Gilles de Rais - Wikipedia Jump to content Main menu Main menu move to sidebar hide Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Special pages Search Search Appearance Donate Create account Log in Personal tools Donate Create account Log in Contents move to sidebar hide (Top) 1 Background 2 Ancestry 3 Biography Toggle Biography subsection 3.1 Early life 3.2 Marriage and Issue 3.3 Family disputes 3.4 Titles, estates and wealth 3.5 Military career 3.5.1 Uncertain early military career 3.5.2 Franco-Breton alliance through the House of Valois-Anjou 3.5.3 Raiding operations against English Garrisons along the Maine Frontier 3.5.4 Comrade-in-arms of Joan of Arc 3.5.5 Civil wars between La Trémoille and Richemont's allies 3.5.6 Lifting of the siege of Lagny 3.5.7 Reduction of military commitments 3.6 Squandering of heritage 3.7 Criminal life 3.7.1 Occult involvement 3.7.2 Child murders 3.7.3 Act of force in Saint-Étienne-de-Mer-Morte 3.7.4 Ecclesiastical and secular investigations 3.7.5 Trial and execution 4 Historiography Toggle Historiography subsection 4.1 Hypothetical portraits 4.2 Question of guilt 4.2.1 Doubts about the verdict in the Age of Enlightenment tradition 4.2.2 Occultist interpretations 4.2.3 Georges Bataille's interpretations 4.2.4 1992 mock re-trial 4.2.5 Contemporary academic views 4.3 Psychopathological and criminological interpretations 4.3.1 Late nineteenth-century medico-moral interpretations 4.3.2 Influence of literature on medical interpretations 4.3.3 Gilles de Rais and the category of the serial killer 5 Gilles de Rais and the Bluebeard myth 6 Relationship with Joan of Arc 7 See also 8 References Toggle References subsection 8.1 Notes 8.2 Footnotes 8.3 Bibliography 8.3.1 Historical studies and literary scholarship 8.3.2 Essays 9 External links Toggle the table of contents Gilles de Rais 37 languages العربية مصرى Български Brezhoneg Català Čeština Dansk Deutsch Ελληνικά Esperanto Español Euskara فارسی Suomi Français עברית Hrvatski Հայերեն Bahasa Indonesia Italiano 日本語 한국어 Nederlands Norsk bokmål Polski Português Română Русский Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Simple English Slovenščina Sunda Svenska Türkçe Українська Tiếng Việt 中文 Edit links Article Talk English Read Edit View history Tools Tools move to sidebar hide Actions Read Edit View history General What links here Related changes Upload file Permanent link Page information Cite this page Get shortened URL Switch to legacy parser Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Wikidata item Appearance move to sidebar hide From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Medieval French nobleman and convicted serial killer "Gilles de Retz" redirects here. For the racehorse, see Gilles de Retz (horse) . {{Harvnb|Meurger|2003|pp=48, 107, 117}}.</ref>}}"},"birth_name":{"wt":""},"birth_date":{"wt":"{{circa}} 1405 ?"},"birth_place":{"wt":"[[Champtocé-sur-Loire]], [[Duchy of Anjou|Anjou]]"},"death_date":{"wt":"26 October 1440"},"death_place":{"wt":"[[Nantes]], [[Duchy of Brittany|Brittany]]"},"burial_place":{"wt":"Church Monastery of Notre-Dame des Carmes, Nantes"},"allegiance":{"wt":"{{ubl|[[Image:Arms of Jean III de Bretagne.svg|20px|link=]] [[Duchy of Brittany]]\n |[[Image:France_moderne.svg|20px|link=]] [[Kingdom of France]]}}"},"service_years":{"wt":"1427 (or 1420 ?) – 1435"},"rank":{"wt":"[[List of Marshals of France|Marshal of France]]"},"battles":{"wt":"{{ubl|[[Hundred Years' War]]}}\n {{blist|[[Siege of Orléans (1428–1429)|Siege of Orléans]]|[[Battle of Jargeau]]|[[Battle of Patay]]}}"},"signature":{"wt":"Gilles-de-rais-signature.jpg"},"module":{"wt":"{{Infobox\n |child = yes\n |labelstyle = width:33%\n |header1 = Criminal details\n |label2 = Target\n |data2 = mainly young boys\n |label3 = Victims\n |data3 = Unknown (approx. 140 ?)\n |label4 = Period\n |data4 = 1432–1440\n |label5 = Penalty\n |data5 = [[Hanging|Death by hanging]] (corpse partially [[Death by burning|burned at the stake]])\n}}"}},"i":0}}]}'> Marshal of France Gilles de Rais Baron de Rais Gilles de Rais by Éloi Firmin Féron (1835) This oil painting is an artist's impression , since no contemporary portrait or description has survived. The artwork was commissioned by the July Monarchy for display in the Gallery of French Marshals of the Musée de l'Histoire de France (Versailles) . [ 1 ] Born c. 1405 ? Champtocé-sur-Loire , Anjou Died 26 October 1440 Nantes , Brittany Buried Church Monastery of Notre-Dame des Carmes, Nantes Allegiance Duchy of Brittany Kingdom of France Service years 1427 (or 1420 ?) – 1435 Rank Marshal of France Conflicts Hundred Years' War Siege of Orléans Battle of Jargeau Battle of Patay Signature Criminal details Target mainly young boys Victims Unknown (approx. 