists and their science ; half a 
century later Charles V. of France had issued an 
edict, followed by others. The chief point which 
troubled the Church, from whose ranks the alchemists 
were largely recruited, was the suspected alliance 
between the science and necromancy, which alliance 
— as the case of Gilles de Rais will show — was more 
real than might be supposed. That is to say, apart 
from the genuine enthusiasts, the men who prose- 
cuted their search for the philosopher's stone, the 
elixir of life, the universal panacea, in all good faith, 
and, incidentally, made valuable scientific discoveries, 
there were many others who were mere impostors, 
who practised alchemy as rogues practise robbery, 
and who claimed that, in addition to their knowledge 
of chemical science, they had acquired the power to 
work spells, raise the Devil, and procure favours 
from him. 

Into the hands of such men as these fell Gilles de 
Rais, whose interest in alchemy was first aroused, it 



'''^ 



238 BLUEBEARD 

is said, by a book which he found in the possession of 
a soldier who had been arrested for heresy, and im- 
prisoned in the castle of Angers. This book treated 
both of alchemy and of the raising of devils ; and, 
according to the Marshal's own account,^ he restored 
it to the prisoner, after perusing it. It is not known 
at what date this incident occurred. In the records 
of the Marshal's trial one finds it stated that he first 
dabbled in alchemy and necromancy about the year 
1426; but all the incidents mentioned in evidence 
are of a later date, and there is reason to suppose 
that he was unable to give any great attention to 
such matters until after his campaign with Joan of 
Arc, and after the death in 1432 of his grandfather, 
Jean de Craon. Wealthy as he then was, curiosity, 
rather than a desire to enrich himself, must first 
have attracted him towards the science of the 
alchemists. But when prodigality had emptied his 
coffers he turned to the search for the philosopher s 
stone, and to all the usual attempts to transmute the 
baser metals into gold, as to the very best means of 
replenishing his purse. 

Among the members of his ecclesiastical house- 
hold figured a certain priest, Eustache Blanchet, 
born at Montauban de Bretagne, in the Diocese of 
St. Malo, in or about 1400. Abb6 Bossard regards 
Blanchet as having been the least guilty of all the 
Marshal's retainers. But the only proofs of his 
innocence are his own statements made in the 

^ Trial : Ecclesiastical Proceedings. R. de Maulde's transcript 
of the Latin text in Bossard, p. xxxiiL 



GILLES DE RAIS 239 

course of the Marshal's trial, when he naturally 
strove to avoid incriminating himself. It was at 
least shown that for several years he had been in 
the habit of procuring alchemists and necromancers 
for his patron, on one occasion carrying his search 
into Italy, where the most skilful masters of magic 
were then found. At other times he had recruited 
such men at Poitiers ; it is from him that we learn 
how at some uncertain date, when Gilles was staying 
at the sign of the Silver Lion at Angers (perhaps it 
was the very time when the book was borrowed 
from the imprisoned soldier), something was said of 
a goldsmith of the city, renowned for his skill in 
alchemy. Blanchet brought this man to Gilles, who, 
after listening to his boasts, gave him a mark of 
silver, bade him exercise his talents on it, and 
locked him in a room of the hostelry. But the gold- 
smith, who was an impostor and a drunkard to boot, 
found a means of procuring a plentiful supply of 
wine — perhaps by way of the window of his room — 
became thoroughly intoxicated, and fell asleep. 
When the Marshal went to ascertain what the 
man had done, and found him lying on the floor, 
he angrily threw him out of the house, shouting : 
* Get thee gone, drunkard ! get thee gone, fool ! go 
and get thyself hanged elsewhere !* 

One might have thought that this experience 
would have enlightened Gilles with respect to the 
boasts of alchemists ; but his passion for the science 
became more intense, increased, no doubt, by a 
desire to recover his squandered wealth. A labora- 



240 BLUEBEARD 

tory was fitted up at Tiffauges, and for several years 
the most costly experiments were carried on there. 
For a long time the chief alchemist in Gilles' 
employ appears to have been a certain Master 
Antonio di Palerna,^ who is also described as a clerk 
and a member of the Marshal's chantry. Besides 
this man there was Jean Petit, the Parisian gold- 
smith attached to his house, together with an indi- 
vidual who is sometimes called Jean de la Rivi^re,^ 
and at others Jean TAnglais, some authorities 
assuming that he was a Picard previously in the 
English service, and others that he was really an 
Englishman, in which case his name would have 
been perhaps John Rivers. He had come from 
Guienne to Poitiers, where Blanchet appears to have 
recruited his services. Then there was a certain 
Du Mesnil, described as the Marshal's trumpeter, 
who likewise dabbled in alchemy,* and one may be 
quite sure that Gilles' boon companions, Sill4 his 

^ In the province of Chieti, kingdom of Naples, according to 
Maulde. 

^ ' Johannes de Riparia ' in the Latin documents. 

^ Abb^ Bossard, misreading one of the Latin texts, also men- 
tions, among the alchemists employed by Gilles, a certain Francois 
Lombard ; but the reference is really to Francesco Prelati, of 
whom an account will be given hereafter. Although this Prelati 
was a Tuscan, and his colleague Palema a Neapolitan, they are 
both frequently called Lombards in the procedure against Gilles de 
Rais. In one document, too, the city of Florence is said to be in 
Lombardy ; after which it is a trifling matter to find witnesses 
giving the name of ' the Lombardian Marquis ' to Lenano di Ceva 
(another character in the Rais tragedy), who was really a Pied- 
montese. These instances show that the Bretons of the fifteenth 
century still generally regarded all Italians as Lombards. 



GILLES DE RAIS 241 

cousin, and Roger de Bricqueville, his major-domo, 
had a hand in these operations, which, whether they 
enriched their patron or not, might in one way or 
another yield considerable profit to themselves. 

Gilles subsequently admitted that the number of 
alchemists and necromancers employed by him was 
so large that he could not possibly recall their 
names. That he was more or less fooled by all of 
them is certain. Several of the tricks employed by 
the impostors who feigned ability to turn the baser 
metals into gold or silver are known. Crucibles with 
false bottoms beneath which gold was secreted were 
occasionally used. At other times the charlatan, 
making a hole in a piece of charcoal, filled it with 
oxide of gold or silver and stopped the hole with 
wax. Again, he stirred the mixture in his crucible 
with a hollow rod containing oxide of one or the 
other precious metal, thereby introducing it into the 
operation which he pretended to perform. Solutions 
of silver in nitric acid, of gold in aqua regia, and 
of amalgam of gold or silver, were also cunningly 
employed. Simple-minded patrons were deceived 
and inspired with confidence by spurious experiments 
with nails made half of iron and half of gold, the 
latter being covered with something to conceal its 
colour; or else metallic rods, half gold and half 
silver, were employed, the gold being whitened with 
mercury, which was dissipated in the transmuting 
liquid, with the result that the gold appeared, and the 
dupe, in his delight, imagined that half the rod had 
been converted into the more valuable metal. 

16 



242 BLUEBEARD 

Gilles no doubt was occasionally the victim of one 
or another of these tricks. None the less he perse- 
vered with his costly experiments, spending all the 
money he could get together on his alchemists and 
necromancers, in the frenzied belief that he would 
at last attain, by means of the much-coveted philo- 
sopher's stone, the elixir vita, the universal solvent, 
to enormous wealth and supreme power. Of 
alchemy and magic he asked science, wealth 'and 
the marvellous power of being able to cast down, as 
his fancy might dictate, the fortresses and cities 
which were the best defended by art and nature, 
without any ever being able to prevail against him/^ 

This need occasion no surprise ; the reader has 
only to remember the intercourse of Gilles with Joan 
of Arc, an intercourse which had certainly intensified 
his belief in the supernatural. Like others, he was 
of opinion that Joan's exploits were not her own ; 
that they were the acts of a superior power — a power 
which had continued working even since her time ; 
for, otherwise, how could one explain the numerous 
successes now achieved by the French in their 
struggle with the English, after years and years of 
repeated reverses } Either God or the devil — at all 
events some supernatural agency — had come to the 
help of Charles VII. and his commanders. This, 
indeed, is how Gilles de Rais must have reasoned, 
even as thousands reasoned in those days. But if 
a supernatural power helped the King in his neces- 

^ Ecclesiastical Proceedings : Indictment and Blanchef s con- 
fession. 



GILLES DE RAIS 243 

sky, why should it not also help the Baron of Rais, 
who, in his turn, was reduced to sore straits ? There 
must be a means of securing that power's assistance, 
and no effort to discover that means should be left 
untried. He, Gilles, must acquire supreme know- 
ledge, supreme wealth, supreme power, in such wise 
that his word would be law, that the very towers 
and ramparts of fortresses would fall at his bidding 
even as the walls of Jericho fell at the sound of 
Joshua's trumpets. 

There were hours when Gilles still believed that 
mere alchemy — the discovery of the philosopher's 
stone — would invest him with the attributes of a goA 
On one occasion, as he himself afterwards related in 
his confession, the experiments at Tiffauges were 
proving so successful that he was transported with 
delight. But all at once a servant came to the 
door of the laboratory with the tidings that Monseig- 
neur the Dauphin was waiting without and craved 
admittance. We can picture Gilles clenching his 
fists and cursing his illustrious visitor. He was in 
despair, as he subsequently acknowledged. There 
were laws against alchemy, even though they were 
seldom put in force ; and in any case he did not 
wish the Dauphin to become acquainted with his 
secrets. By his orders the crucibles were over- 
turned, the furnaces extinguished, the appliances 
shattered, while he went forth with feigned delight 
to greet the heir of France. 

No previous writer on Gilles de Rais has offered 
any acceptable suggestion as to the date of this visit 

I 



244 BLUEBEARD 

Some think that it must have taken place at a 
comparatively early period of the Marshal's career ; 
they forget, however, that the Dauphin (afterwards 
Louis XI.) was bom as late as 1422, and that there 
is no record of any journey made by him (unless it 
were with the Court of his father) — sl journey, too, 
which would bring him within easy distance of 
Tiffauges, until December, 1439. In the previous 
month, as a result of all the deeds of rapine com- 
mitted by armed bands in various parts of France, 
Charles VII. had issued an edict assigning grarrison 
posts to those troops who held the royal commis- 
sion, and forbidding nobles and captains to maintain 
military forces of their own. This edict had been 
set at defiance, however, by several prominent men, 
particularly in Poitou, where the ex-favourite, George 
de la Tr6mouille, his nephew, Jacques, Sire de Pons, 
Guy de La Rochefoucauld, and several other nobles, 
openly practised brigandage. The young Dauphin, 
then seventeen years of age, was sent to pacify 
the province ; but the Duke of Alenqon and the 
Seneschal of Poitou, who had been gained over to 
the malcontents, prevailed on the prince to side with 
them and throw off the paternal authority. Thence 
sprang the rebellion known historically as La 
Praguerie, and it seems to us that the Dauphin's 
unexpected visit to Tiffauges must have taken place 
at the end of 1439 or very early in 1440. And it 
may well be that the object of the Dauphin's visit 
was to win Gilles over to the cause of the rebellion. 
But the Marshal was now Lieutenant-General of 



GILLES DE RAIS 245 

Brittany, and, moreover, his personal affairs absorbed 
his attention. Thus whatever appeals may have 
been made to him it may be regarded as certain 
that he took no part in the revolt against the 
authority of Charles VII. 

This digression has led us to anticipate events, 
and we must now refer to incidents which appear 
to have taken place at a somewhat earlier period, 
though, indeed, it is extremely difficult to assign a 
date to many of the strange experiences and abomi- 
nable deeds which are ascribed to Gilles de Rais. 
It is impossible even to say that as alchemy led to 
magic, so magic led to crime, which is largely the 
opinion of Abb6 Bossard, and which is, indeed, a view 
commending itself to logicians. Everything tends 
to show, however, that crime — horrible crime — had 
sullied Gilles' life at an early stage, that his estrange- 
ment from his wife may have been due to it, and 
that the crime, once practised, never ceased until he 
was arrested. At first it had no connection whatever 
with alchemy, but when magic came in the train 
of alchemy crime was imported into it, becoming, 
indeed, one of its essential elements. 

Although the Marshal s attempts to make gold 
were pursued to the end of his career, his repeated 
failures naturally brought moments of despondency, 
when, finding that he could not produce the precious 
metal by scientific means, he bethought him of the 
Devil. It was then the common belief that Satan 
had it m his power to enrich mankind, and so why 
should he not be summoned and asked for some 



246 BLUEBEARD 

bestowal of his gifts ? Excepting only his own life 
and his own soul, Gilles was ready to gpive the fiend 
whatever he might desire in return for wealth and 
power and science. Thus the Marshal studied the 
Black Art in the books he possessed, and consulted 
his alchemists, who all replied to him that it was 
indeed possible to raise the Devil. Gilles, himself, 
doubtless remembered that Giac, the favourite of 
Charles VII., put to death by Richemont, had 
carried on dealings with the Fiend, to whom he had 
sold his right hand, which he begged to have struck 
off at the moment of his execution.^ Perhaps, 
also, the Marshal was acquainted with the friendship 
which was said to exist between the Evil Spirit 
and the Duke of Alen^on, though the latter 
dabbled in magic principally with the object of dis- 
covering some potent love-charm — declared by his 
enemies to be really a poisonous herb, which he 
desired to put into the King's bed and thereby 
wither him. It is true that Alen9on never dis- 
covered the charm or the herb, whichever it was, in 
spite of all the science of his private necromancer, 
Messire Michel Bars, who not only described him- 
self as a physician, astrologer, and master of magic, 
but was also a monk, and had acted for some years 
as provost of the abbey of Wastines, near Bruges. 
However, Alen9on's failure was no proof that 
Gilles would fail, and in any case it was decided by 

^ His idea was that if his hand were struck off before he died, 
the Devil would only secure that portion of his body ; whereas, if 
he retained his hand, the Devil on seizing it would drag him to 
hell in his entirety. 



GILLES DE RAIS 247 

the Marshal and his henchmen that they would 
summon the Devil. 

One of the first to make the attempt appears to have 
been La Riviere or Rivers — the Picard or English- 
man, who one may hope was really of the former 
nationality. First of all, this rascal told Gilles that 
he must have a cedula or promissory note for Satan ; 
and the document was written out * in certain ink/ 
which he, ' L'Anglais,'^ had prepared. Then he 
pinched and pressed the little finger of the Marshal's 
left hand, drew blood from it, and made him sign 
the script with this blood. The attempt to raise the 
Fiend duly followed, in a field in the vicinity of 
Machecoul, near an inn whose sign was L Espdrance 
(* Hope ') and a cottage where resided ^Jille cC amour, 
known as La Picarde. Gilles was present with his 
valet, ntienne Corrillaut, alias Poitou, and a certain 
Guillaume Crevais. A magic circle was formed, 
dry flax and holly leaves being strewn around it. 
But, so far as the Marshal was concerned, the invo- 
cations yielded no result, save that * Monseigneur 
felt as wet as if he had fallen into the river, and yet 
it was not then raining.'^ However, Maltre Jean, 
the necromancer, stepped by mistake out of the 
circle, and was thereupon beaten, scratched, and 
tormented * by certain little imps,' which he told his 
companions belonged *to the retinue of the great 
Devil of Hell.' The result was even worse when 

^ Civil Proceedings : Poitou's evidence. 
* Rais was brave, but very superstitious ; and the wet to which 
Poitou refers may well have been perspiration induced by dread. 



248 BLUEBEARD 

La Riviere returned alone to the spot another night, 
for he came back to Machecoul, according to the 
Marshal's valet, in such an injured state that he 
could hardly speak or walk. Poitou was of opinion 
that * Jean T Anglais ' did not know his business ; 
but La Picarde, who had watched his incantations 
from her cottage, openly declared that he only 
feigned injury, and that ' the most cunning of all the 
devils was certainly in his own skin/ 

Disappointed as Gilles might be by the failure of 
Jean de La Riviere s first attempts, he nevertheless 
continued to employ him, and another experiment 
was made in a lonely and mysterious wood at some 
little distance from Tiffauges. According to the 
statements of some of his retainers, Gilles was again 
present on this occasion, though he himself after- 
wards asserted to his judges that he was absent, and 

deputed his valet Poitou, his chaplain Eustache 

* 

Blanchet, and his chamberlain Henri Griart, other- 
wise Henriet, to attend the necromancer on his behalf 
This time La Riviere was clad in armour and carried 
a sword. He took his way under the trees, alone, 
his companions halting on the verge of the wood. 
The night was very dark, the spot very lonely, the 
minutes went by, and at first nothing could be heard 
save the soughing of the wind among the branches. 
Waiting with mingled dread and expectancy, the 
magician's escort held their peace, and all at once 
they heard a loud rustling sound, followed by the 
clash of steel, a shriek, a commotion as if the evocator 
were wrestling with the demon. But before long he 



GILLES DE RAIS 249 

rushes back to them, haggard, gasping, scarce able 
to speak, tanquam perterritus et turbatus. And he 
declares that he has indeed seen the Devil, who * in 
the form of a leopard ' had come straight towards 
him» and then, to his infinite surprise, had passed on 
' without deigning to speak a word.' La Riviere, 
however, endeavoured to stop him — at least, it would 
seem so, for he afterwards showed Gilles * sundry 
hairs which he had plucked from the beast's neck,'^ 
and which he burnt, in the Marshal's presence, while 
repeating certain magic words. 

After this exciting experience the Marshal, the 
chamberlain, the valet, the chaplain and the sorcerer 
spent the remainder of the night, we are told, 
• drinking and rejoicing together '^ ; and Jean de La 
Riviere having put Monseigneur in a good humour 
and filled him with the hope of a future apparition, 
when Messire Satan would doubtless condescend to 
speak, declared that he would have to purchase 
various things in order to ensure complete success — 
a hint to which Gilles responded by handing him 
twenty golden crowns. And of course 'Jean 
FAnglais ' then departed to procure what he needed, 
and of course he took good care never to return to 
Tiffauges. 

So Eustache Blanchet, chaplain and provider of 
devil-raisers, had to search for others to take La 

* Bibliophile Jacob's transcript of the Civil Proceedings. 
M. Paul Lacroix claimed that this copy was more detailed than 
those now preserved at Nantes. 

> Ecclesiastical and Civil Proceedings : Gilles' confessions. 



250 BLUEBEARD 

Riviere's place. Roger de BricqueviUe and Gilles de 
Sill6 helped him. Brittany was scoured for necro- 
mancers ; it is said that a search for experts in the 
Black Art was even made in Paris. As a rule 
those who were solicited immediately repaired to 
Tiffauges, eager to gain some of the Marshal's gold 
by the practice of charlatanry. But two old witches, 
whom Gilles de Sill6 went to consult in Normandy, 
declined to go near his master on any terms. One 
of them told him that her patron Beelzebub would 
never appear to the Marshal so long as he should 
bestow his affection on the Catholic church, his 
chapel and chantry ; and the second confirmed this 
statement, adding ' so long as he does not relinquish 
certain practices on which he is intent' Then, 
another necromancer was drowned whilst on his way 
to Tiffauges ; and another died a few days after his 
arrival there. Despite these contretemps, however, 
Gilles was never without somebody who professed 
to be learned in the Black Art. There was even 
a cowherd named Loys (Louis) who practised 
devil-raising for him ; and, in default of strangers, 
he could fall back on his trumpeter, Du Mesnil, and 
his chanter, Antonio di Palerna. 

On one occasion when a sorcerer whose name is 
not given had just arrived at Tiffauges,^ an attempt 
was made to induce his Satanic majesty to appear in 
a room of the castle in the presence of the Marshal 
and of his cousin, Gilles de S1II6. The necromancer 
traced a magic circle on the floor and told his com- 
^ Gilles' confessions. Some copies say ' MachecouL' 



GILLES DE RAIS 251 

panions to enter it with him. Sill6, however, was 
afraid to do so, and remained seated on the ledge of 
an open window, pressing an image of the Blessed 
Virgin to his breast and intending to jump outside 
at the very first sign of danger. Meantime, Rais 
and the sorcerer entered the circle, the former, to use 
his own words, * not daring to make the sign of the 
Cross, for the magician had told me that I should 
incur great peril by doing so. But I heard voices 
which were not human, and I became marvellously 
afraid, feeling that I had confessed myself badly that 
morning, in such wise that a prayer to Our Lady, the 
Alma Mater Redemptoris, did come to my mind ; 
whereon the evocator at once bade me quit the circle, 
which I did, fearing lest I should be seized by the 
Devil. And making the sign of the Cross I left the 
evocator by himself, closing the door of the room 
upon him, whilst Gilles de Sill6 fled by the window. 
But having come to the door to listen, we heard that 
someone was beating the evocator^ even as one might 
strike a feather-bed. I drew my dagger, and Gilles 
de Sill6 did likewise ; then we opened the door to see 
what was the matter. And the said evocator was 
lying on the floor outside the circle, moaning and 
weeping, injured exceedingly in the face, and else- 
where, having a large bump upon his forehead, in 
such wise that he could not stand up, and I feared he 
might die ; wherefore I did have him well confessed 
by my chaplain, but he did not die.'^ 

This adventure is said to have greatly impressed 

^ Civil Proceedings : Gilles' confession. 



252 BLUEBEARD 

the Marshal, showing him how fierce was the anger 
of the evil spirits when they were offended. Never- 
theless, he still sought their ministry, at one time 
endeavouring to raise Satan, at another Barron, at 
another Belial, at another Oriens, and at another 
Beelzebub. One day his trumpeter, Du Mesnil, 
following the example of Jean de La Riviere, came 
to him saying that he had seen the Devil, who was 
willing to enter into intercourse with the Marshal, 
provided the latter gave him a cedula signed with his 
blood. The necessary document was at once pre- 
pared, Du Mesnil pricked his master's little finger, 
and when there was enough blood to fill the pen the 
signature Was duly appended, written no doubt in the 
following fashion^ : 




At midnight, all being in readiness, the Marshal 
and Du Mesnil — accompanied, perhaps, by others — 
repaired to a meadow where Satan was to be sum- 
moned. But the night proved to be abominably 
wet, so wet indeed that, according to Gilles, * all the 
writing on the cedula was effaced, and the Devil did 
not come to receive it.' When his judges asked 
him what was written on this cedula and on the one 

^ The facsimile given above shows how the Marshal usually 
signed his name. This specimen is from a receipt (formerly in 
the possession of M. Benjamin Filon) for money paid by the 
Duke of Brittany on account of the purchase of Champtoc^. 



GIIiLES DE RAIS 253 

which he had previously given to Jean de La Riviere, 
he answered that he could only remember having 
asked the Devil for the three things which have 
been previously mentioned — that is, science, power, 
and wealth. And when he was pressed with regard 
to the promises he had made in return for those 
gifts, he declared that he was unable to recollect ; he 
only knew that he had expressly reserved both his 
soul and his life. 

But Poitou, first his page and afterwards his valet, 
had a better memory. He confessed to the horror 
of all that his master had told him what was con- 
tained in the cedula given to Jean de La Riviere ; 
and that was a promise to immolate five little children 
and give their hearts to the Devil, in exchange for 
those great gifts of science, power, and wealth ! 

Ah ! he took good care of his own life, did this 
Marshal of France, this Lieutenant - General of 
Brittany, who dwelt in a fortress, surrounded by 
knights, squires, pages, men-of-arms, archers, and 
horsemen. And doubtless he hoped to save his 
soul by means of his chapel, his chantry, his daily 
confessions, his daily Masses, his everlasting psalm- 
singing, and his blasphemous ' Foundation of the 
Holy Innocents.' But he thought nothing of the 
lives of others ; he did not hesitate to send them 
unshriven to meet their God. As Michelet has 
written, he was indeed the Exterminating Beast — 
a monster who for years practised the murder of 
children with impunity, in such wise that the massacre 
ascribed to King Herod pales to insignificance by 



254 BLUEBEARD 

the side of all the massacres perpetrated by this man, 
who had been the protector and the companion 
of the pure Maid of Orleans, and whose war-cry, 
when he chained the English, was that of the 
Montmorencys, his ancestors, *God help the first 
Christian !' Again, Jack the Ripj>er, notorious in 
the annals of English crime, and Jacques Lantier, 
la bile humaine of Emile Zola, were as nothing 
compared with Gilles de Rais. A French writer of 
fiction has seized upon his career to pen one of the 
ghastliest novels ever written — a novel in which one 
may trace a mystical dementia akin to that of Gilles 
himself ; but it is certain that no novelist could have 
imagined such a career, have conceived such a com- 
bination of courage, culture, prodigality, superstition, 
credulity, craft, cruelty, and vice, as one finds in this 
high and mighty Baron of Rais. And it seems all 
too true. Several copies of the procidure instituted 
against him are in existence. There is the evidence 
of numerous witnesses, the repeated confessions of 
the man himself, and the decisions of laymen as well 
as churchmen. In these pages an attempt will be 
made to spare the reader many horrors, but some- 
thing at least must be said of the cruel murders 
which accompanied the Marshals practice of magic» 
and won for him in La Vendue, Poitou, and many 
parts of Brittany, the sinister name of Bluebeard 
before either folklorists or historians referred to him 
in connection with Perrault's tale. 



VI 

1426 — 1438 

THE HORRORS OF MACHECOUL AND CHAMPTOClS — THE 
CRIMES OF THE EXTERMINATING BEAST 

Machecoul and Champtoc^ are seized by Gilles' Relations — 
Machecoul Forest and Guillery the Outlaw — The Castle where 
Gilles was born — The Remains of his Victims burnt — ^Two 
Women witness the Ghastly Business — Gilles recovers Possession 
of Machecoul and Champtoc^ — The Library of Champtoc^ and 
the Origin of the Marshal's Crimes — He swears his Retainers 
to Secrecy — The Remains of the Victims of Champtoc^ — A 
Gruesome Voyage with Three Chestfuls of Mangled Corpses — 
The Number of the Marshal's Victims — The Fear and Silence 
of his Henchmen — The * Lost ' Children and their Parents' 
Surmises — * English Kidnappers * — How La Mefiraye sought 
Victims for the Marshal — * Les Empocheurs' — Increasing 
Rumours of the Marshal's Crimes — The Three Stages of his 
Abominable Career. 

It has been mentioned that Ren6 de La Suze, the 
Marshal's brother, and Andre de Laval, Sire de 
Loh6ac and Admiral of France,^ his cousin, had 
forcibly taken possession of the castles of Machecoul 
and Champtoc6, to the anger and alarm of Gilles, 
who wished to place the latter property in the hands 

^ Andr^ was the younger brother of Guy de Laval. He relin- 
quished the post of Admiral in 1439, and was then created 
Marshal of France. 



256 BLUEBEARD 

of Duke Jean V., and thereby secure payment for it 
Great as may have been the Marshal's anger, how- 
ever, the blow was hardly unexpected by him. There 
are indications that he had apprehended some coup 
de main as the inevitable result of his determination 
to sell his property, and of his disregard of the 
royal prohibition in the matter. And apart from 
the pecuniary considerations which weighed with 
him, there were other things that gave him cause for 
anxiety. Evidence of his misdeeds existed both at 
Machecoul and at Champtoc^, and if his enemies 
should possess themselves of those casdes that evi- 
dence would be found. A presentiment, born of fear, 
came upon him, and he destroyed all the evidence 
existing at Machecoul, intending to act likewise at 
Champtoc6 at the first convenient moment. But 
in the interval his relations possessed themselves 
of both places, and though they found nothing at 
Machecoul, it seems certain that the dread secret 
of Champtoc6 became partially known to them.^ 

Before dealing with that point, however, let us see 
what it was that Gilles had done at Machecoul to 
destroy all traces of his crimes there. The little 
town or dourgy which had become the capital of his 
barony of Rais, and which nowadays counts some 
4,000 inhabitants, may be reached by rail from 
Nantes in rather more than an hour. It Stands in a 
fertile plain called the Valine des Chaumes, and when 
it has been traversed one finds before one a bridge, 

^ Evidence of Poitou and Henri Griart in both the Ecclesiastical 
and the Secular Proceedings. 



GILLES DE RAIS 257 

spanning the river Falleron, by the side of which 
rise the ruins of the castle where Gilles was born. 
In his time Machecoul town was fortified, and had 
a citadel, apart from the stronghold where he re- 
sided at certain seasons of the year. In the region 
around the castle are to be found the ruins of more 
than one old abbey, together with the remains of 
a celebrated forest, through which dolmens and 
menhirs are scattered. At the end of the sixteenth 
century this forest became one of the haunts of 
the notorious Guillery, an outlawed captain of 
• Leaguers,' who, refusing to lay down his arms after 
Henri IV. had been generally recognised as King 
of France, betook himself to the greenwood with a 
company of * merry men * (or, as the French more 
appropriately put it, ntauvais garfons\ playing, 
indeed, much the part of a Robin Hood and making 
a Sherwood of Machecoul forest. Various ballads 
about Guillery are still known to the peasants of La 
Loire-Inf6rieure and La Vendue ; and very popular 
and wide-spread is one beginning : 

* II ^tait un petit hoinme 
Qui s'appelait Guillery 

Carabi, 
II monta sur un arbre 
Pour voir ses chiens couri' 

Carabi, 

Toto, Carabo ! 
Marchand Caraban, 
Compare Guillery, 
Te lairas-tu mouri' P*.^ 

1 This song or ballad has gone all over France. The present 
writer has even heard it sung by his little nephews in Savoy. 

17 



258 BLUEBEARD 

But there is another, a horrible ballad, reeking of 
witchcraft and diablerie, a fit ballad indeed for such 
a forest as Machecoul, where the werewolf prowled, 
and where the Wild Huntsman^ and his crew made 
night hideous with their frantic galloping even in 
our times. In this ballad, Guillery, mounted on a 
horse with the skin of a toad, is attended by witches 
and werewolves, polecats, and gnomes, wills-o*-the- 
wisp, carrion crows, and red spectre-hounds. He 
rides in their midst brandishing a sword of ice, eager 
to do battle with the Saracens, but the deceptive 
vision of foemen ever flees from him, and, carried 
along by fate, he gallops round and round, exhausted 
and desperate, vainly calling for death, until the 
dawn at last rises, and he and his frozen crew sink 
into hell to roast there. Each verse of the ballad is 
followed by the burden : 

' Entendez-vous la sarabande ? 
Oh ! c'est la Chasse-Gallery 
Ici vont passer en bande 
Et la garache^ et Valouby !'» 

^ The Wild Huntsman (the * Wilde Jager' of Germany, the 

* Heme the Hunter ' of England) figured at Fontainebleau as 
*Le Grand Veneur/ and was known in Normandy as the 

* Mesgnie Hellequin. ' In Berry he and his crew became * La Chasse 
k Ribaut ' (or * Rigaud ') ; in some parts of Central France they 
were called ' La Chasse k Bodet '; in Franche Comt^ they took 
the names of * La Chasse d'Oliferne ' and * La Chasse du Roi 
H^rode *; then, in Poitou and La Vendue one finds ' La Chasse 
Gallery/ and in various parts of Brittany * La Chasse Arthur ' 
and ' Le Chariot de David.' Elsewhere the midnight hunt, at the 
sound of which the devout peasant anxiously crossed himself, has 
been associated with St Hubert. 

^ Witch. ^ Ravenous woI£ 



GILLES DE RAIS 259 

And t^ moral of it all is : 

* Pour passer ces nuits bUiDches, 
Gallery, mes enfants, 
Chassait tous les dimanches, 
£t battait les paysans.' 

From this it will be seen that the ballad scarcely 
applies to the historical Guillery;^ its purpose is 
rather to portray the fate of the selfish lords of olden 
time, who, for oppressing their vassals, were con- 
demned to eternal damnation. And although there 
is nothing in the ballad (which is known in varying 
forms throughout La Vendue and Poitou) really 
connecting it with Gilles de Rais, it certainly sug- 
gests him with its train of loathsome creatures and 
its undercurrent of sorcery and horror. Gilles, 
indeed, made the nights of Machecoul hideous 
beyond compare. 

Of his castle — a once formidable pile built in the 
fourteenth, dismantled in the seventeenth, and finally 
destroyed by fire at the end of the eighteenth 
century, when it was held in turn by the Vend^ans 
and the Republicans — there still remain some 
picturesque ruins, a broken tower which oscillates in 
the gale, a few low halls, some scraps of winding 
stairways, and a decapitated keep, over which the 
ivy of centuries has clambered. And here the sight 
of the Lady's Oratory, whose window and balcony 

^ Guilleiy defied the laws for about ten years. At last, how- 
ever, the authorities assembled a force of from 4,000 to 5,000 
men, with whom they surrounded the forest Guillery vainly 
endeavoured to slip through the cordon ; he was caught, tried, 
and broken on the wheel. 

17 — 2 



26o BLUEBEARD 

appear above the river, immediately suggests Per- 
rault's * Bluebeard/ and Sister Anne's despairing 
scrutiny of the horizon, where she could only see the 
dust of the sunbeams scattering and the grass 
a-greening. The oratory itself hangs within the 
keep, suspended, as it were, in mid-air, and a very 
long ladder is needed to reach it In 1885 the 
chapel was still in a fair state of preservation, and on 
the keystone of the vaulted roof was an escutcheon 
bearing the arms of Sainte-Croix of Machecoul.^ 
But the ruins, generally, which in 1845 still bore 
signs of great architectural magnificence,^ elaborate 
sculpture work adorning the doors and windows, 
now grow smaller every day, the stones being re- 
moved by the peasantry for building purposes. It 
has been suggested that excavations should be made 
with the view of clearing the underground store- 
places and dungeons, where, according to local 
tradition, Gilles de Rais secreted some of his 
treasures ; but if any relics of his time should ever 
be found there, it is far more likely that they would 
be the bones of some of the forgotten victims of his 
abominable orgies and his hideous sacrifices to 
Beelzebub. 

At the time when the Marshal feared the designs 
of his relations, he despatched to Machecoul his 
cousin Gilles de Sill6, and one of his most trusty 

^ * Le Barbe-Bleue de la L^gende et de FHistoire,' by Charles 
Lemire. Paris, 1886, 8vo., p. 9. 

' * Les Seigneurs de Rais,' by Mourain de Sourdeval. Tours, 
1845, ^^^' 



fi 



GILLES DE RAIS 261 

servants, a certain Robin Romulart (called occasion- 
ally Petit Robin), with orders to destroy all traces of 
his cruel crimes. These two men therefore repaired 
to a tower in the castle-yard and removed from the 
cellars the remains of no fewer than forty children,^ 
burnt them, and threw the ashes into the moats and 
the river. And, it seems almost incredible, some 
part of this ghastly business was witnessed by two 
women ; for Sill6, when subsequently relating it to 
Poitou, the valet, and Henri Griart, the chamberlain, 
complained of the treachery of Messire Roger de 
Bricqueville, who had brought the Dame de Jarville 
and Thomin d'Araguin to look at him and Robin 
through a slit in the door while they were removing 
the bones, and this although he well knew upon 
what work they were engaged ! ^ 

Who were the Dame de Jarville and Thomin 
d*Araguin ? We do not know. Abb6 Bossard 
opines that if they were mothers they must have 
been as horrified and as alarmed by the sight they 
witnessed as was the wife of Perrault s Bluebeard 
when she found herself in the forbidden room, in the 
presence of her murdered predecessors. Perhaps 
they did not clearly understand what they saw ; per- 
haps terror sealed their lips. At all events there is 
nothing to show that they spoke a word to anybody 
of the gruesome work which Sill6 and Petit Robin 

^ Both Bossard and the Bibliophile Jacob say eighty; but the 
Latin word is quadraginta in the evidence of Poitou, and again in 
that of Henri Griart 

^ Evidence of Poitou and Henri Griart 



262 BLUEBEARD 

were performing. And remembering the character 
of Bricqueville — ^an egregious Har, as will presently be 
shown — It is perhaps allowable to suspect that these 
women were creatures of easy virtue, degraded 
members of their sex, such as the Marshal s retainers 
kept about them. 

When Poitou and Henri Griart were subsequently 
asked if they knew at what date these victims of 
Machecoul had been put to death, they replied that 
these particular crimes had taken place prior to their 
entry into the Marshal's service,^ and they imputed 
them to the Marshal, Sill6 and Bricqueville conjointly. 
Indeed, one gathers from all the evidence on the 
subject that the bones had been lying in the tower 
for several years. But there was more to come. 
Gilles was at Tiffauges, with his alchemists and his 
necromancers, when he heard that his relations had 
seized Machecoul and Champtoc^. Some little time 
elapsed before he could get together a sufficient force 
to drive them out ; but Jean V. (desirous of com- 
pleting his contract) sent him some men, and Gilles 
then advanced on Machecoul and besieged it The 
garrison having surrendered after a brief resistance, 
Gilles pressed on to Champtoc6, of which he also 
speedily possessed himself, either by arrangement or 
by force of arms. From a certain Knight named 
Charles du Leonne or Leone, who appears to have 
held the place for Ren6 de La Suze, two of the 

^ In 1440 Henriet had been six years with the Marshal. 
Machecoul must have been taken by Rend de La Suze or Andrd 
de Loh^c late in 1437, and the bones were burnt about three 
weeks before that occurrence. 



1 



GILLES DE RAIS 263 

MarshsLl's servants, Poitou and Griart, learnt that 
Ren6, on seizing the castle some three months pre- 
viously, had found the dead bodies of two young 
boys in the bottom part of a tower. They — Poitou 
and Griart — protested ignorance of the matter, 
when they were questioned respecting it by the 
Knight ; indeed, they suggested that it was some 
abominable slander invented by Messire de La 
Suze. But they doubtless reported what they had 
been told to their master. The latter must then 
have resolved on immediate action. Whatever 
Ren6 de La Suze, whatever Charles du Leonne, 
might already know, they must learn nothing more. 
The former, who had simply placed a small garrison 
in Champtoc6, was now, we suspect, again with 
Richemont, his patron; and family considerations 
may have kept him from bruiting the affair abroad. 
On the other hand, Charles du Leonne may have 
been bribed. At all events neither of these men 
ever acquainted any of the authorities of Nantes with 
the gruesome discovery of the two bodies. Like the 
Dame de JarvilleandThomin d'Araguin, they lapsed 
into silence. 

