Family tree of Gilles DE RAIS
French Ancien Régime
Born Gilles DE MONTMORENCY-LAVAL
Breton knight, a leader in the French army and a companion-in-arms of Joan of Arc
Born on September 4, 1404 in Champtocé-sur-Loire, France , France
Died on October 26, 1440 in Nantes, France
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Gilles de Rais (c. 1405 – 26 October 1440), Baron de Rais, was a knight and lord from Brittany, Anjou and Poitou, a leader in the French army, and a companion-in-arms of Joan of Arc. He is best known for his reputation and later conviction as a confessed serial killer of children.
A member of the House of Montmorency-Laval, Gilles de Rais was raised by his maternal grandfather Jean de Craon. He earned the favour of the Duke of Brittany and was admitted to the French court. From 1427 to 1435, Rais served as a commander in the French army and fought in the Hundred Years' War.
In 1429, he formed an alliance with his cousin Georges de La Trémoille, the prominent Grand Chamberlain of France. The same year, he was appointed Marshal of France after the successful military campaigns alongside Joan of Arc, but little is known about the relationship between the two comrades in arms. ... Gilles de Rais (c. 1405 – 26 October 1440), Baron de Rais, was a knight and lord from Brittany, Anjou and Poitou, a leader in the French army, and a companion-in-arms of Joan of Arc. He is best known for his reputation and later conviction as a confessed serial killer of children.
A member of the House of Montmorency-Laval, Gilles de Rais was raised by his maternal grandfather Jean de Craon. He earned the favour of the Duke of Brittany and was admitted to the French court. From 1427 to 1435, Rais served as a commander in the French army and fought in the Hundred Years' War.
In 1429, he formed an alliance with his cousin Georges de La Trémoille, the prominent Grand Chamberlain of France. The same year, he was appointed Marshal of France after the successful military campaigns alongside Joan of Arc, but little is known about the relationship between the two comrades in arms.
After the death of Jean de Craon in 1432 and Georges de La Trémoille's fall from grace in 1433, he gradually withdrew from the war. His family, and in particular his younger brother René de La Suze, accused him of squandering his patrimony by selling off his lands to the highest bidder in order to offset his lavish expenses, a profligacy that led to his being placed under interdict by King Charles VII of France on July 1435.
In May 1440, he assaulted cleric Jean Le Ferron in the church of Saint-Étienne-de-Mer-Morte before seizing the local castle, thereby violating ecclesiastical immunities and undermining the majesty of his suzerain, John V, Duke of Brittany. Arrested on 15 September 1440 at his castle in Machecoul, he was taken to the Duchy of Brittany.
In October 1440, he was tried by the ecclesiastical court of Nantes for heresy, sodomy and the murder of "one hundred and forty or more children". At the same time, he was condemned to be hanged and burned at the stake by the secular court of Nantes for his act of force at Saint-Étienne-de-Mer-Morte, as well as for crimes committed against "several small children", without specifying their number. On 26 October 1440, he was sent to the scaffold with two of his servants convicted of murder.
Modern historians have not sought to exonerate him or reconstitute some kind of judicial truth, and are also wary of reading the records of his trials at face value. Medievalists Jacques Chiffoleau and Claude Gauvard note the need to contextualize historical documents by studying the inquisitorial procedure employed. Thus, they question the defendants' confessions in the light of the judges' expectations and conceptions, while also examining the role of rumor in the development of Gilles de Rais' fama (reputation). However, these historians do not disregard some detailed testimonies concerning the disappearance of children, or certain confessions describing murderous and sadistic rituals unparalleled in the judicial archives of the time.
Furthermore, Rais is sometimes believed to be an inspiration for Charles Perrault's "Bluebeard" literary fairy tale (1697), but this assumption is controversial as being too uncertain. Whatever the case, a popular confusion between the historical character and the mythical wife-murderer has been documented since the early 19th century.
A member of the House of Montmorency-Laval, Gilles de Rais was raised by his maternal grandfather Jean de Craon. He earned the favour of the Duke of Brittany and was admitted to the French court. From 1427 to 1435, Rais served as a commander in the French army and fought in the Hundred Years' War.
In 1429, he formed an alliance with his cousin Georges de La Trémoille, the prominent Grand Chamberlain of France. The same year, he was appointed Marshal of France after the successful military campaigns alongside Joan of Arc, but little is known about the relationship between the two comrades in arms. ... Gilles de Rais (c. 1405 – 26 October 1440), Baron de Rais, was a knight and lord from Brittany, Anjou and Poitou, a leader in the French army, and a companion-in-arms of Joan of Arc. He is best known for his reputation and later conviction as a confessed serial killer of children.
A member of the House of Montmorency-Laval, Gilles de Rais was raised by his maternal grandfather Jean de Craon. He earned the favour of the Duke of Brittany and was admitted to the French court. From 1427 to 1435, Rais served as a commander in the French army and fought in the Hundred Years' War.
In 1429, he formed an alliance with his cousin Georges de La Trémoille, the prominent Grand Chamberlain of France. The same year, he was appointed Marshal of France after the successful military campaigns alongside Joan of Arc, but little is known about the relationship between the two comrades in arms.
After the death of Jean de Craon in 1432 and Georges de La Trémoille's fall from grace in 1433, he gradually withdrew from the war. His family, and in particular his younger brother René de La Suze, accused him of squandering his patrimony by selling off his lands to the highest bidder in order to offset his lavish expenses, a profligacy that led to his being placed under interdict by King Charles VII of France on July 1435.
In May 1440, he assaulted cleric Jean Le Ferron in the church of Saint-Étienne-de-Mer-Morte before seizing the local castle, thereby violating ecclesiastical immunities and undermining the majesty of his suzerain, John V, Duke of Brittany. Arrested on 15 September 1440 at his castle in Machecoul, he was taken to the Duchy of Brittany.
In October 1440, he was tried by the ecclesiastical court of Nantes for heresy, sodomy and the murder of "one hundred and forty or more children". At the same time, he was condemned to be hanged and burned at the stake by the secular court of Nantes for his act of force at Saint-Étienne-de-Mer-Morte, as well as for crimes committed against "several small children", without specifying their number. On 26 October 1440, he was sent to the scaffold with two of his servants convicted of murder.
Modern historians have not sought to exonerate him or reconstitute some kind of judicial truth, and are also wary of reading the records of his trials at face value. Medievalists Jacques Chiffoleau and Claude Gauvard note the need to contextualize historical documents by studying the inquisitorial procedure employed. Thus, they question the defendants' confessions in the light of the judges' expectations and conceptions, while also examining the role of rumor in the development of Gilles de Rais' fama (reputation). However, these historians do not disregard some detailed testimonies concerning the disappearance of children, or certain confessions describing murderous and sadistic rituals unparalleled in the judicial archives of the time.
Furthermore, Rais is sometimes believed to be an inspiration for Charles Perrault's "Bluebeard" literary fairy tale (1697), but this assumption is controversial as being too uncertain. Whatever the case, a popular confusion between the historical character and the mythical wife-murderer has been documented since the early 19th century.
Biography from Wikipedia (see original) under licence CC BY-SA 3.0
Geographical origins
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