140 ?) Period 1432–1440 Penalty Death by hanging (corpse partially burned at the stake ) Gilles de Rais , Baron de Rais ( French: [ ʒil də ʁɛ ] ; also spelled " Retz "; c. 1405 – 26 October 1440) was a French knight and lord who possessed extensive estates in Brittany , Anjou and Poitou . He served as one of the captains in the French royal army during the Hundred Years' War , notably taking part in the same military campaigns as Joan of Arc in 1429, up until the failed siege of Paris . He is chiefly known for his conviction on charges of raping and murdering numerous children. An important lord as heir to several great noble lineages of western France, he rallied to the cause of King Charles VII of France and waged war against the English. In 1429, he allied himself with his influential cousin Georges de La Trémoille , Grand Chamberlain of France , and was elevated to the rank of Marshal of France following his participation in Joan of Arc's victorious campaigns . Little is known about his relationship with her, unlike the privileged association between two comrades-in-arms portrayed by various works of fiction . He gradually withdrew from the war during the 1430s. His family accused him of squandering his patrimony by selling off his lands to pay his lavish expenses, a profligacy that led to his being placed under interdict by Charles VII in July 1435. He assaulted a high-ranking cleric in the church of Saint-Étienne-de-Mer-Morte , before seizing the local castle in May 1440, thereby violating ecclesiastical immunity and challenging the authority of his suzerain , John V, Duke of Brittany . Arrested on 15 September 1440, he was tried in October 1440 by an ecclesiastical court assisted by the Inquisition for heresy , sodomy and the murder of "one hundred and forty or more children." At the same time, he was tried and condemned by the secular judges of the ducal court of justice to be hanged and burned at the stake for his act of force at Saint-Étienne-de-Mer-Morte, as well as for crimes committed against "several small children." On 26 October 1440, he was executed alongside two of his servants. From the early nineteenth century onward, the historical Gilles de Rais has frequently been conflated with the legendary Bluebeard , regardless of the uncertain hypothesis that he inspired Charles Perrault 's fairy tale " Bluebeard " (1697). Since the late nineteenth century, Gilles de Rais has been interpreted through evolving criminological and psychiatric frameworks. He has been associated with sexual sadism and repetitive violent crime , while more recent studies have frequently described him as a serial killer . Some scholars have nevertheless questioned the applicability of this category to a fifteenth-century figure. Claims of his innocence are not supported by professional historians, although some advise caution when reviewing the trial proceedings. Medievalists Jacques Chiffoleau [ fr ] and Claude Gauvard argue that the inquisitorial procedure should be examined critically, with the defendants' confessions interpreted in light of the expectations and assumptions of the judges and with attention paid to the role of rumor in shaping Gilles de Rais's fama publica (public reputation). Yet proponents of such methodological caution do not dismiss the detailed testimonies concerning the disappearance of children or the confessions describing murderous rituals unparalleled in the judicial archives of the period. Background [ edit ] Detail of a map of the Kingdom of France in 1429–1430, by Auguste Longnon (Paris: Bibliothèque nationale de France , 1875) In the fourteenth century, the Breton Civil War (1341–1365), part of the wider Hundred Years' War , ended with the hard-fought victory of the House of Montfort , backed by the Kingdom of England , over the French -supported House of Blois . [ 2 ] Although the Duchy of Brittany remained a fief of the French Crown under the feudal system , the conflict strengthened its political autonomy. The duchy possessed its own institutions, taxation, currency, army, diplomatic representation, and a crowned duke, functioning in many respects as an independent principality . [ 3 ] Coat of arms of the Barony of Retz ( Or , a cross Sable ) The Barons of Retz (medieval sources spell the name as Rais , Rays or Raiz [ 4 ] [ 5 ] ) were among the leading vassals of the Dukes of Brittany. They exercised extensive seigneurial rights while maintaining close political ties with both the Breton ducal court and the French Crown. The Barony of Retz, one of the duchy's most prestigious baronies, had an extensive territorial jurisdiction that made it one of Brittany's greatest lay lordships and an important counterweight to ducal authority. Situated on Brittany's southern frontier south of the Loire , [ 6 ] and centered on the Château de Machecoul [ fr ] , [ 7 ] [ 8 ] it derived considerable wealth and influence from its strategic location. [ 6 ] The House of Retz became extinct in 1371 with the death of Girard V Chabot. His sister, Jeanne Chabot, known as "the Wise", inherited the barony. [ 9 ] Duke John IV of Brittany , seeking to expand the ducal demesne [ 10 ] and secure control