Champtoc6, it will be remembered, had come to 
Gilles from his grandfather, Jean de Craon. Great 
as its pile of ruins may be, it was the smallest of the 
Marshals four chief fortresses.^ Situated on a 

^ The others were Tifiauges, Pouzauges, and Machecoul. 
Champtoc^ is in the modem department of Maine-et-Loire. It 
must not be confounded with Champtoceaux, which is lower 
down the Loire on the left bank. The ruins are the property of 
M. de Bonrepos, of the Chiteau du Boisseau. 



264 BLUEBEARD 

rocky platform, overlooking the right bank of the 
Loire, midway between Varades and St Georges, its 
chief entrance was on the village side, where the 
four pillars on which the drawbridge rested may still 
be seen. At the present time access is obtained by 
crossing the dry moat. There was an outer rampart 
with eight large round towers, fantastic fragments of 
which now loom above the river A postern afforded 
admittance on the side where a large pond or viuier^ 
which is above the river level, washed the castle 
walls ; and some underground galleries with portions 
of stairways leading now to the defensive works, 
now to the residential part of the castle, and now to 
its court of honour, may still be easily explored. 

A certain Tiphaine or Tryphine de Champtoc6, 
curiously called ' the Eel ' — perhaps because she 
eluded many covetous suitors — brought this castle 
and the smaller one of Ingrandes, which is some 
three miles lower down the Loire, as dower on her 
marriage with Maurice I. of Craon, very early in 
the twelfth century. In the course of time, Angers 
being less than twenty miles away, and its university 
rising to great celebrity, some of the culture which 
that institution diffused reached Champtoc6, whose 
lords gradually acquired a library of books, a small 
one doubtless, for the art of printing was yet un- 
known, and books were very costly and precious 
things. In any case, Gilles de Rais himself declared 
that on his grandfather's death he had come into the 
possession of a library, in which may well have 
figured the Valerius Maximus, the Ovid, and the 



^ 



GILLES DE RAIS 265 

St. Augustine, to which reference has been made 
previously. And if one account may be believed, 
he discovered among Jean de Craon s books * a Latin 
work on the life and manners of the Csesars of Rome, 
by a learned historian, who was named Suetonius, 
which book was ornamented with pictures, extremely 
well painted, in which were to be seen the excesses 
of those pagan Emperors.' In that history Gilles 
read how * Tiberius, Caracalla (an absurd mistake ; 
Caligula is intended), and other Caesars, took a 
singular pleasure in putting children to martyrdom.*^ 
Adopting the view that Gilles made the above 
statement to Pierre de THdpital, Seneschal of 
Rennes and President of the Breton Parliament,^ 
the perusal of Suetonius after his grandfather's death 
would be the origin of his evil-doing. But he had 
been brought up by Jean de Craon, had lived with 
him in his boyhood, and may thus have read the 
work in question even before he was a man ; par- 
ticularly if it be true that his grandfather made little 
attempt to control his actions. Moreover, in the 
proceedings against him, Poitou, his valet, declared 

^ * Curiosit^s de THistoire de France : II* S^rie : Propbs 
C^lfebres,' by P. L. Jacob, Bibliophile (Paul Lacroix). Paris, 
1858, i6ino., p. 94. In this work M. Lacroix relates the 
Marshars trial from a ' circumstantial ' transcript of the evidence 
in the Civil Proceedings communicated to him. Not having the 
Ecclesiastical Proceedings in detail before him at the same time, 
he not unnaturally fell into several errors. Nevertheless, his 
narrative has some value. It may be added that Abb^ Bossard 
virtually confirms the mention of the ' Suetonius.' 

^ The reader should remember that the Breton 'Parl^ment' 
was a judicial and not a political institution. See p. 139, note i. 



266 BLUEBEARD 

he had heard it said that the Marshal's misdeeds 
dated back to 1426 or thereabouts — that is» to a time 
when Jean de Craon was still alive, Poitou was not 
then in the service of Gilles de Rais, but may well 
have had his information from his fellow-accomplices, 
Gilles de Si\\6 or Roger de Bricqueville, who had been 
his master's associate and dme damn^e ever since he 
had been able * to ride a horse and do service,'^ 
Moreover, there are passages in Poitou's evidence 
and in one of Gilles' confessions which indicate that 
Jean de Craon became personally acquainted with 
his grandson's villainous nature, and, after a first 
moment of horror, hushed up the matter to prevent 
a scandal. 

In any case, the victims of Champtoc6 were as 
numerous as those of Machecoul. On the night 
which followed the surrender of his brother Rent's 
retainers, Gilles assembled his most trusty hench- 
men and servants — that is, Bricqueville and Silld, 
Hicquet de Br^mont, the governor of his pages, 
Henri Griart, Poitou and Robin Romulart. Some 
of these men were already acquainted with the 
Marshal's secret, nevertheless he called on all of 
them to swear that they would never reveal what 
they were about to witness. According to Abb^ 
Bossard, this oath was taken in the name of God ; 
but Lacroix asserts that the confederates swore with 
their hands resting on a book of magic and a talis- 

^ Pardon granted by Charles VII. to Roger de Bricqueville. 
French National Archives, Register JJ, 177. Printed by R. de 
Maulde in Bossard, Lc. 



GILLES DE RAIS 267 

man enclosed in a black velvet case, which may 
mean that Gilles made his abettors swear by the 
Devil as well as by the Deity. Indeed, this is not 
at all unlikely when one remembers that Gilles was 
more or less a Manichee, ever struggling between 
conflicting ideas as to which might be the more 
powerful — the Spirit of Good or the Spirit of Evil. 

When the oath had been administered, the 
dreadful business previously accomplished at 
Machecoul was repeated. Rais led his company to 
one of the towers of Champtoc6 — a lonely tower, it 
appears — and told them that in its depths were 
the remains of numerous children, which remains 
must be immediately removed, for on the morrow 
it would be necessary for him to hand the castle 
over to the officers of the Duke of Brittany. The 
ghastly work began amid the silence of the night. 
Gilles had doubtless brought a considerable force 
with him to Champtoc6, including, perhaps, the 
men lent by Jean V. ; and it was necessary that 
none save his immediate retainers should witness 
the obliteration of his crimes. The remains of his 
victims were lying, it appears, in a subterranean 
dungeon, or kind of well, beneath a ground-floor 
chamber of the tower ; and Poitou and Robin were 
lowered into the dark vault by the aid of a long rope. 
They there found themselves among * corpses and 
decayed bones,* a circumstance which shows that 
some of the victims had been killed of recent years, 
and that others had met their fate long previously. 
Many of them had been cut to pieces. There were 



268 BLUEBEARD 

limbs and heads and trunks rotting amidst the damp- 
ness ; and the stench was abominable. 

Horrified, as they might well be, Poitou and 
Robin nevertheless made all haste to gather the 
fragments together. A large sack was lowered to 
them, and, whenever they had filled it, was drawn 
up again by Hicquet de Bremont and Henri Griart, 
who emptied the contents upon the stone flags 
beside them. Poitou and Griart could not tell 
afterwards the exact number of the heads or skulls 
that were found ; but there were either thirty-six or 
forty-six. Griart, however, was of opinion that 
more bodies than heads were discovered. In any 
case, all the remains were those of children — with 
few exceptions, little boys. 

While all this was going on, Gilles de Rais — and 
probably Bricqueville — remained watching Br6mont 
and Griart in the chamber of the tower above the 
oubliette. Sill6, for his part, was keeping watch out- 
side. At last one part of the abominable business 
was completed. Everything that Poitou and Robin 
could find was gathered together in the ground- floor 
chamber of the tower. Then the Marshal pointed 
to three large chests, and gave orders for all the 
bones and fragments to be packed in them. He 
was obeyed, and the chests, having been stoutly 
corded, were before daybreak carried to a bark 
which was waiting beside the willows that fringed 
the Loire.^ 

^ This bark was, of course, one of those which had brought 
Rais and his company to Champtoc^. 



GILLES DE RAIS 269 

This being done, if Gilles tarried a single moment 
at Champtocd, it was only in order to place it in the 
possession of certain officers of Jean V. On the 
morrow or the next day he departed by water with 
his servants and the proofs of his villainy, passing 
on his way, as Abb6 Bossard points out, many of 
the bourgs and villages where fathers and mothers 
were sorrowing for their lost children. When 
Nantes was reached the three great chests were put 
ashore, not, however, on the city side, but on the left 
bank of the river, and thence they were carted to 
Machecoul to be placed, on their arrival, in the 
Marshal's room. And a huge fire having been 
lighted in the great chimney-place, some days were 
spent in burning the remains of the murdered 
children. Gilles himself, Henri Griart, Poitou, and 
Silld, were present, together with a certain Andr6 
Buchet or Buschet, and Jean Rossignol,^ both of the 
latter belonging to the Marshal's chantry. On sub- 
sequent occasions it was often Rossignol who burnt 
the bodies of his patron's victims. And whilst the 
traces of these abominable crimes were disappearing 
in the flames, Gilles de Rais, we are told, struck his 
breast, shed copious tears, and cried to God for 
mercy. At last, having become more composed, he 
gave orders for Mass to be sung {messe en musigue) 
for the repose of the souls of those whom he had so 
foully slaughtered ! 

^ See anUf p. 184. Buchet's name is given in some books as 
Brichet, which is an error. Though he may not have been fully 
ordained, he was certainly a clerk. 



270 BLUEBEARD 

Yet his crimes continued until the time of his 
arrest. The principal precaution that he took in his 
last years was to burn his victims soon , after he 
had put them to death. Occasionally two or three 
bodies would hang for a few days in a cell or cabinet 
adjoining his room, or he would for a short time pre- 
serve a head to pray over it ; but the remains were 
no longer flung, promiscuously, into some under- 
ground dungeon to rot away there in course of time. 
And — horrible to relate — while at some times he 
wept and chanted the * De Profundis ' over his vic- 
tims, at others, when he took his bracquemart — a 
broad-bladed sabre, which he particularly employed 
as a sacrificial weapon — to cut off his victims' heads 
and amputate their limbs, he cried to them in a 
frenzied transport, *Go! go and pray to God for 
me r This did not prevent him, however, from 
gouging out their eyes, tearing out their hearts, 
cutting off their hair, amputating a foot or a hand to 
serve as an offering for the Devil. 

It is certain that these crimes went on for years. 
All the writers on Gilles de Rais agree that he had 
practised them since 1432, and, indeed, he himself 
acknowledged that much. But, as we have indicated 
in some measure already, we incline to the view ex- 
pressed by his servants Poitou and Griart, that he had 
been a monster of infamy for many years previously, 
and was one already in the days when he fought 
by the side of Joan of Arc. In that case a certain 
estimate of the number of his victims — given, it is 
alleged, by himself— an estimate of one hundred and 



GILLES DE RAIS 271 

twenty (stx-ving'^s) every year^for a term of fully seven 
years (1432 — 39-40) would be considerably exceeded. 
But we doubt those figures. It is true that the 
murders of Machecoul and Champtoc6 were but a 
fraction of those committed by him. The castle of 
Tiffauges, the mansion of La Suze, the houses where 
he sojourned at Angers and Vannes, even the castle 
of Josselin, where he was the guest of the Duke of 
Brittany — indeed, almost all his dwelling-places — had 
their horrors, sworn to by his servants, and freely 
confessed by himself. Thus, whether his victims 
were a hundred more or a hundred less, he was 
indeed the Exterminating Beast, as Michelet has 
written. 

But it will seem strange to some readers that he 
should have enjoyed impunity so long, particularly as 
so many were in his secret, for after going through 
the evidence we find at least sixteen of his servants 
and retainers aiding and abetting him at various 
times. Their silence undoubtedly arose from their 
fears. On the one hand, if they should denounce 
their master, and he should hear of it, they would 
have the shortest of shrifts. They knew his nature 
and trembled before him. Poitou had been origin- 
ally an intended victim, and had only escaped death 
at the intercession of Bricqueville or Sill6, and on 
promising blind obedience. One page, who sur- 
prised certain secrets, to a knowledge of which he 

^ Paul Lacroix, /.r., p. 95. We do not find any confirmation 
of this in Bossard or in any part of the eiridence we have seen ; 
it seems more likely that Gilles' victims were from 200 to 300 
in number. 



272 BLUEBEARD 

had not been admitted, was at once cast into the 
moat of Machecoul. There had been an accident, it 
was said ; he had fallen from the battlements. Again, 
some of the Marshal's henchmen were bound to him 
by such bloody ties that they could not reasonably 
anticipate any mercy if the law should lay its hand 
upon them. One man, Henri Griart, the chamber- 
lain, afterwards asserted that on his return from the 
expedition to Champtoc6 he had thought of com- 
mitting suicide, but had been deterred from it by 
anxiety for his soul, self-destruction being a crime 
which left no opportunity for penance afterwards. 
He can hardly have been anxious to meet his God. 
Indeed, however horrible might be the life of the 
chief retainers of Gilles de Rais, all of them must 
have shrunk from the thought of death and of the 
torments of the hell which must await them. Ah ! 
it was better to tarry awhile on earth, even if they 
must continue to serve their master and keep silent 
respecting his misdeeds. 

Besides, the Baron de Rais was a most high, 
powerful and magnificent lord, the associate of 
princes, a Marshal of France and Lieutenant-General 
of Brittany. Would Duke Jean V., would his 
Chancellor, Jean de Malestroit, would his Grand 
Seneschal, Pierre de THdpital, or any other of his 
Council, give credit to an abominably scandalous 
charge preferred by a mere vilain or a mere 
bourgeois against the premier Baron of the duchy ? 
Even such women as the Dame de Jarville and 
Thomin d'Araguin might have been whipped for 



GILLES DE RAIS 273 

their pains had they gone to some State Officer with 
the tale of what they had seen at Machecoul. Reni 
de La Suze would probably have secured a hearing 
had he spoken of his discovery at Champtoci. But 
the thought of the family honour must have kept 
him silent And thus Gilles continued to lead a life 
of crime, occasionally apprehensive of discovery, yet 
relying on his name, rank, and power to insure him 
complete impunity — in this world, at all events. 

Nevertheless, there were murmurs, increasing 
murmurs from the vox populi, as child after child 
disappeared from the region lying between the ocean 
on one side, and Angers, Vannes and La Rochelle 
on the others. A frightful mysterious drama was in 
progress in that region. After the sorrow and 
anxiety of earlier years came consternation and 
terror. Some unknown and accursed monster, who 
was never seen, but whose presence could be 
divined, now in one direction, now in another, was 
devastating, depopulating the country. Boys, and 
girls, children often of very tender years, were 
constantly disappearing, not for a day, or for a 
week, or for a month, but for ever! And not a 
trace of them remained. What had become of them, 
whither had they gone ? Were they dead ? They 
had been seen on such or such a spot, in such a 
field, in such a street, at one or another hour of the 
day or evening, and then had utterly vanished ! 

At first the superstitions of the age suggested an 
explanation. The malignant fairies, the gnomes, 
had carried off the missing children. And those 

18 



274 BLUEBEARD 

who doubted the existence of fairyland remembered 
that the rivers were swift, the ponds deep, the woods 
dangerous, peopled with wolf and boar. Some mis- 
adventure must have befallen one or another child ; 
perhaps he had slipped into some stream and had been 
drowned, or, in exploring a forest, had encountered 
some ravenous beast By degrees, however, another 
idea took possession of the fathers and mothers who 
were left childless. It must have been noticed, as a 
coincidence, that whenever the Baron of Rais passed 
some boy or girl disappeared. Moreover, some of 
his retainers, such as Gilles de Sill6, Hicquet de 
Brimont, Poitou, Prinzay (his herald), and a certain 
Spading, called * The Scotch Knight,' frequently 
recruited pages for Monseigneur's service ; and the 
fact that these p^es were not forthcoming when 
their parents subsequently inquired for them must 
have confirmed the growing suspicions. 

Sill6, one day, when pressed with questions 
respecting some boys who had been confided to him, 
admitted that they were not with the Marshal. They 
had been sent, he said, to the English, as part of the 
ransom of his brother Michel de Sill6, who was a 
prisoner, and whose release could only be secured by 
handing four-and-twenty boys over to the English, 
who intended to make soldiers or servants of them.^ 
This announcement was rumoured around and in- 
creased the general alarm. Perhaps English emis- 
saries were kidnapping the children, depopulating 
the region. However, the terrified peasants dared 

^ See ante^ p. 173, note i. 



GILLES DE RAIS 275 

not raise their voices too loudly ; and still and ever 
children disappeared. 

We read, in the evidence, of disappearances from 
a large number of localities ; and yet the judicial 
inquiries which ultimately took place were, for the 
most part, limited to certain years and certain 
regions. Nantes, Angers, Vannes, Rennes, Josselin ; 
Pomic, Bourgneuf, St. Cyr-en-Rais, Machecoul, and 
Tiffauges ; St. ]£tienne de Montluc, Port Launay, 
Mortagne, Clisson and St. Mesme, La Roche- 
Bernard, Pouance, Fresnay, and other cities, towns, 
and villages are named ; and in the majority of these 
instances a positive connection between the dis- 
appearances of the children and the actions of certain 
of Gilles* servants is established by the witnesses 
and the officers of the law. Again, there were 
numerous instances of little beggars disappearing, 
poor starving orphans, who were never claimed by 
anybody.^ Amidst all his crimes, and even when 
he was pressed for money, Gilles practised charity 
on a large scale ; and whenever beggars and tramps 
found themselves in the vicinity of Machecoul or 
Tiffauges, they invariably applied there for relief. 
But it happened, again and again, that the child who 
went to the castle for bread never left it alive. 

In addition to his male accomplices, Gilles em- 

^ To avoid a multiplicity of references in this part of our work, 
it may be said that every statement given above is based on one 
or another portion of the evidence and the confessions in the 
Ecclesiastical or Secular Proceedings against the Marshal As 
a matter of (act, far from exaggeratingi we cannot tell all the truth. 

18—2 



276 BLUEBEARD 

ployed two women to inveigle children to his abodes. 
Of one of them, named ^tiennette Blanchu. we do 
not know much ; but the other, Perrine Mai tin, has 
remained famous, and is still associated with the 
memory of Gilles de Rais by the peasantry of 
La Loire Infdrieure and La Vendue. Abb6 Bossard 
draws a striking portrait of her,^ based on state- 
ments made when Gilles was brought to justice. 
She belonged to Nantes, and people occasionally 
called her * La Peliczonne,'^ but more frequently * La 
Meffraye,' a strident name, suggesting a bird of 
prey. Perrine had a florid face, and in 1439-40 
seemed to be between fifty and sixty years of age. 
She wore a gray gown, with a kerchief falling from 
her shoulders, a black cape, and a long veil of black 
stamin, which often frightened those who saw her 
pass. Both her appearance and her actions were 
mysterious and inspired anxiety and dread. * She 
roamed the country roads and the moors. She 
approached the children who were tending cattle, or 
who had come out to beg ; she cajoled and caressed 
them, her face always half hidden by her veil ; she 
prevailed on them to accompany her to the castle of 
the Sire de Rais, and they were never seen again.** 
One day she passed through St. Etienne de Montluc. 
In the evening it was found that a boy between 
eight and nine years old, named Jean Brice, had dis- 
appeared. A man bore witness, however, that he 

^ Bossard, /.r., p. 205 et seq, 

^ Perhaps from ' PeliQon,' a furred cloak or pelisse. 

' Michelet's ' Histoire de France^' vol. v. 



GILLES DE RAIS 277 

had seea La Meffraye talking to this child near the 
presbytery. Another evening she made her appear- 
ance a^Port Launay, and on being questioned as to 
the object of her journey, she replied that she was 
going to Machecoul. She was leading a good- 
looking child by the hand. A few days later, when 
she passed that way again, but alone, she was asked 
what she had done with the lad, and replied that 
she had placed him with * a good master.' 

Nantes was often the scene of her vile exploits. 
We hear of her taking a child of the parish of 
Ste. Croix to Machecoul ; conducting another, 
twelve years old, to Gilles' mansion of La Suze ; 
kidnapping a third, a fourth, and even beguiling a 
young man about twenty, * short and pale of face,* 
whose name was never ascertained. She put on a 
kindly air when she accosted an intended victim, 
spoke soft words to the boy, made him fine promises, 
and he went with her along the roads until men 
suddenly sprang out of the hedges or the woods, 
gagged the astonished child, thrust him into a large 
sack or * pocket,* and in this way brought him to 
Gilles de Rais.^ The servants at the castle gates 
knew nothing. They had seen no lad enter. At 
the utmost they were only aware that some of their 
fellows had passed in, carrying a burden. And at 
times a stealthy entrance was effected by way of 
some mysterious postern, where only those who 
were in the Marshal's secret kept watch and ward. 
Nevertheless, the kidnappers must have been seen 

^ Bossard, /.^., pp. 205-207. 



^78 BLUEJIJpARD 

at times, for rumours arose respecting them. From 
the sacks they carried they were called empocAeurs 
— a name which came down to our times, and which, 
half a century ago, was only spoken with dread by 
the peasantry around Nantes, who ranked those 
robbers of children with the gnomes, the malignant 
sorcerers, and the werewolves.^ 

Moreover, in spite of all the precautions taken 
by Gilles de Rais and his associates, the dreadful 
secret leaked out in various manners and directions. 
A woman named Jeanne Delit, of the parish of 
St. Denis of Nantes, heard, through one of the 
Marshal's retainers, that his master caused children 
to be taken ' in order that he might put them to 
death '; and the same man also told her that he had 
seen a certain boy being roasted at the mansion of 
La Suze. Again, a rumour arose that the Lord of 
Rais was * practising the art and science of Necro- 
mancy, and causing a great many children to be put 
to death in order to have their blood, with which he 
traced all the necessary formulae {caract^res de divine- 
meni) for the invocation of the infernal spirits, with 
the object of succeeding by their help in the recovery 
of great treasure and wealth. '^ A passage in the 
evidence subsequently collected shows also how 
one day a traveller arrived at St. Jean d'Angely in 
Saintonge,^ and, on mentioning that he had come 
from Machecoul, saw an expression of fright appear 

^ Mourain de Sourdeval, /.r., p. 23. 

^ Alain Bouchard's ' Grandes Chroniques,' as cited in Bossard. 

' It is now in the department of La Charente Infdrieure. 



GILLES DE RAIS 279 

on every face around him, whilst his companions 
exclaimed : 

' From Machecoul ? But dire things are told of 
that place. Folk say that little children are eaten 
there !' 

Now, St. Jean d' Angely is more than eighty miles, 
as the crow flies, from Machecoul ; so the gruesome 
tale of horror was spreading far around. 

Nevertheless Gilles de Rais continued to rely on 
impunity. And meantime the rumours — he heard 
of them, for on one occasion Henri Griart told him 
what was being said — gathered volume week by 
week, month by month, year by year. As Abb6 
Bossard well puts it, they were destined to become 
no longer mere rumours, no longer low sobs or 
sorrowful moans, but loud and frantic howls — ulu- 
lantium^ to use the vigorous expression of the 
draughtsman of the indictment which was at last 
preferred against this devil in human form. We all 
know how wrong and how cruel was the persecution 
of the * poor, old, lame, foul and blear-eyed women ''^ 
who, in olden time, were said to be witches, the 
miserable creatures who were accuse^l of being in 
league with Satan, but who often lacked the very 
necessaries of life, a circumstance which of itself 
ought to have established their innocence, for if they 
had sold themselves to the Fiend they would surely 
have obtained some return from him. But the 
remembrance of a thousand odious persecutions 
must not blind one to the guilt of Gilles de Rais. So 

^ Reginald Scof 8 ' Discoverie of Witchcraft' 



28o BLUEBEARD 

far as was possible on his part he did indeed seek to 
make a covenant with the evil spirits, and he sacri- 
ficed untold victims on the shrine of devil-worship. 
As Michelet puts it somewhere, either in his History 
or his ' Sorci^re,' after killing for the Devil's sake, 
Gilles killed for his own pleasure. There were 
three stages in his career of crime. First he fell 
into the grasp of abominable corruption, and killed 
in order that his sins might not be made known. 
Then, on being drawn towards magic, he killed for 
sacrificial purposes, urged to it, no doubt, by his 
necromancers. Did not even Eustache Blanchet, one 
of his chaplains, a priest of Christ, say again and again 
to Poitou and Henri Griart : * It is impossible for the 
Marshal to succeed in his enterprise unless he offers 
the demon the blood and the limbs of children put to 
death ?'^ Finally he killed because he experienced an 
abominable fiendish ecstasy at the sight of the death 
throes, at the spectacle of blood spurting forth when 
he had planted his dagger in the throat of some un- 
happy victim, even as was described, with ghastly 
details, by his retainers. At times he hanged 
children from some rafter in his chamber, let them 
down, and then hoisted them up again, and, when 
tired of that horrible pastime, plunged a long needle 
into the victim's neck, and took delight in beholding 
the last convulsions. And when the victim's head 
was at last cut off, he set it now on his mantel-shelf, 
now on one of the posts of his bedstead ! Thus he 
became for all time the personification of la bite 

^ Poitou's Confession. 



GILLES DE RAIS 281 

humaine, ravening for blood and slaughter. Yet, 
like the Manichean he partly was, suddenly dreading 
lest the Spirit of Good should be more powerful than 
the Spirit of Evil, he would at certain moments burst 
into tears, implore the pardon of Heaven, and devote 
large sums to pious foundations and charitable works. 
Again, with all solemnity, he vowed to cloister him- 
self and do penance for the remainder of his days ; 
and at other times, at Machecoul and again at 
Bourgneuf-en-Rais, he swore on a fragment of the 
true Cross which he possessed that he would go on 
pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre, alone, on foot, 
staff in hand and begging his bread. 

But relapses invariably ensued. He returned like 
a dog to his vomit. We have his own statements 
and those of his retainers that he drank heavily, 
draining bowls of hippocras and heady wine, and 
that his monstrous orgies were again and again 
crowned by utter fiendishness. It is unnecessary to 
detail those horrors any further here. Scholars 
will find them set down elsewhere. For the purposes 
of this work one need only recount the final attempts 
which Gilles made to raise the Devil with the help 
of a new magician, Francesco Prelati, who came to 
him from Italy, and then one may pass to the 
comparatively venal act of sacrilege which at last 
set justice in motion and brought the monster to 
his doom. 



VII 

1438— 1440 

FRANCESCO PRELATI, THE DEVIL-RAISER — THE SPURIOUS 
MAID OF ORLEANS — GILLES' LAST DAYS OF SIN, 
CRIME AND VIOLENCE. 

The MarshaVs Chaplain visits Italy and meets Prelati at Florence 
— A Youthful Wizard — The Princes of Hell appear in the Form 
of Crows — Barron, a powerful Devil, shows himself as a Young 
Man — Blanchet and Prelati journey to France — Fresh Attempts 
at Alchemy at Tififauges — Prelati and his Incantations — ^The 
Devil again evoked at Ti£OEiuges — ^The Tramp of the Four- 
footed Beast on the Castle Roof— Heaven sends a Thunder- 
storm to frighten away the Devil — Satan presents Prelati with 
Ingots of Gold, then changes into a Huge Green Serpent, and 
the Gold vanishes — Prelati beaten by the Devil — The Spurious 
Maid of Orleans and Gilles de Rais — The Marshal visits 
Charles VII. at Bourges, and throws Barron's Talisman away — 
His Penance for this Transgression — Gilles and the Black 
Mass — Human Sacrifices for Satan — Flight and Recapture of 
Blanchet, the Chaplain— Devilry at Machecoul, Bourgneuf^ 
Vannes, and Josselin— Sacrilege in the Church of St ^tienne 
de Mer Morte — Ferron, a Clerk, is seized by Gilles — Rebellion 
and Submission of the Marshal — Constable de Richemont 
reconciles him with the Duke of Brittany, whom he visits at 
Vannes and Josselin — His Final Crimes. 

More than once in the course of this strange, event- 
ful history, Eustache Blanchet, one of the chaplains 
of Gilles de Rais, has been shown recruiting alche- 



GILLES DE RAIS tSj 

mists and necromancers for his patron, and the 
reader will have seen that there is reason to suspect 
this priest of further complicity in the evil deeds of 
Machecoul and TifTauges. 

According to Blanchet's evidence, however, he 
had only a vague idea of the Marshal's actual 
crimes — an idea which at last made him anxious 
to sever the connection. Seeking an excuse, he 
told his patron that urgent private affairs required 
his presence in Italy, whither he betook himself some 
time in 1438, after a parting conversation with Gilles, 
who requested him to seek out some skilful Italian 
alchemist or necromancer in the course of his travels. 
Such was Blanchet's version of the circumstances 
under which he made his journey, but it is far more 
probable that he went to Italy by the Marshal's 
express orders. In any case, according to his own 
statement, he ultimately found himself in the city 
of Florence, and at one of its hostelries became 
acquainted with a certain Messer Guglielmo, of 
Monte- Pulciano, who introduced him to a certain 
Niccolo de' Medici, of Florence, a certain Francesco 
(probably an ecclesiastic) of the diocese of Castel- 
lane, and a certain Prelati, whose Christian name 
also was Francesco, and who, it seems, was then 
staying in the city with the Bishop of Mondovi — 
a town of Piedmont. According to Blanchet he 
became acquainted with Prelati on or about Ascen- 
sion Day (May .^), 1439; but Prelati himself, speaking 
on October 16, 1440, declared that the acquaintance 
had begun about two years previously, and every- 



284 BLUEBEARD 

thing indicates that his was the more accurate of the 
two statements.^ 

Born at Monte Catini, in the Val di Nievole, near 
Pistoja, diocese of Lucca, Francesco Prelati, at the 
time of meeting Blanchet, was not a priest, as 
Michelet and Vallet de Viriville have asserted. 
Abb6 Bossard, rightly jealous of his ministry, has 
pointed out that, although Prelati had received the 
tonsure from the Bishop of Arezzo, he was only a 
student for the priesthood, a young clerk. And 
here it may be said that the comparative youthful- 
ness of the chief characters in the Gilles de Rais 
tragedy is one of its most striking features. Gilles 
at his death in 1440 was only six-and-thirty years 
old ; Sill6, his cousin and accomplice, was of about 
the same age ; but Roger de Bricqueville was not 
more than five-and-twenty ; while Henri Griart, 
otherwise Henriet, was twenty-six ; and Corillaut, 
otherwise Poitou, was only twenty-two.^ Moreover, 
if Blanchet the priest had already reached the age 

^ Some witnesses in the Rais affaire had very bad memories. 
They cited impossible dates and forgot the names of people and 
places. It is certain that in these respects they were frequently 
influenced by fears for their own necks. . Their lapses and their con- 
flicting statements in no wise cast doubt upon the guilt of the 
Marshal (which guilt he himself freely confessed), but they render 
extremely difficult the task of the writer who desires to narrate 
events in something like proper chronological order. 

^ The age of Bricqueville is taken from the pardon granted to 
him by Charles VII., in which it is stated that he was five years 
old when the English invaded Normandy (141 5). For Griart* 
Corillaut, Blanchet, and Prelati, their statements in evidence at 
the trial of their patron have been consulted. 



GILLES DE RAIS 285 

of forty, Prelati the necromancer was seventeen 
years younger ; that is to say, he had just attained his 
majority when he met the Marshal's chaplain at 
Florence, 

In this connection Abb^ Bossard points out that 
the alchemist and magician of the Middle Ages is 
usually pictured as a decrepit old man with unkempt 
hair and beard ; and, indeed, it is thus that many 
famous painters have limned him, while we all know 
how aged Faust is made to appear on the stage 
before his metamorphosis at the hands of Mephis- 
topheles. But if there were old and gloomy-looking 
wizards, there were also young and handsome ones, 
and Prelati belonged to the latter class, which would 
seem to have been particularly numerous in Italy. 
Although that country was the home of the Papacy, 
the centre of the Catholic religion, it probably gave 
more necromancers and astrologers to the world 
than any other. There were even Popes who 
gained the reputation of being wizards. Consider- 
able suspicion, for instance, attached to Silvester II. 
on account of his nightly study of astronomy. And 
though other pontiffs were at pains to put down the 
Black Art, some of them detecting magic in every- 
thing — John XVI. regarded both Plato and Virgil 
as enchanters — the so-called occult sciences thrived 
in their dominions and the adjacent States, while 
the Manichean heresy, which placed the Prince of 
Darkness on a footing of equality with the Deity, 
grew apace even under the shadow of St. Peters, 
thence spreading to other lands, including France, 



\ 



2%6 BLUEBEARD 

■ 

to the very centre of which it had already penetrated 
early in the eleventh century.^ Four hundred years 
later, at the time of Gilles de Rais, we still find it 
there, despite all the efforts of the Church to extir- 
pate it. Scepticism may have been slowly rising at 
that time, even although so-called witchcraft was 
so prevalent, for the impostures of charlatans were 
frequently exposed. Nevertheless, the Black Art 
retained its genuine devotees, such as Gilles de 
Rais, Giac, the royal favourite, Alen^on, the ieau 
Due, and all the other high and mighty lords who 
eagerly welcomed the necromancers from across 
the Alps, and employed them in the hope of 
securing wealth and power by force of magic. 

When conviviality had placed Blanchet the priest 
on the best of terms with young Francesco Prelati, 
who, according to all accounts, dearly loved a pot 
of good wine, he spoke with him on the subject of 
alchemy and the raising of demons, and learnt that 
a short time previously (1437) the young man had 
acquired considerable knowledge of magic from a 
certain physician of Florence named Giovanni da 
Fontanella, who was extremely expert in summoning 
the evil spirits. One day, for instance, Fontanella had 
taken Prelati to a room at the top of his house and 
had there evoked the Princes of Hell, who had 
appeared in the shape of five-and-twenty birds, black, 
and resembling crows. Unfortunately, these birds 
had remained mysteriously silent ; but on another 

* * Moines et Papes : Essais de Psychologie Historique,' by 
fimfle Gebhart Paris, 1897. 



GILLES DE RAIS 287 

occasion a very powerful Devil named Barron had 
condescended to show himself in the form of a 
handsome young man, and Fontanella having intro- 
duced Prelati to him, they had entered into a 
solemn covenant, Prelati promising Barron that he 
would present him with a hen, a pigeon and a dove 
each time that he should respond to his call.^ 

One wonders whether Blanchet and Prelati 
laughed together over those apparitions like a 
pair of Roman augurs in the absence of the 
profane. One thing is certain : the priest regarded 
the young clerk as the very man for his patron, 
Gilles de Rais, and asked him if he would go to 
France. Prelati consented to do so, the more 
readily, it seems, as he had a cousin named Martell 
(Martello?) dwelling at Nantes, whom he was very 
desirous of seeing. So the priest and the wizard set off 
together, journeying leisurely until at last they came 
to the little town of St Florent-le-Vieil, on the left 
bank of the Loire, midway between Chalonnes and 
Champtoceaux. Thence Blanchet wrote to Gilles 
de Rais acquainting him with the arrival of the 
necromancer who would surely make * Master Ali- 
borum ' appear ; and the Marshal at once despatched 
Henriet and Poitou with a suitable equipage in order 
to bring the travellers to Tiffauges. 

They seem to have reached that castle in the 
spring of 1439, at which time Gilles had some little 
money before him, as is shown by a receipt of his, 
acknowledging the payment of fifteen hundred gold 

^ Prdati's Evidence : Ecclesiastical Proceedings. 



288 BLUEBEARD 

saluts on account of the Champtoc^ contract with the 
Duke of Brittany,^ 

The Marshal appears to have received Prelati with 
open arms. And here it should be mentioned that 
the Italian possessed considerable culture. Like 
Gilles himself, he was a remarkably good Latinist^ ; 
whilst his skill in the arts of flattery and cajolery 
proved to be exceptional. For some reason or 
other, soon after his arrival at Tiffauges, it was 
decided to carry on the experiments in alchemy in a 
house near the church of St Nicholas instead of at 
the castle itself.^ This house belonged to an old 
woman named Perrota, with whom Rais was on 

^ This is the receipt bearing the signature given on p. 252. It 
runs as follows : 

' We, Gilles, Lord of Rais and Pouzauges, Marshal of France, 
acknowledge having received of Jehan Mauleon, treasurer of the 
Duke, my {sic) sovereign Lord, the sum of one thousand and five 
hundred gold saiuz^ on account of the sum of one hundred thou- 
sand crowns which my (sic) said Lord the Duke owes to us, and 
is required to complete and pay on account of the contract of 
Champtoc^. And this sum of one thousand and five hundred 
saluz we hold to be well paid, and have acquitted and do acquit 
thereof my said Lord, the said Mauleon, and all others to whom 
acquittance may be due, as witness our sign manual set here this 
sixth day of May, the year one thousand, four hundred, thirty and 

nine. 

* Gilles.' 

This receipt was formerly in the collection of M. Benjamin 
Fillon, and was communicated by him to M. Ren^ de Maulde. 
^ * Quod pulchre et ornate verbis latinis loqueretur. * 
^ Bossard thinks this was done to avoid a repetition of the 
Dauphin's surprise visit (see ante^ p. 243), but there is nothing to 
show that the Dauphin had then been at Tiffauges. We do not 
think he can have gone there until quite the end of 1439. 



GILLES DE RAIS 289 

familiar terms ; and it stood quite by itself, on a hill 
facing the western side of the castle. Here then, 
for some time, in a certain room reserved for him, 
Prelati, with the assistance of the Marshal s gold- 
smith, Jean Petit, carried on his attempts at 
gold-making, often receiving visits of inspection 
from his patron, who displayed, indeed, extreme 
anxiety concerning the progress of the work. 
Blanchet and La Perrota, it seems, were only allowed 
to enter the room on one occasion, but at other times, 
when the priest chanced to be in an adjoining 
chamber, he caught sight (according to his own 
account) of certain mysterious practices, such as the 
tracing of magic circles, the kindling of bright fires 
on which incense and aloes-wood were flung, and 
prostrations as if before some invisible divinity. One 
day, moreover, while the priest was listening atten- 
tively, he heard Prelati repeating in an undertone : 
* Satan, Satan, come to our help !' At the same time 
(either the door was partially open or Blanchet 
looked through a crack or a keyhole) he saw Gilles 
and Prelati standing in the room, each with a lighted 
candle in his hand. But soon after the invocation, 
which was followed by words which the priest did 
not catch or understand, a great gust of icy wind 
swept down, upon the house striking it with such 
exceeding violence that Blanchet was absolutely 
terrified. He felt certain that this was some mani- 
festation of the wrath of Heaven. 

