Bluebeard, the devilish companion of Joan of Arc

https://youtu.be/UhEPEdMEKlE

Exactly 577 years ago, Gilles de Rais, whose full name was Gilles Montmorency-Laval, Marshal of France, Baron de Rais, Count de Briand, Lord d'Ingran and de Chanteau, Joan of Arc's closest comrade-in-arms and a French national hero in his own right, was burned at the stake in the city of Nantes, tied to a pole, and strangled by the executioner in front of the crowd.

Alongside him, two of his associates, Henri Grier and Etienne Corillo, were also strangled, and their bodies were burned to ashes. De Rey’s body was cremated symbolically – according to the prior agreement with his family, it was only lightly charred and then taken down from the pyre and buried in the Carmelite monastery on the outskirts of the city. The illustrious marshal was immortalized in popular memory as “Bluebeard,” and immortalized in Charles Perrault’s chilling work.

Friend of Joan of Arc and hero of the Hundred Years' War

It is likely that Zille's trouble was his burning desire to be special. He was not content with a wealthy and noble feudal life, but sought to gain unique fame. First, as a fearless knight: at the age of 16 he rescued the Duke of Brittany From his rebellious barons. It was the grateful duke who introduced him to the Dauphin, who later became King Charles VII. Gilles did not rest on his laurels after becoming a hero. The Hundred Years' War, to the terror of the English and the Burgundians, the companion in arms of Jeanne the Virgin (to whom, incidentally, she owed her life, when she was crowned by the English during the siege of Orléans). De Re became Marshal of France, and received a rather unique honor – he was allowed to surround his family crest with the symbols of French royalty – golden roses on a blue background. When he heard that Joan of Arc had been captured, he gathered a military force and set out to rescue her, but he was too late, and it seems that this shock damaged something inside him.

His behavior begins to change: he becomes a huge spender: he builds an extravagantly magnificent church and undergoes professional training as a theatrical producer - he initiates the staging of a one-of-a-kind play, intended to commemorate the memory of Joan of Arc And his own highlights: “The Mystery of the Siege of Orléans,” perhaps the most expensive play in history, with 140 actors and 500 extras, with amazingly expensive costumes and sets.

The expenses brought his family to the brink of bankruptcy and raised eyebrows even at the royal court – in 1435, the king granted the pleas of de Rais’ relatives and forbade his subjects to conduct business with him, while the marshal himself and the commanders of his castles were forbidden to sell them or any other real estate at their disposal. De Rais was forced to leave the provinces directly subordinate to the King of France and moved to his estates in Brittany, where these orders were not enforced due to the autonomy of the duchy.

Bluebeard makes a pact with the devil

Here, a new phase in the Marshal's life begins. After not going well, with knighthood, building churches, and theatrical performances, it will go badly - de Rey decided to make a pact with the devil: he tried to restore his fortune through alchemy, recruiting "experts" in the field to his service, but the results, alas, were disappointing.

De Re's irritation grew, and his outbursts of rage brought his doom upon him: in mid-May 1440, he resolved a property dispute by attacking the Duke's men, as well as by imprisoning a priest in charge of the castle that the Marshal sought to appropriate for himself - this put him in the sights of both the Duke of Brittany and the churchmen.

After a parallel investigation by the Inquisition and secular authorities, de Re was accused of heresy, devil worship, sacrilege, and the rape, sodomy, and gruesome murder (not necessarily always in that order) of hundreds of children. After the investigation began, peasants from the area began to flock to the authorities to report their children who had disappeared after being last seen near the Marshal's castles. De Re and his men were arrested in mid-September, and the trial itself opened on 15 October 1440.

At first, De Re rejected all the accusations, and even refused to recognize the legitimacy of the judges, but he quickly changed his behavior to the extreme, and under threat of torture and ecclesiastical excommunication, he confessed to everything attributed to him and repented of his sin. The testimonies of his alchemists and close assistants painted such a horrific picture that the judges ordered the most horrific details to be erased from the protocols, and so did we – if you want to know what exactly De Re did, according to his confession and the testimonies of his relatives – you will have to find out for yourself and at your own risk – it sickens me, and I am not one of those people who are overly sensitive.

Apparently, in later times, the testimonies obtained under torture or the threat of torture were questioned. The writer Gilbert Proto, famous for his elaborate pranks and pranks, went so far as to initiate a retrial in 1992, with the participation of politicians, lawyers and writers. This strange tribunal acquitted Gilles de Rais of all guilt. However, professional historians tend to accept the conclusions of the original judges and to treat with disdain the attempts to clear de Rais's name. It is not for nothing that no historian was invited to take part in the “retrial” – Gilbert knew very well that experts could only harm the best show in the city since “The Mysteries of the Siege of Orléans”.