of the lands south of the Loire, laid claim to her inheritance. [ 11 ] King Charles V of France entrusted the protection of Jeanne Chabot's lands to her kinsman Guy "Brumor" de Laval . [ 12 ] "}},"i":0}}]}'> [ a ] After Guy Brumor died, at an unknown date after 1375, Jeanne Chabot was left without her principal protector. [ 14 ] Efforts to reach an amicable settlement failed, [ 15 ] and John IV demanded that Jeanne Chabot, lady of Retz, cede her estates to him. She refused, whereupon he dispatched troops to occupy the barony's principal strongholds. The protracted legal proceedings [ 16 ] were temporarily suspended under pressure from the Royal Council , before ultimately leading to a compromise that restored Jeanne Chabot to possession of her lands. Confronted with mounting military and political difficulties, John IV accepted the compromise in order to ease tensions with the Breton nobility and ensure a smooth succession for his son John , only a few months before the duke's death on 1 November 1399. [ 17 ] The settlement was finalized in 1400. [ 18 ] Ancestry [ edit ] Seal of Guy de Laval-Rais, bearing the arms of the Lords of Retz, c. 1405-1407 [ 19 ] [ 20 ] Having no children, Jeanne Chabot initially named Guy Brumor's son, Guy de Laval, as her heir in 1401, provided that he adopted the name and arms of Retz. [ 16 ] She later revoked this decision in favor of another relative, Jean de Craon , lord of La Suze and Champtocé . [ 21 ] The ensuing succession dispute ended in a compromise under which Guy de Laval married Jean de Craon's daughter, Marie. [ 22 ] The agreement was ratified by the Parlement of Paris in 1404. Later that year, Jeanne Chabot transferred several lordships to Guy de Laval in return for a life annuity . [ 16 ] He thereafter styled himself "Lord of Rais" ( sire de Rais ). [ 13 ] {{cite book|language=fr|last=Rabot|first=Brice|title=Les structures seigneuriales rurales: Bretagne méridionale (XIVe-XVIe)|location=Rennes|publisher=Presses universitaires de Rennes|series=Histoire|year=2017|isbn=978-2-7535-5387-3|page=8 |url=https://books.openedition.org/pur/156942?lang=en#bodyftn9}}</ref>"}},"i":0}}]}'> [ b ] Guy and Marie established their residence at the Château de Machecoul, where they lived with Jeanne Chabot, who died there in 1407. [ 24 ] Gilles de Rais (or "Retz"), {{harvsp|Cazacu|2005|p=313}}.</ref>"}},"i":0}}]}'> [ c ] the eldest son of Marie de Craon and Guy de Laval-Rais, descended from a number of great feudal houses. [ 26 ] Through his mother, he was linked to the House of Craon , a wealthy western family, and through his father to the House of Laval , [ 27 ] one of the two most important Breton lineages in the 15th century. [ 28 ] The Laval family's ancestors included, by marriage, the Barons of Retz [ 27 ] (known as the "oldest barons of the Duchy of Brittany") [ 29 ] as well as the prestigious House of Montmorency , [ 27 ] albeit temporarily weakened at the time. [ 30 ] Biography [ edit ] Early life [ edit ] Champtocé castle tower ruins in Maine-et-Loire Gilles de Rais was born "in a room called the Black Tower" at the Château de Champtocé [ fr ] , [ 31 ] [ 29 ] at an unknown date. His birth has been variably dated between 1396 and 1406, and more frequently towards the end of 1404. [ 32 ] However, he was probably born not before 1405 given the delays caused by the legal procedures before the Parlement of Paris that conditioned his parents' marriage, Two [[deed]]s dated February 5 and 17, 1404 set out the conditions of the marriage, making it subject to prior approval by the [[Parlement of Paris]]. [[École Nationale des Chartes#Archivist-paleographers|Archivist-paleographer]] René Blanchard (1846–1920) insists that these two deeds \"constantly refer to marriage to the future and leave no doubt on this point\".<ref>{{cite book|language=fr|editor-last1=Blanchard|editor-first1=René|title=Cartulaire des sires de Rays... 1160–1449, tome 1|location=Poitiers|publisher=Société française d'imprimerie et de librairie |year=1898 |page=CX |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k2094953/f134.image}}</ref><br> On April 24 and 25, 1404, Jean de Craon and Guy de Laval appointed attorneys to submit their agreement to the Parliament, which approved it on May 2, 1404. Finally, on July 24, 1404, Jeanne Chabot ceded four lordships to Guy de Laval in return for a life annuity.<br> Presumably after these formalities had been completed, Marie de Craon married Guy de Laval, who henceforth called himself \"Sire de Rais\".<ref name=\"Cazacu 2005 PP23–24\">{{Harvnb|Cazacu|2005|pp=23–24}}.</ref>"}},"i":0}}]}'> [ d ] according to archivist-paleographer Matei Cazacu , whose interpretation has been accepted by several medievalists. [[Auguste Vallet de Viriville]] suggests that Gilles de Rais was born \"probably in 1406\".