In spite, however, of all their attempts, Prelati 
and Gilles did not succeed in making gold in the 

19 



290 BLUEBEARD 

mysterious room at La Perrota's house — a room in 
which, it wouldseem, a model of a hand in wax and 
one of a foot in iron were subsequently found.^ But 
Prelati had now become acquainted with a Breton 
doctor who was staying in the town (or village) of 
Tiffauges with a certain Geoffroy Lecomte, whose 
wife he was treating for some affection of the eyes ; 
and one day this doctor showed the young Italian a 
mysterious book written *in black ink, partly on 
papyrus, partly on parchment, and ornamented with 
rubrics/ The work treated of medicine, astrology, 
the evocation of spirits and other weird matters, and 
Prelati, borrowing it from the doctor, carried it to 
Gilles, with the result that a fresh attempt to raise 
the Prince of Darkness was made in accordance with 
the formulae set forth in this ancient book. 

The attempt in question took place late one night 
in the summer of 1439. Gilles, Prelati, Blanchet, 
Henri Griart and Poitou met in a large hall of the 
castle, overlooking the valley of the Crflme. One of 
them carried a lighted candle of white wax. A large 
quantity of charcoal and incense had been provided, 
with an earthen pot in which to kindle the fire, a 
lodestone, and several torches and candles. All 
being in readiness, Gilles and Prelati traced with 
their swords a large circle on the floor of the room, 
marking at four points within this circle various 
crosses and signs which, according to Poitou, re- 
sembled escutcheons. The fire in the pot having 
been kindled, a second one was lighted in a comer of 

^ Civil Proceedings : Henriet's Confession. 



GILLES DE RAIS 291 

the room, close to the wall, on which Prelati traced 
several more escutcheon-like sigfns, similar to those 
in the circle. Then * magnetic powder ' and incense, 
myrrh and aloes-wood, were thrown on the glowing 
charcoal, and a cloud of aromatic smoke arose, filling 
the room with perfume. Finally Prelati gave orders 
for the four windows — there was one in each wall, so 
that they symbolized, as it were, the points of a cross 
— to be opened, and then all was in readiness for the 
evocation. 

Gilles, however, after cautioning Blanchet, Griart, 
and Poitou to speak no word of what they had 
witnessed, dismissed them, bidding them repair to 
his chamber and there await his coming. Then he 
and Prelati entered the magic circle together, the 
Italian holding the book he had borrowed and read- 
ing a passage which asserted that the demons had 
' the power of revealing the whereabouts of hidden 
treasure, of teaching philosophy, and of directing 
human actions towards success.' Gilles meantime 
carried a cedula in which, apart from his soul and 
his life, he promised the Fiend whatever he might 
desire. 

A long series of prayers, protests, promises, and 
offerings began. At times standing, at others kneel- 
ing, they paid homage to the Spirit of Evil, made 
sacrifices to him, read passages of the mysterious 
book, and repeated incantations: *I adjure /you, 
Barron, Satan, Belial, Beelzebub, in the name of 
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, in the 
name of the Virgin Mary and all the Saints, appear 

I 



292 BLUEBEARD 

here in person to speak with us and do our bidding !*^ 
At last the suppliants turned their eyes towards one 
or another of the open windows, and Gilles repeated 
the formula of his covenant ; but neither promises, 
nor prayers, nor any sacrifice of dove, or pigeon, or 
cock prevailed with the Evil One. Nothing appeared 
to Gilles, nothing was heard by him in spite of all 
his solicitations. But it was different with Blanchet 
and Henri Griart, who were waiting for him in his 
bedroom. Poitou had fallen asleep there, but the 
others, in the midst of their anxious vigil, suddenly 
distinguished, on the roof above them, a noisy tramp, 
like that of a four-footed beast hurrying towards the 
window of the castle postern — that is, in the direction 
of the hall where the Marshal had remained with 
Prelati. The priest and the chamberlain refrained 
from mentioning this circumstance, however, when, 
at an early hour in the morning, Gilles returned to 
his room in despair at the failure of his efforts. 

His own explanation of these repeated failures 
was the weakness he displayed in muttering prayers 
to the Deity, even amidst the most solemn incanta- 
tions addressed to the Fiend. Those prayers, which 
were ever escaping him in his torturing doubt as to 
who might be the more powerful of the two great 
Spirits, angered the Prince of Darkness exceedingly 
and made him deaf to every entreaty. Eventually, 
Gilles instructed Prelati to make another effort in 
his absence, and bade the terrified Poitou attend the 
necromancer. This attempt (which recalls a previous 

^ Ecclesiastical Proceedings : Prelati's Confession. 



GILLES DE RAIS 293 

one,^ and may indicate some confusion in the minds of 
the witnesses) took place one dark night in a meadow 
near the road to Montaigu, some distance below the 
castle pond. A circle was traced, a fire was kindled, 
and all the customary rites were performed ; Poitou, 
more dead than alive, standing with Prelati in the 
circle and holding the Marshal s cedula, on which 
the usual formula was written. But all at once a 
terrific storm burst forth, the rain poured down 
torrentially, and the two devil-raisers were drenched 
before they could reach the castle, where, to their 
consternation, they found the drawbridge raised in 
such wise that they were obliged to betake them- 
selves to the village, where Blanchet at that time 
was dwelling. He seems to have anticipated their 
coming, for we read that he had prepared a large fire 
and a bed. 

If, however, the Devil failed to appear to Gilles 
or Poitou, he more than once honoured Prelati with 
a visit when the latter happened to be alone, and 
the Italian was always so skilful, so plausible, in his 
explanations that the Marshal never doubted his 
statements, but invariably attributed his own failures 
to the previously-mentioned weakness. One day 
when the Evil Spirit appeared to Prelati, the necro- 
mancer, on behalf of Gilles, solicited the bestowal of 
wealth, and suddenly perceived a large number of 
gold ingots in the room. He wished to touch them, 
but Satan, who had assumed for the occasion the 
form of a handsome young man, forbade it, saying 

^ See anU^ p. 252. 



294 BLUEBEARD 

that the moment had not yet come. Nevertheless, 
Prelati carried the good news to his patron, who 
eagerly inquired if he might see the gold. The 
magician assented, and they repaired to the room 
together. But at the very moment when Prelati 
opened the door he caught sight of a huge green 
serpent, ' in girth as big as a dog.' ' Do not enter ! 
there is a great serpent !' he cried to the Marshal, 
who immediately took to his heels, followed by the 
impostor. 

After that first moment of fright, however, Gilles 
wished to return to the room, and in order to protect 
himself from the assault of the Demon he took with 
him a crucifix containing a small portion of the real 
Cross. At this Prelati remonstrated ; it was not 
proper, he said, to use a consecrated- crucifix in such 
a matter, and, moreover, the sight of it would so 
incense the Devil that the most dreadful things 
might happen. The Marshal himself ended by 
adopting this view, and put the crucifix away. 
When he at last entered the room the serpent had 
vanished ; he only found there a few strips of gold- 
foil, * whereby,' he said subsequently to his judges, 
' I well did recognise the falseness of the Evil One.' 

On another occasion Prelati. like one of the 
Marshal's previous necromancers,^ was badly beaten 
by the Devil. Blanchet, who subsequently told the 
story, had gone that day to visit some fellow-ecclesi- 
astics in the vicinity of Tiffauges, when suddenly a 
messenger reached him from the castle with instruc- 

^ See ante^ p. 251. 
I 



GILLES DE RAIS 295 

tions that he was to return thither immediately. He 
did so, and on entering one of the galleries found the 
Marshal in tears. * Ah, I am greatly afraid that my 
friend Fran9ois is dead !' said Gilles to Blanchet. 
' I heard him shrieking in yonder chamber, and 
between his cries I distinguished a noise as of 
terrible blows. I dared not enter, but I entreat you 
to do so, to ascertain what has happened.' 

In making this request Gilles may have had the 
idea that Blanchet, being a priest, would incur no 
risk at the hands of the Evil Spirit. But the chap- 
lain was as terrified as his patron, and at first refused 
to do anything. At last, after many entreaties, he 
went, not to the door, but to a window of the room 
opening into a garden, and called : * Master Fran- 
cesco! Master Francesco!* Prelati, however, re- 
turned no answer, though Blanchet could hear him 
moaning as if with pain. Not daring to carry his 
investigations any further, the priest returned to 
Gilles and told him what he had heard, whereupon 
the other's grief became greater than ever. While 
he was sobbing, however, the door was slowly set 
ajar, and Prelati appeared, pale, haggard, and scarce 
able to walk. With the assistance of his friends, 
he eventually managed to reach the Marshal's 
chamber, where he related that he had received a 
severe beating from the Demon as the result of his 
own folly. It appears that on receiving a visit from 
Barron he had questioned him respecting the failure 
of some recent evocations, and had imprudently ex- 
claimed that the demons were mere vilains and had 



296 BLUEBEARD 

no power whatever; whereupon bi^.Ton ha4 begfun 
to thrash him by way of proving tl t his p6wer was 
real enough. Like the previous nee* omancer beaten 
by the fiend, Prelati was obliged to take to his ibed 
as the result of this ferocious assault, and for more 
than a week Gilles nursed him with the utmost care 
and devotion. According to Blanehet, the adventure 
left a deep impression on the mind of the Italian, 
who more than once blasphemously remarked that 
' the evil spirits were created of a more noble sub- 
stance than even the Blessed Virgin Mary.'^ 

It is now time to turn to a matter connected with 
the public life of Gilles de Rais. Three years 
previously (1436) a woman named Claude had 
appeared in Lorraine, asserting that she was Joan 
the Maid,^ and had escaped execution at Rouen. 
Joan's brothers, Pierre and Jean du Lys, for some 
reason or other, perhaps a desire to enrich them- 
selves by practising a fraud — for they had been 
neglected since their sister s death — pretended that 
they recognised this woman, who, after sojourning 
for a time with the Duchess of Luxemburg, recruited 
many partisans. She wore masculine garments, 

^ Ecclesiastical Proceedings : Blanchet. 

^ Late in December, 1901, a prominent London evening 
newspaper printed a leaderette gravely suggesting that Joan was 
never burnt, and that the woman mentioned above may have 
been the real Maid. The question has long ago been threshed 
out in France, and whatever ' discoveries ' may be made in the 
matter nowadays, among old records and so forth, it is quite 
certain that Joan was burnt and that Claude was as much an 
impostor as was Arthur Orton. 



GILLES DE RAIS 297 

carried a sword^Sid rode on horseback like Joan ; 
but, on the othe^f4iand, she displayed great freedom 
of manner, ds^Kifing; drinking, captivating young 
men, and proph^ying bonders to everybody. Re- 
pairing to Cologne, she there secured the support of 
Duke Ulrich of WHftemberg ; but as she evinced a 
desire to dabbltf^ff? magic, she was excommunicated 
at the instigatioif of the Inquisition, and thereupon 
returned hastily to France. There she captivated a 
Knight of Lorraine, named Robert des Armoises, 
and became his wife ; and with the help of Jean du 
Lys she even secured some pecuniary assistance 
from Charles VII. But she soon began to lead a 
very riotous life, and being at last separated from her 
husband, after presenting him with two sons,^ she 
became the mistress of a priest. She is said to have 
gone to Rome a little later in order to procure abso- 
lution for some cos riservi, and to have fought as a 
mercenary for Eugenius IV., who was then at war 
with his subjects. At all events, in 1439, when the 
disturbances which preceded the Praguerie were rife 
in Poitou, Claude des Armoises appeared in that 
r^ion ; and Gilles de Rais, it is said, placed her at 
the head of a company oi gens (Tamus^ giving her as 
lieutenant one of his retainers, a certain Jean de 
Siquenville, who is described as a Gascon squire^ 
though the name would seem to be a Norman one ; 

^ According to one of the modem theories, the descendant of 
one of these sons was the Man with the Iron Mask ! Do Bob- 
gohe/s romance 00 the sobfect wiH be iiuniliar to man^ novel- 



298 BLUEBEARD 

and it is certain that Roger de Bricqueville intro- 
duced many Normans to the Marshal's service. In 
this connection one may mention that about this 
time — the spring and summer of 1439 — Bricqueville 
disappears from the scene so far as the personal 
doings of Rais are concerned, though his presence 
at Tiffauges or Machecoul at a later date appears 
probable. Bossard declares that Bricqueville fled, 
like Sill6, at the time of the Marshal's arrest 
(September, 1440); Bricqueville himself, when suing 
Charles VII. for pardon, asserts that he had 
quitted the service of Gilles in 1435 in consequence 
of the horrid suspicions he had formed with regard 
to his patron's crimes. In this respect Bricque- 
ville lied, for he himself had been an accomplice in 
several misdeeds. But from some allusions in the 
documents we think he may have been absent for a 
time on military service, with Siquenville and the 
spurious Maid, particularly as his name does not 
appear in connection with any incident at Tiffauges 
in the summer of 1439. 

From the manner in which Vallet de Viriville 
writes^ of Gilles de Rais and Claude des Armoises, it 
might be inferred that the Marshal employed this 
woman and Siquenville against the royal authority, 
first in some expedition against Le Mans, and 
secondly in an attempt on La Rochelle ; but in what- 
ever enterprise Gilles made use of the spurious 
Maid, it is certain it was for and not against 
the royal cause. It appears, indeed, that Claude 

* * Histoire de Charles VII.,* vol. ii., p. 369. 



GILLES DE RAIS 299 

des Armoises repaired to Orleans in July, and 
again in September, 1439, and was received there 
with great honour.^ About the same period, also, 
Gilles de Rais quitted Tiflfauges and betook himself 
to Bourges to see the King, which course he would 
not have taken had he been a rebel. Before making 
the journey in question (which is mentioned in the 
evidence given at his trial), he may have already 
dismissed the spurious Maid, as was stated in a 
previous chapter of this work ; or perhaps that dis- 
missal, ascribed to the un worthiness of Claude des 
Armoises, was the outcome of the interview which 
Gilles had at Bourges with Charles VI I.^ All we 
know, however, of the purpose of his journey is that 
he had some important business in hand,^ concerning 
the issue of which he was so extremely anxious that 
on quitting Tiflfauges he recommended his aflfairs to 
Prelati, and begged him to let him know as soon as 
possible the result of his invocations. 

A short time afterwards Prelati sent him, by 
messenger — either Poitou or a certain Denis Gas- 
card (the evidence on the point is conflicting) — a 

» Vallet de Viriville, Lc. 

* On the subject of the False Maid see Quicherat*s * Proems de 
Jeanne d'Arc,' vol. v., p. 321 et seq, ; * Une Fausse Jeanne d*Arc,' 
by A. Lecoy de la Marche ; * Revue des Questions Historiques,' 
187 1 ; and Wallon, vol. iL, p. 308 et seq,^ and Appendix xxiii. 
(References given by Bossard.) 

'In certain letters of remission granted to Siquenville it is said 
that Gilles wished to undertake an enterprise against Le Mans, 
and perhaps it was about this matter that he sought an interview 
with the King. See Quicherat, /.^, vol v., p. 333. 



300 BLUEBEARD 

letter informing him that everything was progress- 
ing favourably, that the Devil had again appeared, 
and had given him some black powder, with instruc- 
tions to send it to the Marshal, who was to place it 
in a little silver box and carry it hanging from his 
neck both day and night, for it was a very precious 
talisman, and, if the said instructions were obeyed, 
would bring him great advantages. The Marshal 
did as he was told, carrying the powder in a box for 
some considerable time ; but his affairs at Bourges 
did not prosper, and at last, in a fit of impatience, 
he divested himself of the talisman, one account 
saying that he flung it into a well in the court of the 
house of Messire Jacques Coeur,^ and another show-, 
ing that it was brought back to Brittany and given 
by Poitou to Prelati, who left it in his room at a 
house at Machecoul, where it was found after the 
arrest of the Marshal and his accomplices.^ The 
explanation probably is that the little silver box, on 
being thrown away, did not fall into the well, but 
was picked up by Poitou, who subsequently returned 
it to the Italian. 

In any case, the latter was extremely displeased. 
He told Gilles, on his return home, that he had 

^ Lacroix, following his transcript, calls the powder * something 
of the colour of silver,' and adds ' in a purse of hlaclc silk, which 
was enclosed in a silver-gilt box.' 

^ This could not have been the famous historic mansion whidi 
Coeur only began to build in 1443. Some previous residence must 
be referred to. If the incident really occurred, it is possible that 
Gilles went to the celebrated financier to borrow money of him, 
and, having failed to do so, threw the box away in disgust 



GILLES DE RAIS 301 

flung away his happiness and virtually lost himself ; 
that Barron must be greatly angered against him ; 
and that in order to appease the great demon he 
must humble himself and give food and drink to 
three poor men at each of the three great festivals of 
the year. Indeed, as confessed by Gilles himself, 
he did perform that act of penance on All Saints' 
Day, 1439, when he personally washed the feet of 
three poor men, and served them with food and 
drink. But he added that he did it only on the 
occasion specified. 

This brings one to the oft-repeated charge that 
Gilles had the Black Mass sung in honour of 
Satan, a charge suggested by the indictment against 
him, which asserts that for five years he caused 
' pretended solemnities to be celebrated in honour 
of the evil spirits.' Abb^ Bossard thinks that he 
at least caused the Black Mass to be sung on the 
particular day when he fed the three poor men ; but 
the present writer finds no confirmation of this 
supposition in the evidence. The assumption is 
simply based on the aforesaid words in the indict- 
ment, which contains numerous errors of fact From 
all that is known of the character of Gilles, it seems 
certain that he never caused the Black Mass to be 
celebrated. With his fantastic ideas of the powers 
of good and evil, he would have regarded such an 
action as irretrievable. Amidst his most frantic 
paroxysms of crime he always remained anxious 
to save his soul. Directly he had ceased evoking 
the Devil he prayed to the Deity for pardon ; and 



s 



302 BLUEBEARD 

Prelati had to tell him, again and again, that he 
would never gain Satan to his cause unless he 
renounced his attachment to the Church and his 
chantry. Some members of the latter were certainly 
his accomplices in abominable turpitude and crime ; 
but even they would have recoiled from the idea of 
celebrating the ritual in honour of Satan. Had there 
been any evidence on the subject, Ahh6 Bossard 
would assuredly have dealt with it at length. The 
present writer has waded through many pages of 
medieval Latin, but has found no evidence whatever 
confirming the vague allegation in the indictment 
Thus the so-called Black Mass and all its imaginary 
attributes may be left to M. Huysmans and his fellow- 
novelists, from whom one does not expect anything 
approaching historical accuracy. 

But if that particular charge remains unproven, 
how many are confirmed by the evidence ! Gilles 
recoiled from no act of wickedness and villainy when 
he thought he might subsequently atone for it by 
penance. One can picture him thinking that if the 
Devil gave him the great wealth he desired he would 
devote a large part of it to pious foundations. One 
cannot say exactly what was done in the matter of 
that Foundation of the Holy Innocents for which 
Jean Caseau and Jean de Recouin, the notaries of 
Orleans, drew up a deed of confirmation ;^ but it is 
at least certain that the Marshals extravagance in 
other respects prevented him from carrying the deed 
into effect. Champtoci, which he had intended to 

^ See anfe^ pp. 199, 200. 



GILLES DE RAIS 303 

assign to the Foundation, was sold by him to the 
Duke of Brittany, and when he died little was left 
of those revenues of the barony of Rais that he had 
also meant to bestow on the great religious work 
which, in his estimation, would secure him an exalted 
place in heaven. It is probable that the Foundation 
of the Holy Innocents subsisted precariously until 
the Marshal s death, and perished in the great cUbdcle 
afterwards. But one also reads of almshouses estab- 
lished or enlarged by him and of hospices provided 
for the accommodation of passing wayfarers, and 
therein one can detect traces of the penitential 
moods which came upon him at times, most usually 
when he was wandering through the country around 
Machecoul or Tiffauges. Torn by remorse, he then 
gesticulated frantically and muttered incoherent words 
in such wise that those who saw him wondered if he 
were mad. But at night, when he had returned to 
his castle and supped copiously, devouring spiced 
meats and draining beaker after beaker of strong 
wine, he became once more la bSte humaine, the 
modern Minotaur, the vampire eager for villainy and 
blood. 

One day when his servants, Henri Griart and 
Poitou, entered his room at Tiffauges, they found 
him holding the hand, heart and eyes of a little child 
whom a short time previously he had put to death in 
their presence. He wrapped the offerings for Satan of 
which he had thus possessed himself in a white linen 
cloth, and placed them in a bowl on the shelf of his 
chimney. Then he told his servants to lock the 






304 BLUEBEARD 

door of the room and allow nobody to enter. That 
same night, hiding the parcel in one of his flowing 
sleeves, he carried it to Prelati's apartment. He 
and the Italian then proceeded to the room where 
they had first evoked the Fiend, and repeated the 
usual ceremonies, offering the eyes, heart, and hand 
of the innocent and foully murdered child. But 
the Evil Spirit did not appear, and Gilles went off in 
great disappointment with yet one more crime upon 
his conscience. When he was gone, Prelati took the 
offerings, wrapped them in another cloth, and stole 
out of the castle, crossing the yards in the direction 
of the chapel of St. Vincent. And at the foot of the 
chapel wall, in consecrated ground, he buried the 
offerings which Barron had disdained. 

It has been shown that Blanchet the priest, 
according to his own account, had endeavoured to 
sever his connection with Gilles in the course of 
1438. Whatever doubt there may be on that point, 
he certainly did try to free himself early in November 
the following year. By that time he had probably 
arrived at the opinion that the day of punishment was 
not far distant. We know that he was superstitiously 
inclined. He had been frightened by the blast of 
wind which had swept down on La Perrota s house, 
and by the heavy tramp of the four-footed beast over 
the castle roof, and, his own conscience being by no 
means clear, he may well have dreaded the ven- 
geance of Heaven. Perhaps he really repented of 
having abetted his patron in the practice of the Black 
Art, knowing, as he had often said to Poitou and 



GILLES DE RAIS 305 

Henri Griart, that the Marshal would never succeed 
in raising the Fiend unless he sacrificed children to 
him. Moreover, the murmurs, the complaints rising 
from the countryside, must have disturbed him. 
Children were still frequendy disappearing, and 
before long human as well as Divine justice might 
intervene. 

On or about All Saints' Day, 1439, a quarrel with 
a fellow-retainer, Robin Romulart, gave Blanchet a 
pretext for quitting Tiffauges. He repaired to 
Mortagne, a little town on the Sevre, some seven or 
eight miles distant from the castle of Gilles de Rais, 
which can be clearly distinguished beyond the inter- 
vening valley. Blanchet dwelt at Mortagne, at an 
inn kept by a certain Bouchard Menard, for about 
seven weeks, and though Gilles wrote to him making 
light of his quarrel with Robin, and urging his return 
to Tiffauges, where Prelati's experiments in alchemy 
were * progressing marvellously well,' he turned a 
deaf ear to the suggestion, particularly as he heard 
some horrible reports respecting the Marshal's 
doings. It happened in this wise : One evening 
Messire Jean Mercier, Castellan of La Roche-sur- 
Yon, travelling homeward from Nantes by the 
Clisson road, alighted at the inn of Mortagne, and 
Blanchet, meeting him at table, asked him what the 
news might be at Nantes and Clisson. Messire 
Mercier replied that the one great subject of conver- 
sation throughout the southern part of Brittany and 
Poitou was the frightful conduct imputed to Marshal 
de Rais, whom the lower orders openly accused of 

20 



yA BLUEBEAKD 




ta oraer tint be wgjt vnte a 
eertam mjrstenooB book v^ tbexr falioocL Hie s&ory 
fan that as sooo as ciixs book skooki be fiimhncf, the 
mMt pryveifEil fortresses wooLd £fcll before die 
Marshal as if bf encfaantincm. and nobody tfaence- 
ifMWMA would be able to do him harm. Xatorany 
enoi^h, Blanchet was alarmed bjr this cocmmmicatioa« 
which showed how widespread were die su^Mcioas 
of the artisans and peasantry, and he made up his 
mind to return to his former patron no more. 

On the very next day, however, he received a 
visit from Jean Petit, the Marshal's Parisian gold- 
smith, who had been sent expressly to take him 
back to TifEuiges. But Blanche^ refusing to listen, 
told Petit all that he had heard from Messire 
Mercier. ' 1 know not,' he added, ' if these stories 
be true, but they are widespread. If they be well 
founded, entreat my Lord and Master Francesco, 
from me, to renounce the evil courses in which they 
commit such great crimes.' Petit went off to deliver 
this message, which was perhaps a rather foolish 
proceeding on his part, for Gilles, on hearing that 
the priest refused to return and that such ominous 
rumours were in circulation, flew into a fury with his 
messenger, and imprisoned him in the fortress of 
St. Etienne-de-Mer-Morte, by way, no doubt, of 
keeping his mouth closed.^ Then Gilles once more 
turned his attention to Blanchet. The priest had 

^ Petit practised alchemy with Prelati, but it does not appear 
that he was ever an accomplice in the Marshal's crimes, of which, 
until this period, he may have been quite ignorant. 



GILLES DE RAIS 307 

' a frivolous, indiscreet and evil tongue/ He knew 
too much, and, as he would not return, must be put 
out of the way. This duty was promptly entrusted 
to Gilles de Sill6, Poitou, Griart and another re- 
tainer, Jean Lebreton, who arrived one day at the 
inn of Mortagne, seized the trembling Blanchet, and 
led him in the direction of Montaigu. On reaching 
Rocheservi^re, Blanchet realized that he was being 
conducted to St. Etienne-de-Mer-Morte, where he 
would either be put to death or imprisoned with Jean 
Petit. So he refused to go any further, and by dint 
of resistance and entreaty prevailed on his custodians 
to take him to Machecoul. On the road thither 
Poitou, after telling him that if he had gone to St* 
Etienne he would certainly have been executed, m 
punishment for his loquacity with the goldsmith,, 
added that he would have to be very cautious at 
Machecoul, for if he gossiped the consequences 
might be serious. But Blanchet needed no further 
warning ; he knew that he was at the Marshal's 
mercy, and thus he held his tongue until the time of 
the judicial proceedings. 

He then supplied some information indicating that 
there was perhaps an element of truth in the reports 
which asserted that Gilles was writing a book on 
Magic. One day, said he, about Easter (1440),. 
accompanied by another priest, a certain Gilles de 
Valois, who like himself belonged to the Marshal s 
ecclesiastical household, he went into his patron's 
study or writing-room {scripiortum) , and was there 
shown a book treating of the ritual of the so-called 



3o8 BLUEBEARD 

Chapter of Machecoul, the binding of which book 
Rais himself was artistically enamelling. Whilst 
listening to the Marshal and admiring his work, 
Blanchet noticed on the table five or six sheets of 
paper which aroused his curiosity, not only because 
the writing within the broad margins left on each 
sheet was that of Gilles, but because this writing 
was red. Here and there on the papers, red 
crosses and other signs also appeared. 

The priest thereupon remembered what he had 
been told about the book written with the blood of 
murdered children. It must be added that Henri 
Griart subsequently testified that he had once seen 
a book in his master's hands, which appeared to be 
written with blood or vermilion. Perhaps, however, 
the work in question was the one on Medicine and 
Magic which Prelati borrowed at Tiflfauges, and 
which, we know, was rubricated. Besides, the 
colour of blood is not the same as that of vermilion ; 
and although the blood of children may be generally 
of a lighter hue than that of adults, it is a question 
whether it would remain really red for any lengfth 
of time. Those who believe that Gilles' book on 
Magic was written with blood may argue that the 
writing on the sheets seen by Blanchet was quite 
recent. Yet it seems unlikely that the Marshal 
would have left anything particularly compromising 
lying about, particularly as Valois, who accompanied 
Blanchet, was not in his secrets. 

We do not know what induced Gilles to move 
from Tiflfauges to Machecoul early in 1440, but 



f 



GILLES DE RAIS 309 

perhaps this change of residence followed the visit 
which the Dauphin is said to have paid to the 
former castle,^ and which would thus have taken 
place while Blanchet was sojourning at Mortagne. 
This is not unlikely. We know that Gilles at one 
time sent Blanchet word that Prelati s experiments 
in alchemy were progressing marvellously well. 
Then, however, nothing more is heard of them ; 
and this may be due to the Dauphin's visit, which is 
said to have led to the destruction of all the chemical 
apparatus. 

In any case, Prelati followed Gilles de Rais to 
Machecoul, and we find him lodging in the little 
town near the castle, and sharing a room with a 
certain Lenano or Nani, Marquis Ceva, member 
of a Piedmontese house of illustrious descent but 
needy circumstances. M. de Maulde^ says that the 
Ceve, in Nani s time, had become mere condottiere^ 
and had endless disputes with the representative of the 
Duke of Orleans, who, as Count of Asti, was their 
neighbour. Nani, being the youngest of three 
brothers, had been left, perhaps, to shift for himself. 
The exact origin of his intercourse with Gilles de 
Rais is not known ; but Ceva belonged to the 
Diocese of Mondovi, and remembering that Prelati 
was attached to the Bishop of that see when 
Blanchet met him at Florence, it is allowable to 
surmise that Nani was an old acquaintance, and had 
followed Prelati to France in the hope of making a 
fortune there. Gilles de Rais appears to have 
^ See antti p. 243. ' Bossard, A^., pp. 229, civ. 



3IO BLUEBEARD 

treated him in a friendly way and to have given 
him some kind of military employment 

According to Poitou, the Marshal's valet, Ceva 
was always ignorant of his master's secret crimes, 
but the intercourse of the Italian Marquis with 
Prelati and other matters point to a very different 
conclusion. One day, for instance, about the end of 
April, 1440, a woman of Pouanc6, Ysabeau Hamelin, 
who with her husband had come to dwell at Fresnay 
near Machecoul, sent two of her sons, one fifteen 
years of age and the other seven, to buy some bread 
at Machecoul. They did not return, and, indeed, 
she never saw them again. But the very next day, 
as she was standing outside her house, two men, 
Prelati and Ceva, came up to her. The latter, to 
her great astonishment, asked her if she were still 
suffering from soreness of the breast. She did not 
at first understand how he knew that she had a sore 
breast, and she answered that there was nothing the 
matter with her. * Yes, truly there is,' the Marquis 
replied, and he added that she did not belong to 
Machecoul, but came from Pouanc6. Ysabeau, more 
and more surprised, inquired how he knew it. * Oh, 
I knew it very well,' he answered, and she then 
acknowledged that he spoke the truth. 

He put further questions to her, ascertained that 
her husband had returned to Pouanc6 to seek hire, 
and, on noticing a couple of very young children in 
the house, inquired if they were hers, and if she 
had any others. * Yes, two,' she answered, but she 
did not dare to add that they were missing. Then 



GILLES DE RAIS 3" 

Prelati and the Marquis walked away, and Ysabeau 
heard the latter tell his companion that 'two had 
gone from her house. '^ 

She was greatly disturbed, and when she talked 
the matter over with her husband they came to the 
conclusion that there was some connection between 
the disappearance of their boys and the sudden visit 
of the Marshal's Italian retainers. It is rather dif- 
ficult to account for the visit and for the questions 
put to Ysabeau. Perhaps Prelati and Ceva wished 
to ascertain what kind of woman she was, and 
whether she were likely to raise an outcry respecting 
the disappearance of her children. Yet if they were 
at all guilty in the matter they must have known 
that such a visit might compromise them. All con- 
sidered, their object may have been to verify certain 
suspicions which they had formed concerning the 
fate of the two boys. They had seen them un- 
doubtedly — in all probability at the castle — ^and 
desired to ascertain if they had returned home. 

The house where the Italians lodged at Machecoul 
belonged to a certain Clement Rondeau, who after a 
time was seized with an illness which seemed likely to 
prove fatal. When a priest had administered extreme 
unction to the sufferer, the latter's wife, Perrine, gave 
vent to such noisy and abundant lamentations that 
her relatives, fearing perhaps that she might rob her 
husband of his last chance of recovery, made her go 
into the room tenanted by Prelati and Ceva. This 

^ Civil Proceedings : Deposition of Ysabeau Hamelin. The 
French words are : * II en estoit sorti deux de celui hostel' 



312 BLUEBEARD 

room was at the top of the house and was reached by 
a ladder. Evening had set in when Perrine was sent 
up there, and the wizard and the Marquis had gone 
to the castle, but their pages were having supper in 
the room. By-and-by Master Francesco and Nani 
came home, and finding Perrine in their quarters, and 
believing that she had gone there on some prying 
expedition, they abused her savagely, and caught 
her, one by the feet and the other by the shoulders, 
in order to carry her to the ladder. Prelati even 
kicked her in the loins, and she felt certain that she 
would have been thrown down the ladder if her 
nurse had not fortunately prevented it by catching 
hold of her gown. 

One day, a short time afterwards, Perrine heard 
Ceva telling his friend that he had found him a 
handsome Norman page ; and, indeed, a little later 
a lad, who said that he belonged to Dieppe and was 
of a good family, came and stayed with Prelati for 
about a fortnight ; then, however, he disappeared, 
and Perrine, wondering what had become of him, 
made inquiries of his master, who replied that the 
boy had deceived him, and had run away with a 
couple of crowns which he had stolen. After this 
occurrence Prelati ceased to lodge with Perrine ; and 
he and Eustache Blanchet, the priest, took up their 
quarters in a lonely little house of bad reputation, 
whose owner or tenant, a certain Perrot Cahn (or 
Cahu), they turned out of doors. ' It was not a 
meet dwelling-place for honourable folk,' we are 
told ; nevertheless, Prelati and Blanchet dwelt there, 



> 



GILLES DE RAIS 313 

whilst the Marquis, who kept up daily intercourse 
with them, continued to lodge at Perrine's. 

But we must now return to Gilles himself. 
Throughout these last years of his, amidst his 
experiments in alchemy and his attempts to raise 
the Fiend, he had been living in the same extrava- 
gant style as formerly, still maintaining both an 
ecclesiastical and a military household. Why, in- 
deed, should he retrench, when in a day or two, a 
week, a month at the utmost, either science or the 
Devil would enrich him beyond the dreams of 
avarice ? The mirage of wealth and power was 
always before his eyes. Hope revived after every 
disappointment and lured him onward. Meantime, 
however, his expenses were very heavy, and again 
and again, whatever revenue was yielded him by 
his remaining possessions, whatever sums he re- 
ceived from the Duke of Brittany on account 
of the Champtoc6 contract, he was embarrassed 
how to maintain the pride and splendour of earlier 
years. His only means of raising money was to sell 
more property, and thus he began to part with his 
last lordships. Perhaps it was now that he sold 
his mansion of La Suze to the Chapter of Nantes ; 
for until about this time we find him dwelling there 
when he went to the city.^ His biographers 
generally assume that he parted with the mansion at 
a much earlier date, but if so, he must have reserved 
to himself a life-tenancy or something similar. 

^ This is shown by frequent passages in the evidence against 
him. He still occasionally sojourned at La Sum in i439* 



314 BLUEBEARD 

In any case, among the last property on which 
he raised money was the lordship and fortress of 
St. ]£tienne-de-Mer-Morte. The usual account of 
the transaction is that he sold this castellany to the 
Duke of Brittany, perhaps with some proviso, as in 
the case of Champtoc6, which would enable him to 
repurchase it within a stipulated period. It seems 
certain, however, that he himself placed a certain 
Jean Le Ferron in possession of St. ntienne ; and a 
document in the procedure against him shows that 
he had transferred his rights in the lordship to Jean 
Le Perron's brother Geffroi.^ On the other hand, 
this Geffroi was treasurer to the Duke of Brittany,* 
and there are reasons for thinking that he acted 
simply as the Duke's intermediary. One often- 
repeated account of the affair is that the Duke 
bought St. fitienne of Gilles, and then transferred 
it to Le Ferron, and that Gilles, greatly offended 
by the transfer, rebelled against it ; but the docu- 
ment indicated — one of Gilles' confessions — states 
explicitly that St. ifetienne had been transferred to 
Geoffroi Le Ferron by Gilles himself. 

The matter is of importance, for it led to the 
Marshal's downfall, and it is unfortunate that the 
exact facts which impelled him to repossess himself 
of St. Etienne by violence after he had sold it can- 
not be fully ascertained. He is found complaining, 

^ De Maulde in Bossard, /.r., p. cxlii. 

2 Ibid,^ p. cliv. Perhaps Geffroi Le Ferron had succeeded 
Mauleon (see ante^ p. 288) as treasurer, or there may have been 
more than one holding that office. 



GILLES DE RAIS 315 

however, that Jean Le Ferron, whom he had placed 
in possession of the castellany, had beaten and 
extorted money from his (Gilles') vassals, and thus 
the dispute which arose may simply have been 
caused by Le Ferron imposing imposts on others 
besides the vassals of the particular lordship 
which had been sold. But subsequently Gilles 
says that he had never been paid for this lord- 
ship ; and it must also be mentioned that in one 
of his confessions, and in a statement made by 
Prelati, there are some allusions to certain designs 
on St iStienne, planned by some garrison, of 
Palluau or Les Essarts. 

The only explanation of this matter which one can 
suggest is as follows. The fortress of St. Etienne- 
de-Mer-Morte was about seven miles south of 
Machecoul, on or near the limits of the barony of Rais. 
Palluau and Les Essarts, now in the department of La 
Vendue, then belonged to Poitou — that is, to French 
and not to Breton territory. Poitou, as we have 
frequently mentioned, was at that period in a state 
of great unrest, and it is possible, therefore, that 
among the semi-bandit nobles of the province there 
was some design to seize St. Etienne.^ Prelati stated 
in evidence that the Marshal proposed to place men 
in ambush to surprise the men from Palluau, and 
that he, the necromancer, consulted Barron, his 
favourite demon, to ascertain whether the enter- 

^ During the spring of 1443, Charles VII., in subjugating the 
remnants of La Tr^mouille's league in Poitou, seized both Palluau 
and Les Essarts. V. de Viriville, /.^., vol ii., p. 434. 



