Gilles De Rais. Man or Beast?

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I have not been on here for quite some time. As some of you may know, I'm fascinated by the dark things in life. I thought I would share a little bit about one of the darkest men in history and give everyone a chance to talk/debate about him. Many of you may know the name. Many of you may not. Many of you may have heard tales and legends of him. Now, I'll fill you in on the full story. This is a collection of both myths, legends, facts and stories about the legendary Gilles De Rais, the first ever recorded serial killer in history.

"When light no longer rose to kiss me, I swore to tear Heaven asunder as flights of fallen angels wished me Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder."

"God can deny nothing to a De Rais, and should He ever, there is always the Devil."

Gilles was born in September of 1405. He was also known as Gilles de Montmorency-Laval. He was born to Huy II de Montmorency-Laval and Marie de Craon in the family castle at Champtoce-sur-Loire. He was an intelligent child, speaking fluent Latin, illuminating mannuscripts, and dividing his education between military discipline and moral and intellectual development.

Following the deaths of his father and mother in 1415, Gilles and his younger brother, Rene de La Suze were placed under the tutelage of Jean de Craon, their maternal grandfather.

Jean de Craon was a schemer who attempted to arrange a marriage between 12 year old Gilles with 4 year old Jeanne Paynel, one of the richest heiresses in Normandy, and when the plan failed, attempted to unsuccessfully unite the boy with Beatrice de Rohan, the niece to the Duke of Brittany. On November 30th 1420, Craon substantially increased his grandson's wealth by marrying him to Cathrine de Thouars of Brittany, heiress of La Vendee and Poitou. Gilles and Cathrine had a single child, Marie who was born in 1429.

He earned the favour of the Duke of Brittany and was admitted to the French court. From 1427 to 1435, Gilles served as a commander in the Royal Army, and fought alongside Saint Joan of Arc against the English and their Burgundian allies during the 'Hundred Years' War', for which he was appointed Marshal of France.

It is believed while fighting alongside Saint Joan of Arch, Gilles fell deeply in love with her. When she was captured and tried for heresy, she was put to death. In 1430 she was burned at the stake, and some legends claim this drove Gilles de Rais insane. He supposedly renounced his faith to god.

In 1438 Gilles sought out individuals who knew alchemy and demon summoning. He found Prelati in Florence and after reviewing the magical books of Prelati and a traveling Breton, de Rais chose to initiate experiments, the first taking place in the lower hall of his castle at Tiffauges, attempting to summon a demon named Barron. Some believe this was due to his hatred for god over Joan of Arc's death, others believe he wished to make a contract with the demon for riches, as his wealth had run dry.

Supposedly, the first murders happened at Champtoce-sur-Loire, but later moved to his castle in Machecoul. He was accused of murdering HUNDREDS of young children. 40 bodies were discovered in Machecoul in 1437.

"They child was pampered and dressed in better clothes than he had ever known. The evening began with a large meal and heavy drinking, particularly hippocras, which acted as a stimulant. The child was then taken to an upper room in which only Gilles and his immediate circle were admitted. There the child was confronted with the true nature of their situation. The shock thus produced on the child was an initial source of pleasure to Gilles."

Gilles' bodyservant, Poitou, was an accomplice in many of the crimes and testified that his master hung his victims with ropes from a hook to prevent the child from crying out, then masturbated upon the child. Taking his victim down, Rais comforted the child and assured them he only wanted to play. Gilles then either killed the child himself or had the child killed by his cousin, Gilles de Sille, Poitou or another bodyservant called Henriet. The victims were killed by decapitation, cutting of their throats, dismemberment or breaking their necks with a stick.

Poitou further testified that Rais sometimes abused the victims before wounding them and at other times, after the victim had been slashed in the throat or decapitated, Rais disdained the victim's sexual organs and took "infinitely more pleasure in debauching himself in this manner than using their natural orifice, in the normal manner."

When the said children were dead, Gilles kissed them, and those who had the most handsome limbs and heads he held up to admire, and had their bodies cruelly cut open and took delight in the sight of their inner organs, and very often when the children were dying, he sat on their stomachs and took pleasure in seeing them die and laughed.

Poitou also testified that he and Henriet burned the bodies in the fireplace in Gilles' room. The ashes were thrown into the cesspit, the moat, or other hiding places.

On May 15th 1440, Rais kidnapped a cleric during a dispute at the Church of Saint-Etienne-de-Mer-Morte. The act prompted an investigation by the Bishop of Nantes, during which evidence of Gilles' crimes were uncovered. Rais and his bodyservants, Poitou and Henriet were arrested on September 15th 1440.

On October 21st, Rais admitted to the charges and the court canceled a plan to torture him into confessing. Peasants of the neighboring villages had earlier begun to offer up accusations that since their children had entered Gilles' castle, begging for food, they had never been seen again.

