Page 68 - All About History - Issue 70-18

Medieval murders

dismembered them. He preferred male victims and revelled
In earlier life, Gilles de Rais fought
alongside Joan of Arc at Orléans in the act of dissection, fascinated by the innards of the
children. Only when he was sated did he burn their remains,
removing all trace of their presence.
Eyewitnesses claimed to have seen innumerable
youngsters going into Rais’ castles, with none ever emerging.
To add fuel to the fire, the captain of his guard testified
that he had personally witnessed servants dragging human
remains from the cellars of one castle. When asked why he
hadn’t intervened his answer was simple, they were only
peasants, so why would anybody care?
Rais’ victims ranged in age from as young as six to
approximately 18. Though the exact number of victims was
never established, it appeared to be somewhere between 80
and 100, with the first having been the youngster known
as Jeudon. The highest estimates have risen as high as 600,
but there is little to support that figure. In fact, there was
little hard evidence to support any figure at all. Yet Rais and
his co-accused had confessed, evidence or not, and those
confessions shook the land.
The only possible sentence for such crimes was death. Rais
and his co-defendants were sentenced to be simultaneously
hanged and burned at Nantes, with their execution set
for 26 October 1440. In keeping with his noble birth, Rais
apparently asked if he could die first before being laid to rest
“Rais and his co-accused had in Nantes in the church of Notre-Dames des Carmes. Both of

his requests were granted.
Gilles de Rais and his former servants were taken to the Ile
de Biesse at nine o’clock on the morning of their execution,
where an enormous crowd waited to greet them. Rais showed
no fear and addressed the crowd with heartfelt contrition,
his co co be courageous and welcome

The Killer’s Lair

Brittany locals call the Chateau de
Tiffauges ‘Bluebeard’s castle’

Among the many territories and lavish homes of Gilles
de Rais was Chateau de Tiffauges, which sits on the once
strategically important border between Brittany, Poitou
and Anjou. Rais was given the castle as part of the
dowry he received when he married his wife, Catherine
A 19th century engraving
de Thouars. Following his execution, it remained in the
of Gilles de Rais’ castle
Thouars family and eventually fell into ruin.
This Medieval castle also happens to be the
inspiration for the castle in which the fearsome
Bluebeard of myth kept the bodies of his murdered
wives. Known locally as Bluebeard’s Castle (Château de
Barbe-Bleue), Chateau de Tiffauges would have been a
formidable place in its heyday.
Prominent in battles thanks to its strategic position,
unlike the fearsome fortress in the legend of Bluebeard,
Chateau de Tiffauges doesn’t contain a hidden room
filled with corpses. Or rather, if it does, nobody has
found it as of yet!

Once the place where Gilles de Rais supposedly
tried to turn blood into gold or raise demons with
child sacrifices, today the Chateau de Tiffauges
commemorates its notorious residency with an annual
summer pageant. It is also home to a display of
alchemical instruments, recalling the castle’s mysterious
and arcane past.

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