3i8 BLUEBEARD 

were on their knees praying, when all at once 
Gilles de Rais, bareheaded, and carrying ^jusarme} 
burst into the church, followed by his retainers, 
helmeted and armed with their swords. The 
Marshal hastened to the spot where Perron was 
kneeling, and shouted in a terrible voice : 

* Ha ! ribault ! Thou hast beaten my men and 
practised extortion on them ! Come — come out of 
the church, or I will kill thee quite dead T^ 

Jean Le Perron, on his knees, pale with terror, 
could only answer : 

* Do with me as you please,' 

* Out — out !' cried the Marshal, brandishing his 
jusarme ; and many feared that he would despatch 
Le Perron even in the church. 

But the other begged the Marquis Ceva and Ber- 
trand Poulein to intercede for him, and they made 
answer * on their lives that no hurt should be done 
him if he would leave the church.' He did so, still 
trembling, and Rousseau, the Duke of Brittany's 
officer, would have followed, but some one of the 
Marshal's company signed to him that he would do 
better to remain in the church. 

Perron was led towards the castle, and when 
Gilles again threatened him, he surrendered posses- 
sion of it. He and his men, however, were not 
allowed to go free, but were shut up in the prison 
of the fortress. According to Bossard, Gilles soon 

afterwards seized the persons of Geffroi Le Perron, 

t 

^ A kind of dagger according to De Maulde. 
* * Je te tueroy tout mort.' 



GILLES DE RAIS 319 

Hautreys, and Rousseau,^ and, in order to prevent 
any rescue on the part of the Duke of Brittany, he 
transferred them beyond the limits of the duchy — 
that is, to the castle of Tiffauges, which was really 
his wife's property, and was held in fief from the 
King of France. It was the Marquis Ceva, we 
are told, who, with a strong escort, conducted the 
captives to their new prison, whence Gilles at first 
obstinately refused to release them. 

Duke Jean V. was exasperated. He summoned 
the Marshal to set his prisoners free and to restore 
St fitienne-de-Mer-Morte, threatening to impose on 
him, in the event of disobedience, a fine of fifty 
thousand crowns. But Gilles shut himself up in 
Machecoul and defied the Duke. The latter there- 
upon sent a body of men to St. ntienne and seized 
the castle by force, but he could not do the same as 
regards Tiffauges, for that would have been carry- 
ing war into French territory. In this dilemma he 
applied to his brother Artus, Count of Richemont 
and Constable of France, whose influence with 
Charles VII. was at this time very great indeed. 

Richemont, either personally or by deputy, gave 
the needful assistance. A body of French troops 
marched on Tiffauges, and Rais, alarmed at the turn 

^ Rousseau, in his evidence in the Ecclesiastical Proceedings, 
does not mention having been arrested at St. l^tienne, but his 
arrest may have taken place subsequently (see posiy p. 347). The 
account given by Lacroix and others, that Rais arrested Gefifroi 
Le Ferron, led him to St. J^tienne, and threatened to strike off 
his head outside the castle if Jean Le Ferron did not surrender 
it, is based on allegations in the civil indictment, but is contradicted 
by the evidence. 



320 BLUEBEARD 

which events were taking, sent orders for the release 
of the prisoners. Perhaps he was induced to take 
this course by some communications which passed 
between him and Richemont, who in former years 
had been his friend, and who, owing to his long 
absence from Brittany, knew nothing of the secret 
crimes and excesses of his former companion in 
arms. Had the Constable been aware of them, had 
he heard only of the Marshal's practice of magic and 
sorcery, he would certainly have refrained from 
befriending him, for he was greatly prejudiced against 
the Black Art, and is said to have had more witches 
hanged and burnt than any other of his contempo- 
raries. But if Artus in that matter shared the 
superstitions of his age, and thus perpetrated deeds 
from which, with more enlightenment, he would 
assuredly have shrunk, he was in other respects a 
good-natured man, one who did not forget old ties 
and friendships and dangers shared in common. In 
the earlier days of his career he had certainly caused 
two ignoble royal favourites to be put to death, but 
he had done so for the commonweal. Whenever it 
became necessary to intercede for some culprit who 
had done good service he did not hesitate. He 
pleaded for Alen9on, for Dunois, for Blanchefort 
Thus when M. Cosneau, the modem authority on 
his life, tells us that he reconciled his brother the 
Duke of Brittany and Gilles de Rais^ (of whose 
crimes he was ignorant), we may well believe it, 
for it was an act in keeping with his character. 

^ Cosneau, /.r., p. 279. 



GILLES DE RAIS 321 

M. Cosneau says it was in 1438 that the Duke, 
fearing a conspiracy between Gilles and his cousins 
of Laval, sent for the Constable, but the date is 
evidently an error, for Gilles did not rebel until the 
summer of 1440, when he may well have endeavoured 
to interest his cousins Guy and Andr^ de Laval in 
his cause ; whereas in 1438 he was at daggers drawn 
with them on account of the sale of Champtoc6. We 
have proof, moreover, that Richemont's good offices 
did not go unrewarded. Among the last lordships 
transferred by Gilles to Jean V. was that of Bourg- 
neuf-en-Rais, and under date August 24, 1440, the 
Duke of Brittany presented that lordship to the 
Constable.^ Curiously enough, on the previous day 
Gilles, as will presently appear, visited Boui^neuf 
for the last time, probably in connection with the 
transfer of authority. 

Abb^ Bossard is at a loss to understand how 
Gilles and the Duke could have met on good terms 
after the affair of St. l^tienne, but the reconciliation 
effected by Richemont explains everything. This 
reconciliation probably took place in July ; for we 
know that Gilles visited Jean V. first at Vannes and 
afterwards at Josselin in the course of that month. 
At that time there appears to have been no en- 
forcement whatever of the threatened fine of fifty 
thousand crowns, assigned as the penalty of the 
Marshall rebellion. Indeed, one witness speaks of 
him going to Vannes to receive more money from 
the Duke, on account, no doubt, of one of their 

^ Cosneau, /.^., p. 309. 

21 



322 BLUEBEARD 

numerous contracts. It is certain, however, that he 
did not make the journey without sundry mis- 
givings. He consulted Prelati to ascertain if he 
would incur any danger ; and Prelati, having referred 
the matter to Barron,^ received favourable replies on 
three separate occasions, at Machecoul, at Vannes, 
and at Josselin, for the necromancer accompanied his 
patron on the journey to the ducal court. 

Yet once again, then, the high and mighty Baron 
of Rais was seen traversing Brittany with a pompous 
retinue, and again did children disappear, again came 
horror and crime. At Vannes, Andr6 Buchet, who 
a little later quitted the Marshal's chantry for that 
of the Duke, beguiled a boy ten years of age to the 
house where Gilles was staying — a hostelry kept by 
a certain Lemoyne, and situatea outside the city 
walls near 'the episcopal manse commonly called 
La Motte.' The house was not convenient, how- 
ever, and the child was therefore taken to an 
adjoining inn, kept by a certain Boetdan, who had 
provided stabling for the Marshal's horses. And 
there the boy was murdered, and his body, with g^reat 
difficulty, was lowered into a cess-pool.^ 

But the Marshal went on to Josselin — the historic 
castle associated with the Rohans — whither the 
Duke of Brittany invited him, and even there, per- 
haps under the Duke s very roof, with the connivance 
of his chamberlain, Henri Griart, otherwise Henriet. 



^ Ecclesiastical Proceedings : Prelati's deposition. 
^ Confessions of Gilles and Poitou. 



I 



GILLES DE RAIS 323 

several children were put to death.^ At Josselin, too, 
Prelati continued his incantations. One night, when 
Gilles wished to know if he were exposed to danger 
in the Duke's company, the Italian stole into a 
meadow near the castle and evoked * Dyabolus 
Barron/ who appeared to him as usual in the shape 
of a young man, habited on this occasion ' in violet 
silk.' And Barron told Prelati that the Marshal 
(who was not present) had nothing whatever to fear. 
The stay at Josselin came to an end ; and probably 
about the end of July (1440) Gilles and his retainers 
returned to the barony of Rais. Fortified by the 
assurances of the Prince of Darkness, the Marshal 
continued to lead the same evil life as previously. 
On August 23 — the eve of St Bartholomew — 
we find him at Bourgneuf-en-Rais. Among his 
followers were Eustache Blanchet, Henri Griart, 
and Poitou. Quarters were given to him at the 
Monastery of the Grey Friars, founded by one of the 
old Lords of Machecoul, but he supped, we are told, at 
the house of GuillaumePlumet, probably an innkeeper. 
Among the inhabitants of Bourgneuf was a certain 
Rodigo called * of Gu^rande ' who had in his charge 
a youth about fifteen years of age named Bernard 
Le Camus, who belonged to Brest, but had been 

* Gilles' confession. This may seem so extraordinary to some 
readers that it is as well to give the monster's statement in his own 
words : ' Dixit et confessus fuit dictus reus quod, dum fuit ultimate 
apud illustrissimum principem et dominum, dominum ducem 
Britanie, in pago ife Jocelin^ Macloviensis diocesis, idem reus 
plures pueros per predictum Henrietum sibi ministratos occidi 
fecit' 

21 — 2 



324 BLUEBEARD 

confided to Rodigo by his uncle in order that he 
might learn French — that language being litde 
spoken at that time in the Brest region of Brittany. 
On the day of the Marshal's arrival at Bourgneuf 
young Bernard Le Camus was seen talking to 
Poitou and Eustache Blanchet the priest ; and in the 
evening he stole out of his guardian's house and was 
never seen there again. Inquiries were made for 
him. Rodigo, it seems, spoke to Gilles de Rais 
himself, as well as to several of his retainers, and 
offered a reward of forty crowns for the recovery of 
the lad. All replied that they had not seen him ; but 
Poitou and Blanchet promised that if they could 
find him they would certainly have him sent home, 
adding that he might perhaps have gone to 
Tiffauges to be a page there. 

As a matter of fact, and as Gilles, Henri Griart, 
and Poitou afterwards confessed, Bernard had been 
beguiled to the Monastery of the Grey Friars, where 
Prelati, apparently, had that night endeavoured to 
evoke the Devil, who did not appear, either because 
the monastery was a holy place or because the 
Marshal happened to be present. At all events, 
young Bernard was killed by Griart and Poitou in 
obedience to their master s orders ; and in spite of 
the outcry made by Rodigo these men contrived to 
remove the body to Machecoul, where, like so many 
others, it was burnt to ashes in the great fireplace 
of the Marshal's room. 

Such was the last crime perpetrated by Gilles de 
Rais, or by his henchmen, of which we find any 



GILLES DE RAIS 325 

precise record. He returned to Machecoul, and 
was still there when, on the evening of Septem- 
ber 13 or the next day, a certain Jean Labb^, a 
captain in the service of the Duke of Brittany, 
presented himself at the castle gates, with a notary 
named Robin Guillaumet, process-server to the 
Bishop of Nantes, and a company of men of arms. 
Guillaumet was the bearer of a citation, and Labb6 
had orders to seize the person of the Marshal and 
convey him to Nantes immediately. Justice, lame 
though she might be, had come at last. 



VIII 

I440 

THE PRIVILEGES OF THE CHURCH — ^ARREST, TRIAL, AND 
EXECUTION OF GILLES, HENRIET, AND FOITOU 

The Infringement of Church Privileges brings on the Marshal's 
Downfall — Jean de Malestroit, Gilles, and Richemont — Males- 
troit's Investigations — Duke Jean V. consents to a Prosecution 
— Arrest of Gilles — His Imprisonment at Nantes — His Allied 
Letters to Jean V. and Charles VII. — His Wife's Attempts 
to procure French Intervention — The Judicial Proceedings — 
Gilles declines the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and defies his Judges 
— He is excommunicated — His Accomplices testify against him 
— Torture is threatened — He confesses his Crimes, privately and 
publicly — He expresses Repentance and solicits the Prayers of 
all — Last Secular Proceedings — Henriet and Poitou convicted 
and sentenced — The Address of the Marshal's Advocate — A 
Final Confession — Gilles is condemned to Death — rThe Last 
Favours solicited by him — A General Procession and Prayers to 
save his Soul — The Execution and Obsequies. 

When Gilles de Rais, dagger in hand, entered the 
parish church of St. Etienne-de-Mer-Morte and 
bade Jean Le Perron rise and follow him under 
penalty of death, he gave no heed to the fact that he 
was committing an act of sacrilege, infringing one of 
the most cherished privileges of the Church. Yet 
such was the case, and his offence was aggravated 



GILLES DE RAIS 327 

by the circumstance that Jean Le Ferron, his 
victim, was a clerk and had received the tonsure. 
Now, the Church in those days never willingly over- 
looked any trespass on its rights. At times, when it 
lacked the power to assert its claims, it feigned sub- 
mission, but it neither forgot nor forgave, it simply 
awaited a favourable moment to take its revenge. 
Jean de Malestroit, Chancellor of Brittany, was 
also Bishop of Nantes. Gilles de Rais and Jean 
Le Ferron both belonged to that diocese, and in 
matters ecclesiastical Malestroit had jurisdiction 
over them. When, however, the Marshal removed 
Le Ferron to Tiffauges, and openly defied his 
sovereign, the question of putting down his rebellion 
took precedence of all others. Malestroit was the 
sworn enemy of Richemont, the Dukes brother; 
nevertheless, as Chancellor of the duchy, he was 
obliged to join in the application for help which was 
made to the Constable, there being no other means 
of reducing Gilles to submission. When Richemont 
reconciled the Duke and his vassal, the Chancellor 
could only stand aloof, feigning perhaps a tacit con- 
sent to the arrangements, though at heart he was 
in no wise disposed to overlook the Marshals 
offences against Holy Church. The Duke might 
forget and forgive, that was his affair. Though 
Malestroit, as Chancellor of Brittany, might have 
advised a different course, he was, in his secular 
capacity, bound to submit to his master's decision, 
however contrary it might be to his own views. 
But as Bishop of Nantes he was differently placed : 



328 BLUEBEARD 

he owed a duty to the Church, and the nobles of 
his diocese must not imagine that they might with 
impunity invade the sanctuaries of the Faith, with 
armed men, at the hour of the Holy Offices, and 
threaten, seize, and imprison churchmen. Thus 
Malestroit privately resolved to punish Gilles de 
Rais for his infringement of Church privileges. 

We know that he was inquiring into the matter 
in the month of July, at the very time when the 
Marshal was visiting Jean V. at Vannes and Josselin. 
But at the very first steps he took he found himself 
face to face with something very different from the 
offence which he proposed to punish. Ahh6 Bossard 
writes on the subject in a manner which leaves the 
impression that Malestroit, through the priests of 
his diocese, had been acquainted with the popular 
rumours for some time. Perhaps that is true, and 
perhaps the Bishop had hitherto dismissed the 
reports which reached him as being mere idle gossip. 
But it seems more likely that when the Marshal 
openly defied his sovereign, when the men of arms of 
Jean V. advanced on St. Etienne-de-Mer-Morte to 
recover possession of the castle there, and those of 
Richemont prepared to invest Tiffauges, the people, 
no longer fearing Gilles de Rais, now that the Duke 
proclaimed him a rebel, raised their voices and spoke 
out as they had never dared to speak before. The 
Bishop of Nantes, proceeding on a pastoral journey 
of inspection, found himself confronted by their com- 
plaints, and soon realized that the infringement of 
ecclesiastical privileges for which he desired to punish 



GILLES DE RAIS 329 

the Marshal was a mere bagatelle compared to all 
the horrible crimes imputed to him at Nantes, in its 
environs, and throughout the barony of Rais. 

At the first moment Jean de Malestroit may per- 
haps have doubted the accuracy of those dreadful 
charges. Nevertheless, it was his duty to investigate 
them ; and he may well have been impelled to do so 
by inclination. His whole life shows that he never 
forgave Artus de Richemont for having arrested and 
cast him into prison as a traitor after the fight at 
Saint James de Beuvron, when he was accused, on 
all sides, of having betrayed the Bretons to the 
English, from whom he had received many gifts. 
Now, Richemont had just reconciled this man, Gilles 
de Rais, to the Duke of Brittany ; and it would be a 
great triumph for him, Malestroit, if he should prove 
this Gilles to be a murderer, a monster of depravity 
and cruelty. The demonstration would recoil on 
Richemont himself, who had only just prevailed on 
the Duke to grant the Marshal a renewal of favour. 

The Chancellor- Bishop never neglected his own 
interests ; he was jealous of all rival influence ; but 
he was also very shrewd and cautious, to which circum- 
stance may be attributed the fact that, in spite of all 
attempts to dislodge him, he contrived to retain his 
office for more than twenty years. But it is only fair 
to say that, whatever personal motives may have 
swayed Malestroit when he first began to inquire 
into the charges against Gilles de Rais, those motives, 
and all considerations attaching to them, disappeared 
as his inquiry proceeded Genuine indignation and 



330 BLUEBEARD 

horror took their place ; there was no long^er any 
question of satisfying some old grudge, there was 
naught but the claim of Eternal Justice for the 
punishment of the evil-doer. 

Malestroit s inquiries were conducted secretly by 
various ecclesiastical officers, and the first charges 
investigated in any detail were those preferred by 
inhabitants of Nantes and its environs. A first 
letter of the Bishop's, setting forth certain accusa- 
tions of vice, murder, heresy, magic, and sacrifices 
to the Devil, preferred against Gilles by eight persons 
dwelling in or near Nantes, is dated July 30, 1440. 
It appears at the head of the record of the Ecclesi- 
astical Proceedings, but there is nothing to show to 
whom it was addressed.^ In all probability it was 
circulated privately among the ecclesiastical authori- 
ties of the diocese, for the tim^ had not yet come to 
make any public statement which would warn the 
Marshal de Rais of what was brewing. Meantime, 
Malestroit s investigations continued, and when he 
had collected a sufficient amount of evidence, and 
had obtained the support of the Vicar-delegate of 
the Inquisitor-General,^ he addressed himself to his 
master, the Duke. Michelet, after asserting that 
Jean V. welcomed the accusation, and was delighted 
to be able to deal a blow to a Laval, adds in a foot- 
note : * The more particularly, no doubt, as the King 
had raised the barony of Laval to a county (1431). 

^ It begins : * To all who may see the present Letters, Jean, by 
the permission of God,* etc 
^ R. de Maulde in Bossard, iv. 



GILLES DE RAIS 331 

These Lavals, indeed, though they had sprung from 
the Montforts, formed quite a French opposition to 
them, and ended by handing Brittany over to the 
King of France in 1488.'^ Again, according to 
Desormeaux, the historian of the Montmorencies, 
not only did the Duke of Brittany abandon Gilles, 
who was his lieutenant and brother-in-arms, but it 
was he who showed the most rigour. And Desor- 
meaux adds : ' The Marshal, in the senseless sales 
of his lands to the Duke, had stipulated that they 
should be restored to him, provided that he refunded 
the purchase-money in six years. Was it the fear of 
being reimbursed [the Duke had bought the property 
for much less than its value], or was it really horror 
of the excesses perpetrated by Rais, which aroused 
the zeal of Jean V. ?* Further, Mezeray^ declares 
that the Duke was well pleased at having an oppor- 
tunity to avenge the Marshal's offences towards him- 
self, in avenging those which he had offered to God. 
But Michelet, Mezeray, and Desormeaux are 
contradicted in essential particulars by the facts of 
the case. Everything indicates that the Duke at 
first shrank from the prosecution. He and his 
seneschal, Pierre de FHdpital, took no steps until 
everything had been set in motion by the Chancellor- 
Bishop. If when the Ecclesiastical Proceedings 

^ * Histoire de France,' vol. v. Gilles's cousins of I^val, Guy 
and Andr^, were, of course, Montforts ; Laval having passed to 
their house by the marriage of its heiress, Anne de Montmorency- 
Laval, with Jean de Montfort, Sire de Kergorlay, in 1404. Gilles, 
however, belonged to the Montmorency stock. 

' ' Abr^g^ de THistoire de France.' 



332 BLUEBEARD 

had demonstrated the guilt of the Marshal, when the 
latter, himself, had confessed his crimes, the Secular 
Proceedings were hurried on and swiftly terminated, 
it was, as Ahh6 Bossard points out, because the public 
clamour was so great, the indignant horror of the 
multitude so threatening, that Jean V. feared lest he 
should incur universal odium by extending any pro- 
tection or leniency to so vile a miscreant. 

In the first instance, Jean V. simply assented to 
the prosecution, allowing the ecclesiastical authorities 
to fight their battle with the Marshal. Indeed, he 
could not do otherwise when the Bishop of Nantes 
(who was also his Chancellor) laid such serious 
accusations before him. But in the leniency with 
which Gilles was in the first instance treated, and the 
dilatoriness of the secular authorities— -one can detect 
a desire on the part of the Duke to avoid carrying 
matters too far. 

When Jean de Malestroit had obtained his 
sovereign's assent to the prosecution, he issued a 
second document, dated September 13, and ad- 
dressed to all the rectors, curates and chaplains, 
notaries and process-servers of his diocese. In 
this paper, after reciting the results of his investiga- 
tions and the charges brought against Gilles de Rais, 
he concluded thus : * For these reasons we will not 
hide such monstrous things any longer, nor allow 
this heresy ... to grow and spread. Far from that, 
we desire to apply a prompt and efificient remedy ; 
wherefore we enjoin all and each of you by these 
present letters to cite at once and finally . . . before 



GILLES DE RAIS 333 

us or the Official of our Cathedral church, on 
Monday, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Real 
Cross, September 19, the aforenamed Gilles, noble 
Baron of Rais, who is subject to our authority and 
jurisdiction ; and we ourselves, by these letters, do 
cite him to appear at our bar on the day named, 
to answer for the crimes which weigh upon him.* 

Of course, the priests to whom this document was 
addressed were not expected to enforce it them- 
selves. It was simply drawn up in the usual form 
affected by a general citation, and M. de Maulde 
believes that it was not really promulgated until 
after the arrest of the Marshal on September 14.^ 

When Gilles de Rais learned that Jean Labb^, 
one of the Duke of Brittany's captains, was at the 
gates of Machecoul with Robin Guillaumet, 'clerk 
and notary public of the Diocese of Nantes,' and a 
corApany of armed men, he at first hesitated as to 
the course he should pursue. 'Some of his com- 
panions/ says Bossard,^ * advised him to resist ; but 
he was irresolute. A few days previously two of 
his accomplices, Roger de Bricqueville and Gilles de 
Sill4 who had long been accustomed to decide 
matters for him, and who had divined that a thunder- 
bolt was about to fall, had sought escape from it by 
hasty flight.^ 

^ R. de Maulde in Bossard, ill, iv. 

' Bossard, pp. 250, 251. 

' They may have received some warning. According, however, 
to some accounts, Gilles de Sill^ was at Machecoul at the time of 
the arrest, but contrived to secrete himself and flee. 



334 BLUEBEARD 

' Deprired of those who had ususdly directed his 

course in moments of dai^er, Gilles^ by reason 
of his irresolution and lack of energy, resembled 
a disabled ship. It was possible for him to ofier 
resistance, long enough to plan flight, at all events ; 
but flight would mean an admission of guilt 
... But, what had he to fear of justice which 
frightens common criminals ? He himself was Aaui 
justicier on his domains, and in his own opinion 
accountable to himself alone. He had powerful 
friends, too ; his name and past were glorious. None 
would dare to accuse him or to reveal his crimes. 
Besides, who knew those crimes ? Night and silence 
have no voice!' Michelet is of much the same 
opinion. ' Rais,' he says, ' might have fled, but he 
deemed himself too powerful to have anything to 
fear, and thus he allowed himself to be taken.' In 
any case, apart even from such reliance as he may 
have placed in Duke Jean V., his brother-in-arms, 
to whom he had lately been reconciled, the Marshal 
may well have felt that submission would be the 
most politic course, particularly as he had recently 
tried rebellion without success. Thus, rejecting the 
counsel of those who advised him to resist, and 
trusting, no doubt, to the favourable testimony of 
his servants, who could not denounce him without 
denouncing themselves, he resolved to face his 
accusers. He would brave the charges brought 
against him ; no judge would hesitate between his 
denials and the allegations of base-bom peasants; 
and thus every rumour would be extinguished in a 




GILLES DE RAIS 335 

triumphant acquittal. So he proudly causai the 
drawbridge to be lowered, and went in person to meet 
Captain Jean Labb6, whom he recognised. * I did 
always propose to become a monk/ he said, turning 
towards his retainers, as if to reassure them. * And 
here comes the abbot [I'abb^] under whom I am to 
enlist' 

Well pleased with this jest, he then surrendered 
himself to the soldiers, and gave orders that horses 
should be saddled for himself and his servants. 
But two of these, Poitou and Henri Griart, were 
immediately arrested. The same fate befell Prelati ; 
Blanchet, the priest, was taken in the town ; and it 
is possible that the Marquis Ceva and Bertrand 
Poulein were likewise apprehended, for we find them 
afterwards giving evidence at Nantes, virtually under 
compulsion. 

While Robin Guillaumet the notary was reading 
the Bishop's citation to Gilles de Rais, various 
perquisitions were made in the castle, and also 
at the lonely house where Prelati and Blanchet 
had been dwelling. There, according to Perrine 
Rondeau, with whom Prelati had previously lodged, 
the soldiers found some fine powder which was said 
to be 'the ashes of children/ and a child's little 
shirt, covered with blood. Bossard says that some 
'powder' was also found in the castle, but this 
appears to be an error. As for the various state* 
ments that corpses were found there, these are not 
corroborated by any evidence, and the writer regards 
them as romance. 



336 BLUEBEARD 

At last all was ready for departure, and Jean 
Labb^ and his men took the road to Nantes widi 
their prisoners. One may imagine the commotion 
in the little town of Machecoul and the stir in all the 
villages through which the party passed. The high 
and mighty Baron of Rais was no longer travelling 
in great pomp with his ecclesiastical and military 
households, his train of body servants, his portable 
organs, and his sumpter mules. He passed as a 
prisoner under the vigilant eye of his custodians. 
Yet whatever may have been the comments of 
those who saw him, whatever may have been his 
secret thoughts, we may be sure that he retained 
his wonted proudness of mien, for every account, 
every document, shows that throughout the earlier 
stages of the proceedings against him he aroused 
universal astonishment by his haughty and con- 
temptuous manner. 

Reaching Nantes the same night, Gilles was 
lodged in the Chdteau de la Tour Neuve. One of 
the upper rooms, large and well lighted, was there 
assigned to him ; the legendary account that he was 
placed in a dungeon of the Mercoeur tower, where 
the Duke de Mercoeur, the Cardinal de Retz, Fou- 
quet the financier, and the Duchess de Berry, were 
subsequently imprisoned, being inaccurate. At the 
utmost, according to Bossard, who has investigated 
the question, Gilles may have spent his last night in 
that tower ; but until he was finally condemned he 
was allowed comfortable quarters. Condecenti is the 
word used in the procedure ; and as those who 



GILLES DE RAIS 337 

interviewed him are described as going downstairs^ 
and the Mercoeur tower has no stairs — its one dark, 
spacious room resting on the granite soil — it is 
evident that Gilles was lodged in another part of 
the castle. 

After his incarceration, he was allowed, it would 
seem, a few days to reflect upon his position ; and 
during this respite, according to some historians, he 
endeavoured to secure an interview with the Duke 
of Brittany. But this favour was denied him. 

Meantime, the Bishop of Nantes was selecting 
various ecclesiastics to take part in the coming trial 
The of5fice of promotor or prosecutor was entrusted 
to the parish priest of St. Nicolas, of Nantes, a 
certain Guillaume Chapeillon, who had largely 
assisted the Bishop in his preliminary investiga- 
tions, and was therefore well acquainted with the 
many rumours about Gilles and the evidence which 
would be available. Chapeillon seems to have been 
a man of energy and self-restraint — that is to say, 
he conducted the prosecution vigorously, while 
never once losing his temper amidst all the prisonqr's 
outbursts. 

On September 19 Gilles was brought to the great 
hall of the Chdteau de la Tour Neuve, where he was 
confronted by Malestroit, Chapeillon, and two other 
ecclesiastics — Olivier Lesou, parish priest of Bouvron, 
and Jean Durand, priest of Blain. Chapeillon at 
once preferred against the Marshal certain charges 
of heresy, but did not allude to the accusations of 
vice and murder which had constituted the most 

22 






'^ 



338 BLUEBEARD 

important feature of the Bishop's citation. Thus 
the prisoner, on being asked whether he accepted 
the Bishop's jurisdiction, immediately assented, say- 
ing that he was quite ready to prove his innocence 
of such charges before any tribunal. Further, he 
consented to accept the jurisdiction of the Vice- 
Inquisitor, who was thereupon appointed judge- 
auxiliary, and Malestroit adjourned the further 
proceedings until September 28, when the wit- 
nesses for the prosecution and the defence were to 
be interrogated. 

At that time the Vice- Inquisitor of the Faith for 
the Diocese of Nantes was Brother Jean Blouyn, a 
Dominican Friar, who, although only about forty 
years of age, had held the office since July, 1426, 
when he had been appointed to it by Guillaume 
M^rici, Grand Inquisitor of France.^ And here it 
may be convenient to mention that the principal 
assessors of the Ecclesiastical Court chosen to try 
the Marshal were Guillaume de Malestroit, Bishop- 
designate of Le Mans ; Jean Pr^gent, Bishop of 
St. Brieuc ; Denis de la Loh^rie, Bishop of St. Lo ;* 
and Jacques de Pentcoetdic, Official of the Cathedral 
of Nantes. Robin Guillaumet, public notary, acted 
as Clerk of the Court, and four other notaries — ^Jean 
Delaunay, Jean Petit, Guillaume Lesn6, and Nicolas 
Geraud — took down the evidence of the witnesses, 

^ Letters of Appointment. See Bossard, /.r., p. xxxi. 

* This is doubtful, the Latin being Laodicensis or Laudicensis. 
Abb^ Bossard points out that the Sees of Libge and Laon were 
at that time held by other ecclesiastics, and therefore suggests 
St. Lo. 



GILLES DE RAIS 339 

etc. Finally, Pierre de THdpital, Seneschal of 
Rennes and President of the Parliament of Brittany, 
was present at most of the proceedings, and occa^ 
sionally played an important part in them, as will 
presently appear. 

The proceedings having been adjourned from the 
19th to the 28th of September, Gilles, it would 
appear, spent much of his time in hearing Mass, for 
which permission was granted him, one of the priests 
of his own household being empowered to officiate, 
on the express condition, however, that he should 
not confess and absolve the prisoner, or permit him 
to communicate. Further, it is said that permission 
was granted for the attendance at the Holy Offices 
of two of the Marshal's chanters, two choir-boys, and 
his organ-player, from which it would follow that 
one of his portable organs had been brought from 
Machecoul or Tiffauges. It was certainly during 
this interval that Gilles, who did not think his life 
in danger, decided that he would take orders and 
become a Carmelite in penance for his sins. In this 
connection various writers quote a letter which he 
is said to have addressed to the Duke of Brittany, 
a letter offering to give all his property to the poor, 
and soliciting permission to retire into a monastery. 
It is possible that some such missive was prepared 
by him, but, if so, the text must have differed from 
that which is quoted, for the phraseology of the 
latter is too modem to be accurate.^ 

Again, it is asserted that Katherine de Thouars, 

^ The letter will be found in Lacroix, /.^., p. 48. 

22 — 2 



340 BLUEBEARD 

the Marshal's wife, came to Nantes to intercede for 
him with Jean V., but this also is doubtful. Many 
years had now elapsed since the boy and girl 
marriage of Gilles and Katherine. In the earlier 
period'they had been parted by the wars ; then had 
come some quarrel, perhaps some dreadful discovery 
on Katherine's part, and they had separated never 
to meet again. In her husband's campaigning days, 
at the time when the English were advancing 
through Maine, and seemed likely to enter Anjou, 
Katherine is found superintending repairs at 
Champtoc6, and placing that castle in a state of 
defence. In subsequent years she goes from fortress 
to fortress, discharging various duties. At last, in 
January and again in May, 1434, she is seen at 
Machecoul. At Michaelmas she goes to Tiffauges, 
and a little later she appears at Champtoc6. The 
final separation of husband and wife dated pro- 
bably from the winter of 1434-35, after which time 
Katherine dwelt in retirement at Pouzauges, whither 
her husband never went. 

The writers on Gilles de Rais generally agree 
that Katherine detested and despised her husband. 
Nevertheless, although it is questionable whether at 
the time of his arrest she intervened in his favour 
with the Duke of Brittany, it is extremely probable 
that she did so with Charles VII. Several historians 
say that the Lady of Rais went to see the King, and 
some assert that she was supported by her husband's 
cousin, Andrd de Laval, Lord of Lohdac, who had 
been created a Marshal of France during the pre- 



GILLES DE RAIS 341 

vious year (1439). In certain royal letters dated 
Montauban, January 3, 1443 (N.S.), it is stated that 
the Marshal de Rais 'appealed to the King and the 
Parliament, but his appeal was rejected ' (stc).^ In 
all probability this merely means that the appeal was 
not allowed by the judges of Nantes. Nevertheless 
there was some effort to secure French intervention, 
and it can only have been made by Katherine 
on her husband's behalf. She had no affection for 
him ; his death would prove a happy release for 
her ; but he was accused of the most monstrous 
crimes, and the Lady of Rais must have thought of 
the family honour. Apart from herself, moreover, 
she had to consider the interests of her daughter 
Marie. 

But the moment was not a propitious one. For 
some months past Charles VII. had been contending 
with the Praguerie rebellion ; which, if checked, was 
by no means over. The King knew that the nobles 
required curbing; and this alone may explain his 
refusal to help the turbulent Gilles de Rais. More- 
over, he may have given little attention to the 
matter, he may have been imperfectly informed 
respecting the facts, have thought it probable that 
Gilles would receive a lesson which would do him 
good, without imagining that he would be sentenced 
to death and executed. It is asserted that the King 
sent a councillor or officer to Nantes to watch the 
proceedings and report to him, and perhaps he did 

^ M. March^ay's ' Documents relatifs k Pr^gent de Co^tivy.' 
The letters refenred to above will be dealt with in our last duster. 



342 BLUEBEARD 

take that course in response to the entreaties of 
Katherine, but this was certainly the only satisfaction 
which she then obtained from the French crown.^ 
She could expect none from Richemont The mere 
fact that Rais was accused of magic sufficed to 
restrain the Constable from intervening. As for the 
Parliament of Paris, a question of jurisdiction would 
have arisen even with respect to the Secular Pro- 
ceedings against the Marshal, and it could not have 
interfered in those of the Ecclesiastical Court. 

Jean de Malestroit, as previously mentioned, had 
adjourned the proceedings of his tribunal until 
September 28. Several persons who had lost their 
children were then interrogated by the Bishop of 
Nantes and the Vice- Inquisitor. They all belonged 
to Nantes and its vicinity, and the result of their 
statements, made with every sign of grief and 
distress, was a final citation requiring Gilles to 
appear before the court on October 8. Early that 
day other complainants and witnesses were heard, and 
at nine o'clock the court was fully constituted in the 
great hall of the Chateau de la Tour Neuve. The 
prisoner was then brought in, and Chapeillon, 
the prosecutor, recapitulated by word of mouth all 
the charges against him, not only those of heresy, 
devilry and vice, but the others, such as murder, in 

^ Gilles is said to have written to Charles VII., confessing his 
guilt, but imploring intervention. His alleged letter will be found 
in Lacroix (p. 88), but we do not think it genuine. As the sequel 
of this narrative will show, the King intervened two years after 
the Marshal's death. He would hardly have done so had he 
personally received a confession. 



GILLES DE RAIS 343 

connection with which this ecclesiastical tribunal had 
legally no jurisdiction. Gilles immediately declined 
the competence of the court, but was answered that 
an appeal by word of mouth and not in writing was 
frivolous and of no effect. Eventually, after his 
judges had vainly argued with him, it was proposed 
to postpone the proceedings for a few days. The Mar- 
shal then haughtily replied : 'There is nothing true in 
the facts alleged about me, save two things, that I 
received baptism and renounced the Devil, his pomps 
and his works. I have always been and am still a 
true Christian !* Thereupon the prosecutor made a 
fresh attempt to secure the prisoner's acknowledg- 
ment of the jurisdiction. Offering to take the oath 
to speak the truth and avoid all calumny in the 
charges which he preferred, he invited Gilles to take 
a similar oath with respect to his answers. But the 
Marshal haughtily and stubbornly refused ; he stiU 
rejected the jurisdiction even when excommunication 
was threatened, and thus the only course open to 
the court was to adjourn. 

Abbd Bossard, a priest of the Catholic Church, 
writes in strong approval of what was attempted on 
this occasion, and one could hardly expect him to write 
otherwise. But judging by the documents, the pro- 
ceedings of the court were scarcely lawful. True 
ministers of a Church whose besetting fault through 
the ages has been to arrogate to itself excessive 
powers, Malestroit and his colleagues endeavoured 
to exercise jurisdiction in matters in which they 
possessed none. They did not altogether gain their 



344 BLUEBEARD 

point, as the sequel will show. Abb^ Bossard's 
account of the affair leaves an erroneous impression 
of it, because in his desire to insist on the importance 
of the Ecclesiastical Proceedings — although no such 
insistence was necessary ; they speak eloquently for 
themselves — he narrates them without due r^ard 
for those of the secular authorities whom the initia- 
tive of the Bishop-Chancellor had at last stirred to 
action. 