The exact number of Gilles' victims is unknown, as most of the bodies were burned or buried. The number of murders is generally placed between 80 and 200; some accused him of numbers in the 600 area. The victims ranged in age from six to eighteen and included both sexes. Gilles and his 2 accomplices were hung and burned. Gilles was buried in the church of the monastery of Notre-Dame des Carmes in Nantes.


Now, at this point, many of you will be thinking Gilles was a very, very sick individual, but there is a possibility, that he was an innocent man, not a devilish beast.

Arguments are based on the theory de Rais was himself a victim of an ecclesiastic plot or act of revenge by the Catholic Church or French State. Doubts of Gilles' guilt have long persisted due to the Duke of Brittany, who was given the authority to prosecute, received all of the titles to Gilles' former lands after his conviction. The Duke then divided the land among his own nobles. It is also a known fact that Gilles' was not on good terms with the Church. Some believe he was a demon-worshiper, which could be part of a scheme by the church. It is possible Gilles never renounced god, but the church made it out so to help their case against him, or if he had renounced god, this would also be a reason for the church to seek out his death.

In 1992, Freemason Jean-Yves Goeau-Brissonniere, the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of France, organized a court consisting of former French ministers, parliament members and UNESCO experts to re-examine the source material and evidence available at the medieval trial. The hearing, which concluded Gilles de Rais was not guilty of the crimes, was turned into a documentary called "Gilles de Rais ou la Gueule du loup".

The gothic occult/satanic metal band, Cradle of Filth, have an album based on the theory of Gilles falling in love with Joan of Arc and going insane over her death and committing the dark crimes. The album is titled "Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder".

The video game series "Castlevania" features Gilles de Rais as minor antagonist (and major in some games) and depicts him as a vampire.

Gilles is featured as one of the antagonists in the 2011 anime Fate/Zero.

Gilles is featured as nephilim in the manga/anime series Devils and Realist.

The Black Dahlia Murder's song "The Window" on their Ritual album is based on Gilles de Rais, featuring lyrics such as "I sit upon their chests until they cease/Expressionless ejaculating whilst they die"

Celtic Frost's debut album Morbid Tales had the song Into the Crypt of Rays, a lyrical recounting of Reis' crimes and punishment.

Gilles is also believed to be the inspiration of the 1697 fairy tale "Bluebeard" by Charles Perrault.




So, now you've heard the story. Now you know both sides/possibilities. Do you believe Gilles was a serial killer? A satanist? A man drove insane by the death of love? Another of the countless victims of the church? A victim of inquisition?

 

While a dark man I have to argue that the Marquis De Sade is an even sicker individual or possibly Elizabeth Bathory. De Sade is where we get the word Sadism, there is no mystery or mysticism surrounding his life and events. Just read 120 days of Sodom. Bathory murdered countless female virgins and bathed in their blood trying to retain their youth. There are several accounts of her just biting a servant to drink their blood. Also Bathory is a pretty decent black metal band. Gilles is probably more myth than truth owing to the church having their hand in the tale.

 

Agreed, with the part about the church. Never heard of Sade. I've studied Bathory just about as much as I have Gilles. Cradle of Filth also has an album about her, "Cruelty & the Beast".

I've always had a little bit of a blood fetish. I wouldn't say I'm a risk to anyone or myself, but if it's there or given freely I don't mind playing in it, so Bathory doesn't seem 'sick' to me. I personally find raping little kids A LOT sicker than drinking/bathing in blood, though I'm not defending Bathory's sanity, there was definitely something wrong there.

There is also a conspiracy about her. Her late husband was owed a lot of money by a king who could not afford to pay the debt, this could easily have led to her conviction as well.

She wasn't actually ever "convicted" per-say. Due to her high ranking (Countess) she was imprisoned inside of her own castle (they bricked her into just a few rooms with just enough space to pass her food/drink) and she was never actually arrested or tried. She lived in her prison for 4 years before dying.

No matter her rank, just the thought of there being no trial, makes it seem odd. If there had been a trial, she could have been proven innocent, not getting that chance seems like the king-thing may have had something to do with it.

 

I am a macabre aficionados if you will. Look up HH Holmes, he is my favorite serial killer.

 

You guys scare me.....

OT: Bathory is one psychotic lady, 650 people...

 

I recognize the name of bathory. I dont remember where but iv heard of her and the murder of 650 people. Pretty crazy. These medieval serial killers are so fascinating to me. Just because these things happened so long ago. The human mind was completely different. There is so must mystery in medieval serial killers.

 

This is scary!!! Crazy crazy people in the world!

 

Actually read OP's post, and damn. I personally do think that the church only looked into the reason to take the land that he had no money to pay taxes with (from what i read). But i do think that he was a serial killer, it doesn't matter the reason why, People will snap under hundreds of different reasons. Never really got into the darkside much, and looking at the whole "sitting on they're stomachs and ejaculating on them" is pretty discouraging.

 

sick !!!

 

This was a really interesting read, though seems more myth than fiction. I love this kind of thing, especially involving one of my favourite historical figures (shout out to miss joan) - will need to do a bit more lookin' into.