You may still hear screaming if you listen carefully. In Vendée, the châteaux
by Tiffauges or Machecoul send shivers down the spines of those who know everything that would have taken place there. If the first is the largest medieval fortress in the West, it is also for the mysterious character it housed that we come to visit it. It is here, in secret apartments, that Gilles de Rais is said to have sequestered many children in the 15th century, before inflicting all kinds of abuse on them and then making them disappear …
But Gilles de Rais was not always this “cruel and bloodthirsty, coldly barbarous” lord, to the point of becoming “certainly one of the most prominent figures of the Middle Ages”, as the day-to-day The bike, in 1894. Born around 1405, the young baron, orphaned at a very young age, distinguished himself by taking up arms with King Charles VII, in a violent Hundred Years’ War waged against the English. Companion of Joan of Arc, the lord also participated in the lifting of the siege of Orleans, and received the title of Marshal of France in 1429. A dazzling highlight, before he sank into darkness.
Black magic experiments
“It is difficult to know what could have happened, if there really was a before and an after, but several very close elements can explain this shift, advances Emmanuel Leduc, historian at Machecoul and specialist in the character, who ‘he tries to demystify. Some authors say that Joan of Arc’s death in 1431 was a trigger. Others also speak of the death a year later of his grandfather Jean de Craon, who educated him, even if it is said that he would have had a very harmful influence on him. Finally, there is the disgrace, in 1433, of Georges de la Trémoille, who was his great protector. “
At the head of a large fortune and numerous castles, Gilles de Rais squandered everything and ruined himself. It is said that he then turns to alchemy in an attempt to remake himself. Under the influence of Francesco Prelati, the man described as very gullible will undoubtedly never succeed in transforming lead into gold but these experiments of black magic, where he sometimes sees the devil, would lead this married man, father of a little girl. girl, to human sacrifices. How many local children would have been kidnapped by his accomplices (and in particular his servants Henriet and Poitou) sometimes raped, often strangled, beheaded, or even completely dismembered? The figure of 140 is sometimes advanced but opinions differ among the many specialists who have leaning on the subject.
Hanged and burnt
“Gilles de Rais does not know the number of murders, but his accomplices estimate it around a hundred,” says Emmanuel Leduc. We know only one example linked to macabre witchcraft and for the rest, he speaks “of his pleasure and his carnal delight”. “” During the trial, 46 skeletons were found in Champtocé and 80 in Machecoul, wrote The small newspaper in 1931. But many other bodies had been burned. “
Because Gilles de Rais was indeed punished for all these infamies, even if he was initially not spotted for this reason. It is an armed intrusion into a church in Saint-Etienne-de-Mer-Morte, to settle a land dispute, which leads him to his loss. After being excommunicated, he is tried immediately by the civil court for heresy, invocation of demons, kidnappings and murder of children, during a trial where his servants testify against him, some say under torture, and provoke attacks. confession. Condemned to be hanged and burned, he obtained the promise that his body would be buried in the Carmelite convent in Nantes.
Since then, it is under the name of Blue Beard, sulphurous character (who attacked women!) from Perrault’s tale, whom Gilles de Rais sometimes reappears. Wrongly! warn several historians, who regret that this rumor persists, while many buildings are displayed as “Bluebeard castle”. A legend in the legend fueled by oral tradition but still difficult to explain, for Emmanuel Leduc. “When the rumor spreads, and even becomes a tourist attraction, it is very hard to get rid of it! “