Acting by the orders of Duke Jean V., who was 
emboldened, perhaps, by the quiet surrender of Gilles, 
Pierre de THdpital had instituted an inquiry of 
his own, appointing a certain Jean de Tousche- 
ronde to the office of commissary-investigator, and 
naming Masters Chateau, Eveillard and Coppegorge 
as his assessors. A first complainant had been heard 
on September i8 — that is, four days after the arrest 
of Gilles. Then four others had testified on Sep- 
tember 24, and thirty-two on September 28, 29 
and 30. These were followed by twenty more 
on October 4, two on October 8, and eight on 
October 10. Only on October 11 did Gilles appear 
for the first time before L*H6pital, who held his court 
at the palace or castle of Le Bouffay. 

It was perhaps on this occasion that the Marshal 
astonished all Nantes by presenting himself in white 
raiment at the bar of justice.^ We are told that he 
did not assume this garb in token of innocence, but 
as a mark of his repentance for such transgressions 

^ There are various accounts of this masquerade on his part, 
but the dates given by different writers do not agree. 



GILLES DE RAIS 345 

as he was willing to acknowledge, and of his inten- 
tion to join the order of the Carmelites, in which he 
already deemed himself to be a novice. According 
to one account, however, although his hose and his 
shoes d la poulaine were white, he wore a doublet 
of pearl gray silk, embroidered with golden stars, 
edged with ermine, and secured at the waist by a 
scarlet sash from which hung a dagger^ in a sheath 
of scarlet velvet His chapel or round cap was 
bordered with ermine — a fur which only the great 
feudatories of Brittany were privileged to wear — and 
from his neck hung certain orders of dignity or 
chivalry with a heavy gold chain to which a reliquary 
was attached.^ Gilles, it may be added, was a well- 
built man,^ of majestic stature, with an engaging 
countenance ;* in his youth, indeed, he had been 
handsome and graceful.^ And if the traditional 
description of his countenance, to which allusion has 
previously been made, be in a measure accurate, his 
appearance in his last days must have been very 
striking. It is by no means unusual to meet men 
with dark hair and fair beards and moustaches, but 
Gilles, so tradition asserts, had fair hair with dark 
eyebrows and a black moustache and beard ; his 
sunken eyes were blue, we are told, his lips thin, and 

^ A prisoner of noble birth was often allowed to retain his dagger 
until conviction. 

* Lacroix, /.^., p. 5a ; Lemire, /.^., pp. 39, 40. 
8 D'Argentr^, Du Paz. 

* P. F. Velly, C. Villaret, etc., «Histoire de France,* lamo., 
1763, etc, vol. XV. 

» Vallet de Viriville, U. 



346 BLUEBEARD 

his cheeks pale. The chief objection to this tradi- 
tional portrait is that in those days, judging by 
contemporary drawings, the faces of nobles and 
princes were clean-shaven. Perhaps there were 
exceptions. The writer must confess that he has 
not investigated the matter, and in any case Gilles 
de Rais did so many unusual things, that in his 
last years he may well have worn a beard without 
regard for the fashion followed by others. 
* The Marshal, on appearing before L'Hdpital, 
immediately requested him to expedite the proceed- 
ings, as he was anxious to dedicate himself to the 
service of God. It was his intention, said he, to 
bestow large gifts on the churches of Nantes, and to 
give the greater part of his belongings to the poor, in 
order to insure the salvation of his soul. But the 
President responded that, if it were right that he 
should think of his soul, it was necessary that he 
should satisfy the justice of man as well as the justice 
of God ; and he bade him listen to the charges which 
the Lieutenant of the Procureur of Nantes was about 
to prefer against him. 

The indictment was then read. It ran, substantially, 
as follows : 

' Having heard the lamentable complaints of several inhabitants 
of Nantes, whose names follow . . . we, Philippe de Livron, 
Lieutenant-Assessor of Messire le Procureur of Nantes, have 
requested and do request the very noble and very wise Messire 
Pierre de I'Hopital, President of Brittany, Seneschal of Rennes, and 
Universal Judge throughout the Duchy of Brittany, to complete 
{parfaire) the criminal process against the very high and very power- 
ful Lord, Gilles, Sire de Rais, Machecoul, and other places, Coun- 
cillor of the King our sovereign Lord, and Marshal of France. 
Whereas the said Sire de Rais (although by the command of God 



GILLES DE RAIS 347 

and the law one is forbidden to slay one's neighbour and fellow- 
creature, and is commanded to love him as oneself) did never- 
theless take or cause to be taken many little children, not only ten 
or twenty, but thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, one hundred, two hundred 
and more, and, indeed, so many that one can make no positive 
declaration of their number . . . , and whereas he did inhumanly 
murder and kill them, afterwards burning their bodies to convert 
them into ashes ; whereas also, persevering in evil, the said Sire, 
although all power comes from God, and every subject owes 
obedience to his Prince, whose power is ordained by God ; and 
although the said Sire is a vassal and subject of our sovereign 
Lord the Duke of Brittany, and had sworn to him the oath of fidelity, 
he did nevertheless, without the knowledge or consent of our said 
sovereign Lord, assemble men together, and in an evil manner and 
by force did take prisoner Jean Le Ferron, a subject of our said 
Lord, which Jean Le Ferron was guardian of the castle and fortress 
of St. il^tienne de Malemort,^ in the name of Geffroi Le Ferron, 
his brother, to whom our said Lord had granted {batill) possession 
of the same place^. . . . Whereas, also, the said Sire did force 
Jean Le Ferron to surrender to him the said place, by conducting 
before the ditches Gefiroi Le Ferron, whom he unduly detained, 
and whose head he threatened to cut off if the said place were not 
delivered to him f and whereas the said Sire did retake and hold 
the Lordship of Malemort in spite of the injunctions of the 
Duke and the officers of justice under penalty of payment of the 
sum of fifty thousand gold crowns in the case of delay or refusal ; 
and whereas in lieu of obeying he did cause the two Le Ferrons 



^ Malemort was the older name; it became corrupted into 
Mer Morte. It will be noticed that the rebellion of Gilles was 
now raked up against him. 

^ This point has been previously discussed. Perhaps the above 
statement is not to be taken literally. If a lordship and fortress 
could not be sold without the express assent of the Duke of 
Brittany, it may merely mean that the Duke had given that assent 
and confirmed the sale in the case of St. ^tienne and Geffroi Le 
Ferron. See De Maulde in Bossard, pp. cv and cxlii. 

* This is contradicted by the evidence ; it was Jean Le Ferron 
who was taken in the church, led before the castle, and threatened 
with death if he did not surrender it Three witnesses speak 
positively on this point. 



348 BLUEBEARD 

to be taken to Tiffauges, outside the duchy, where they were long 
detained until delivered by Monseigneur Artus de Richemonti 
Constable of France. Whereas, also, the said Sire, in his blind- 
ness, did arrest Master Jean Rousseau, sergeant-general of the 
Duke, who was sent to carry him the commands and injunctions 
of our said Lord ; did take away the dagger of the said Jeao 
Rousseau, and did outrage him by other excesses, such as causing 
his men to be beaten with their own staves^ ... we conclude that 
the said Sire de Rais, homicide in fact and by intention on the 
first count, rebel and felon towards his Lord on the second count, 
be condemned to undergo corporal punishment, and to pay such 
fine as may be fit out of his personal estate ; the estates and lands 
which he holds in fief from our said Lord being confiscated and 
reunited to the crown of Brittany.* 

M. Lacroix, taking the words 'corporal punishment' 
in a limited sense, interprets them as meaning that 
the prosecution desired to spare the Marshal's life. 
He remarks that there was no question of Use- 
majesty divine, such as could have rendered a sentence 
of death imperative. But Abbd Bossard — rightly, to 
our thinking — construes corporal punishment as sig- 
nifying the death penalty, that being the form of cor- 
poral punishment assigned to the crime of murder. 
As for lese-majesU divine, that was not a charge which 
a secular tribunal could investigate, but it was fully set 
forth in the Ecclesiastical Proceedings. 

The Marshal's answer to Philippe de Livron's 
indictment was the admission that he had raised an 
armed force without the authorisation of the Duke of 

^ This seems to indicate that Rousseau was seized by Rais some 
time after the St. !^tienne affair. The sergeant-general may have 
reported the seizure of the fortress to the Duke and then have 
been sent to Gilles with orders for its restitution. 



GILLES DE RAIS 349 

Brittany ; that he had arrested Jean Le Ferron at 
St. Etienne, and sent him to Tiffauges on account of 
the evil reports he had spread ; that he had retaken 
possession of St Etienne, for which he had never 
been paid ; and that he had repeatedly refused to 
repair his offences, though he would now be happy to 
do as the Duke, his lord, might will and order. But 
he stubbornly denied certain excesses with respect 
to the Duke's officers and all the crimes on children 
which were imputed to him. The Procureur s 
Lieutenant then offered to supply proofs of his 
charges, and asked the prisoner if he would accept 
the testimony of his servants, Henriet and Poitou. 
*I received only honest folk in my house and ser- 
vice,' answered Gilles ; ' had I known any to be evil, 
I should have been the first to lay my hands on 
them. I have not to discuss here whether they 
are to be witnesses or not' 

On this point the writer is inclined to think that 
Henriet, Poitou, and others had already been examined 
privately. In the Ecclesiastical Proceedings the depo- 
sition of Prelati is dated October 1 6 ; those of Poitou, 
Griart, and Blanchet bear the date of October 1 7 ; 
and those of La Ce va and Poulein that of October 1 9. 
But the ecclesiastical indictment of October 13 recites 
a large number of facts which can only have been 
ascertained by the statements of these men, who had 
evidently denounced their patron and master whilst 
he was still blustering with his judges. 

The Ecclesiastical Court had adjourned on Octo- 
ber 8. It met on the nth to take the statements 



350 BLUEBEARD 

of several more parents who had lost their children ; 
and on the 13th Gilles again appeared at its bar. 
A formal indictment had now been drafted by 
Promoter Chapeillon, and was read in court, first 
in Latin and then in French. Of the forty-nine 
articles exhibited against the prisoner, the first 
fourteen dealt with the competence of the tribunal 
Then (art. xv.) came a recital of the crimes 
perpetrated on children by the Marshal and his 
accomplices, who were named as follows : Gilles 
de Sill6, Roger de Bricqueville, Henri Griart (other- 
wise Henriet), ^tienne Corillaut (otherwise Poitou), 
Andr6 Buschet,^ Jean Rossignol, Robin Romulart,* 
a certain Spading, and Hicquet de Br6mont. Next 
(art xvi. to art. xxvi.) were marshalled the various 
charges of devilry — evocations, compacts and 
offerings — Prelati, Antonio of Palema, Sill6 and 
Blanchet being designated as accomplices. After- 
wards (art. xxvii.) the indictment returned to the 
crimes on children, estimating the number of victims 
at one hundred and forty or more. Particulars of 
the crimes followed, and there were clauses about 
the alleged celebration of the Black Mass (art. xxxii.), 
the conversations of Gilles with his devil-raisers 
and his study of their books (arts, xxxiv. and 

^ He had become a chanter of the Duke of Brittany, and it 
does not appear that he was ever cited or punished 

^ Rossignol and Romulart were now both dead Si\\6 and 
Bricqueville had fled. There is no trace of proceedings against 
Spading and Br^mont, who had probably disappeared. Griart 
and Corillaut were interrogated by the ecclesiastical, but only 
tried by the secular, court. 



GILLES DE RAIS 351 

XXXV.); the victims of Champtoc6 and Machecoul 
(art. xxxvi.) ; the help given to Gilles by his 
accomplices (art xxxvii.) ; his remorse, his resolu- 
tions to amend his life and to do penance (art. 
xxxviii.) ; his relapse into evil courses (art. xxxix.) ; 
the notoriety of his wicked life (art. xl.). The next 
clause charged him with infamy, heresy, idolatry 
and apostasy, by virtue of the accusations previously 
enunciated. Then came a clause on the sacrilege 
committed at St. Etienne-de-Mer-Morte, followed 
by fresh summaries of the Marshal's offences and 
the affirmation that they were notorious and mani- 
fest, and constituted a pernicious example as well 
as a danger for the soul of the Marshal himself. 
Finally (art. xlviii.), the Promotor set forth that 
the accused had rendered himself liable to excom- 
munication and all the other penalties edicted 
against haruspices, harioliy those who evoked or 
conjured forth the evil spirits, their accomplices, 
entertainers and defenders — indeed, all who practised 
magic and the prohibited arts ; and it was declared 
that the Marshal had fallen into heresy, had offended 
against the majesty of God, and was therefore guilty 
of the crime of t^se-majesti divine; that he had 
transgressed the precepts of the Decalogue and the 
laws of the Church ; that he had disseminated most 
dangerous errors amongst faithful Christians ; and 
(art. xlix.) that the crimes, as enormous as they 
were shameful, of which he was guilty had been 
perpetrated within the jurisdiction of the Bishop of 
Nantes. In pursuance of all this, the Promotor 



352 BLUEBEARD 

appealed to the judges to declare Gilles guilty, to 
excommunicate him, and punish and correct him in 
accordance with the prescriptions of the law and the 
Canons of the Church. 

The practice of alchemy was not referred to in 
the indictment, and the murders and acts of torture 
perpetrated by Gilles were now set forth only by 
way of giving a complete account of the Marshal s 
misdeeds. The tribunal was not requested to punish 
him for those crimes, its only province being to 
try him for apostasy, devil-raising, gross vice, and 
the violation of the privileges of the Church. But 
Gilles, infuriated by some passages of the indict- 
ment, refused to answer it ; he repeated that he 
had rejected the jurisdiction of the Bishop and the 
Vice- Inquisitor, and that he abided by what he had 
said. 

* Simoniacs ! Ribands f he shouted ; * rather 
than answer such ecclesiastics, such judges as you, 
I would prefer to be hanged by the neck with 
a lace !' 

His fury increased with each effort to prevail over 
him. At times he denied everything ; more fre- 
quently he refused to answer. * I will do nothing for 
you as Bishop of Nantes I' he called to Malestroit 
at one moment ; whilst at another, in response to 
Chapeillon, he haughtily retorted : * Do I not know 
the Catholic faith } Those who accuse me know not 
who I am ! I am a perfect Christian and good 
Catholic. I own that, had I committed the crimes 
imputed to me, I should have gone against the 



GILLES DE RAIS 353 

Catholic faith ; I should have strayed from it ; I 
should be straying from it now. . . . But I will not 
be chained by any ecclesiastical privilege, and I am 
astonished' (here he turned towards Pierre de 
THopital, who was present) * that you the President^ 
[of the Parliament] of Brittany should allow ecclesi- 
astical judges to interfere with the crimes imputed 
to me, and even suffer me to be accused of such 
infamous deeds !' 

This might be taken almost for the cry of an 
innocent man, of one who felt that he would obtain 
no justice from an ecclesiastical tribunal, but would 
be treated by the priests before him even as other 
priests had treated that heroic Maid of Orlea/is by 
whose side he had fought. But unless one is pre- 
pared to believe in a great conspiracy between the 
ecclesiastical and the civil power, in a wholesale 
forgery of documents extending to hundreds of folios* 
in the subornation and perjury of scores of com- 
plainants and witnesses, in the falsification of three 
confessions made by Gilles himself, one is bound to 
admit that he was indeed guilty and that his declara- 
tions of innocence were mere outbursts of bravado. 
As he still refused to submit to the Ecclesiastical 
Court, it passed sentence of excommunication upon 
him in writing. He signified that he appealed, but 
to whom he did not say ; and his protests having 
been rejected as frivolous, the proceedings were 
again adjourned. 

That day was marked by a political event of some 
^ Bossard repeatedly says 'chancellor,' a manifest error. 

23 



354 BLUEBEARD 

importance which may perhaps have had some 
connection with the Marshal's case. Already in the 
month of July, according to Dom Morice, one of the 
Breton historians, some treaty arrangements had 
been made between the English and Duke Jean V., 
in consequence, it seems, of the rebellious disposition 
of a part of the Breton noblesse. This, however, had 
not prevented the Duke and his Chancellor from 
appealing to France, in the person of its Constable, 
to put down the revolt of Gilles de Rais. Now, on 
October 13 Jean V. signed, with the Earl of 
Somerset, Lieutenant of King Henry VI. in France 
and Normandy, a treaty of alliance, the provisions 
of which the present writer has failed to ascertain. 
Nevertheless the existence of such a treaty is 
significant, and if it were known to Charles VIL it 
must have confirmed him in any resolution he may 
have formed to refrain for the time at all events 
from interfering in the case of Gilles de Rais.^ 

When the latter again appeared before the 
Ecclesiastical Court (October 15) a great change 
had come over him. To the astonishment of every- 
body, he, who had been all defiance, now displayed 
the meekness of a lamb, submitted to the jurisdiction 
which he had scornfully rejected, and entreated 
pardon for his violence. On being interrogated, 
however, he denied that he had ever evoked evil 

^ M. V. de Viriville calls attention to this matter in his * Histoire 
de Charles VII.,' vol. ii., p. 417, note 2. We find that the treaty 
was registered and deposited in the English Exchequer, January 26, 
1441 (N.S.). See Palgrave's * Antient Kalendars of the Treasury 
of the Exchequer/ 1835, vol. ii., p. 190. 



^ 



GILLES DE RAIS 355 

spirits or offered sacrifices to them. He had read a 
book on the subject, said he, but that was all ; and if 
anybody could prove that he had ever resorted to 
such infamous practices as were imputed to him, he 
was ready to be burnt alive. At last both he and 
the Promotor took an oath on the Gospel to speak 
the truth, and the chief witnesses were then brought 
into court. They were Henri Griart, Poitou, 
Blanchet, Prelati, Perrine Martin, otherwise La 
Meffraye, and Theophanie or iStiennette Branchu.^ 
Gilles, on being asked if he desired to question them 
himself, declined to do so, saying that he relied on 
their truthfulness and that of the clerks of the court 
The witnesses were then removed to be interrogated 
by the greffiers, in accordance with usage, in another 
chamber ; and scarcely had they left the court when 
the Marshal, to the amazement of everybody, fell 
upon his knees, weeping, and entreating the Bishop 
of Nantes and the Vice- Inquisitor to remove the 
sentence of excommunication passed upon him 
two days previously. As he now showed sub- 
mission, his prayer was granted, and the court 
adjourned. 

It was certainly that sentence of excommunica- 
tion which had wrought this great change in the 
haughty Baron of Rais. Face to face with the 
inevitable, he now trembled for his soul. The 

^ These two women had been anrested at an early stage of the 
proceedings. There is no record of any statement of theirs with 
respect to the decoying of chOdren, which was the chief charge 
against them. 

23—2 



356 BLUEBEARD 

times were accomplished, the Spirit of Good proved 
to be more powerful than the Spirit of Evil, and he 
doubtless felt that, if he were cast out of the Church, 
he would suffer eternal damnation. 

It is not necessary to analyze here the evidence 
of Prelati, Griart, Poitou, and Blanchet, for much of 
this narrative has been based on their statements. 
It is enough to say that they confirmed each other 
on all important points ; differing chiefly when the 
memory of one proved better than that of another. 
Their statements and others were taken on 
October 1 7 and 1 9, and when the court met on the 
20th, the more important depositions were read in 
public with the Marshal's assent. One may well 
believe that those who heard that testimony were 
thrilled with horror, for it virtually recapitulated the 
prisoner's abominable career, the kidnapping and 
assassination of child after child, the monstrous 
torture to which he had subjected his victims, his 
proposed compacts with the Devil, and the attempts 
made by himself or on his behalf to raise the Fiend 
with the help of human sacrifices. And yet when 
the Marshal was asked if he had anything to urge 
against the witnesses and their evidence, he simply 
answered * No.' 

At this the Promoter rose to point out the gravity 
of the prisoner's reply, which showed that the 
alleged crimes had really been committed by him. 
But it was necessary that the tribunal should be 
fully enlightened, said Chapeillon, and he therefore 
applied that the prisoner might be subjected to 



I 



GILLES DE RAIS 357 

torture in order to extract a full and satisfactory 
confession from him. Malestroit and the Vice- 
Inquisitor referred this application to their assessors, 
seven of whom were present, and they having pro- 
nounced themselves in favour of the Promotor's 
request, an order for torture was duly made. It 
was to be carried into effect on the morrow ; but in 
the morning Gilles urgently entreated a postpone- 
ment, offering, indeed, to content his judges in such 
a manner that no torture would be necessary. In 
accordance with his own desires, Jean Pr^gent, 
Bishop of St. Brieuc, and Pierre de THdpital were 
designated to receive his confession, one acting for 
the ecclesiastical, and the other for the secular, 
court. They repaired to the chamber which the 
prisoner occupied at two in the afternoon, attended 
by their clerks, Jean Petit and Jean Touscheronde. 
Yvon de Roscerff, squire of Jean Labb6, the captain 
who had arrested Rais, was also present, with Robert 
d*Espinay, Robert de la Riviere, Jean de Vennes, 
and others, who came as witnesses. 

Some readers perhaps may be astonished that the 
threat of torture should have led such a man as Gilles 
de Rais to confess his crimes. But it must be 
remembered that he had led a life of ease, indulgence, 
intemperance, and debauchery for several years. He 
had long ceased to be the soldier ever in harness 
whom no march could fatigue, whom no danger could 
alarm. He had become a Tiberius or a Philippe 
d'Orl^ans. Machecoul had been his Palais Royal, 
Tiffauges his Capreae. By force of habit he could 



358 BLUEBEARD 

still command, fume, and bluster, but n^<thii^ was 
really left of him save a facade of rc^^ ^ which 
was destined to crumble at the fir^t ^-^Ht shock. 
Moreover, the constant repetition of .P '- of cruelty 
must tend to personal cowardice. P^ -who gloats 
over the sufferings of others, as v* ^les gloated 
over those of his victims, must at ti^^ shrink from 
the idea of undergoing such suffering himself. 

Yet one must be just even to such a criminal as 
Gilles de Rais, and admit that, whatever may appear 
on the surface, his confession may not have been 
inspired by cowardice, but by the consciousness 
that he was doomed, now that his accomplices had 
confessed everything. He had braved and re- 
sisted his judges as long as he had believed himself 
safe ; but at present all was known, so why should 
he persevere in his denials ? Moreover, the dread 
of being once more excommunicated, if he should 
refuse to confess, may have had more influence with 
him than that of physical suffering. He had again 
become very anxious for his soul, and repentance was 
at hand, even if it did not as yet make itself manifest. 
It seems, indeed, to have followed rather than pre- 
ceded his first statements to Pierre de THdpital and 
the Bishop of St. Brieuc. 

That semi-private confession in his room at the 
Chateau de la Tour Neuve was a kind of general 
statement ; he did not enter into any very precise 
particulars respecting his crimes. Some feeling of 
shame undoubtedly restrained him. But he declared 
spontaneously that he had committed sufficient crimes 




GILLES DE RAIS 359 

to send Vtc \ "n .thgysand men ' to the scaffold. When 
thC^tiicfTSia oC,-^j^.*vil-raising was dealt with, Prelati, 
the necrol'l icjgijf was brought into the room and 
confronted to :^ his former patron. Gilles then 
placed it on i >;)rd that the Fiend had never appeared 
to him, prob.m > because he had never been willing 
to surrender :her his life or his soul ; but both he 
and the Italian admitted the offering of some por- 
tions of a child's body to the Evil Spirit under 
circumstances previously narrated.^ This ques- 
tion and others bearing on the same subject having 
been elucidated, orders were given for Prelati to be 
removed, and the Marshal, then suddenly breaking 
down, exclaimed : * Farewell, Fran9ois, my friend. 
We shall never more see each other in this world. 
I pray God that He may give you good patience 
and knowledge ; and rest assured that if you have 
good patience and trust in God we shall see each 
other again amidst the great joy of Paradise. Pray 
God for me, and I will pray to Him for you.' Then 
he embraced Prelati, who was led away. 

Soon afterwards Pierre de THdpital and the 
Bishop of St. Brieuc withdrew to acquaint Male- 
stroit and the Vice- Inquisitor with the prisoners 
statements. With the latter the ensuing night was 
certainly a decisive one. The feelings which had 
manifested themselves in his farewell to Prelati 
became more pronounced. Thus on the morrow he 
confirmed his confession in open court, weeping 
abundantly, entering into full particulars, narrating 

^ See anie, p. 304. 



36o BLUEBEARD 

bis crimes and misdeeds at such length ifaat the 
Latin transcript of this second confession forms 
a document of quite 5,000 words. Those who 
heard that abominable tale were at one moment 
chilled with horror, and at another profoundly 
stirred by the prisoners protestations of repent- 
ance, and his appeals that his example might 
serve as a dreadful warning. If language, indeed, 
can indicate repentance, then assuredly this whilom 
cruel monster did repent before he died. In 
all his last declarations, moreover, one finds traces 
of the ability he possessed. He could speak well 
and feelingly, as is shown by the documents, and the 
pity of it all is that a man so gifted should have 
lapsed into such horror and infamy. A sufficient 
recital of his crimes has been made in these pages, 
and now, in justice to him, one may transcribe some 
of the words he spoke on the occasion of his first 
public confession. 

* By these admissions,' he said at the outset of his 
narrative, ' by the declaration which I desire to make 
of the misdeeds of which I am guilty, by the shame 
which rises to my face, I hope that I may the more 
readily obtain from God forgiveness and the remis- 
sion of my sins. I hope that they may be more 
readily forgotten by His mercy. My youth was 
spent amidst the delights of good cheer. Proceed- 
ing as my fancy listed, nothing remained sacred to 
me ; and all the evil that I could do I did. Every- 
thing that was forbidden, everything that was wrong, 
attracted me, and to obtain it there was no means 



GILLES DE RAIS 361 

that I did not employ, however vile it might be. . . . 
Fathers and mothers who hear me, and you friends 
and relations of young folk whom you love, I beg 
you, keep watch over them. Mould them by 
teaching them good principles, good examples, and 
healthy doctrines. Nourish their hearts with these, 
and above all things fear not to correct their faults, 
for, were they reared as I was reared, free to do as 
I pleased, they, perchance, might slip likewise into 
the same pit.' 

In another part of his statement, after narrating 
the most abominable crimes, he protested his love 
for the Church, on which he relied for salvation. 

* Ay, such is the nature of my crimes !* he cried, 

* that without the protection of the Church the Devil 
would have strangled me, and have borne me, body 
and soul, to Hell Y Later, when he finally addressed 
the fathers of families who were present, he said : 

* Beware, I beg you, of bringing up your children 
amidst the delights of life and the fatal pleasures 
of idleness ; for the greatest evils arise from the 
pleasures of the table and the habit of doing 
nothing. . . . Idleness, delicate meats, the frequent 
use of mulled wines, are the three causes of my 
transgressions and my crimes. O God, my Creator 
and beloved Redeemer, I ask Thy mercy and for- 
giveness! And you, relatives and friends of the 
children whom I did put so cruelly to death, you, 
whoever you may be, against whom I have sinned 
and to whom I have done injury, whether you be 
present or absent, in whatever spot you are, I 



362 BLUEBEARD 

entreat you, as faithful believers in Jesus Christ, I 
entreat you, on my knees and with tears, to grant me 
the assistance of your pious prayers.' 

When the Marshal's confession was finished, 
Promotor Chapeillon arose and applied for the fixing 
of a day when judgment should be pronounced. 
Gilles himself assented to this course, and then for 
the last time the court adjourned until October 25. 

Meantime the Civil Proceedings against Henri 
Griart and Poitou had been hurried forward by 
Pierre de THdpital, and on the 23rd — the day 
following the Marshal's public confession — his two 
retainers were sentenced to be hanged and burnt 
In his own case, directly he had confessed his mis- 
deeds the Secular Court had adjourned until the 
Ecclesiastical Proceedings should be terminated. 
When the latter were resumed on October 25, two 
sentences were read, the first being pronounced by 
the Bishop of Nantes and the Vice- Inquisitor con- 
jointly. After setting forth that Gilles was guilty 
of heresy, apostasy, and the evocation of demons, it 
excomunicated him afresh, and declared that he 
must be punished and corrected according to the 
laws and the Holy Canons as a heretic, apostate, 
and devil-raiser. The second sentence was that of 
the Bishop only : it pronounced the Marshal guilty 
of shameful vice, sacrilege, and the violation of the 
privileges of the Church, excommunicated him yet 
once again, and ordered that he should be punished 
for his salvation's sake in accordance with the laws 
and the canons. 



GILLES DE RAIS 363 

When these sentences had been read, Gilles was 
asked whether, detesting his errors, evocations, and 
other crimes which had severed him from the faith, 
he now repented and desired readmission to the 
fold. * I never knew what heresy was,' he responded, 
* and I knew not that I had committed that crime 
when I fell into error. Nevertheless, since accord- 
ing to my confessions and other proofs the Church 
now tells me that my crimes led me into heresy, I 
beg you to restore me to the bosom of our mother, 
the Church.' 

His request was granted ; excommunication was 
withdrawn, and as he begged for a priest to hear his 
confession and grant him absolution, Brother Jean 
Juvenal, of the Carmelites of Ploermel, was appointed 
to that office. But that same evening Gilles was led 
from the Chiteau de la Tour Neuve to Le Bouffay, 
where the Secular Court had now again met. An 
immense concourse of people had assembled on this 
occasion, we are told. Gilles appeared at the bar, 
garbed in black from head to foot ; and once again 
he made a public confession of his crimes. Never- 
theless, an advocate named Henri M^chinot, who had 
been appointed his curator^ addressed the court on his 
behalf, making a speech which nowadays would be 
deemed ridiculous, though it was quite in accordance 
with the taste of the times. M^chinot, indeed, pic- 
tured his client invaded by Pride and other demons, 
who 'well armed and resolute had assailed his fortress 
and entered it by force, even as the Greeks, coming 
forth from the wooden horse, did invade the unhappy 



V 



364 BLUEBEARD 

city of King Priamus/ And the learned gentleman 
endeavoured to prove that * Messire de Rais could 
not be accounted gfuilty of the excesses committed by 
Pride and his band, for a city taken by assault and 
held in subjection was innocent of the depravity, 
pillaging, and cruelty to which it was subjected 
by its tyrants and unjust possessors.'^ Such a 
speech, however much it may have been admired by 
those who heard it, could not influence the result 
L'H6pital consulted his assessors, who were unani- 
mously in favour of the death penalty, though a long 
discussion ensued as to the form the execution should 
take, some members of the court apparently favouring 
decapitation on account of the prisoners 'nobility.' 
At last, however, an agreement was arrived at, and 
the President of the Parliament pronounced sentence. 
Gilles was fined fifty thousand crowns for his felony 
towards his liege lord, the Duke of Brittany, and 
for his other crimes was condemned to be hanged 
and burnt. * Cry mercy to God !' added Pierre de 
THdpital, *and make ready to die in a good state, 
with great repentance for having committed such 
crimes. The sentence pronounced upon you will be 
executed to-morrow at eleven o'clock. '^ 

The Marshal replied by thanking God and the 
President for notifying to him the hour of his death, 
and he added : ' Since Henriet and Poitou, my ser- 

^ Several passages of this speech will be found in Lacroix, /.r., 

pp. IIO-II3. 

* M. de Maulde's transcript says one o'clock, but the accounts 
of the execution say eleven. 



GILLES DE RAIS 365 

vants, and myself did commit together the monstrous 
and frightful crimes for which we are now condemned 
to die, may it please you, Monseigneur, that we may 
undergo that penalty together and be executed at the 
same hour. I am the cause of, and the principal in, 
their transgressions ; I may be able to sustain them 
in the hour of death, and advise them as to their 
salvation. In particular I can set them the example 
of dying well. For if it were otherwise, if my servants 
should not see me die, peradventure they might fall 
into despair. They might imagine that I should 
remain unpunished, I who am the cause of their 
crimes. Grant me this favour, for I hope by the 
grace of our Lord that, after being the cause of the 
transgressions which now lead to their death, I may 
by my words and example be the cause of their 
salvation.' 

Pierre de THdpital was touched by this request 
and granted it ; further, as a supreme consolation, in 
presence of the prisoner's manifest repentance, he 
promised him that his body should not be reduced 
to ashes, but should be withdrawn from the fire and 
interred in whatever church Gilles might select^ 
The Marshal immediately chose that of the Car- 
melites of Nantes ; and then, as a last favour, he 
begged the President to prevail on the Bishop of 

^ Michelet says that this favour was granted solely on account 
of Gilles's noble birth ; but ih^ prach-vcrbaux of the trial distinctly 
say that it was the outcome of the prisoner's professions of repent- 
ance. At the same time the consideration mentioned by Michelet 
must have had weight with the judges, some of whom simply desired 
decapitation. 



366 BLUEBEARD 

Nantes, in order that prior to die execnition there 
might be a General Procession to pray God for him 
and his accomplices, and fortify them in their hopes of 
salvation. This request also was accorded. Then 
Gilles was led away to spend in prayer his last nig^ 
on earth ; and thus ended one of the greatest criminal 
trials the world has ever known. 

Early on the following morning — it was a 
Wednesday — all Nantes, after hearing Mass, turned 
into the streets to , join the General Procession. 
According to some accounts, Gilles and his servants 
came at the end of it, with their custodians. Amidst 
prayers and chants and telling of beads, the multi- 
tude wended its way over the bridges spanning the 
two arms of the Loire which embrace the He 
Feydeau ; and before long the procession reached 
the Gloriette island, where, on the meadows of 
La Madeleine, near the present site of the H6tel 
Dieu of Nantes, the three gibbets and pyres had 
been prepared. It is possible that the name of 
Biesse, which is given to the place of execution 
in some accounts, was then a general name 
for the islands which impede the course of the 
Loire at Nantes.^ An expiatory monument raised 
by the Marshals daughter on the spot associated 
with his death still existed beside the H6tel Dieu in 
1837, so there can be no doubt that it was really 
on Gloriette island that Gilles suffered the supreme 

^ A part of one of the islands beyond La Gloriette is named 
Prairie de Biesse on some modern plans, but this was not the site 
of the execution. 



GILLES DE RAIS 367 

penalty. That view is confirmed, moreover, by a 
contemporary account of the execution which is 
preserved by the Duke de la Tr^mouille at Serrant^ 
It is there said that the gibbets were set up in the 
meadow just above the bridges. And we learn from 
it that the three condemned men went very peni- 
tently to their death. While the procession was 
advancing, the Marshal prayed to God, the Virgin, 
and the saints, and exhorted Henriet and Poitou 
with hopeful words. 'There is no sin, however 
great it be,* he said to them, * but God in His kind- 
ness and fatherly benignity will pardon it, provided 
that pardon be asked of Him with great sorrow and 
contrition in one's heart.' The confidence which this 
unhappy man expressed in salvation and forgiveness 
almost astonishes Abb6 Bossard, who regards it as 
extraordinary on the part of one who had such 
terrible and so many crimes to expiate. * Love 
God,' said Rais at one moment to his servants, ' and 
feel such regret for your offences that you may not 
fear the death of this world, which, indeed, is but a 
little departure, without which one may not see God 
in His glory.' And again: *We ought really to 
desire to quit this world, where there is naught but 
wretchedness, in order to seek perdurable glory. 
We have sinned, all three of us, but as soon as our 
souls shall have left our bodies we shall all see God 
in His glory in Paradise. And that you may win 
that glory of Heaven, I pray you do not weaken ; 

^ This account will be found in the 'Revue des Provinces de 
rOucst,' 5« Annde. Nantes, 1857, pp. 177-179. 



368 BLUEBEARD 

persevere yet a little. There is not long to wait 
now ; do not lose that glory which awaits you, and 
which will never fail you.' 

Griart and Poitou thanked the Marshal for his 
good counsel, and assured him that they were well 
pleased to meet the death of this world, by reason 
of their great confidence in the mercy of God and 
their desire to go to Heaven with their master. * But, 
we pray you, act yourself,' they added, * even as you 
desire us to act for our salvation.' 

Monstrelet asserts that the Duke of Brittany 
witnessed the execution, but this is doubtful, for 
the Serrant MS., which is almost an official account 
of the proceedings, would surely have mentioned it, 
if it had been true. But if Gilles did not fall on his 
knees before the Duke to entreat his prayers, he 
certainly seems to have begged those of all the 
people present, reminding them that, whatever his 
crimes might be, he was still their Christian brother, 
and that it was their duty to forgive him for the 
love of Christ. Then he particularly commended 
his soul to Monseigneur St James and Monseigneur 
St. Michael — whom Joan the Martyr also invoked 
amid the flames of Rouen — and finally he begged 
that he might die the first in order that his servants 
might derive courage from his example. 

When he had climbed a high stool placed under 
the gibbet assigned to him, a rope was passed round 
his neck. Then the stool was removed, leaving him 
suspended above the pyre, which was quickly lighted. 
H is agony was a short one, we are told ; and whilst 




GILLES DE RAIS 369 

he was yet in the last throes Henri Griart and 
Poitou again spoke to him. * Now/ said one of 
them, * is the time to be a strong and valiant Knight 
for the love of God. Remember the Passion, which 
was consummated to redeem us !' But Gilles ex- 
pired, the flames rose all around him, scorching the 
rope, which broke, in such wise that his body fell upon 
the pyre. Before the flames could penetrate it, 
however, * certain damoiselles of his house,' says 
Monstrelet— or, as Jean Chartier puts it, 'four 
or five dames and damoiselles of great estate' — 
advanced and removed the body from the flames. 
They washed it carefully, and with the assistance of 
some nuns, according to D'Argentr6, they placed it 
in a shell in order that it might be carried to the 
Church of the Carmelites. And there, a little later, 
while the ashes of Poitou and Henri Griart were 
being scattered to the winds, the clergy celebrated 
the pompous obsequies of the most high, most 
powerful, and most redoubtable Lord, Gilles de 
Montmorency de Laval, Baron of Rais, Count of 
Brienne, in his lifetime Chamberlain and Councillor 
of King Charles VH., Marshal of France, and 
Lieutenant-General of Brittany. 



