[ad_1]
Have you ever heard of the story Bluebeard in which a young woman discovers that her husband is hiding in a closet the corpses of his previous wives?
This story is linked to northeastern France that of a murderer known as Gilles de Rais, who lived there in the fifteenth century, 200 years before Charles Perrault wrote the story of Bluebeard – which was already part of the oral tradition of the region.
But the true story and the story have notable differences. One is the happy ending of Perrault's story: the girl manages to escape the clutches of the tyrannical husband. Another is that the crimes of the noble murderer of the fifteenth century were even more terrifying than those of the tale.
So much so that "the crimes of Nero and the tyrants of Lombardy" are nothing in comparison, says the historian Jules Michelet (1798-
"It should include the sacrifices of the gods devouring the children "to compare himself to the crimes committed by the Blue Beard, says Michelet.
From one hero to the other
Gilles de Laval was born in the cradle of gold in 1404, in a Breton family, today a region of France.He became an orphan at the age of 11, when he was raised by a violent grandfather
After the death of his grandfather, he became Baron de Rais and became known as Gilles de Rais.He inherited immense fortunes, which made him richer than King Charles 7
At the time, France was at war with England, the famous hundred year war, and was about to return to the city of Orleans. The French team was led by the young Jeanne d'Arc, who won this victory and many others for the French.
Gilles de Rais rode alongside Joan during the war and became his right arm on the battlefield. At the age of 25, Gilles was named Marshal of France, former title awarded to the highest commander of the Royal Armed Forces
. He sees Joana's betrayal by the army and the King, who hands it over to the British. She was tried by the Inquisition and charged with heresy, sentenced to death and burned at the stake in 1431.
While she remembers us today as a heroine and that she was canonized by the Catholic Church, Gilles finally became a symbol of the wickedness and personification of evil in France.
Young and immensely rich, after the death of Joan of Arc, he lowered his arms. According to the history books, he has indulged in a life of excess, orgies and an obsession with bad and death.
He devoted much of his fortune to the construction of the Chapel of the Holy Innocents and to the production of a great theater show called The Mystery of the Siege of Orleans, in which he recounted the battle in which he had participated with Jeanne d'Arc.
The chapel had an ecclesiastical body of 80 people, which included a private choir.
Without money, it began to take place. to be interested in alchemy – which was then considered a science capable of turning various metals into gold.
Fearful of being without inheritance, family members presented their concerns to the king, who prevented Gilles from selling any other property.
It is also at this time that other nobles, like the Duke of Brittany, see the opportunity to take him what they can.
Their crimes – which were perhaps known to the aristocracy for years – began to be the subject of an investigation and a trial.
In September 1440, Gilles de Rais is accused of murder, witchcraft and sodomy. He was tried by a civil and ecclesiastical tribunal – and sentenced to death by the gallows.
Atrocities
According to witnesses heard at trial, his actions would be described in terrible detail.
It was said that Gilles de Rais employed a woman who persuaded the children to enter the castle.
What happened behind the scenes. doors appear in the record of the judgment, in the confession of one of his servants:
"Sometimes he cut his head, sometimes only the throat, and sometimes it broke him The veins were cut, so that they languished while their blood was poured in. Gilles sometimes sat in the belly of the children and felt pleasure.Lusing on it, he saw them dying. "
Other texts report that he had bad with the corpses of the children while they were still hot.
The servants also accused him of committing acts "with the devil".
The confessions of the servants were, however, made under medieval barbaric torture.
In the documents of the trial, it is written:
"Gilles de Rais spoke openly and in the same way that he was tortured voluntarily to all present and confessed that he because of the ardor and pleasure of satisfying his carnal desires, had killed a large number of children. "
" He made sodomy with them while they were dying and he had fun kissing dead children and judging which of them had the most beautiful head, then he asked his servants to take the bodies and burn them to ashes. "
Documents contain descriptions even more disgusting and macabre than these.
It is estimated that he killed between 80 and 200 people.
Gilles de Rais asked that his confession be published in French, so that the people can understand, instead of Latin normally used by the courts.
The church had threatened to excommunicate and sentence to eternity in hell if he did not admit it.
The final verdict was the death sentence of the gallows and the subsequent burning of his body at the stake.
Although the conviction is based on numerous witness statements, some doubt the trial and regard the baron as an unfair victim of the inquisition. This is the case of the biographers Fernand Fleuret and Jean-Pierre Bayard and the writer of the decade
In 1992, an unofficial tribunal was set up in Brussels, Belgium, where the in the gilded hall of the Palais du Luxembourg in Paris, to rebadess the judgment of Gilles de Rais.
It has been argued that Gilles could have been a victim of the Inquisition and have not killed any child.
Gilbert Prouteau, author of a biography of Gilles de Rais and organizer of the event, argued that the baron had been executed because Bishop Malestroit and his ally, Jean V, Duke of Brittany, had coveted their properties.
After the execution of Gilles, the Duke of Brittany received all the titles and lands of Rais.
For the former French Minister of Justice, Michael Crepeau, the real motive for Gilles' judgment was political, as was the case with Joan of Arc.
However, most historians
The two theses are plausible: it is possible that his crimes, committed against the sons of peasants, were ignored by the nobility until it was become politically opportune to pursue them, and condemn him. Or until they have become too awful to be ignored.
BBC Canada – All rights reserved – Reproduction is prohibited without the written permission of the BBC
Source link