<ref name=\"Vallet\">{{cite book|language=fr|last=Vallet de Viriville|first=Auguste |author-link=Auguste Vallet de Viriville|title=Histoire de Charles VII, roi de France, et de son époque, 1403–1461, volume II (1429–1444)|location=Paris|publisher=Jules Renouard|year=1863|page=412|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k28987p/f428.image}}</ref><br> The [[Abbé]] {{ill|Eugène Bossard|fr|Eugène Bossard (abbé)}} (1853–1905) relies on the [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] friar {{interlanguage link|Augustin du Paz|fr}}, who dates the marriage of the parents to February 5, 1404.<ref>{{cite book|language=fr|last=Du Paz|first=Augustin |title=Histoire généalogique de plusieurs maisons illustres de Bretagne |year=1619|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u9VDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA217}}</ref> Based on the length of a pregnancy, Bossard then calculated that Gilles de Rais \"probably came into the world around September or October of the same year\".<ref>{{Harvnb|Bossard|1886|pp=5–8}}.</ref><br> Dr. Jules Hébert, vice-president of the Academic Society of [[Brest, France|Brest]], agreed with Bossard's interpretation, but expanded the time frame: \"The birth of Gilles de Rays must therefore have taken place in the last months of 1404, or at the beginning of the following year, as no historian has given an exact date.\"<ref>{{cite journal|language=fr|last=Hébert|first=Jules |year=1893|title=Une cause célèbre au XVe siècle: Gilles de Rays |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k2076217/f184.image|journal=Annuaire-bulletin de la Société de l'histoire de France|location=Brest|publisher=Imprimerie A. Dumont|volume=18|page=185}}</ref><br> In his article on Gilles de Rais's youth, Ambroise Ledru (1849–1935), president of the [[Maine (province)|Maine Province]] Historical Society, reproduced several testimonies gathered during a judicial inquiry carried out in [[Angers]] in 1461–1462 at the request of René de Rais, Gilles's younger brother. This document includes statements from two Champtocé residents: a [[helmsman]] named Jean Rousseau and a sergeant named Michel Guiot. The first witness claims to have attended Gilles de Rais's baptism some 52 years earlier (around 1409 or 1410), in the parish church of Saint-Père de Champtocé, while the second affirms that Gilles was born \"55 years ago or thereabouts,” around 1406 or 1407.<ref>{{cite journal|language=fr|last=Ledru|first=Ambroise|year=1893|title=Gilles de Rais dit Barbe-Bleue, maréchal de France. Sa jeunesse, 1404–1424 |url=https://archive.org/details/laprovincedemai14cogngoog/page/n328/mode/2up?view=theater|journal=L'Union historique et littéraire du Maine|volume=1|pages=282–283}}</ref><br> According to the same angevin survey, the marriage of Guy de Laval and Marie de Craon was celebrated by Jean du Bellay, abbot of Saint-Florent de Saumur; however, the latter did not become abbot of the said place until 1405.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bourdeaut|1924|p=46}}.</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Cazacu|2005|p=316}}.</ref><br> Archivist René Blanchard emphasized that the [[legal instrument]]s dated February 5 and 17, 1404 \"constantly speak of marriage to the future and leave no doubt on this point\"; consequently, \"Gilles was born at the earliest at the end of 1404.\" Assuming that Gilles de Rais could not have begun his military career too young before \"soon reaching the highest ranks,” Blanchard adds that \"it does not seem possible to put Gilles’s birth much further back than a year after his parents' union.\" Blanchard also judges 1407 to be too late, giving no credence to Michel Guiot's testimony on the grounds that the sergeant erroneously dates Jean de Craon's death.<ref>{{cite book|language=fr|editor-last1=Blanchard|editor-first1=René |title=Cartulaire des sires de Rays... 1160–1449, tome 1|location=Poitiers|publisher=Société française d'imprimerie et de librairie |year=1898 |page=CX–CXI |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k2094953/f134.image}}</ref><br> Matei Cazacu builds on Blanchard's remarks, but also points out that Jean de Craon and Guy de Laval had to submit the deed of their agreement to the Parlement of Paris prior to the marriage. The homologation took place on May 2, 1404; this procedure delayed Guy de Laval and Marie de Craon's nuptials by as much, thus postponing the birth of their first child \"to 1405 at the earliest\".<ref name=\"Cazacu 2005 PP23–24\"/> Besides, Cazacu suggests that Gilles de Rais's birth or baptism date could possibly coincide with [[Saint Giles]]' feast day on September 1st, hence his first name.<ref>{{Harvnb|Cazacu|2005|pp=11, 25}}.</ref><br> Afterwards, medievalists {{interlanguage link|Jacques Chiffoleau|fr}} and {{interlanguage link|Olivier Bouzy|fr}} refer to 1405 as the year of birth<ref>{{cite book|language=fr|last=Chiffoleau|first=Jacques|year=2023|chapter=Gilles de Rais, ogre ou serial killer ?