24 



IX 



WIDOW AND DAUGHTER GILLES DE RAIS AS BLUE- 
BEARD — CONCLUSION 

Some of the Marshal's Accomplices and their Unknown Fate — Were 
they ever punished? — ^The Second Marriage of Katherine de 
Thouars and the First Marriage of Marie de Rais — Pr^ent VIL 
de Co^tivy — Proposed Appeal to rehabilitate the Marshal — 
Repeated Efforts to recover his Property — The Heiress of Rais 
loses her Husband, is persecuted by his Brothers, and marries 
Andr^ de Laval — Her Loving and Pious Nature — The Expiatory 
Monument erected by her — Her Death and Burial at Vitr^ — 
Ren^ de La Suze and his Descendants — ^The Barony of Rais 
becomes the Duchy of Retz — ^The Alleged Insanity of Gilles de 
Rais — The Impression created by his Execution — His Name 
becomes one of Terror — His Connection with * Bluebeard ' — 
Bluebeard's Castle of La Verrifere — Bluebeard's Skull and 
Sword at Machecoul — ^The Lady's Oratory and Sister Anne — 
Bluebeard Stories at Tiffauges, Pornic, Ch6m6r6, and Arthon — 
Bluebeard as the Wild Huntsman and as a Werewolf — Blue- 
beard's Keys at Vitr^ — A *Complainte* of Bluebeard — How 
Bluebeard's Beard was changed from Red to Blue — Was Gilles 
called Bluebeard before Perrault's Time ? — Conclusion. 

The reader, finding that only Henri Griart and 
Poitou suffered punishment at the same time as 
Gilles de Rais, may wish to know what became of 
the others who were prominently associated with 
the Marshal's misdeeds. Something can be said of 
one of them, Roger de Bricqueville, who escaped 



GILLES DE RAIS 371 

prosecution, and in May, 1456, obtained letters of 
remission from Charles VII. on the pretext that he 
had quitted the Marshal's service five years before 
the legal proceedings, that he had been very young 
at the time of the alleged offences, of which he had 
possessed no certain knowledge, and that in other 
respects he had been constrained to obey his patron 
by feelings of gratitude and fear.^ Subsequent to 
the granting of those letters of remission Bricqueville 
is found on friendly terms with the deceased Mar- 
shal's daughter, Marie, who lavished affection on his 
children. Again, it is known that the Marquis 
Ceva, who was one of the least compromised in the 
horrors of Machecoul and Tiffauges, returned to 
Piedmont after the execution at Nantes and married 
a certain Lucha, who was still living in 1491, when 
she had sundry disputes with the Governor of Asti 
respecting some property settled on her by her * late 
husband.'^ But nothing positive can be said about 
the other actors in the strange, eventful tragedy of 
Gilles de Rais. The general impression of all who 
have studied the case is that Prelati, Blanchet, 
Buschet, La Meffraye and La Branchu were never 
punished for their misdeeds. There is no record of 
any prosecution against them. Prelati and Blanchet 
simply made statements which were used against 
their former patron, and that having been done, they 
vanished from history to appear in it no more. It 
may seem incredible that Prelati, who boasted of his 

^ See De Maulde in Bossard, p. cxlv. 
* Jbid,^ p. civ, footnote. 

24 — 2 



372 BLUEBEARD 

power to raise the Devil, and who claimed to have 
seen him * clad in silken raiment of a violet hue/ 
should have escaped scot-free ; but if he had been 
tried and convicted some record to that effect would 
surely have been annexed to th^ procedure in the 
Rais case, everything connected with which appears 
to have been carefully preserved, in a measure, no 
doubt, through the instrumentality of the clergy, who 
regarded the trial and punishment of the Marshal as 
a glorious triumph for the Church. As for Blanchet 
the priest, he may have been protected by his cloth. 
Besides, he had taken his precautions, wording his 
statements very cleverly, in such wise that he was 
able to pose as a victim when, in some matters, 
he was really an accomplice. Again, La Meffraye, 
the terror of the rural districts, the woman who 
roamed the highways and byways seeking children 
whom she might decoy, disappears from the scene 
to all appearance untried and unpunished. And 
Gilles de SiI16, who, like Bricqueville, had escaped, 
is heard of no more. One can only surmise that he 
betook himself to some distant region where perhaps 
he found employment as a soldier of fortune. 
Assuredly the impunity which seems to have been 
enjoyed by so many of the Marshals accomplices is 
one of the strangest features of the case, and would 
be calculated to arouse suspicion of some underhand 
intrigue, some manufacture of false charges against 
the chief prisoner, were it not that he himself re- 
peatedly confessed his villainy to his ecclesiastical 
and his secular judges. As it is, one caCti only point 



GILLES DE RAIS 373 

to the absence of all records respecting the fate of 
men and women who were deeply implicated in his 
crimes, an absence which is the more remarkable as 
his case continued to engage attention for many 
years, and abundant documents exist concerning the 
struggles of his heirs with the Dukes of Brittany, the 
intervention of Charles VII. on their behalf, and a 
proposed attempt to rehabilitate his memory. 

About a year after his death, Katherine, his widow, 
became the wife of Jean II. de Venddme, Vidame of 
Chartres and Lord of Lassay, with whom it is to be 
hoped her life proved happier than it had been with 
her first husband. As Tififauges and Pouzauges, 
with other lordships, were her property, Gilles had 
been unable to sell them. They therefore helped 
to enrich her second husband, and were inherited by 
the only son that she had by him. But the line of the 
Vidames of Chartres became extinct in 1550. The 
estates then passed to collateral relatives and suc- 
cessors — the Rieux, the Sc6peaux, the Gondis and 
the Coss6-Brissacs. Tififauges was inherited in 1 702 
by the Jousseaume de la Bretesche family — Marquises 
of Couboureau — to which its ruins still belong. 

About a year after her mother s second marriage, 
and two years after the execution of her father — that 
is in October, 1442^ — Marie, heiress of Rais, became 
the wife of Pr^gent VII., Lord of Co6tivy, Taille- 
bourg and Lesparre, Chamberlain to Charles VII., 

^ The deeds connected with the marriage are dated May 24. 
June 14, and September 29. The marriage must have taken place 
a few^days after the last contract. 



374 BLUEBEARD 

Admiral of France, Captain of Rochefort, and 
Governor of La Rochelle. The brid^room was 
about forty years of age, and the bride, it would seem, 
was a girl of fifteen summers.^ Her hand had already 
been sought by Pr6gent in her father's lifetime ^ and 
subsequently Charles VII. helped on the match, well 
pleased to see so energetic a man espouse the heiress 
of Rais, and undertake to wrest from the Duke of 
Brittany the lordships purchased by him, for much 
less than their value, in defiance of the interdict by 
which Gilles had been forbidden to sell his estates. 

It might be thought that, as her father had died a 
death of infamy, Marie would have had some diffi- 
culty in securing a husband ; but Co6tivy readily made 
her his wife, and even assumed, as provided by the 
contract, the name which Gilles had disgraced, and 
to which so much odium attached. He became, in- 
deed, Sire de Rais ; being generally known by the 
style of De Rais de Co^tivy, as indicated by the 
inscription on his seal.^ Pregent, who was a very 
able man, with a cultivated mind and much literary 
taste, held a high position in the royal council. 
Moreover, he had helped Richemont to seize La 
Tr^mouille, and had taken a prominent part in the 

^ Bossard, /.^., p. 371. 

^ Vallet de Viriville, /.r., vol. ii., p. 417. 

* Anselme de Ste. Marie, etc. : * Histoire G^n^alogique et 
Historique,' etc., 1726-33, in fol., vol. viii., article *Co^tivy.' 
Anselme errs in saying that the marriage took place in 1441. He 
is more correct in associating it with Charles VII.'s enterprise on 
Tartas, which took place in June, 1442. One of the marriage 
contracts was, indeed, signed in that month. See ' Documents 
relatifs k Pregent de Co^tivy,' by M. Paul Marchegay. 



GILLES DE RAIS 375 

suppression of the Praguerie rebellion. Charles VII. 
had great confidence in him, entrusted him with im- 
portant offices and difficult missions, and placed in 
his charge his second illegitimate daughter by Agnes 
Sorel, this girl being brought up at the Castle of 
Taillebourg, partly by Marie de Rais. 

Doubtless it is to Pr^gent s influence with the King 
that one must attribute the earlier royal letters patent 
and edicts which were issued with respect to the Rais 
property. Jean V. of Brittany died on August 29, 
1442, and his son and successor, Francois I., had 
not been five months on the ducal throne, when 
Charles VII., while resting at Montauban after sub- 
jecting several towns and fortresses of Guienne, 
sanctioned certain royal letters citing the new Duke 
and others before the Parliament. These letters 
stated that * Gilles, in his lifetime Lord of Rais and 
Marshal of France, did appeal to the King and the 
Parliament with respect to his arrest, and the injury 
done him, and the sentence pronounced upon him, 
wrongly, unduly, and contrary to reason, by our late 
brother and cousin, your father (Jean V.), and Master 
Pierre de THdpital, calling himself, or being. Presi- 
dent of Brittany, and his other officers. But the 
said appeal was rejected, and the said Gilles, unduly 
and without cause, was condemned and put to death 
by the said L'Hdpital, one month later, leaving an 
only daughter, now married to Pr6gent, Sire de 
Co^tivy, Admiral of France, appointed by royal 
authority her curator.' After this preamble it was 
signified to Duke Fran9ois that the daughter and the 



376 BLUEBEARD 

son-in-law, as heirs of Gilles de Rais, and for the pur- 
pose of avenging the honour of their name, intended 
to prosecute their father's a.^peal, wherefore the King 
summoned the Duke before the Parliament Pierre 
de THdpital and the other officers who had taken 
part in the trial of the Marshal were likewise cited, 
and the Duke of Brittany was forbidden to take any 
steps against the appellants so long as the appeal 
might be in progress.^ 

On the same occasion were prepared letters patent 
for the Presidents and Councillors of the Parliament, 
the Bailiffs of Touraine, Anjou, and Maine, the Sen- 
eschals of Poitou and Saintonge, and other officers, 
who were told that * whereas since the said appeal, 
and in hatred and contempt thereof, it is said that 
the late Gilles, Lord of Rais, was unduly put to 
death and that several other criminal acts {attentats) 
were done, now inform yourselves well, diligently 
and secretly, respecting the said death and other 
deeds, of which a fuller account will be furnished you 
in writing if there be need thereof; and summon or 
cause to be summoned on the said day or another 
one of our said Parliament, all those whom, by 
inquiry, public report, or "vehement" presump- 
tion, you shall find to be guilty or ** vehemently " 
suspected.' 

No date is specified for the citations, but a blank 
space is left for its insertion, and in the present 

^ Discovered by M. Marchegay, among many other Co^tivy 
papers, in the Archives of Thouars (Serrant). Original document 
on parchment, formerly sealed ; dated Montauban, January 3, 1442 
(1443 N.S.). 



GILLES DE RAIS 377 

writer's opinion this circumstance clearly indicates 
that the documents, although duly sealed, were never 
put to use. Abbe Bossard's elaborate disquisition on 
the point whether any attempt to rehabilitate Gilles 
de Rais was ever prosecuted is superfluous. It is 
probable that the documents were merely given to 
Pr^gent de Co^tivy to be employed by him as 
weapons against Duke Fran9ois, in the event of the 
latter refusing to restore the deceased Marshal's 
property to the heiress of Rais. But in any case 
they were never used. 

Co^tivy, on inquiry, must have come to the con- 
clusion that, whatever he and his wife might desire, 
it would be absolutely impossible for them to secure 
the rehabilitation of the deceased Marshal. There 
is no record whatever of any proceedings in any such 
appeal as is mentioned in the royal letters. That 
the appeal was never prosecuted is shown, indeed, 
by numerous existing documents, with respect to 
the measures taken to recover the family property. 
Those measures would certainly have been very 
different if Pr^gent and his wife had really cited the 
Duke of Brittany and his officers before the Parlia- 
ment with the object of quashing the conviction of 
Gilles de Rais. Understanding, after due inquiry 
into the case, the futility of any such attempt, they 
renounced it. 

This explains why a few months later — April 22, 
1443 — Charles VII. bestowed on the new Baron of 
Rais all the lands, lordships, castles, revenues, posses- 
sions, inheritances, etc., ' which had belonged or ought 



378 BLUEBEARD 

to have bdoi^ed to the late Gilles, in his lifedme 
Lord of Rais ;' which property the King in the first 
instance confiscated to himself on account as much 
of the crimes and (fences of the deceased Marshal 
towards the royal Majesty as on account of the 
crimes and offences for which he had been executed, 
the property in any case belonging to the King, who, 
by virtue of his rights, transferred it to Pr^gent de 
Co^tivy. In this instance there was no mention of 
wrongful sentence and execution ; on the contrary, 
Gilles was held to have committed ' crimes and 
offences,' and this shows that the idea of rehabilita- 
tion had been abandoned. It had been decided to 
adopt another course, and the letters of April, 1 443, 
were the royal answer to the confiscation of the 
Marshal's property by the Duke of Brittany at the 
time when proceedings began before L'Hdpital. 
The line taken was that the court of Nantes was 
subject to the jurisdiction of the Parliament, that 
the Duke was subject to the King, and that the 
latter's right of confiscation was superior to that 
of Jean V. But the royal commands were not 
obeyed by the new Duke of Brittany. In vain, too, 
were Champtoc6 and Ingrandes in Anjou confiscated 
a few months later from Gilles of Brittany — the 
Duke s brother — and adjudged to the husband of 
Marie de Rais on the ground that Gilles of Brittany 
held them from his father (Jean V.), who had always 
conspired with the English, and that he, Gilles of 
Brittany, was likewise an adherent of Henry VI., 
and had lately intrigued with him on behalf of his 



GILLES DE RAIS 379 

brother Duke Fran9ois.^ Again, there appears to 
have been very little compliance with other royal 
letters issued on January 13, 1445 (N.S. 1446) in 
which the King ceased to speak of confiscation for 
the misdeeds of GiUes de Rais, and, harking back, 
referred to his 'great, valiant and notable services 
in our wars and at the sieges of the cities of Orleans 
and Lagny and other places.* This time, on the 
ground that the Marshal had been led astray and 
had embarked on a course of reckless prodigality, 
foolishly spending vast sums on alchemy, the King 
annulled all contracts passed by him, ordered a general 
inquiry with respect to his estate, and cited before 
the Parliament all who detained any property which 
had ever belonged to him.^ Then in 1450 we find 
Rene d'Anjou mixed up in the squabble respecting 
Champtoc6 and Ingrandes, and conveying those 
lordships to the Duke of Brittany under the pretext 
that they had been confiscated to him (Ren6) at the 
time of the Marshals trial. Thus the position 
became more and more intricate* The semi- 
independent rulers of Brittany and Anjou, and 
their judges, virtually defied the King of France 
and his Parliament 

It is impossible to say at what date ended the 
many lawsuits instituted with respect to the property 
of GiUes de Rais. They certainly lasted very many 

^ Cosneau, /.r., p. 378. Letters royal, dated Chinon, August 28, 
1443 (* Bibliothfeque Nationale,' Paris), cited by Bossard. 

^ Cartulaire de Rais, ' Rev. des Prov. de TOuest,' 1856, p. 180 
ei seq. 



38o BLUEBEARD 

years, but with the help of the royal letters patent 
Pr^gent de Co^tivy contrived to effect various com- 
promises with the Duke of Brittany, and in June, 
1 448, owing to the tatter's non-performance of certain 
stipulations, it was arranged that Pr^gent should 
enter into full possession of Champtoc6 and Ingrandes 
on June 24, 1450. Four days, however, before the 
appointed date the husband of the heiress of Rais 
was killed at the siege of Cherbourg ; a cannon shot 
struck him as he was entering a breach, and he fell 
lifeless.^ * It was a great blow and loss for the 
King,' says Jean Chartier, 'for he (Pr^gent) was 
held among the valiant and famous knights of the 
kingdom, very prudent and in the prime of his age,' 
He was, indeed, barely forty-eight years old, but 
M. Marchegay's researches have shown that his 
health was poor, and that his wife, Marie de Rais, 
frequently had occasion to nurse him, which she did 
with much affection. Pregent reaped great rewards 
for his fidelity to Charles VII. in hours of adversity, 
and showed, perhaps, undue eagerness for wealth. 
It was that which led him to participate in the 
persecution of Jacques Coeur — an unfortunate blot 
upon his name. 

At the moment of his death his wife was at his 
castle of Taillebourg, and her brothers-in-law, Chris- 
tophe and Olivier de Co^tivy, and Alain, Cardinal 
d'Avignon, immediately sought to despoil her. 
Olivier wrested letters of administration from the 

1 Cartulaire de Rais, * Rev. des Prov. de TOuest,' vol. iii., 
P- 7SS- 



GILLES DE RAIS 381 

young widow, and arranged to place Pierre II. of 
Brittany — who about this time succeeded Duke 
Fran9ois — in possession of Champtoce and In- 
grandes. The unfortunate woman was imprisoned 
and threatened until she gave every necessary 
signature. But Charles VII. fortunately came to 
her help, and Pierre II., who had invested Champ- 
toc6, was compelled to withdraw and indemnify the 
victim of the intrigue, who, directly she recovered her 
liberty, revoked every deed which had been wrung 
from her. Nevertheless, her position remained pre- 
carious ; she was surrounded by greedy foes, and in 
order to secure adequate protection she resolved to 
marry again. She found the best of husbands in 
her cousin, Andr6 de Montfort de Laval, Lord of 
Loh6ac, Lomoux and Kergorlay, previously Admiral 
and now Marshal of France, perhaps the most 
exemplary hero of that age. Knighted when only 
twelve years old for his boyish valour at La 
Gravelle, Andr6 participated in many of the stirring 
events of Charles VI I. 's reign. He fought at Jar- 
zeau, Patay, Paris, Pontoise and Formigny, was 
present at the coronation at Reims, helped to subdue 
the Praguerie, and took part in the expedition to Sand- 
wich. His whole life was one of courage, rectitude, 
and unselfishness, and his wife, Marie de Rais, was 
worthy of him. She, the daughter of the cruel and 
bestial Gilles, proved indeed an ornament, an honour 
to her sex. To quote one of the old historians, it 
was as if an angel had sprung from the devil's loins. 
Remaining childless, she surrounded herself with 



382 BLUEBEARD 

the children of others, girls whom she rearedi 
educated and married. An account-book kept by 
the house-steward of her first husband, and dis- 
covered by M. Marchegay, reveals all her goodness 
of heart and generosity. Perhaps, as Abb^ Bossard 
surmises, in lavishing so much affection on the 
young she desired to efface from their memory and 
that of others the horrible misdeeds of her unhappy 
father. 

She marked her dolorous affection for him» and 
particularly her anxious solicitude for his soul, by 
raising, on the spot where he had been hanged and 
partially burnt, an expiatory monument, some por- 
tion of which still existed in 1837.^ Originally, it 
seems, it was surmounted by a stone cross, and 
adorned with a statuette of the Virgin, flanked by 
others of St. Gilles and St. Laud. Strangely enough, 
as the years rolled by, frequent pilgrimages were 
made to this monument. How the legend arose we 
do not know ; but miraculous powers were ascribed 
to the Virgin in the niche, she became known as the 
'Bonne Vierge de Cree-Lait,' *the Milk-giver'; 
and until the Reign of Terror mothers and nurses 
flocked to the spot to pray her for an abundance of 

^ It stood, we are told, on the Chauss^e de la Madeleine 
(Gloriette island), between the l^cole Ste. Barbe and a private 
house, and immediately in front of the Hotel de la Boule d'Or. 
A part of the Hotel Dieu now covers the site. A fragment of the 
monument is preserved in the Archaeological Museum of Nantes. 
Our illustration has been adapted from a rough and badly-printed 
lithograph in Verger's • Archives Curieuses de Nantes,' 4to., 1837, 
voL i. 



.Jtl*-" " 


J 


Wif^ilat. JM^ku. '^ 


w 


jf^wV ' ^ 


t 




>35^^'Mi^^^HaSB^8^B^^^K^B» 





V MOSUMENl F.RRCTRD BY MARIR DF. RAIS. 



GILLES DE RAIS 383 

milk, in order that they might rear in health and 
strength their offspring or their charges. Thus the 
expiatory monument of that Gilles de Rais who 
murdered so many children was transformed into a 
shrine where mothers prayed for the means of 
endowing their babes with life and vigour. Perhaps 
this is not the least extraordinary circumstance con- 
nected with a man in whose record the extraordinary 
abounds. 

No long span of life was allotted to the gentle, 
benevolent and pious heiress of Rais. Her last 
years were spent at the castle of Vitr6 — one of the 
lordships of her second husband — and she died there 
on November i, 1457, when she was probably not 
more than thirty-two years of age. Her tomb is 
still shown in an apsidal chapel — really the old choir 
of the Benedictines — at Notre Dame de Vitr6, where, 
not so many years ago, the present writer was assured 
by a sacristan that she was *the last wife of the 
famous Bluebeard '! A legend attaches also to some 
of the old keys of the castle (now a prison), which are 
described as those of Bluebeard. Popular tradition, 
indeed, has made the gentle Marie one of the alleged 
wives of the cruel Gilles, whereas she was his 
daughter. 

Her husband, Andr^ de Laval, survived her until 
i486, when he passed away in his seventy-sixth 
year, far richer in glory, we are told, than in lands 
and chattels. As Marie had died childless, her 
property had gone on her death, in 1457, to her uncle, 
Ren6 de La Suze, the only brother of Marshal 



384 BLUEBEARD 

Gilles. Ren6 in his turn then assumed the style and 
title of Baron of Rais, and prosecuted the numerous 
lawsuits which Pr^gent de Co^tivy and Andr6 de 
Laval had been carrying on for fifteen years already. 
It was Ren6 who drew up or inspired the * M^moire 
des H^ritiers de Gilles de Rais/ which contains so 
much interesting information about the Marshal's 
youth, character, and prodigality. When Ren6 died 
in 1474, the lawsuits were still being fought, and the 
duty of continuing them passed either to the only 
child of his marriage with Anne de Champagne, 
Jeanne de Rais — married in April, 1446, to Fran9ois 
de Chauvigny, Prince of D6ols, Count of Chiteau- 
roux, and Viscount of Brosse — or to her son, Andr6 
de Chauvigny. The latter died childless in 1520^ 
and was the last of the posterity of Foulques de 
Montmorency- Laval, the husband of the Crazy Jane 
of Rais. * God, the Creator,* says old D'Argentr6, 
writing in the middle of the sixteenth century, 
* became so displeased with this house, which had 
been very great, that no children were born to it, 
and it died out through dissipation, whence sprang 
thousands of lawsuits, which were still lasting in our 
life-time.' Finally, that part of the Rais property 
which had come from the Craon family reverted to 
the latter s heirs. The barony of Rais passed to the 
house of Tournemine,^ and, after being transformed 
into the Duch^-pairie of Retz (1581), ultimately 
became the portion of the Gondis, from whom sprang 
another Marshal of France, five successive ' Generals 

^ Bossard, /.r., p. 381. 



GILLES DE RAIS 385 

of the King's Galleys/ and two Cardinals, one of 
whom played no inconsiderable part in history. 

The historical part of this inquiry need be carried 
no further ; but before dealing with Gilles de Rais 
from the * Bluebeard ' standpoint, it may be as well 
to glance briefly at one question which will probably 
have occurred to the reader more than once during 
the perusal of our narrative. What was the mental 
condition of this man. in whose career so many 
strange contradictions are to be found ? The 
* M^moire ' of his heirs, prepared or inspired by his 
brother Ren6, adduces a variety of evidence to show 
that he behaved like a lunatic in many matters, and 
suggests indeed that he was absolutely insane. Abb^ 
Bossard, dealing with this suggestion, dismisses it as 
a theory devised in later years to palliate the Mar- 
shal's guilt, for if Gilles really had been mad, some 
plea to that effect, he thinks, would have been entered 
at the time of the trial at Nantes. But in this con- 
nection it must be pointed out that the plea of insanity 
was in those days, and for some centuries later, 
unknown to the French criminal law. One of the 
earliest recorded cases in which such a plea was 
brought forward was that of the notorious Count de 
Horn, who, in 1720, murdered a money-broker in the 
Rue Quincampoix, and whose noble relatives made 
every effort to save him from a death of infamy, far 
less for his own sake than because they feared that 
some of the disgrace would fall upon themselves. 
But the judges, without entering into the merits of 

25 



386 BLUEBEARD 

the case, rejected such a plea as ridiculous, unknown 
in a matter of murder, and, the Regent declining 
to interfere, Horn was executed. In England, the 
mad Earl Ferrers, who, had he lived in our times, 
would have been detained during the Sovereign's 
pleasure, was hanged in 1760 for the murder of his 
land steward ; for the English statute which nowadays 
regulates such cases is barely more than a hundred 
years old.^ In France at all events, if the lives of 
lunatics charged with capital offences were occasion- 
ally spared in olden times, it was by virtue of some 
act of mercy on the part of the King or his repre- 
sentatives. In the eyes of the law itself mere lunacy 
was not an excuse. Thus, it is only natural that the 
procedure ag^ainst Gilles de Rais should contain no 
trace of any such plea on his behalf. It could not 
be alleged in a case of crime such as homicide ; it 
was only valid in matters of civil law, when, as in the 
case of Gilles and his property, the actions of the 
lunatic tended to the wasting of his estate, and the 
reducing of himself and his heirs to poverty and 
distress. 

Thus, Abb^ Bossard*s argument is beside the mark. 
If the Marshals family did not try to save him by a 
plea of lunacy, it was because no such plea could be 
urged in law. Moreover, the concluding act of the 
tragedy came so swiftly as to prevent all interposition 
in his favour after sentence. On the other hand, it 
seems certain that if Gilles was a madman or a lunatic 
he was so only in a certain sense. His was the lucid 

^ 39 and 40 George IIL, c 94. 



GILLES DE RAIS 387 

madness of Tiberius, Caligula, Nero, Commodus, 
Caracalla, and Heliogabalus. He had a vain, weak, 
credulous, and most unhealthy mind. The folly 
which he displayed in his monetary transactions ap- 
proached real lunacy. All his passions were violent, 
excessive, at times abominably gross. The lack of 
early training, as he himself lamented in his last 
days, may have been responsible in some measure 
for the enormities of his life. But we are 
inclined to think that he was born with an abnormal 
nature, which no training would have absolutely con- 
trolled. Genius, lunacy, and great crime all spring 
from the presence of some abnormal element or some 
flaw in the brain — such an element or flaw as must 
have existed in that of Gilles de Rais. In his case, 
if exceptional talent be substituted for genius, they 
virtually met and mingled. He became a noxious 
agent in the midst of society, and, however much or 
however little he may have been responsible for his 
misdeeds, the world was in any case well rid of him. 
Abb^ Bossard, quoting various historians, points 
out that the execution of the Marshal created a 
great impression, and undoubtedly it was welcomed 
by the lower orders as a sign that the tyrannical 
nobility was amenable to justice ; but it is diflicult 
to adopt the view that it terrified the nobles and 
made them more respectful of the laws. Neither 
Charles VH. nor Louis XL, in spite of edict after 
edict and example after example, was able to- 
implant a law-abiding spirit among the aristocracy. 
Nor were their successors more fortunate, as we 

25 — 2 



388 BLUEBEARD 

know by all the 'Grands Jours' of the soxteenth 
century, when hundreds after hundreds of capital 
sentences were pronounced but never executed, 
the noble culprits setting the officers of justice at 
defiance,^ 

It is not surprising that various legends and 
traditions of the career of Gilles de Rais should 
have survived in La Vendde, Poitou, and Brittany, 
particularly the part which now forms the depart- 
ment of La Loire Inf6rieure ; and it may be readily 
conceded that the Marshal's life supplied every 
necessary element for the most horrible of bogie 
tales. According to some of the older writers, his 
execution was followed by a three days' fast, and a 
general whipping of children in order that the latter 
might keep his memory green. Yet such a proceed* 
ing can hardly have been necessary. It was only 
natural that the Marshal's name should survive as 
a name of terror ; and one may well believe that 
mothers and nurses, throughout the regions asso- 
ciated with his crimes, more readily stilled their 
children with some threat of his coming than with 
any allusion to his contemporary Talbot. Gilles, 
indeed, was the genuine Croquemitaine, no monster 
of fairy-land or the mythical ages, but an ogre of 
real flesh and blood, well and widely known. 

The reader who has followed this narrative may 
wonder, however, how it is possible to connect him 
with Perrault's Bluebeard. He was not married 

^ See ' La Noblesse Fran9aise sous Tancienne Monarchie,' by 
Charles Louandre. Paris, 1880, 8vo., pp. 385-3^ 



GILLES DE RAIS 389 

seven or eight times, but once only. Trae it is that 
he was betrothed to at least two girls before his 
marriage with Katherine de Thouars, and that on 
each occasion his destined bride died suddenly. 
Again, he is traditionally described as having had 
fair hair and a black beard, which looked bluish in 
the sunlight. Some recollection of his successive 
betrothals may have revived at the time of his trial, 
and the fate of his fiancees may have been regarded 
with suspicion by the ignorant Moreover, it is 
only fair to say that Monstrelet, his contemporary, 
asserts that several women were among his victims. 
Now, Monstrelet can only have borrowed that asser- 
tion from common report He was a Bui^undian ; 
in all likelihood he never saw Gilles in the flesh ; 
and he was certainly far away from the scenes of the 
Marshal's crimes. Thus, his information must have 
been of the hearsay variety ; and his assertion shows, 
therefore, that some folk, at all events, credited 
Gilles with the murder of women as well as of 
children. As a matter of fact, there were a few 
children of the female sex among the Marshal's 
victims ; but the procedure does not show that he 
ever put women — -plusieurs femmes enceintes, as 
Monstrelet has it — to death. Nevertheless, the 
popular report alone would be a sufficient basis for 
a Bluebeard story, particularly if the traditional 
description of Gilles* person were of contemporary 
origin. But the present writer has found it only 
in modern authors, who refer to it as being the 
traditional account, but who neither guarantee its 



390 BLUEBEARD 

authenticity nor show that it was current pricM' 
to the time when Perrault wrote. M. Armand 
Gueraud has pointed out that Og6e, the author of the 
' Dictionnaire Historique de Bretagne,* while refer- 
ring to * the ineffaceable souvenir left by Gilles de 
Rais in the rural districts/ does not mention that 
he was known as Barbe-Bleue. So far, indeed, as 
books are concerned, it is only in modern ones that 
this appellation is conferred on the Marshal. It has 
been asserted, even, that the very first to give him 
the name in print was Edouard Richer, who, in a 
work published in 1823,^ described the ruined casde 
of La Verri^re or Verri^res, on the banks of the 
Erdre near Nantes, as being the 'Chiteau de 
Barbe-Bleue.' In another book issued in 1838,* 
Richer's statements were repeated ; and when the 
present writer as a youth accompanied his father to 
the spot nearly forty years later, he found the tradi- 
tion well alive.* 

Half an hour's row up the Erdre from Nantes 
brought one to the hamlet of La Journali^re, where 
the first sight that met the eye was a striking tavern- 
sign representing a large greenish rock and a feroci- 
ous-looking man, beneath whom ran the inscription 
* Au Barbe Bleue.' The rock and the ruins were 
in a little wood, some distance away, and on reaching 
them one found among the fragments of walls the 

^ * Voyage pittoresque dans le D^partement de la Loire In- 
f^rieure.' Nantes, 1823, 410., p. 17. 

2 * La France pittoresque,' etc., by J. Abel Hugo. Paris, 1 838, 4to. 

® See * The Original Blue Beard ' in Once a Week^ January 4, 
1868. 



GILLES DE RAIS 391 

remains of a room, carpeted with ivy, and reached by 
some steps roughly cut in the rock ; this room being 
described as the secret chamber where Bluebeard 
had kept the corpses of his murdered wives. And 
in the abandoned court of the ruined castle one 
found, even as Richer had mentioned in 1823, seven 
fine old trees which, according to the peasantry of 
the neighbourhood, marked the spots where the 
seven victims were buried after their murderer had 
been killed.^ 

It must be admitted that La Verri^re was one of 
the estates of Gilles de Rais, though he can only 
have stayed there occasionally. Nevertheless, the 
Bluebeard stories told in the neighbourhood would 
have no particular significance were it not that 
others are to be found in the vicinity of many of 
the Marshal s castles. Go to Machecoul, and the 
peasantry will point to one of the fireplaces hanging 
in mid-air, inside the great tower, and call your 
attention to a stone which looks like a death s-head 
and which they call * Bluebeard's skull.* You will 
learn, moreover, that Bluebeard's great two-handed 
sword was preserved in the town until the Revolu- 
tion, and the balcony of the Lady's Oratory in the 
castle keep will be designated as the spot whence 
Sister Anne watched for the arrival of the brothers. 
As no * Sister Anne ' figured in the career of Gilles 
de Rais, this last tradition must have come either 

^ The writer cannot remember what trees they were ; but it is 
doubtful whether they were more than 200 years old. They were 
still there when Bossard wrote in 1886. 



392 BLUEBEARD 

from Perrault's tale or from the similar one of 
uncertain age current in La Vend6e.^ 

But at Tiffauges also there are various stories 
of Bluebeard, as Gilles de Rais is invariably called 
there. A staircase in the wall of the keep conducts 
to a secret room which Abb^ Bossard visited less 
than twenty years ago, and which is said to have 
been the spot where the monster killed his victims. 
The ascent was perilous in Bossard's time, and 
nowadays it may be practicable no longer, for large 
portions of the ruins have fallen during recent years. 
Nevertheless, the chamber is well remembered ; and 
every Teflfalian devoutly believes that the ghosts 
of the Marshal's victims, like the spectre of Gilles 
himself, still haunt the ruins at night. The curious 
echoes in the chemins de ronde of the towers over- 
looking the CrClme^ are in like manner associated 
with Bluebeard. It was there, folk say, that he often 
lodged his intended victims in order that he might 
surprise their secrets. According to one of the 
local legends, Bluebeard was taken to Nantes and 
sentenced there, but his judges decided that he 
should be executed on the scene of his crimes. He 
was therefore brought back to Tiffauges, and placed 
(like Regulus) in a barrel whose sides bristled with 
knives and nails. This barrel, which he himself 
had previously prepared for his wife, was then set 
rolling down the hillside overlooking the Sevre. It 
bounded along from rock to rock, and when it 

^ See ante, pp. 27-31. * See ante, pp. 233, 234. 



GILLES DE RAIS 393 

reached the water's edge Bluebeard was already 
dead. Formerly, moreover, in the old church of 
St. Nicolas of Tiffauges, now transformed into a 
carpenter's workshop, the tourist was shown an old 
granite tombstone marked, curiously enough, with 
seven circles. The vault beneath this stone (which 
is now in the Archaeological Museum of Nantes) 
was said to have been the last resting-place of 
Bluebeard's seven wives. 

All the oldest inhabitants of the district — Bossard 
interrogated people eighty years of age and upward, 
people whose families had belonged to the region for 
centuries — remain firm in the belief that Bluebeard 
was Gilles de Rais, whom, as we have previously 
mentioned, they invariably designate by the former 
name. It is the same in other parts of the Marshal's 
possessions. The castles of Pomic and Ch^m^rd, 
which both belonged to him, have long been ranked 
among Bluebeard's castles. Even the ancient 
aqueduct (probably of Gallo- Roman origin) which 
brings water from the Bonnet spring to Arthon in 
the centre of the barony of Rais is said to have been 
Bluebeard's work, executed by him in a single night 
at the request of a damsel of whom he was 
enamoured, and who, before consenting to listen to 
him, wished to test his powers. Then, in the 
vicinity of the remaining forest-lands of Rais, there 
are or were vague traditions of Bluebeard as the 
Wild Huntsman or as a werewolf, similar to 
Comorre. It has been shown, too, that Gilles 
became known as Bluebeard at the other end of 



394 BLUEBEARD 

Brittany, at Vitr6, where he never lived, but where 
his daughter resided from ten to fifteen years after 
his death, being subsequendy regarded as one of his 
wives, while the keys of the casde where she died 
received the name of * Bluebeard's keys.' 

Abb^ Bossard quotes an old Breton cantplainte, 
given, he says, in one of the works of M. 
d'Amdzeuil,^ in which Jean de Malestroit, who 
inquired into the crimes of Gilles de Rais, and sat in 
judgment on him, is shown conversing with a party 
of mournful maidens. 

It runs as follows : 

The old Man : * Maidens of P16eur, why are you 
so silent ? Why do you go no more to festival or 
assembly ?' 

TAe Maidens: *Ask us why the nightingale is 
silent in the thicket, why the loris and the finch no 
longer sing their gentle songs.* 

The old Man : ' Forgive me, maidens, but I am a 
stranger ; I have come from far away, from beyond 
the land of Tr^guier and L^on, and I know not 
what has caused the sadness on your faces.* 

The Maidens : * We are weeping for Gwennola, 
the loveliest and best loved of us all !* 

The old Man : * What has become of Gwennola 
then ? Why do you remain silent ? What is 
happening here ?^ 

The Maidens : * Alas, alas ! the wicked Bluebeard 

^ Bossard does not give the title of this book. We have not 
found the complainte in any work by D'Am^zeuil which is known 
to us. 



GILLES DE RAIS 395 

has put Gwennola to death, even as he killed all his 
wives.' 

The old Man, with alarm : * Does Bluebeard live 
near here ? Then flee, flee, my children ! The 
ravenous wolf is not more terrible than the fierce 
Baron. The bear is more gentle than the accursed 
Baron of Rats. ^ 

The Maidens : * To flee is not allowed us. We are 
serfs of the barony of Rais, and we belong, body and 
soul, to the Sire de Barbe-Bleue* 

The old Man : * I will deliver you ! For I am 
Messire Jehan de Malestroit, Bishop of Nantes, and 
I have vowed to defend my flock !' 

The Maidens : ' Gilles de Laval does not put 
faith in God !* 

The old Man .• * He shall die a tragic death. By 
the living God I swear it !' 

Then the complainte ends as follows : * To-day the 
maids of Pl^eur sing with all their hearts, and dance 
at festivals and pardons. The nightingale fills the 
thickets with its tender accents; the loris and the 
finch repeat their sweetest songs. All nature has 
put on a festive g^rb : Gilles de Laval no longer 
lives ! Bluebeard is dead !' 

It must be admitted that this complainte is 
thoroughly in keeping with the secret inquiries con- 
ducted by Jean de Malestroit prior to the trial of 
Gilles, yet one may doubt if it be very old and 
if it really sprang from the popular imagination. 
Adequate criticism is out of the question, as only 
a French translation of the Breton original is 



396 BLUEBEARD 

supplied by Bossard. Nevertheless, objection may 
be taken to two words : * bear ' and * serfs/ Wolves 
have remained plentiful in Brittany down to our own 
times ; but one would hardly expect to find a refer- 
ence to bears in a genuine popular ballad of the 
regfion. And the word ' serfs * ascribed to the girls 
seems suspicious when regarded in the light of what 
we know respecting the social state of France, 
generally, in the fifteenth century. 

Bossard also quotes, this time from Larousse, a 
very fantastic story of Gilles and a so-called castle 
of Rais, between Elven and Questembert. The 
present writer does not believe that any such castle 
ever existed, and, indeed, the tale, for which no real 
authority is quoted, seems to be a modem concoc- 
tion. The Marshal, who appears in it with a red 
beard, is shown desperately in love with a beautiful 
damsel, Blanche de THermini^re, the betrothed of 
the Count de Tr^m^ac. He casts the latter into a 
dungeon, and leads the girl to his chapel, where all 
is ready for their marriage. But she stubbornly 
refuses consent, though he is ready to bestow on her 
the finest of jewels and all his castles, forests, fields, 
and meadows. At last he offers her his body and 
soul, and the damsel, hastily accepting that offer, 
changes into a fierce blue devil who declares to 
Gilles that he belongs to him. By way of stamping 
him with his mark, the fiend changes his red beard 
to a blue one, reproaches him for his crimes, notably 
for the murder of his seven wives, and tells him that 
he will be known as Bluebeard for ever. 



GILLES DE RAIS 397 

The Assertion that this story is old and was known 
to Perrault is unsupported by a shred of evidence. 
The present writer infinitely prefers the local tradi- 
tions of Tiffauges and Machecoul, long handed down 
from father to son, from mother to daughter. It is 
only natural that a man like Rais should have 
received a nickname ; and thus that of Bluebeard 
was perhaps bestowed on him prior to Perrault's 
time. One can scarcely go farther than that surmise. 
The application of Perrault's tale, only a few years 
after it was written, to the legend of Comorre — as 
evidenced by the paintings at St. Nicolas de Bieuzy 
— shows how difficult it is to come to a positive 
conclusion. If the name * Bluebeard ' was derived 
from Perrault in the case of Comorre, it may also 
have been derived from him in the case of Gilles de 
Rais. On the other hand, if either of those men, 
the usurper of Domnonia or the monster of Tiffauges, 
was called Bluebeard prior to Perrault, and thus 
suggested to him a name for his * hero,' the writer 
thinks it far more likely that the man in question 
was Gilles de Rais ; for Comorre already had a 
widely-known nickname, that of the * Milig^et.' At 
the same time, whilst allowing for the fact that 
both Comorre and Rais were anciently accused of 
having put numerous women to death — as shown on 
one side by Alain Bouchard and Albert of Morlaix, 
and on the other by Monstrelet, all of whom wrote 
long before Perrault's days — the actual subject-matter 
of his tale may have been suggested to him by any 
account of a husband accustomed to kill his wives — 



398 BLUEBEARD 

perhaps by some passages in the 'Arabian Nights* 
or by conversation with the first translator of that 
work, Perrault's contemporary, Galland. In any 
case, there is nothing in the story of * Barbe-Bleue' 
to show that it was based either on the career of 
Comorre or on that of Gilles de Rais. 

On the other hand it will be found that for a 
hundred years or nearly so — if not for a longer 
period — these two men have been associated with 
the tale by an ever-increasing army of authors as 
well as by the vox populi; and at the present time 
they are mentioned as possible prototypes of Blue- 
beard in virtually every European work of reference 
containing an article on the story. That must be 
the present writer s excuse, if one be needed, for 
having penned this book. In spite of every desire 
to supply the reader with information, he cannot tell 
him who was the Original Bluebeard, because he 
does not know, because nobody knows, because 
nobody will ever know. It is a question which 
must remain a matter of surmise and opinion only. 
The folklorist will have his views on the subject; 
the student of history may have others. All that 
the writer could do he has done. He has given 
an epitome of the stories usually associated with 
Perrault's tale, and has recounted the careers of 
the two men who in France, at all events, have 
been connected so prominently with Barbe-Bleue. 
And perhaps the time devoted to the inquiry has not 
been wasted, for, quite apart from the Bluebeard 
question, the career of Gilles de Rais (which, to the 



GILLES DE RAIS 399 

best of the writer's knowledge and belief, had never 
been told in the English language) was, he thinks, 
well worthy of narration, within the limits which he 
assigned to himself when he began this book. Of 
all the strange careers of which history has preserved 
a record, he knows of none stranger than that of the 
high, mighty, and millionaire Lord, who fought 
beside Joan of Arc, became the great mystery 
* showman ' of his times, gave himself up to pro- 
digality and vice, sought renewed wealth and power 
from the Devil, and fiendishly butchered so many 
helpless children, in such wise that he died the 
death of a murderer, and left behind him, for all 
the ages, a name of horror and infamy. 



APPENDIX 



A 

(Ph:«33) 

THE BEAUM ANOIR BLUEBEARD 

If it be difficult to account for the origin of the suggestion that 
the original Bluebeard may have been a Sire de Beaumanoir, it is 
still more difficult to excuse the parrot-like foshion in whidi various 
editors of Perrault have repeated this assertion without taking any 
trouble to verify it Abb^ Bossard writes on the subject in the 
same misleading fashion as his predecessors. Following M. Deulin, 
he mentions that the theory originated with Collin de Plancy, whose 
opinion, he adds, was adopted by M. Charles Giraud. Then, in 
mentioning that the £simily of Gilles de Rais was allied to that of 
the Beaumanoirs of Maine, he refers his readers to M. Abel Hugo. 
On testing those references, the present writer finds that Collin de 
Plancy, in his ' CEuvres Choisies de Perrault, avec les M^moires,' 
Paris, 1826, 8vo., mentions, at the outset of the notes which he 
adds to the story of ' Bluebeard,' that the original character is said 
to have been a Beaumanoir. That is all ; there is nothing further 
on the subject in Collin de Plancy's book. On turning to 
M. Giraud's 'Contes des Fdes,' Lyons edition, 1865, one finds 
in the dedicatory epistle to the Princess Letitia Bonaparte 
a strong expression of the opinion that the original Bluebeard 
was Gilles de Rais! If, therefore, M. Giraud, in the previous 
edition of his work (Paris, 1864), which the present writer has not 
seen, inclined to a Beaumanoir theory, he had discarded it a twelve- 
month later. But we turn to M. Abel Hugo (* France Pittoresque,* 
1838, 4to., vol. ii., p. 165), hoping to find therein something about 
the Beaumanoirs of Maine. There is not a word on the subject, 



APPENDIX 401 

however; there is simply a reference (manifestly borrowed from 
Richer) to the ruins of the ChUteau of La Verri^re and the seven 
trees planted in commemoration of Bluebeard's wives. On 
consulting other parts of M. Hugo's compilation, notably the 
descriptions of the departments now replacing the old province of 
Maine, nothing is found about the Beaumanoirs and Bluebeard. 
Yet the references, mentioned above, have appeared in several 
works, successive editors and commentators following one another 
without once testing their alleged authorities. It was easy enough 
for the present writer to do so, the books, which have been 
specified, being in the library of the British Museum. 

The Beaumanoir theory resolves itself, therefore, into one single 
line in Collin de Plancy. Various genealogical histories and 
similar works have been consulted in the hope of discovering some 
Beaumanoir to whom the theory might possibly apply, and none 
has been found. The whole thing appears then to be a myth, and 
the only suggestion one can offer is that, when Collin de Plancy 
penned his notes to 'Bluebeard,' he had read somewhere that 
Gilles de Rais and a certain Beaumanoir had fought side by side 
against the English in Maine (see ante^ pp. 147-150), and that, in 
a moment of confusion, he penned the latter instead of the former 
name. His blunder, being frequently repeated, created the im- 
pression that a Beaumanoir theory really existed. 

This is written subject to correction. If anybody knows of a 
Beaumanoir whom the name of Bluebeard would fit, the writer will 
be delighted to hear of him ; but he has given considerable time 
to researches which have yielded no result, and until the contrary 
is proved he will continue to surmise that the Beaumanoir theory 
was purely and simply one of Collin de Plancy's not infrequent 
blunders. 

B 

(Page 65) 
VS AND OTHER LOST CITIES 

There are various accounts of the legend of Ys, the favourite 
one, perhaps, being that given by £mile Souvestre, who tells us that 
the ancient city standing on the shore of the Bay of Douamenez 
was defended against the ocean by several powerful dykes, whose 

26 



402 BLUEBEARD 

locks were only opened once a month in order to admit the qmntiti 
of sea-water required by the inhabitants for certain purposes. The 
principal lock was opened by King Gradlon himself, who always 
wore its silver key hanging from his neck, that key being also a 
symbol of his royal authority. Gradlon's palace was the manrd 
of the world, all marble, cedar wood and gold, whereas other 
dwellings were of oak and granite ; and he lived there with his 
daughter, called variously A^s or Dahut, a most beautiful but 
extremely dissolute woman, who had 'made herself a crown of 
her vices, and taken the seven mortal sins as her pages.* Like 
Marguerite de Bourgogne, in ' La Tour de Nesle,' the Princess 
beguiled young men, or, rather, employed an emissary, a black 
attendant, to seek handsome young strangers and bring them to 
her masked. Then came the banquet and the orgy ; but after- 
wards the masks were tightened by means of secret springs, which 
stifled their wearers, whose corpses were carried on horseback by 
the Princess's black retainer to the Montagues d'Arr^, and there 
cast into a deep pit or chasm, whence, even in our times, lugubrious 
sounds were said to proceed, these, according to the shepherds who 
heard them, being the moans of Dahut's murdered lovers, who 
entreated Christians to pray for their unhappy souls. 

Gradlon had again and again promised St Gwennole that he 
would punish his daughter, but in spite of her crimes he loved 
her too much to do so. At last she stole his silver key, the 
emblem of his power, and one night after a wild orgy she opened 
the lock and admitted the sea, which threatened the city with 
destruction. St Gwennole came to rouse the King, who at once 
mounted on horseback, to flee with his officers. Before doing so^ 
however, he again yielded to fatherly compassion, sent for his 
daughter, took her up behind him, and then galloped away. But 
the waters rapidly gained upon them, and they were on the point 
of being engulfed by a great wave, when all at once a mysterious 
voice rang out, calling : * Gradlon, if thou wouldst escape destruc- 
tion, cast off the demon behind thee !' The Princess, in her 
exceeding terror, felt her strength desert her, her eyes closed, 
her hands became icy cold, and she slipped off the horse into the 
raging tide. But Gradlon and his officers were able to reach 
Quimper, and that city then became the capital of Comouaille. 
According to another legend, Dahut or Ahs was transformed into 
a mermaid, a kind of Lurlei-siren ever on the watch to beguile the 



APPENDIX 403 

young men who approached the shore near the spot where the 
city of Ys was submerged.^ 

M. de La Borderie traces the origin of the legend to passages 
in Urdistan's early * Life of St. Gwennole,' in which the holy man 
is shown addressing homilies to King Gradlon, expatiating on the 
sinfulness of the licentious life led by the royal court, reproaching 
him for his silken vestments, his magnificent feasts, and his partiality 
for the music of flutes, tabors, citherns, and lyres. These passages 
gave rise to the opinion that Ys had really been destroyed for its 
sins, and there being various traditions of the alleged immorality 
of the Princess A^s or Dahut, the greater part of the guilt of 
Gradlon's court was gradually ascribed to her, until at last the 
legend arose in its comparatively modem form. There are various 
indications that a city or town may have existed on the alleged 
site of Ys. It cannot be denied that there have been frequent 
encroachments of the sea on this part of the Breton coast 
Souvestre mentions that a certain Chanoine Moreau, writing in 
1586, testified to having seen the remains of ancient walls as well 
as several stone trough-like tombs at low-tide. The remains were 
supposed to have dated from the fourth or fifth century. More- 
over, Cambry, writing in 1836 ('Voyage dans le Finist^re '), mentions 
that the fishermen of the bay when casting anchor repeatedly found 
fragments of walls under water. 

With reference to Gradlon's partiality to music (with which St 
Gwennole reproached him), it should be added that on St Cecilia's 
Day, prior to the French Revolution, a cup of wine was invariably 
raised to the lips of the King's statue above the entrance of the 
cathedral of Quimper. Another legend of him is given in a poem by 
Marie de France (' Poesies de Marie de France,' published by B. de 
Roquefort, 1819, vol i., 'Lai de Graelent Meur'), in which he is 
shown as a young and fascinating Prince, who wins the love of a 
fiury. But a time comes when she desires to quit him. She takes to 
flight, and he follows in pursuit Then, the better to escape him, 
she springs across a river with all the lightness of a bird. He is 
warned that he will be drowned if he should attempt to follow her ; 
nevertheless, he persists, and she, seized with compassion, at last 
rescues him from his danger, removes his sodden garments, wraps 

^ The libretto of Lalo's opera * Le Roi d'Ys ' b simply modem invention, 
and does not follow any of the recognised forms of the legend. 



404 BLUEBEARD 

her doak around him, and takes him to her own land. 'And 
the folk of the country still do say that Gradlon is yet alive.' 

The legend of Ys is not the only one of the kind to be found 
in Brittany. Stories of submerged cities and lost lands are favourite 
ones with the Celtic races. The Lost Langarrow or Langona of 
North Cornwall, destroyed for its vice by God, who raised a stonn 
and covered it with sand (see Hunt's ' Popular Romances of the 
West of England,' pp. 199, 200), has a Breton counterpart near 
the ancient town of Langon (lUe et Vilaine, between Rennes and 
Nantes), where a kind of canal, about a mile and a half in length, 
is said to occupy the site of a yet earlier city of the same name, 
destroyed for its sins. In like way the hamlet of Le Pussoir or 
Passoir, near Erquy, on the coast of Les Cotes du Nord, is popularly 
supposed to have replaced a Roman city called 'Nasada' or 
'Nazado,' also punished for its depravity; and in this instance it 
must be admitted that many Gallo-Roman remains have been 
found on the spot. Again, the forest of Seissy is said to have 
been destroyed by sea and sand because the birds in it persisted 
in chattering whilst an old hermit was saying mass in a retreat 
which he had sought among the thickets. Directly the holy man 
began the celebration, the birds made such an uproar that he was 
unable to proceed. At last he cursed them, and then a great 
wind immediately arose, the sea rushed upon the shore, and the 
forest was swept away. Miles of sandhills mark its site. 

The lake of Grandlieu, which belonged to the barony of Gilles 
de Rais, was also supposed to mark the spot where an ancient 
city, called Herbadilla, stood as late as the sixth century. The 
inhabitants, it is said, treated St. Martin of Vertou with great 
derision whilst he was sojourning in their midst, and in punish- 
ment of their wanton disrespect an abyss suddenly opened, boiling 
water bubbled up, and the guilty city was destroyed. Only a man 
and a woman, who had given the saint hospitality, were spared, 
and she, having looked behind her, in spite of a prohibition to the 
contrary, was changed to stone. (Dom Morice, 'Preuves de 
I'Histoire de Bretagne,' vol. i., p. 196.) The final episode of this 
story is, of course, a reminiscence of the fate which befell Lot's 
wife ; the earlier ones suggest volcanic agency, as in the case of 
the legend of Lake Issarl^s in Auvergne. 



APPENDIX 405 

C 

(Page 118) 
THE MONTFAUCON PORTRAIT OF GILLES DE RAIS 

The portrait of Marshal de Rais given in this volume is taken 
from Plate LVII. in the third volume (p. 277) of the * Monuments 
de la Monarchie Fran9oise,' the well-known compilation of Dom 
Bernard Montfaucon, who derived the figure, like many others, from 
a beautifully illustrated manuscript work presented to Charles VII. 
by Gilles le Bonnier, for many years * Berry King-at-Arms ' and 
' First Herald of France ' under that King and his father. 

This manuscript work, which at one time was in the collection 
of Colbert, was probably prepared some years after the death of 
Gilles de Rais ; nevertheless, in a matter affecting the latter, it 
would at first sight seem to be a document of value, for Berry, 
who in any case inspired it and superintended its preparation, was 
certainly well acquainted with the Marshal, whom he must have 
seen many times, and whose armorial bearings must have been 
familiar to him. Again, Berry was an authority in heraldry, 
and one can hardly suppose that he would have tolerated an error 
in the heraldic devices borne by the figures illustrating his work. 

Nevertheless, we regard the portrait of Rais with some sus- 
picion. The plate in Montfaucon bears the inscription 'Gilles 
de Laval ' — by which name Rais was often called — and the text, 
derived apparently from Berry, expressly tells us that the portrait 
is that of the famous Marshal who was executed at Nantes. 
Bossard and others regard the figure as authentic, and we are 
even told that the armorial bearings on the caparison of the 
horse are a blending of those of Montmorency-Laval and Rais. 
Such is not the case, however. They are simply the armorial 
bearings of Montmorency-LavaL A curious question, therefore, 
arises. The father of Gilles de Laval, in order to succeed to the 
barony of Rais, renounced for himself and his successors the 
arms of Montmorency-Laval, and covenanted with Jane the 
Sensible to assume those of her house. How comes it, then, that 
his son bears the arms of his ancestors, instead of those of Rais ? 

On consulting Anselme's * Histoire G^n^ogique,' it will be 
found that the arms of Montmorency were : or on a cross gules, 
cantoned with sixteen alertons (eaglets) azure. The bearings of 



4o6 BLUEBEARD 

Montmorency-Laval were the same as those of Montmorenqr 
proper, excepting in one respect : the cross, as a distinctive sign, 
was charged with five scallop shells. A reference to the Mont- 
faucon figure of Gilles will show that these are the arms emblazoned 
on the trappings of the Marshal's horse. Gilles sprang, however, 
from a junior branch of the house, that founded by Foulques de 
Montmorency-Laval, the husband of the Crazy Jane of Rais, and 
in the armsjof Foulques, as given in Anselme, there is a brisure, 
z, franc quartier de gueuks au lion d^ argent. This lion argent, ac- 
cording to Bossard, represents Laval ; but we cannot find that such 
a device was ever associated with that lordship. Perhaps Foulques, 
who is classed by Anselme under the heading of Chalouyau, 
derived it from that Burgundian domain which he inherited from 
his mother. His descendants, Guy, otherwise Brumor, and Guy IL, 
the father of Gilles de Rais, bore the lion argent in their shields — 
that is, until Guy II. entered into his covenant with Jane of Rais, 
when his arms became those of the barony : or on a cross sable. 
In the Montfaucon figure, however, there is no sign of the lion 
argent, to say nothing of any quartering even of the shield of Rais. 
We know that when such covenants as that of Guy II. and 
Jane the Sensible were agreed upon they were strictly carried out 
The Kergorlay Montforts came into possession of the barony of 
Laval by the marriage of Jean de Kergorlay with Anne the heiress 
in 1404, and, having covenanted to discard the Montfort arms 
and to assume those of Laval, they did so. See, for instance, in 
Montfaucon the figure of Andr6 de Loh&c, the younger brother 
of Guy de Montfort-Laval ; he bears the Montmorency-Laval 
arms as stipulated^ — that is, the same arms as those which are 
shown in the alleged figure of Gilles de Laval de Rais. This, 
again, is a reason for regarding the latter figure as doubtfiiL As 
the father of Gilles covenanted to bear the arms of Rais, GQles 
himself ought to have borne them. But Montfaucon quite 
ignores the Rais escutcheon ; following Berry, he even tells us 
that the battle-cry of Rais was ^ Deus adjuvet primum Christ- 
ianutn f (* God help the first Christian T) which was, of course, the 
cry of the Montmorencys, even as 'God help the second 
Christian 1' was that of the house of L^vis. 

^ Both he and Pr^ent de Co^tivy, as successive husbands of Marie de Rais, 
eventually assumed, or at least quartered, the arms of Rail in their escatcheont, 
in accordance with their marriage contracts. 



APPENDIX 407 

The whole matter is curious ; and we have a suspicion that the 
Montfaucon portrait of GiHes — the one authentic representation 
of him supposed to exist — really represents his cousin Guy de 
Montfort-Laval, elder brother of Andr^ de Lohdac. Briefly, a 
scribe or an artist employed in the preparation of Berry's work 
may have written * Gilles/ when he ought to have written * Guy ' ; 
for the armorial bearings are those to which Guy was entitled, 
whereas Gilles can hardly have had any proper right to them. If 
our surmise be inaccurate, and the figure be really that of Gilles 
de Rais, we can only assume that he, on entering the service of 
France, discarded the arms of his Breton barony to bear those of 
his Montmorency ancestors, regardless of any agreement into 
which his father had entered. 

We do not know whether this question has ever been raised 
before. We have given the portrait because it is generally 
accepted as being that of Gilles de Laval de Rais, but we regard 
its authenticity as doubtful. As for the so-called portrait in the 
Gallery of the Marshals of France at Versailles, that is an 
imaginary modem work, painted by £loi Fdron. 



D 

(Pages 181 and 193) 
GILLES DE RAIS AND JEAN CHARTIER 

Abb^ Bossard's surmise that the ' Jean Chartier ' who accom- 
panied Gilles de Rais to Orleans in 1434-5 may have been the 
famous chronicler of that name raises some interesting points. 
We know comparatively little of Chartier's life ; but it is nowadays 
affirmed that the old accounts of it were full of errors. Jean was 
formerly said to be a brother of Alain Chartier, the poet, but it 
is now held that they were not related. According to Father 
Ayroles (' La Vraie Jeanne d'Arc,' vol. iii. : * La Libdratrice '; Paris, 
1897, 8vo., pp. 143-6), Jean Chartier was provost of the 
monastery of La Garenne in 1430, and three years later held a 
similar office at the abbey of Mareuil-en-Brie (vicinity of Paris). 
In 1435 ^^ became 'commandeur ' of the abbey, and in 1437 was 
raised to the rank of 'grand chantre.' The new edition of 
' Larousse ' clings to the view that he was a chanter at St. Denis 
in 1445 ; and Father Ayroles says that he was still living in 1474. 



408 BLUEBEARD 

The question arises whether Chartier can have absented himsdf 
from Mareuil between 1433 and 1435, ^^^ whether his office in 
connection with the abbey was merely a titular one. It must be 
admitted that a distinctive feature of Chartier's chronicle is his 
frequent mention of Gilles de Rais. He gives circumstantial 
accounts of Gilles's earlier exploits at Rainefort, Malicorne, and 
Le Lude — ^petty affairs in their way, which a chronicler without 
special information might well have neglected. Again, his 
references to the Marshal in connection with Joan of Arc are 
numerous and important ; and he signals the presence of Rais at 
Lagny and at Silld-le-Guillaume when other writers leave it to be 
inferred that he quitted the service of France after the failure of 
the attempt on Paris. Where was it that Chartier found all his 
information about Rais ? May he not have acquired it from the 
Marshal or some of his retainers ? 

In the lists of those who accompanied Gilles de Rais to 
Orleans in 1434, found by M. Doinel among the notarial papers 
of Jean de Recouin, it will be seen that * Jean Chartier ' lodges 
at the Black Head, where the Marshal's men-of-arms, his herald 
and some of his captains are likewise accommodated ; and at the 
first glance it might seem incongruous for a cleric, a monk, to 
consort with those military men. A fitter place for him, it might 
seem (particularly as he was a chanter), would have been with the 
Marshal's chantry at the sign of the Sword. But, in this connec- 
tion, it will be noticed (p. 194, ante) that two other clerics, 
Collinet and Le Blond, lodge with a barber and a squire at the 
sign of the Furbisher. And, all considered, as Chartier, whatever 
his robe, was a chronicler of the wars, it is perhaps only natural 
that he should have sought the companionship of the Marshal's 
captains. As for the origin of his connection with Rais, it may 
be pointed out that the Marshal is known to have sought chanters 
with fine voices all over France. There were Normans and 
Poitevins in his 'chapelle.' Is it possible, then, that Chartier 
may have entered his service for a short time? One can only 
offer surmises on such a question; for nothing shows that the 
' Jean Chartier ' classed among the Marshal's retainers at Orleans 
was really Chartier the chronicler. Nevertheless, as this historic 
name occurs in the lists discovered by M. Doinel, it was as well 
to point to the possibilities which the mention of it suggests. 



INDEX 



Afes, Princess, 65, 71, 7a, 402, 403. 

Agib. See Calender. 

AkiDS in Armorica, 62. 

Albret, Guillaume d', 149. 

Alchemy practised by Rais, 236 e/ seq. , 

a4». 35a. 
AleD9on, Jean. Duke of, 156 i6x-i66, 

197, 21^, 216, 244. 246, 286, 32a 
* Alice in Wonderland,' 6. 
Ambri^res, combat at, 149. 
Ampoule, Sainte, 160, 161. 
An^rs, 186, 189, 191, 221, 238, 239, 

264, 271. 275. 
Anjoo, Louis of, 145. 163, 900 ; Charles 

of, 173 ; Ren« of, 225, 379. 
Anjou, peerage of, 162 ; province of, 

"S. 379- 
Anne, Sister, her balcony, 359, 360, 

391- 
Aragon, Yolande d', 144. 

Araguin, Thomtn d', 261. 

Arc, Joan of, influences Charles VII., 
Z44 ; sketch of, 152-154 ; at Chinon, 
154; at Poitiers, St. Florent, and 
l^ours, 155; attended by Rais, 155, 
156, 205 ; plot against, 156, 157 ; goes 
to Orleans, 157, 183 ; wounded at 
Les Tourelles, 158 ; at Jargeau, 158 ; 
at Patay, 159 ; at Reims, 160, 162, 
163; marches on Paris, 163, 164; 
attempts to take Paris, 164. 165; 
severely wounded, 165 ; retires to the 
Loire, 166; granted the arms of 
France, 167 ; a prisoner, 171 ; put to 
death. 172 ; her part in the ' Mystery 
of Orleans,' 192, 196-199 ; general 
belief in her supernatural power, 342. 

Armagnac, Bernard VII. of, 128, 129. 

Armoises, Claude des, false Maid of 
Orleans, 174, 296 et siq, 

Armoises, Robert des, 297. 

Armorica, Alans, Britons, Romans, 
Saxons, in, 6a et seq. 

Arms of France, grants of the, 166, 
167. 

Arthur, traditions of I^iog, in Brittany, 
39^ 40; Mystery of See. Tryphine 
and, 106k 



Anus II., Duke of Brittany, 13a 
Artus of Brittany. See Richemoat, 

Count of. 
Assassins, King of the, a tale, 22. 
Ass's Skin, a t^e, 5. 
Aunis, province of, 216. 

Barbazan, 187. 

Barron, an evil spirit. See Devil. 

Bars. Michel, monk and aecromancer, 

246. 
Bayley's Bluebeard, 19. 
Beaugency, reduction of, 159. 
Beaumanoir Bluebeard, 3a, 33, 400, 

401. 
Beaumanoir. Sire de. 147-149. 
Beauvais, Bishops-Counts of, 161 ; Rais 

at, 173. 
Bedford, John, Duke of, X4»-Z44, 148, 

I TO. Z51. z6q, 173. 
Belie Poigne. Hdtd de la, z86. 
Bernard VII. of Armagnac, 128, 199. 
Berry, King at Arms, z6i, 405. 
B^ god, and Bluebeard, 13, 14. 
Beuvron, St. James de, 145. 146. 
Bieusy, ChaptI of St Nicolas de 

(Bluebeard paintings), io$ei seq, 
Bieuzy. St., 86. 

Black bume killed by Rais, 149. 
Black Mass, 301, 302, ^vp, 
Blanchet, Eustache, chaplain to Rait, 

238, 239. 248. 249. a8o> 28a ei stq., 

287, 289-295. 304 */ seq., 31a, 323, 

324. 335. 3So» 3SS» 356* 371- 
Blancbu or Branchu, £tiennette, 276, 

355» 371. , 
Blavet, nver, its scenenr, 37 ei seq,; 

Giklas's oratory near the, 86, 105. 

Blois, dty, 155, 157, 221. 

Blois. House of, 130 ; Charles de, 130, 
13X ; Charles the younger, 133 ; Jean 
de. Sire de I'Aigle, 131, 136 ; Mar- 

Sieritede, tUe Qisson, 131, 13a, 136; 
livier de, Count de Pentbi^vre, 131- 

»33- 
Blouyn, Jean, Vice-Inquisitor, 330, 338, 

34a. 35a. 355. 357. 36a. 
Bluebeard aa a myth, za ei seq. 



4IO 



BLUEBEARD 



Aiabiftn Nights and, z6, 17, 398; 
Bayle/s, 19; wives of» 19-23. 24, 
59i> ^3! Esthooian, Indian, None, 
Cornish, Gaelic and Gennan stories 
suggesting, 19 et seq. ; the name 
anmentioned in literature prior to 
Perniult, a6 ; as a ^oMd sUcU tale, 
97 ; a Vendean variant of, 37 et seq. ; 
Breton stories suggesting, zo8, 109, 
396 ; Comorre as, ja, 33, 41, 47, 61, 
Z04 et seq., 397; Gilles de Rsiis as, 

3a. 33. *H. 345. 346, 388-398 : a Sire 
de Beaumanoir as, 33, 33, 400, 401 ; 
Bluebeard's keys, 381 ; skull, 391 ; 
sword, 370, 391 ; aqueduct, 393 ; 
wives* graves. 391, 393 ; at Mache- 
coul, 360, 391 ; at Vitr6, 381 ; at 
Vcrriires, 390, 391; at Tif&uges, 
39^' 393; at Pomk, Ch6m6r6, and 
ArtboQ, 393; no original, 398. 

Bluebearded Deities, 13, 14. 

Bhiebeard Paintings at St. Nicolas de 
Bieusy, Z05 et seq. 

Blunderbuss, Giant, ai. 

Bodyguard of Gilles de Rais, t8i. 

Bonnkr, Gilles le, herakl, 405. 

Books of OiUesde Rate. SeeUtinrf. 

Boucher or Boudiier, laoqves, of 
Orleans, ao6, aza 

Bouin, Isle of, 135, 935. 

Boufges, 141. 399, 30a 

Boargoeuf-«n-Rais, 135, 9as» »a7. 275. 
fl8i, 331, 333, 334. 

Boussac, Jean de Brosse, Marshal de, 
x6o, 161, 164, 173. 

Branchu. Su Blanchu. 

Brank Halleg, battle of. 98. 

Brekilien. See Brocdiande. 

Br^mont. Hicquei de, governor of the 
pages of Gilles de Rais, 181, 366, 368, 

274. 3SO- 
BricQueviUe, Roger de. Major-domo to 
GiUes de Rais. 181, 309, 341, 350. 
361. 363, 366. 384, 398, 333, 3SO, 370. 

371. 

Brienne, Rais created Count of, 163. 

Britons, ancient, theirflight to Armorica, 
63 et seq. 

Brittany. Dukes of. See Artus IL. 
Fran9ois L. Jean IV. and V., and 
Pierre II. 

Brittany. Gilles of. 333. 378. 

Brittany, Ricbsud of, 133. 

Brittany, early history of. 59 et seq. ; 
early rulers of /table), 69 ; giants in, 
73, 75 ; States-General of, 134, 138 ; 
Parliament of, 137, Z39, aao, ^, 
353* 375 : arobasaadors of, Z43 ; peer- 
age of. 163. 

Broceliande, forest of, 39, &;, za6, 330. 

Brosse, Jean de, i6a 

Browerech, the (Vannetais), 66, 69, 83, 

88. 93. 95. 96. 'oo- 
Bochet or Buschet, Andr6, chanter, 

269,333,350. 
3udic of CmnooaiUe, 69, 76, 77. 



Bueil, Hardooin de. Bishop of 

330 ; Jean, Sire de, 173. 
Burgundy, Dukes of, 161. See Jeuk 

sans P^ and Philippe le Bon. 

Calender, Third, tale of the, 16, 17. 
Camus de Beaulieu, Le, 151, i6a 
Canaa See Conoo. 
Carhaix (Voiganiuro), 70 et seq. / roads 

to and from, 71, 87, 89, 9a 
Cam5et, legend of the Ferry of, 55 et 

Cassenoix, a horse, 194. 3o6. 

Castel Finans. See Finans. 

Ccva, Lenano or Nani, Marquis, 340, 
jpgetseq., 317, 318, 335. 340, 371. 

Cbabot. G6rard I., II., HI., IV., V.. of 
Rais, 1 14- z 17. 

Chalons, Bishops-Counts of, z6z. 

Champagne, Anne de, zz5« 384 ; Counts 
of, z6z. 

Champtoc^, castle and lordship of, zz8, 
Z36. z86, 300, 3z8, 330, 333, 335-338, 
255. 256, 262 et seq., 37Z, 373. 340, 
378-381. 

Champtoo6, Tiphaine de, zaz, 364. 

Champtoceaux, castle of, Z3a, Z33, zjiS, 
363, 387. 

Chansons de Qeste and St. Vezian. zoz. 

Chantzy of Gilles de Rais, Z88-Z85, Z93, 
408. 

Chapeillon, GuiUaoine, prosecutes Rais 
at Ecclesiastical trial, 337 et seq., 343, 
350. 352. 355, 357. 

Chapter founded by Rais, z8a, Z83. 

Charles V. of France, 337. 

Charles VI. of France, 12S, Z4Z. 

Charles VI L of France, at first Dauphin, 
flees to Bourges, za9 ; goes to 
Languedoc, Z30; intrigues with the 
Penthi^vies, Z38, Z36 ; his difficulties, 
Z41. Z43 ; reconciled to Jean V., Z44, 
Z45 ; exiles Richemont, Z5z ; receives 
Joan of Arc, Z54. Z55 ; rewards Rais, 
Z58 ; crowned at Reims, z6o et seq. ; 
would return to Berry, Z63 ; at Com- 
pi^gne and St. Denis, Z64 ; with- 
draws to the Loire. z66 ; grants the 
royal arms to Rais. z66: to Joan, 
the Marquis of Este and Duke of 
Milan. Z67; his desertion of Joan. 
Z7Z, Z73 ; his pecuniary grants. Z78, 
Z79; visits Lyons. Z87; witnesses 
the ' Mystery of Orleans.' Z93 ; 
selected as trustee of the Holy 
Innocents, aoz ; prohibits the sale of 
the Rais estates, aaz et seq. ; La 
Pragucrie and. 344, 345, 397, 34Z ; 
helps the False Maid, 397 ; receives 
Rais at Bourges. 399; will not help 
Rais at his trial, 340, 34Z. 354; 
pardons Bricqueviile, 37Z ; favours 
marriage of Marie de Rais. 374 ; his 
confidence in Co^tivy. 375 ; inter- 
venes respecting the Rais property, 
375<^J<y- 



INDEX 



411 



OMVifar, Jmn, i8x, 193, 407, 408. 
Chaitres, Jam II., Vidaae of. m. 
Qmitret, RqpiMilc de. ChanoeUor of 

Fhuoe, ArailMshop of Rdms, 156, 

x6i. x6a. 171. 175, 179. 
Chaase Gallery, ballad, a^ 
Chaovigny, AiKlr6 de, Fnnoe of D60IS, 

"5^384. 
Cbaavigny, Fraii9ois de, 1x5, 384. 

Cherbourg, siege of, 38a 

Cbildebert. King, 73. 75. 77. 89t 9^. 97. 

■ 99. 

Chinon. Joan of Arc at, X55. 

Chramn, son of Clothalie, 99. 

Cinderella, 5, 25. 

Qties, lost, 40X. 

CUsson, Olivier de, xa7, 130, X3X. 324. 

Clisson, tovn and castle of, X36, 175, 

305. 

Qoar-Camodt, legend of Comorre at, 

55 '' ^^ 
Ciothaire I., 69, 99^ 

Qotb of gold, Its wUoe, X&4, X85. 

Co6uvy, Alain, Cbristophe, and Olivier 

de, 380. 

Co^tivy, Pr^ent VII. de, xis, X73, 

M3. 373-380- 
Coeur, Jacques, 300, 380. 

Comorre, alias Conomor, eta, as Bine- 
beard, 32, 33. 41, 47, 6x, X04 ei s€q„ 
397 : bis castles of Finans, 4X, 44, 45. 



47. 53» 87. 89, 90, 9a ; PMernec, 45 ; 
Lfon, 48 ; Gooesnou, C5 ; Poucastd, 
77, 79 ; Montaiilant, 80 ; called tbe 
•Miliguef or 'Cursed,' 41, 4c, 55 
^ ^M 95f X04, 397; l^ends of 
Trypnine and, 4i2 </ ag, ; his wives 
and tbdr deatbs, 4a, 43, 47. 55, 56, 
58, 76, 83 ; cursed by the clergy, 45. 
94 ; legendary death of, 46 ; fairy 
tide of Tnrpbine and, 47 ei stq, ; as a 
Stygian wrryman, 55 £t seg. ; real 
career, 69 et seg, ; at Carbauc, 70 et 
stq.; helps Harwian, 7a; protects 
holy men. 74, 75 ; sdaes territory, 74, 
75 ; manies Iona*s widow, 76 ; rules 
half Brittany, 77 ; Melar killed in his 
castle, 79 ; moves to Montafilant, 80; 
propoaes to slay Judwal, 8x ; strikes 
St Lonaire, is injuied, 8a ; p^ae- 
cntes the clergy, 82 ; weds Tiypbine, 
83, 84, 87, 88 ; covets Weroc's pos- 
sessions. 88 ; threatens Trjrpbine, 89 ; 
pursues and wounds her, 89, 90 ; his 
career of violence, 93 ; cursed from 
tbe Menes Br^. 94 ; protects Macliau, 
95 ; fifi^hts Judwal, 97, 98 ; slain, his 
tomb, 98; confounded with Conoo, 
xoo et stq. ; mraning of his name 
Conomor, xoa. 

Conlie, X74. 

Conober. See Conoo. 

Conomor. See Comorre. 