|pages=33|title=Une histoire du crime en France: du Moyen Âge à nos jours|editor1-last= Ambroise-Rendu|editor1-first=Anne-Claude|location=Paris|publisher=Nouveau Monde Éditions|series=L'Histoire|isbn=978-2-38094-470-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|language=fr|first1=Philippe|last1=Contamine |first2=Olivier|last2=Bouzy |first3=Xavier|last3=Hélary |year=2012 |title=Jeanne d'Arc. Histoire et dictionnaire |location=Paris| publisher=[[Éditions Robert Laffont]]|series=Bouquins|isbn=978-2-221-10929-8|page=947}}</ref><br> Also following Cazacu, while stressing that Gilles de Rais's date of birth is \"doubtful”, medievalist [[Claude Gauvard]] puts it \"probably on September 1, 1405\".<ref name=\"Gauvard P20\">{{Harvnb|Gauvard|2020|p=20}}.</ref>"}},"i":0}}]}'> [ e ] Furthermore, an archival document indicates Gilles's age ("14 to 15 years old") in February 1422. {{cite book|language=fr|last=Reynaud|first=Marcelle-Renée|title=Le Temps des Princes: Louis II & Louis III d'Anjou-Provence 1384–1434|location=Lyon|publisher=Centre interuniversitaire d'histoire et d'archéologie médiévales-Presses universitaires de Lyon|series=Collection d'histoire et d'archéologie médiévales|year=2000|isbn=978-2-7297-0657-9|page=75|url=https://books.openedition.org/pul/18847}}</ref>"}},"i":0}}]}'> [ f ] Gilles's younger brother René was probably born in 1414. [ 48 ] [ 49 ] Gilles and René's mother Marie de Craon died at an unknown date, while her husband Guy de Laval-Rais died after, {{cite journal|language=fr|last=Mourain de Sourdeval|first=Charles |year=1844|title=Les sires de Retz et le château de Machecoul |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5487239w/f69.image|journal=Mémoires de la Société archéologique de Touraine|location=Tours|publisher=Imprimerie de Mame|volume=2|page=39}}</ref> The Abbé Eugène Bossard endorses this assertion.<ref name=\"Bossard P26\">{{Harvnb|Bossard|1886|p=26}}.</ref><br> However, archivist-paleographer {{interlanguage link|Arthur Bertrand de Broussillon|fr}} points out that this is a [[homonym]] error: Charles d'Estouville did indeed marry a Marie de Craon, but she did not belong to the younger branch of La Suze.<ref>{{cite book|language=fr|editor-last1=Bertrand de Broussillon|editor-first1=Arthur|title=La maison de Craon (1050–1480): étude historique, accompagnée du cartulaire de Craon, tome 2 (1315–1480)|location=Paris|publisher=Alphonse Picard et fils|year=1893|pages=80–81|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RqI-AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA80}}</ref><br> In fact, Gilles de Rais's mother predeceased her husband, as Guy de Laval-Rais's [[will and testament]] attests. In this document, dated 28 or 29 October 1415, Guy declares that he wishes to be buried at Notre-Dame de Buzay \"near the tomb of my dearest wife Marie de Craon\" (\"''juxta sepulturam dicte carissime deffuncte uxoris mee Marie de Credonio''\").<ref>{{cite book|language=fr|editor-last1=Blanchard|editor-first1=René |title=Cartulaire des sires de Rays... 1160–1449, tome 2|location=Poitiers|publisher=Société française d'imprimerie et de librairie|year=1899|page=325|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k209497v/f335.image}}</ref> <br>Matei Cazacu suggests that Marie de Craon died \"probably while giving birth to her second child, René, in January 1414\".<ref name=\"Cazacu 2005 P46\">{{Harvnb|Cazacu|2005|p=46}}.</ref><br> The exact date of her death remains unknown."}},"i":0}}]}'> [ g ] at the end of October 1415 in Machecoul , "suffering from a serious bodily infirmity" according to the terms of his will and testament. The cause of Guy de Laval-Rais's death remains unknown, although several authors have mistakenly assumed that he was disembowelled by a wild boar during a hunting accident, a fictional scene initially depicted in a French novel published in 1928. The Abbé {{interlanguage link|Arthur Bourdeaut|fr}} erroneously dates the testament to 28 September 1415,<ref name=\"Bourdeaut P48\">{{Harvnb|Bourdeaut|1924|p=48}}</ref> an error repeated by [[Georges Bataille]]<ref>{{Harvnb|Bataille|1959|p=96}}.</ref> and then {{interlanguage link|Jacques Heers|fr}}.<ref>{{Harvnb|Heers|1994|p=24}}.</ref><br> In this document, Gilles de Rais's father declares that he is \"suffering from a serious bodily infirmity\" (\"''infirmitate gravi detentus corpore''\"), with no further details. Matei Cazacu cautiously hypothesizes that the cause of death was [[malaria]], a disease rife in the [[Vendée]] at the time.<ref name=\"Cazacu 2005 P46\"/><br> The medieval historian [[Valérie Toureille]] has suggested that Guy de Laval-Rais may have been wounded at the [[Battle of Agincourt]] and taken back to Brittany, where he died. However, no contemporary sources support this hypothesis.<ref>{{cite book|language=fr|last=Toureille |first=Valérie |author-link=Valérie Toureille |title=Les compagnons de Jeanne d'Arc|location=Paris|publisher=Tallandier|year=2026|page=78|isbn=979-10-210-5709-8}}</ref><br> In a fictional account, journalist and novelist Pierre La Mazière (1879–1947) portrayed Gilles de Rais's father as having been gored by a [[wild boar]] during a hunting accident,<ref>{{cite book|language=fr|last=La Mazière|first=Pierre |title=Gilles de Rays|location=Paris|publisher=Éditions du Laurier|series=Les Vies en marge|year=1928|page=22}}</ref> a spectacular death narrated again in a novel by Marc Dubu<ref>{{cite book|language=fr|last=Dubu|first=Marc |title=Gilles de Rays: magicien et sodomiste|location=Paris|publisher=Les Presses de la Cité|year=1945|pages=14–15}}</ref> and then in an essay by Georges Meunier.<ref>{{cite book|language=fr|last=Meunier|first=Georges |title=Gilles de Rais et son temps|location=Paris|publisher=Nouvelles Éditions latines|series=Vies romanesques|year=1949|page=27}}</ref> From then on, this fictional event was successively taken at face value by various authors.<ref>{{cite book|language=fr|last=Villeneuve |first=Roland |title=Gilles de Rays: une grande figure diabolique|location=Paris|publisher=[[Éditions Denoël]]|year=1955|page=31}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|language=fr|last1=Bataille|first1=Michel |author-link1=Michel Bataille|last2=Pesez|first2=Jean-Marie|author-link2=Jean-Marie Pesez|title=Gilles de Rais: suivi de Gilles de Rais, Jeanne d'Arc et ses compagnons|location=Paris|publisher=Club des amis du livre / Éditions [[Planète (magazine)|Planète]]|year=1966|pages=56–58}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|language=en|last1=Wolf|first1=Leonard |author-link1=Leonard Wolf|title=Bluebeard, the Life and Crimes of Gilles de Rais|location=New York|publisher=Clarkson N. Potter|year=1980|isbn=0-517-540614|page=13}}</ref><ref>{{harvsp|Jost|1995|p=21}}.</ref><ref name=\"Boislève\">{{cite book |language=fr |last1=Boislève |first1=Jacques |year=2003 |editor-last=Bouloumié |editor-first=Arlette |title=Figures du marginal dans la littérature française et francophone|publisher=Presses de l'Université d'Angers|series=Recherches sur l'imaginaire|location=Angers|isbn=2-903075-96-4 |chapter=Monstruosité et marginalité chez Gilles de Rais |pages=27–37 |url=https://books.openedition.org/pur/10263}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Penney|first=James|year=2003 |editor-last1=Rothenberg|editor-first1=Molly Anne |editor-last2=Foster|editor-first2=Dennis A.|editor-last3=Zizek|editor-first3=Slavoj |title=Perversion and the Social Relation|publisher=[[Duke University Press]]|series=sic IV|location=Durham, North Carolina|chapter=Confessions of a Medieval Sodomite |isbn=0-8223-3097-0 |page=156 |doi=10.1515/9780822384724-008}}</ref>"}},"i":0}}]}'> [ h ] The House of Craon suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Agincourt in October 1415. Among those killed were Jean de Craon's only son, Amaury de Briolay, and several other members of the family. [ 68 ] Gilles and René consequently became the sole heirs of their maternal grandfather, Jean de Craon, who raised them after they were orphaned. Jean de Craon subsequently assumed control of their estates, setting aside the provisions of Guy de Laval-Rais's last will and testament, which had appointed Jean II Tournemine de la Hunaudaye as the "guardian, tutor, protector, defender and lawful administrator" of the two orphans. [ 55 ] [ 69 ] Marriage and Issue [ edit ] On 4 January 1417, Jean de Craon betrothed his grandson, Gilles de Rais, to Jeanne Paynel, the wealthy Norman heiress and daughter of Foulques VI Paynel, lord of Hambye and Bricquebec . Although the Parlement of Paris forbade the marriage until Jeanne Paynel came of age, it never took place for unknown reasons. Jeanne later became abbess of the Benedictine convent of Lisieux . [ 70 ] [ 71 ] Jean de Craon then betrothed Gilles de Rais to a niece of John V, Duke of Brittany : Béatrice of Rohan , daughter of Alain IX of Rohan and Marguerite of Brittany. [ 72 ] The contract, dated Vannes 28 November 1418, was not carried out, [ 73 ] possibly due to Beatrice's death. [ 74 ] Related to the 4th degree, Gilles de Rais and his wife Catherine de Thouars are maternally and paternally descended from Amaury III de Craon. Gilles de Rais eventually became engaged to his third cousin Catherine de Thouars, [ 75 ] daughter of Miles II de Thouars and Béatrice de Montjean. In addition to the obstacle posed by the consanguinity of Gilles de Rais and Catherine de Thouars, who were 4th-degree relatives, [ 76 ] disputes arose between the House of Craon and Miles II de Thouars, lord of Pouzauges and Tiffauges . [ 77 ] Ignoring these constraints and without waiting for an ecclesiastical dispensation , Gilles de Rais abducted Catherine de Thouars and married her in a chapel outside his parish church , without publishing banns of marriage . [ 78 ] Despite a marriage contract drawn up on 30 November 1420, [ 79 ] the union was annulled and declared incestuous by the Church. [ 80 ] After the death of Miles II de Thouars, matrimonial alliances brought the houses