Conoo, alias Canao and Conober, 69, 
88, 95, 96, 99 ; OQofoiiiided wkh 
CoBiorre, 100 ei stq. 



CoriUaat or CorriUaiit, fitiease, alias 
Poitoa, page and valet to GiUes de 
Rais, 903. 247, 948, 253, 96X-963, a66 
et seg., 270, a7X, 274. 280, 284, 987, 
290-293. 300, 303, 304, 307, 323, 324, 

^ 335. 349. 350. 355. 356, 36a. 364-369- 
Comouaille, State of, 65, 69, 75, 77, 78, 

402. 
Cornwall. Old. 66. 

Coronation of Chaiies VIL, x6o et seg, 
Craon, House of, 1x4, xx8-iax, 264. 
Craon. Jean de. Lord of La Suse, etc., 

grandfather of Gilles de Rais, xx8- 

X27, X34-X38. X40, X44, X47, X73, 238, 

263, 265, 266. 
Craon, Marie de, mother of Gilles de 

Rais, XX5, X20-X22. 
Cravant. battle of, X43. 
Crows, Princes of Hell as, 286. 
Culant, Louis, Sire de, i6a 
Curiosity in man, 15, x6 ; in wonsan. 

15. 

Dahut, Princess, 40a, 403. 

Damnonia. See Domnon^e. 

Danton and audacity, X53. 

Darkness, battle of Ught and, xa. 

Damley. J. Stuart, Lord, X43, X62. 

Dauphin, the, afterwards Louis XL, 
243, 344, 288. 309. 

Dauphin-Regent. See Charles VII. 

Defeasance, Jean V.'s deeds of, 226, 
227. 

Delit. Jeanne, 278. 

Deroch of Domnonia, 69, 75. 

Devil, the, attempts to raise and com- 
pacts with, 245-253, 980, 98x, 286, 
287, 289-296. 31^, 324, 350, 396 ; in 
the shape of a leopard, 249 ; as a 
voung man. 287, 293. 323. ; as a four- 
footed beast, 292 ; as a serpent, 294 ; 
penance to, 30X ; sacrifices to, 2c|3, 
270, 280. 287, 303, 304, 324; talis- 
man from, 30a 

Devil Wooer, tale of the, ax. 

Dodgaon (Lewis Caroll), Rev. C L., 6. 

Domains of Gilles de Rais, tiie, X24- 
X36, X37, 217, 218, 22X, 222 ; inter- 
vention of Charles VII. respecting, 
375 et seg. See also Champtoc6, 
Ingrandes, Machecoul, Pouasuges 
and Tifiauges. 

Domnonte or Domnonia, State of, 66, 

69. 75. 77. 83, 94, 96. 
Du Guesdin, Bertiand, XX4, Z15, 228. 

X3X, X79. tOA. 

Du Guesclin, Cl^mence, XX4, XX5. 

Du Mesnil, trumpeter and devil -raiser, 

240, 250, 252. 
Dunois, Jean. Count of, Bastard of 

Orleans, X47, 172, 32a 

Elias and Pressina, tale of, x6. 
Epics derived from myths, 9. 
Esiarts, Les, 3x5. 
EalatfisofGUletdeRais. ^flrDomaiaa. 



412 



BLUEBEARD 



Eite, Mftranis of, 167. 
Bugmhif TV., Pope, 097. 
EvrcnZt peenure ofi z6i. 
Ezecatkm of Rais, etc., 366 €i seg. 
EKpiatory Mooument of Rail. See 
MoDQincnt. 

FilSTOLPE, Sir John. 159. 
Fayette. Gilbert, Marshal de La, 175. 
Feather Bird, tale of the, aa. 
Ferrara, Nicholas of, 167. 
Ferron, GtSroy Le. 2x3, 314, 318, 319, 
347-340. 

Forron. Jean Le, 314 ei seg,, 347 349. 

Ferry Camo^, legend of tne, c^ et seq. 

Fichters Vogel. See Feather Bird. 

FInans, Castel, Comorre's castle, 41, 
44. 4S» 47. 53. 87. 89, 90, 9a. 

Flanders, Counts of, z6z. 

Florence, 283, a86. 

Fontanella, Giovanni da, 986 287. 

Forbidden Rooms, tales of, 16 et seg, 

France, arms of, granted to Rais, Joan, 
etc., 166, 167; English invasion of 
and dissensions in, 128-z^, 141 ei 
seg. ; Kings of, set Charles ; Mar- 
shals of, 160, 17A ; peers of, 161, 162 ; 
saved b¥ Joan or Arc, 151 et seg. 

Fkanfois 1, Doke of Brittany, 179, 222, 

375. 377-379. 38«- 

Galkrandb, 147. 
Gallery, Chasse, ballad, 258. 
Gaucourt, Raoul, Sire de, 156, 162. 
Genealogical tables, 69. 115, Z17, 119, 

Z2Z. 

Giac, Pierre de, 151, 246, 286. 

Giant with no heart, the, a tale, 20, 109. 

Giant with seven wives, the, a tale, 109. 

Giants in Brittany, 7a, 75. 

Gildas, St., alieu the Wise, of Rhuys, 
legendary tales of him and St. 
Trypbine, 42 et seg., 47 et seg., 91. 
105 ; destrojrs Castel Finans, 45, 53, 
92 ; revives TYyphine, 44, 45. 54, 91 ; 
La Borderie's account of, 84, 85 ; his 
grotto, 86 ; solicits Tryphine's hand 
for Omorre, 84, 87, 88 ; heals her, 
91 ; canticle to, 92 ; miraculous ad* 
venture of, 92 ; dedicates Trypbine to 
God, 93 ; his death, 94. 

Godelier, a brewer, 194. 

Gold, cloth of, its value, Z84, 185. 

Goldsmith of Gilles de Rais (Jean Petit), 
185, 240, ^ 

Gondi (Rets), House of, 125, 336, 373. 

Goueznou, St., 75. 

Gough, Matthew, 15a 

Gradlon or Grallon, of ComouaiUe, 65, 
66, 6^. 71, 40a, 403. 

Grandheu, lake of, 125^1 404. 

Graville, Jean Malet. Sire de, z6o. 

Griart, Henri, alias Henriet, Chamber- 
lain and reader to Gilles de Rais, 188. 
248, 261-263, 266 et seg.t 270, 272, 
979, 980, 284, 287, 290-290, 303, 30s 



307' ^ ^^ 335. 349^ 3S«>. 355. 

Gi£dkfis^Adent Gfisad), 5. 
Ou6nol^ (Owennole, Wingauens), St. 

65, 402, 403. 
Guerech, alias Qaknk and Weroc, 

legendary accounts of. 42 et seg., 47 

<^ «^.. 53. 54- -See Weroc. 
Guem, Low, tale of, 55 et seg. 
Guesclin. See Du Giuadin. 
Guienne, Dukes of, 161. 
Guillauroet, Robin, notary, 325, 333. 

335, 338. 
GuiUery, Captain, an outlaw, 257-25^ 
Guingamp, 45, 94, 1361 
Guises, peerages of the, 162. 

Hamelin, Ysabean, 310, 311. 

Ham, St. 74. 

Harwian, a bard, 73, 74. 

Hautreys. G., 317, 319. 

Hell, Princes of, as crows, 286. 

Henriet. See Griart, Henri. 

Henry IV. of England, 138. 

Henry V. of England, 128, 129, 134* 

138, 141, X48. 
Henry vL of England, 142. 150, 173, 

354. 
HertMulilla, lost dty of, 404. 

Hemin, St, 74. 

Heroes and Monsters, myths of, so ei 

seg, 
Herv6, St., 45. 46, 74, 9S 
Hire. E. de Vigooles, called La, 147, 

149. 170-Z72. 
Holy Innocents. See Innocents. 
Hdpital. Pierre de I'. President of the 

Breton Parliament, etc., 265, 331, 

339. 344. 346. 353. 357-359. 363-36^ 

375- 
Horn, trial of Count de, 385. 

Houat. isle ofr and St Gildas, 85, 86» 

94. 
Household, military and ecclesiastical, 

of Gilles de Rais. 181 et seg. 

Huntsman, the WUd, 258, 393. 

lAUN Reith of ComouaiUe, 66, 69, 75. 
Indictment of Gilles de Rais, 346 et seg, 
Ingrandes, lordship of, 118, ia6, 290, 

225„ 227, 378, 38a 
Innocents, Foundation of the Holy, 

iggetseg., 204. 302. 
Insanity as a plea in law, 385. 386. 
Interdict, royal, respecting the Rais 

domains, 221 et seg. 
lona or Jonas of Domnonia, 69, 75. 76^ 

94. 
Isabeau of Bavaria, za8, 129. 

[AMES I. of Scotland, 162. 
fargeau. reduction of, 158, 166, 38r. 
farville, Dame de. 961. 
fean IV., Duke of Brittany, 127, X30- 
^ean V., Duke of Brittany, tries to oaitt 
Fhuioe, 199; coatendft with the 



INDEX 



413 



Penthi&vres, 131 ; is kidnapped, 132 
et seq. ; released, 136 ; Fewiards RaJs 
and Ciaon, x^, 137; prorogues the 
States, 138 ; bis mother, 138 ; recon- 
died to Charles VII., 144; makes 
war on the English, 14^; sues for 
peace, 147 ; submits to Ifenry VI., 
X50; his brothers' appanages, 178; 
appointed a trustee of Uie Holy 
Innocents, aoo, aox ; regards Rais 
as insane, aia ; his contentions with 
Alen9on, 2x5 ; influenced by Male- 
stroit, 919; negotiates for Uie pur- 
chase of Cbamptoc^, etc, aao, 224 ; 
his younger sons and their appanages, 
222, 316; disregards Charles VIL's 
interdict. 233, 224 ; appoints Rais 
Lieutenant-Gcneiai of Bnttany, 224 ; 
their knightly brotherhood, 224 ; 
swears he will buy no domiains of 
Rais, 225 ; buvs Champtoc^ and In- 
grandes, 225 ; his deeds of defeasance, 
926, 297 ; lends Rais men to recover 
Champtoc^. etc, 262 ; the castle de- 
livered to his officers, 267 ; his share 
in the St. £tienne aflair, 314 et seq. . 
347* 349 > is reconciled to Rais, 320, 
321, 327 ; authorises the prosecution 
of Rais, 330 ; is appealed to by the 
Lady of Rais, 340 ; orders civil pro- 
ceedings, 344 ; signs a treaty of 
alliance with England, Q53, 354 ; at 
the execution of Rais, 368 ; his death, 

37S 
Jean sans Peur (John the Fearless), 

Duke of Burgundy, 128, 130, 131. 

Jeanne of Navarre, 138. 

Jeanne, wife of Jean V. of Brittany, 

134. 

fohn XVI., Pope, 285. 

[ohn XXII., Pope, 237. 

[osselin, castle of, 271, 275, 322, 323. 

[udwal of Domnonia, 69, 77, 81, 82, 89, 

94. 96. 97. 98- 

Katherins, Princess, of FVance, X29. 
Keryaltan murders Mdar, 78, 79. 
Keys, Bluebeard's, 381. 
Kidnappers of children, 273-278. 
King of the Assassins, a tale, 22 et seq. 
Korriganet fisuries, 40. 

La Hne, La Motte Adiard. La Suze, 
Le Camus, Le Lude, L'Hdpital, etc. 
See Hire, Motte, Suze, Camus, Lude, 
H6pital, etc 

Labbd, Captain Jean, 325, 333, 335, 

357. 
Lagny, siege of, X73, 379. 

l4imhalle, 136. 

Langarrow, Lost, 404. 

Langon, 404* 

Langres, Bishops of, x6i ; dty of, 187. 

Lanmeur, tomb of St. Melar at, 8a 

Laon, Biibopt-Dukes of. x6x. 

Lavid, Aiidr6 de Montfort de, Lord of 



Loh^c, Admiral and Marshal, 1x5, 

95s* 331. 340. 381. 383. 406. 407- 
Laval, Guy (firamor) de Montmorency 

de, 1x4, 1x5, X28, 406. 
Laval,. Foulques de Montmorency de, 

X14, 115, 116. 117, 384, 406. 
Laval, Guy XIV. de Montfort de, first 

Count, 220-223, 235, 228, 331, 407. 
Laval, Houses of, 114, 115, 131, 138, 

150. 331. 405 4^ 

Laval de Rais, Gilles de Montmorency 
de. See Rais. 

Laval de Rais, Guy II., de Mont- 
morency de, X14-118, lao, 122, 123, 
405, 406. 

Laval de Rais, Jeanne de, daughter of 
Ren^ de La Suze, 115. 384. 

Lawsuits respecting the Kais property, 

, 375 ^'J^. 

Layeul, Charles de, 222. 

L^on, State of, 66, 69, 75. 

Ltenc or Leonne, Charles du, 262, 263. 

Leopard, the devil as a, 249. 

Library of Gilles de Rais, 188. 206, 211, 

264, 26c 
Loik and Maharit, tale of, 55 et seq. 
Loire, wine toll on the, 226. 
Lombards, 240. 
Lordships of Gilles de Rais. See 

Domains. 
Lor6, Ambroise de, 147, 148, 149, X96. 
Louis III. of Sidly and Anjou, 145, 163, 

200, 20X. 
Louviers, Rais at, X70 ^/ seq. 
Lude, Le, 149, 150. 
Lunaire, St., 76, 81, 82. 
Luxemburg, Duchess of, 296. 
Lyons, dty and canons of, 182, 187. 
Lys, Jean du, 296, 297 ; Pierre du, 296. 

Machecoul, castle of, xao, 125, x8a, 
185, 200, 228, 235, 255, 256, 259 ei 
seq., 269, 271, 27s, 277, 279, 281, 307 
et seq., 317, 319, 325, 333-335. 340, 
391 ; forest of, 257 et seq. ; House of, 
X14, 118, 1x9, 131, 323; town of, 222, 
247, 256, 257, 275, 300, jfyj et seq., 

335. 391- 
Macliau of the Vannetais, 69, 88, 95, 

96, 99, loa 

Magic, Rais' books on, 238, 278, 991, 
306, 307, 308. 

Maharit and Guem, tale of, 55 etseq, 

Maine, defence of, 147, 173. 

Malestroit, Guillaume de, 338. 

Malestroit, Jean de. Bishop of Nantes, 
Chancdlor of Brittany, an alleged 
traitor, 146, 150, 329 ; has trouble 
with Rais, 183 ; regards him as mad, 
2X3, 213; kidnapped by A]en9on, 
215 ; buys property of Rais, 218, 225 ; 
his character and policy, 2x9 ; a foe 
of Richemont, 220, 329 ; warned of 
Charles VI I. 's interdict, 222; will 
not publish it, 224 ; resolves to punish 
Rab for sacrilege, 397 ; inquires into 



4H 



BLUEBEARD 



Us mlideedi. 398 «/ m^. / inldatet a 

proMcatUm, 330 it seq. ; Ui dtatlon, 

333 ; selects judges, 3^ ; at the trial 

of Rais. 337, 338. 34a-344. 3Sa. 355. 

357f 36a '^ ^' / in a baUad, 394, 

395* 
Malioonie, castle of, 148. 

Man, cariosity in, 15. x6. 

Manichee, Rais a, 367, aSt, 285. 386, 

355. 35^ 
Mans, Le, xjx, 149, 188, 298, 999, 338. 

Marshals of France, 160, 174. 

Martel, Charles, zoi. 

Martin, Perrine. Su Meffraye, La. 

Martin. St., of Vertou, 404. 

Mass, Black, 301, 303, 350. 

Mauldon, lean, s88. 

M^chinot, Henri, advocate of Gilles de 

Rais. 363. 364- 
Medici, Niccolo de', 283. 

Meffiuye, La, 903, 276, 277. 355. 37i- 
Melar of Comouaille, afterwards St., 

60,77.8a 
Meliau of Comouaille, 69, 77. 
Melusina and Raimondin, tale, 16, 17. 
Menez Br6, Comorre cursed from the, 

45. 46. 94. 95- 
Merder, Jean, 305. 

M6rici, Guillaume, Grand Inquisitor, 

338. 
Merlin, traditions of, in Brittany, 39. 
Mibn, Duke of, 167. 
Miliguet the ferryman, tale of, 55 et 

stq. See Comorre. 
Mondovi, 283, 309. 
Monsters and heroes, myths of, xo et 

seq, 
Montafilant, castle of, 80, 81. 
MonUigu. 142, 293, 307. 
Montargis, relief of, 147. 
Monte Catini, 384. 
Montfort, House of, 130, 131. 331, 406, 

407. 
Montjean, Btetrix de, 137. 
Montlucon, Rais at, 195. 
Montmoreau, 195. 
Montmorency, House of. 1x4, 115, 178, 

405. 406 ; Baron of, X63. 5^« Laval. 
Monument, expiatory, of Rais, 366, 382, 

383. 
Mortagne. 275, 305, 307. 
Motte Achard, castle of La, X26, X36, 

217, 232, 226. 
Musse, Jean de la, xi6. 
Mysteries, theatrical, 189 et seq. ; of the 

Holy Passion. 189 ; of Orleans, 158. 

19X et seq. ; of the Resurrection, 190 ; 

of Ste. Barbe. X90 ; of Ste. Tryphine 

and King Arthur, xo6. 
Mythology, solar and other, 8 et seq. 
Myths of heroes and monsters, 10 etseq. 

Nantks, X32. 136, xso, x86, 27s, 276, 

278. 305. 336 *t seq., 366-369, 382. 
Napoleon as a myth, xx. 
Nasada or Nazado, lost dty of, 404. 



Navarre. Jeanne de, wife of Henry IV., 

138. 
Nfcodtaie, chapel of St, 87. 
Nobles, French, and the laws, 387, 388. 
Normandy, DuIcm of, x6x. 
Nojron, E^ops-Counts of, x6t. 

Oil, Holy, x6o, i6x. 

Oltrogotha, in tale of Comorre, 49 et 

seq. 
Oratory of St GiMas, 86. 
Oratory, Lady's, at Machecoul, 259, 360, 

391- 
Organs, portable, of Gilles de Rais, 185, 

Oneans, Bastard of. See Dunois. 

Orleans, city of, siege and relief, X5X-X58, 
379 ; hostelries of, 193, X94 ; FUris at, 
X93 et seq.t 408 ; alluded to, 221, 999. 

Orleans, I>uchv-peerage of, X62. 

Orleans, fislse Maid of, X74, 996 et seq. 

Orleans, Mystery of, X58, X91-X99. 

Orphreys, Paris, vnhie of, X85. 

Palkrka, Antonio di, chanter and 

necromancer, 940, 250, 350. 
Palluau, 3x5, 3x6. 
Paris, xa9 ; Archbisbop of, x6i, X63-X66, 

2tt>. 

Paruament of Brittany, 137, X39, 220, 

^afS. 353. 37^^ ^ 

Parliament of Paris, x69, 22X, 34X, 349, 

375-379, 
Parthenay, Jean de, xx6 ; Marie de, Z14, 

xx6. 
Passoir, Le, lost dty, 404. 
Patay, battle of, 159, 381. 
Patient Grissel, 4, 5. 
Peau d'Ane, 5. 
Peers of France, 161, 162. 
Penthi&vre, House of, i30-X39. See 

Blois, Charles, Jean, etc. 
Perrault, brothers, 2 et seq. 
Perrault, Charles, his career and writ- 
ings, I et seq.; his fairy tales, 2, 5 e/ 

seq. , 24, 2& See Bluebeard. 
Perrault d'Armanoour, 7. 
Perrota, La, 288, 280, 290. 
Petit, Jean, goldsmith to Rais, X85, 240, 

306. 
Peynel, Foulques. Sire de Hamboie, 

136 ; Jeanne. ia6. 
Philippe le Bon (Philip the Good), Duke 

of Burgundy, X30, X43, X45, 15X, XS3, 

X64, x66, 187. 
Pierre H., Duke of Brittany, 322, 38X. 
Pl^ur, ballad of, 394. 
Poher, 73. 

Poitiers, 155. 182, X84, 239, 240. 
Poitou, province of, 2x6. 244, 297, 305, 

31C ; nickname of Rials' page and 

vaiet, see Corillaut. 
Pons. Jacques, Sire de, 244. 
Pomic, X2S, 275. 
Port Launay, 975, 976. 
Ponaxio^, 9X5, ^5. 310. 



INDEX 



415 



POQ CwStt 73f 77* 

Poaldn, Bertrand, 3x7, 3x8, 335, 349. 

Poolpiquet dwarfs, 4a 

Pouzauges, lordship and castle of, 137, 

x86, 222, 23s, 236, 263, 340, 373. 
Ptaguerie rebellion, 2x6^ 244, 245, 297, 

315. 375- 
Present, Jean, Bishop of St Brieuc, 338, 

_357. 358. 359. 

Prelad, Francesco, dene and necro- 
mancer, 240, 282-305, 309 </ M^., 3x5, 

322-324. 335. 349. 350. 355. 35^. 359. 

371- 
Pmsina and EUias, tale of, x6. 

Prigntf, 125. 

Prin9ay, 125. 274. 

Princes of Hell as crows, 286. 

Proceedings, Civil or Secular, against 

Gilles de Rais, 331. 344-349. 362-366 ; 

Ecclesiastical, 328, 330, 332. 333. 337. 

^338. 342-344. 349*357. 359-3^- 
PHunmeticus, 25. 
Punchkin, tale of, 20, 2X. 
Pussoir, Le, lost dty, 404. 

Qu^N^AN, forest of, 38 et seq., 90. 
Quimper, 402, 403. 
Qninipily, idol of, 86. 

Raimondin and Mdusina, tale, x6, 17. 

Rainefort, castle of, 148. 

Rais, armorial bearings of, xx8, 405, 
406. 

Rais. barony of, 124, 125, X34, 14a, 2x5, 
222, 225, 315, 384. 

Rais, Gilles de Montmorency de Laval 
de. Marshal of France, etc., as Blue- 
beard, 32 et seg., 204, 345, 346, 388- 
398 ; genealogy of, xi3-x2X ; birth and 
education, X20, X22; lax rearing of, 
ia2-x24; lordships, estates, residences 
and revenues of, X24-i26, 177 etstq,, 
180, 186, 209, 217, 2x8, 377 et sea, ; 
successive betrothals of, 126, 127, 389 ; 
embraces the career of arms, 128, 135, 
136, X38 ; at the States-General, X34 ; 
rewarded bv Jean V., X36, 137; 
marries Katherine of Thouars, 137, 
X38, X89 ; her domains, 137 ; leads a 
life of dissipation, X39 ; corrupted by 
his servants, X40 ; at the French court, 
144. X45 ; serves under Richemont at 
St. James de Beuvron, X45 ; defends 
Maine, 147 ; at Rainefort and Mali- 
come, X48 ; at Ambriires, Le Lude, 
Le Mans, 149, X50 ; refuses the oath 
to England, X50 ; serves with Joan of 
Arc, X54 et seg. ; protects her, 155 ; 
hdps to relieve Orleans, x55-x^8, lox 
ei seg., ^79; his covenant vnth La 
Tr^mouille, 156, 157 ; suoooors Joan, 
158 ; hdps to reduce Jargeao, x^8 ; 
rewarded, 158 ; guarantees Ricbe- 
mont'i fidelity, 159; at Beaugenqr 
and Patay, 150 ; goes to Rdms, 160 ; 
nade Marihai of Fkmxioa^ 160, 1741 



175 ; escorts the Holy Oil, 160, x6i ; 
created Count of Brienne, x6a; at 
Baron, Senlis, and St. Denis, X63, 
164 ; at the attempt on Paris, X64, 
165 ; grant of the royal arms to, 166, 
X67; his position in history, x68 ei 
seq, : birth of his daughter, X70 ; his 
expedition to Louviers, xyo et seq.; 
his signature, 172, 2<2 ; at Beauvais, 
Lagny. Sill^, and Sabl^, 173 : goes to 
Brittany. 173 ; at Conlie, 174 ; his 
connection with the False Maid, 174, 
296 ^seq. : his military expenses, X75, 
X78, X79 ; his furnishings, X78 ; his 
grants from Charles VII., 178, x8o; 
his income. 180 ; his vanity and pro- 
digality, x8i et seq. ; his military and 
ecclesiastical households, x8x et seq, ; 
his canons and chanters, 182, 183, 
184, X87. 408 ; his goldsmith, 185 ; 
his portable organs. 185, 339 ; keeps 
open house, 185, 186; his mansion at 
Nantes. 186, 220. 27X, 277, 278, 3x3 ; 
his journeys to Lyons and Langres, 
X87; his library, 188, ao6, 211,264, 
265 ; his passion for the stage, 188 et 
seq. : his connection with the Mjrstery 
of Orleans, 158, 191 et seq. ; at 
Orleans, 193, 194 ; his favourite horse, 
X94, 906; at Montluoon and Mont- 
moreau, 195 ; his great outlay, 195 ; 
his banner, 196 ; his foundation of the 
Holy Innocents. X99 et seq., 204, 302 ; 
his anxiety for his soul, 200, 355, 356 ; 
glimpses of his crimes, 203, 224, ^, 
229, 245, 253; separated from his 
wife, 904, 340 ; his religious ddusions, 
267, 281, 285. 286, 355, 356; his 
financial embarrassment, 205-207, aio 
et uq»: extravagance, 208 et seq.: 
parasites, 209. 212, 213 ; (riedges 
many valuables, 2x1 ; accounted in- 
sane, 2x2, 385-387; concerned per- 
haps in the kicmapping of Malestroit, 
2x6 ; sells many domains, 2x7, ax8 ; 
prohibited from doing so, 22X et seq. : 
becomes Lieutenant-General of Brit- 
tany, 224 ; his knightly brotherhood 
with Jean V. , 224 ; sells Champtoc^, 
Ingnuides, etc., to Jean V. , 225-227 ; 
accepts a deed of defeasance, 227 ; 
alarmed l>y the seizure of Machecoul 
and Champtoc^, 928, 255 ; his castle 
of Tifibuges. 230 et seq. ; his connec- 
tion with Pouzauges, 236; piactises 
alchemy, 236 et seq. ; rnds books on 
alchemy and magic. 238, 991 ; his 
adventure with a goldsmith, 239 ; his 
diief alchemists, 240 ; gifts asked by 
him of alchemy and magic. 242, 243, 
253 ; visited b^ the Dauphin, 243 ; 
takes no part m La Fraguerie, 944, 
945 ; practises magic, 945 et seq. ; 
triM to raise the devil, 947, 951. 959, 
989 et Mq, ; signs compacts with the 
^f^ 347, 952, 253; witches refuse 



4i6 



BLUEBEARD 



to help him* 250; his devil-imitefs, 
250 ; one of them beaten by the devil, 
251 ; facsimile of bis signature, 252 ; 
as la bite humaine, 253, 254, 303 ; his 
offerings to the devil/ 253, 270, 303, 
J04 ; destroys evidence of crime at 
Machecoul, 256, 260, 261 ; recovers 
Machecoul and Cbamptoc^, 262, 263 ; 
corrupted by reading Suetonius, 265 ; 
removes corpses from Champtoo6, 266 
ei stq.; bums victims in his room, 
269, 270; his cruelty to them, 270, 
280; their number. 271, 275, 347; 
his impunity, 271-273 ; is suspected, 
»74. 279. 305. 306; his kidnappers, 
275 €t seq, ; has a boy roasted, 278 ; 
writes incantations and books with 
blood, 278, 306-308; stages of his 
criminal career, 280 ; his vows of re- 
pentance, 281, 303 ; secures Prelati*s 
services, 283, 287 et seq,; visits 
Charles VII. at Bourges, 299 ; has a 
talisman from the devil, 300 ; does 
penance to him, 301 ; the Buick Mass, 
30it 302, 350 ; torn by remorse, 303 ; 
relapses into wickedness, 303, 305 ; 
his last efforts to raise money, 3x3 ; 
sells St. ^tienne de Mer Morte, 314 ; 
quarrels with the Perrons, , 3x5. 316 ; 
commits sacrilege, 317, 318, 32iS; re- 
volts against Jean VT, 3x9 ; surreniders 
his prisoners, 320 ; is reconciled to 
the Duke, 320, 321,327 ; visits Vannes 
and Josselin, 321, 322, 323 ; his last 
crimes, 322-324 ; is arrested, 325, 333 
et seq. ; inquiries into his crimes, 328 
et seq. ; imprisoned at Nantes, 336 et 
seq. ; proceedings against, 337, 342 et 
seq. ; efforts to save, 339-342 ; his 
appeals, 341, 343, 353; appears in 
white raiment before L'Hdpital. 334, 
335 ; his appearance, traditionally, 
*^« 345. 346: indictments of, 346- 
352 ; resists the ecclesiastical court 
and is excommunicated, 352-355; 
submits to the jurisdiction, 354. 355 ; 
accepts the evidence, 356 ; ordered to 
be tortured, 357 ; confesses, 357-3^3 I 
restored to the Church, 363; sen- 
tenced. 362, 364 et seq. ; executed, 
366-368 ; expiatory monument of, 366, 
382, 383 ; obsequies of, 369 ; alleged 
insanity of, 385-387 ; as a bc^ie, 388 ; 
Montfaucon and Versailles portraits 
of, 405-407 ; his armorial bearings 
and battle-cry, 405, 406 ; Jean Chartler 
and, 407, 408. 

Rais, Guy II. de Montmorency de 
Laval de, IX4-X18, X20, 122, 123,405. 
4.06. 

Rais. House of, X14. xx6, 1x7, 131, 

374- 
Rais. Jeanne la Folic (Crazy Jane) de, 

1X4-X17, 406. 
Rais, Jeanne la Sage (Sensible Jane) de, 

X 15-120, 405. 



Rais, Marie de, dangfater of GiDes, 
Marshal, 1x5, 170, 200, 204* 223. 235, 

341. 366, 371, 373-383- 

Rais, Ren^ de, brother of Gilles, Mar- 
shal See Suze. 

Recouin, Jean de, notary. 199, 206, 408. 

Redbeard, tale of, xo8. 

Reims, march on, x6o; coronatioo at, 
x6o et seq. / Bishops- Ehikes of, 161. 

Remi, abbey of St, x6o. 

Ren^ of Sicily and Anjou, 225, 379). 

Rennes, 275. 

Retainers, various, of Gilles de Rais, 181 
et seq. ; X93 et seq, 

Retz. duchy of. X25 ; Gondis of, 336. 

373. 384. 385. 
Rhodope. fable of, 25. 

Rhuys, abbey of, 86, 94. 

Richemont. Artus, Count of, CoostaUe 

of France, 134, 138, X43. X44. 146, 

X47. X5X, 157, X59. 160, X72, X73, 214, 

220. 221, 223, 246, 319-32X, 327, 329, 

342. 
Richemont signifying earldom of 

Richmond, 223. 
Rieux, Pierre de. Marshal, Lord of 

Rochefort, X38. X69, 170. 
Riothamus. 63. 
Riquet with the Tuft. 5. 24. 
Rivanone, mother of St. Herv^ 73, 74. 
Riviere, Jean de la. alchemist slikI 

necromancer, 240, 247-249. 
Riviere, Robert de la, 357. 
Rivod, regent of Comouaille, 69, 77- 

79. 
Riwal of Domnonia, 66. 69, 75. 

Roche Bernard, La, 275. 

Rochefort. Marshal de. See Rieux. 

Rochefoucauld. Guy de La. 244. 

Roche Guyon. Sire de la. 217. 226. 

Roche-sur-Blavet. oratory of La, 86 et 

seq,, 105. 
Roche-sur-Von. La. 305. 
Rodigo of Gu^rande, 323. 
Rohan. Alain VIII. de, 127; Alain IX. 

de. X26. 134, X35. 139. 150 ; Beatrix 

de. 126, 127. 
Romans, the. in Armorica, 62 et seq, 
Romulart, Robin, 261, 266, 267, 305, 

350- 
Rondeau of St Michael and the Maid, 

X98. 

Rondeau, Perrine, 3ii-3X3, 335. 

Rooms, forbidden, x6 et seq, 

Rossignol, Jean, chanter, 182, X84, 269, 

350- 
Rouen, 171 -173. 

Rousseau. Jean, Sergeant-General, 3x7- 
319. 348. 349- 

Sabl^. 173. 

Saint Bieuzy, 86. 

Saint Brieuc. See Prdgent 

Saint Cloud, Archbishop Duke of, i6x. 

Saint CvT-en-Rais, 275. 

Saiot Etiemie de Mer Morte or Male- 



INDEX 



417 



mort, 125, 306, 307, 3x4-331. 328, 347, 

349.351. 
Saint Etienne de Montluc» 276. 
Saint Florent le Vieil. 287. 
Saint GUdas. Su Gildas. 
Saint Gu^nol^ (Gwennole), 65, 402, 403. 
Saint Harn, 74. 
Saint Hemin, 74. 
Saint Herv6, 45, 46, 74, 95. 
Saint Hilaire de Poitiers, 182, 184. 
Saint James de Beuvron, attack on, 145, 

146. 
Saint Jean d'Angely, 278, 279. 
Saint Lunaire, j6. 81, 82. 
Saint Martin of Vertou, 404. 
Saint Melar, 69, 77-8a 
Saint Michael and the Maid, rondeau, 

198. 
Saint Nicod^me, 87. 
Saint Nicolas de Bieuzy, chapel, 105 

ei sea. 
Saint Kemy, abbey of, 160. 
Saint Samson of Dol, 49, 96, 97. 
Saint Trcmeur, Tremor^ or Trever, 93. 
Saint Vezian and the Chansons de Geste, 

lOI. 

Saint Wingalseus. See Gu6nol^. 
Sainte Ampoule, 160, 161. 
Sainte Tryphine. See Tryphine. 
Saintonge, peerage of, 161 ; province of, 

216, 278. 
Saktivega, tale of, 18. 
Salisbury, Earl of, 143. 151. 
Samson, Bishop of Dol, 49, 96, 97. 
Saumur, 144. 145. 
Saxons in Armorica, 62, 63. 
Scales, Lord, 150, 215. 
Scythians, Teffalian, 231, 232. 
Seissy. forest of, legend, 404. 
Senlis, 163, 164. 
Seven wives of Bluebeard. 19, 20, 108, 

109, 391, 393. 
S^v^rac, Amaury, Marshal de, 143. 
Signature of Gilles de Rais, facsimile, 

252. 
Sille, Gilles de, cousin and accomplice 

of Gilles de Rais, 173, 193, 209, 240, 

250, 251, 260-262, 266, 269, 274, 284, 

^.jp8. 317. 333» 350. 
Sille, Michel de, 173, 274. 

Sill^le-GuiUaume, 173. 

SUvester II., Pope, 285. 

Siquenville, Jean de. 174, 297, 298, 

SkulC Bluebeard's, 391. 
Sleeping Beauty, the. 5, 24, 25. 
Somerset, Earl of, 354. 
Sorcl, Agnes, 144, ^5. 
Soahaits ridicules, Les, 5. 
Spading, a Scotch knight, 274, 350. 
Stage, passion of Rais for the, 188 et seq. 
Stuart, J., Lord Damley, 143. 
Suetonius read by Rais, 265. 
Suffolk, Earl of, 143, 147. x c8. 
Sulim, Roman station of, 86. 
SuIly-sur-Loire, 166. 



Suze, castle and lordship of La, in 

Maine, 114, 147. 
Suze, mansion of La, at Nantes, 126, 

186, 220, 271, 277, 278, 313. 
Suze, Ren^ de La, brother of Gilles de 

Rais, 114, 115, 120, 123, 124, 147. 

193, 214. 221, 223, 225, 228, 255,262. 

263, 266, 273. 383, 384. 
Sword, Bluebeard's, 270, 391. 

Talbot, John, Earl of Shrewsbury, 149, 

ISO* 159. 388. 

Tefralian Scythians, 231, 232. 

Theodoric of Comouaille. 100. 

Thouars, Katherine de, wife of Gilles de 
Rais, 115, 137, 138, 189,200. 204. 214, 
221, 230, 235, 236, 339 et seq., 373. 

Thouars, Miles de, 137 ; viscounty of, 
216, 232. 

Tiffauges, barony and castle of, 137, 
182, 186, 187, 222, 230 ei seq., 240, 
243, 244, 262, 263, 271. 275, 287. a88, 
290, 293 et seq., 298, 299, 305, 317, 

^319. 373. 392.393. 

Toll, wine, on the Loire, 226. 

Torfou, 231. 

Toulongeon, J. de, 143. 

Toulouse, Counts of, 161. 

Tourelles, assault of Les, 158, 196. 

Tournemine family, 81, 384 ; Jean de, 
123. 

Tours, 155, 222. 

Touscheronde, Jean de, 344, 357. 

Tremeur or Tremor^, St. , 93. 

Tr^mouille, George de La, 151, 152, 
156. 157, 159, 163, 166, 168, 171, 173, 
175. 179. 2x6, 218, 225, 244, 3x5. 

Trever, St. , 93. 

Tryphine, Sie., legendary accounts 
of, 42 et seq. , 47 et seq., 9X ; parentage, 
etc.. 69; her hand solicited by 
Comorre, 83. 84, 87 ; marries him, 
88 ; flees from him. 89 ; is pursued 
and struck down, 89, 90 ; healed by 
Gildas, 91 ; founds and enters a con- 
vent, 93 ; her son Trever. 93 ; chapels 
and churches dedicated to, 89, 105 tt 
seq. ; mystery of King Arthur and, 
106. 

Twelve wives of Bluebeard, 19. 20. 

Ulrich of Wurtemberg, 297. 
Ultragotha. Queen, 49, 96, 97. 

Valois. Gilles de. priest, 307, 308. 
Vannes. 42, 44, 66, 67, 87, 90, 91, 96, 

99, 27X, 275, 321, 32X 
Vannetais or Browerech, 69, 83, 84, 88, 

93. 95. 96. 100. 
Vendue, version of Bluebeard current in 

La. 27 et seq. 
Vemeuil, battle of, 143. 
Verri^res or La Verri^re, castle of, 126, 

. 390,391. 

Vezian, St , and the Chansons de Geste, 

lOI. 



I 

I < 



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