of Craon and Thouars closer together, "}},"i":0}}]}'> [ i ] helping to regularize the situation of the couple. [ 79 ] On 24 April 1422, the papal legate approached Hardouin de Bueil, bishop of Angers , asking him to pronounce a sentence of separation against Gilles de Rais and Catherine de Thouars, and to impose a penance before absolving them of the crime of incest and allowing them to marry in due form. [ 78 ] After conducting an investigation, Hardouin de Bueil celebrated their marriage with great pomp and ceremony on 26 June 1422, at Chalonnes-sur-Loire castle. [ 81 ] [ 79 ] This union strengthened Gilles de Rais's position in Poitou by "linking him to the house of the Viscounts of Thouars , who dominated the Bas-Poitou region as far as the Atlantic." [ 82 ] Gilles de Rais and Catherine de Thouars's only child, Marie, was born in 1433 or 1434. [ 83 ] Family disputes [ edit ] Reconstruction of the Château de Tiffauges and its surrounding walls Under Catherine de Thouars's marriage contract, her mother Béatrice de Montjean retained several estates from her late husband Miles II de Thouars as part of her dower , including the castles of Tiffauges and Pouzauges . Jean de Craon and Gilles de Rais intended to recover these Poitevin possessions after Béatrice's death. However, Béatrice's marriage to Jacques Meschin de la Roche-Aireault, a former squire of Miles II de Thouars and chamberlain to King Charles VII of France , complicated their plans. Jean de Craon and his grandson therefore instructed Jean de la Noë, captain of Tiffauges, to abduct Béatrice, who was imprisoned first at Le Loroux-Bottereau and later at Champtocé . Jean de la Noë also captured Jacques Meschin's younger sister. At Champtocé, Gilles de Rais and Jean de Craon threatened to sew Béatrice into a sack and throw her into a river unless she renounced her dower rights. [ 84 ] [ 85 ] Jacques Meschin de la Roche-Aireault repeatedly brought Jean de Craon and Gilles de Rais before the Parlement of Paris in an attempt to secure the release of his wife and sister, but without success. He then sent a bailiff to Champtocé, followed by his brother Gilles Meschin, who led a delegation carrying the summons. Jean de Craon imprisoned all the envoys, including Gilles Meschin. At the request of his wife Anne de Sillé, who was also Béatrice's mother, he nevertheless agreed to release Béatrice. The remaining captives were released after ransom payments, but Gilles Meschin died a few days later, probably as a consequence of his imprisonment at Champtocé. Jacques Meschin's younger sister was sent to Brittany and compelled to marry Girard de la Noë, the captain of Tiffauges's son. [ 84 ] [ 85 ] Jacques Meschin again appealed to the Parlement of Paris, leading Jean de Craon and Gilles de Rais to reach a settlement with him. Under the agreement ratified by the Parlement, Jacques Meschin retained Pouzauges, while Gilles de Rais kept Tiffauges. Jean de Craon and Gilles de Rais later seized Pouzauges from Jacques Meschin, arguing that Catherine de Thouars, Gilles de Rais's wife, "bears the name [of Pouzauges] in the world". Adam de Cambrai, a councillor of the Parlement of Paris, {{cite journal|language=fr|last=Neuville|first=Didier |date=January–April 1878|title=Le Parlement royal à Poitiers (1418-1436) |location=Paris|publisher=Librairie Germer Baillière et Cie|journal=[[Revue historique]]|volume=6|pages=1–28, 272–314|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k18096z/f5.item?lang=EN}}</ref> Adam de Cambrai, who had been a councillor at the ''Parlement'' of Paris since 1412, was among the founders of the ''Parlement'' of Poitiers. A staunch supporter of Charles VII, he became First President of the Parlement of Poitiers in 1435 and, following the [[Siege of Paris (1435–1436)|French reconquest of Paris]], First President of the reunited Parlement of Paris in 1436.<ref>{{cite book|language=fr|last=Autrand|first=Françoise|title=Naissance d'un grand corps de l'État: les gens du Parlement de Paris, 1345-1454|location=Paris|publisher=Publications de la Sorbonne|series=Publications de la Sorbonne. Série N.S. Recherche|year=1981|isbn=2-85944-032-1|page=82, 143 |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/Naissance_d_un_grand_corps_de_l_%C3%89tat_Le/Htn_EAAAQBAJ?hl=fr&gbpv=1&dq=%22Adam%20de%20Cambrai%22%20%22parlement%20de%20paris%22&pg=PA82&printsec=frontcover}}</ref>"}},"i":0}}]}'> [ j ] travelled to Pouzauges to oversee the implementation of the agreement, but men acting on behalf of Jean de Craon and Gilles de Rais attacked and robbed him. The numerous subsequent judgments against the two men remained unenforced. [ 84 ] Titles, estates and wealth [ edit ] Map of the traditional regions of Brittany . In the south, the Pays de Retz was then bordered by an area of marchlands [ 88 ] Gilles de Rais was one of the most powerful lords in western France, thanks largely to his extensive estates spread across Brittany, Anjou , Poitou, Maine and Angoumois . [ 89 ] Medievalist Philippe Contamine points out that Gilles de Rais was "Breton, Poitevin and Angevin all at once, due to his fiefs ". [ 90 ] Moreover, historian Georges Peyronnet specifies that Gilles de Rais's "network of family and feudal relatives" (including the houses of Laval and Craon ) covered a large part of the western marchlands , border regions that were difficult to access because of the damp oceanic climate characterizing these bocage lands and the Marais breton ("Breton Marsh"). Hence the importance "as more open transport routes, of the valleys of the Loire and Sèvre Nantaise , (...) controlled by enormous fortresses." [ 91 ] The crossroads position occupied by the barony of Retz covering the Pays de Retz "was an undeniable asset for trade, and enabled the Sires de Retz to control flows on the major axis of the Loire for the Breton economy and that of western France more generally", asserts historian Brice Rabot. [ 92 ] 15th-century borders of Poitou and the Duchy of Brittany Through his father, Gilles de Rais inherited the barony of Retz , traditionally regarded as one of the six oldest baronies of the Duchy of Brittany, [ 92 ] although the claim of its antiquity rests on questionable traditions. [ 93 ] Located at the "southernmost point of the Duchy of Brittany", [ 91 ] the barony comprised a "vast group of some forty parishes stretching between the Loire and the common borders of Poitou and Brittany". [ 94 ] Its principal seat was Machecoul , the "head of the barony", [ 95 ] together with the castellanies of Coutumier , Bourgneuf , Prigny and half of the Isle of Bouin . These lands bordered the Bay of Bourgneuf , [ 96 ] whose salt marshes probably provided him with a significant source of income. [ 97 ] [ 96 ] His estates also included an annuity from the Paimpont forest , and the lordship of La Bénate, which encompassed 26 parishes in the marchlands (13 in Brittany and 13 in Poitou), among other possessions. [ 98 ] From Jean de Craon, he inherited the prominent Angevin lordships of Champtocé and Ingrandes , which derived substantial income from trade on the Loire, [ 99 ] [ 100 ] as well as the townhouse known as the "Hôtel de La Suze" in Nantes . [ 101 ] His Angevin possessions also included the lordships of Blaison and Chemellier , the barony of Briollay , and the lordships of Fontaine-Milon , Grez and Grattecuisse. His Poitevin possessions included the lordships of Cheneché , La Voûte, Sigon, Cloué , Chabanais and the land of Breuil-Mingot, in addition to the barony of Pouzauges and the lordship of Tiffauges , which he acquired through marriage and coercion. [ 102 ] In Maine, his estates comprised the lordships of La Suze , Ambrières and Saint-Aubin-Fosse-Louvain , as well as the land of Précigné . [ 103 ] In Angoumois, his possessions included the lordships of Confolens , Loubert and Château Morant. [ 104 ] Wax seal reproducing Gilles de Rais's jurisdictional seal relating to contracts for the Tiffauges estate, which he held from his wife Catherine de Thouars [ 105 ] However, this census only shows Gilles de Rais at the peak of his domanial prosperity, after his marriage to Catherine de Thouars (1422) and following the death of his grandfather Jean de Craon (1432). [ 104 ] In addition to the more or less substantial disposals Gilles de Rais made, gradually reducing his estate, some lands belonged to his wife, others were only bequeathed to him on the death of Jean de Craon, not to mention those he ceded to his brother René de Rais by assigning him his share of the inheritance in 1434. His estates were not always of good value, since the income from them could be encumbered in various ways, such as irrevocable alienations granted by previous Barons of Retz in favor of vassals [ 106 ] or the Church ; [ 107 ] widows enjoying a dower in accordance with customary law ; [ 104 ] presumed beginnings of the saltworks' commercial decline in the Bay of Bourgneuf; [ 108 ] [ 109 ] annexations or ravages caused by war, whose constant threat necessitated maintaining defensive devices and paying men-at-arms; [ 110 ] [ 111 ] geographically dispersed estates, resulting in logistical issues [ 112 ] ... Therefore, several factors must be taken into account to explain Gilles de Rais's severe financial difficulties, in addition to mismanagement of resources. [ 113 ] Accurately estimating his wealth is difficult [ 114 ] owing to the fragmentary and imprecise nature of the surviving records, [ 115 ] [ 116 ] particularly regarding the income generated by his estates despite their extensive holdings. [ 117 ] This is a matter of disagreement between historians Jacques Heers [ fr ] and Matei Cazacu. Jacques Heers minimises Gilles de Rais's wealth and social status, [ 118 ] and denies him the qualifier of "great lord", [ 119 ] arguing that to present him as "one of the richest lords of France is merely a figure of speech." [ 120 ] On the other hand, Mate