Trial of Gilles De Rais (36 page)
Read Trial of Gilles De Rais Online
Authors: George Bataille
Tags: #Non-Fiction, #Cultural Anthropology, #Psychology, #True Crime, #European History, #France, #Social History, #v.5, #Literary Studies, #Medieval History, #Amazon.com, #Criminology, #Retail, #History
Item, the said Gilles said and confessed that the said François performed many invocations by his order, as much in his absence as in his presence, and that he, the accused, had assisted François at three invocations performed by the latter: once at Tiffauges castle; again at Bourgneuf-en-Rais; he does not remember where the third one took place; he adds that the said Eustache Blanchet knew well that the said François was performing the aforesaid invocations, but that he was not present at them, because neither he, the accused, nor François would have tolerated it, seeing as the said Eustache was a vicious gossip, fertile with idle remarks.
(Gilles de Raisʹ ʺin-court confession.ʺ)
Item, the said Gilles, the accused, stated and confessed that in order to perform the said invocations they traced signs in the form of a circle or of a cross, and of characters in the earth; and that the said François possessed a book that he had brought from Italy, so he said, in which there were the names of many demons and words to conjure and invoke them by, which names and which words he does not remember; which book the said François held and read for nearly two hours during the said conjurations and invocations; and that he, the accused, during none of these invocations saw or perceived any devil to speak to, which greatly irritated and disappointed him.
Item, the said accused stated and confessed that he was told on his return that at one invocation of the said François’ in his absence, François had seen the demon named Barron and spoken with him, who said that he would not approach the accused because of his having fallen short of his promise and because he didn’t fulfill it; and he, the accused, upon learning this, charged the said François to ask that same devil what he wanted of him and to assure him that whatever the devil wanted he would give, with the exception of his life and soul, provided that in this way, the devil conceded and gave to him what he asked for; the said accused adding that he intended to ask for knowledge, power, and riches, in order to recover the original state of his lordship and power; and that not long after this, the said François said that he had spoken with this same devil who, among other things, demanded that Gilles de Rais give him some members of a child; whereupon the said Gilles gave the said François the hand, heart, and eyes of a young boy to offer to the devil on behalf of Gilles, the accused.
Item, the said Gilles, the accused, said and confessed that before going to one of three invocations that he attended, he wrote a note in his own hand, which he signed with his own name in French: “Gilles”; but he does not remember the content of the said note, which he wrote intending to give it to the devil should he appear at the invocation performed by the said François; which he had done on the advice of the said François, who had told him that it was important to deliver the said note to the devil as soon as he appeared; and during the invocation he held the note constantly in his hand, awaiting the pacts or promises that the said François and the devil would formulate and their agreement as to what the said Gilles, the accused, would promise to accomplish for the devil; but the devil did not appear and did not speak with them.
Item, the accused stated and confessed that one night he sent the said Étienne Corrillaut, also known as Poitou, with the said François to perform an invocation; both of whom returned completely drenched and soaked, telling him that nothing had come of the aforesaid invocation.
Item, the said accused stated and confessed that he wanted to be present at an invocation that the same François was to perform, but that the latter did not want his presence; and that on his return from the said invocation, he assured the said Gilles that if he had been present at that invocation, he would have been in great danger, because a serpent appeared that François was greatly afraid of; on hearing this, the said Gilles took hold of a splinter of the Holy Rood, which he possessed, and thought of going to the said place of invocation where the said François said he had seen the snake; which he did not do, because the same François dissuaded him.
Item, the same Gilles de Rais, the accused, stated and confessed that at one of the three invocations he attended, the said François related to the said accused how he himself had seen the demon named Barron, who had shown him a large quantity of gold, and among other things a gold ingot; but the said accused declared that he did not see the devil or the ingot but only a sort of foil in the form of a sheet or sheets of gold, which he did not touch.
Item, the accused stated and confessed that the last time he was at Josselin, in the Saint-Malo diocese, close to the Illustrious Prince and Lord Duke of Brittany, the same accused had several children killed who had been procured for him by the aforesaid Henriet; and that he committed and exercised on them the vice and sin of sodomy in the aforesaid manner.
Item, the same accused stated and confessed that the said François, by his order and in his absence, performed many invocations of the devil at Josselin, which nothing came of or appeared at.
Item, he said that before leaving for Bourges he sent the said François to Tiffauges, entreating him to conjure in his absence and to notify him of what he did and knew, and to write to him
in guarded terms
94
that his work was going well; which François wrote to him and sent a sort of unguent in a silver tube, placed in a purse and a box made of silver also, writing to him that this here was a precious thing and that he ought to guard it carefully; and he, trusting the said François’ affirmation, hung the said purse about his neck for several days; but shortly thereafter he threw it away, discovering that it was not doing him any good.
in guarded terms
94
that his work was going well; which François wrote to him and sent a sort of unguent in a silver tube, placed in a purse and a box made of silver also, writing to him that this here was a precious thing and that he ought to guard it carefully; and he, trusting the said François’ affirmation, hung the said purse about his neck for several days; but shortly thereafter he threw it away, discovering that it was not doing him any good.
Item, the same accused stated and confessed that the said François once told him that the said Barron had ordered him to give a dinner to three poor people in his name on three important feasts of the year; which he, the accused, did only once, on All Saints’ Day.
(Gilles de Raisʹ ʺin-court confession.ʺ)
Interrogated as to the motive that made him keep the said François close to him and among his family, he responded that the said François was exceptionally gifted and agreeable to converse with, speaking Latin eloquently and learnedly, and that he applied himself zealously to the affairs of the said Gilles, the accused.
Item, the same accused stated and confessed that after last Saint John the Baptist’s Day a beautiful young man who was living with a certain Rodigo, at Bourgneuf-en-Rais, where the accused himself was then staying, was brought to him one certain evening by the said Henriet and Corrillaut, and during the night he practiced the said unnatural and sodomitic vice with him in the aforesaid manner, then killed him and had him transported to Machecoul to be burned.
Item, he stated and confessed that having been alerted that the men of the castle at Palluau were planning to lay hands on the captain of the castle at Saint-Étienne-de-Mermorte, and for this reason indignant with them, one morning, what day he cannot remember, he left on horseback with his men-at-arms intending to surprise the men of the castle at Palluau, make them prisoners, and punish them; and at the outset of the expedition, the said François, being among his company, told him that he would not find them; and in fact, the said accused did not find them and his project was frustrated.
Item, the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, stated and confessed that he had killed two young pages, one of Guillaume Daussy’s, and another of Pierre Jacquet’s, called Prince, on whom he committed and exercised the said unnatural lust.
Item, the same accused stated and confessed that when he last went to Vannes, last July, André Buchet delivered a young boy to him, at his lodgings in the house of a man named Lemoine, with whom he committed the unnatural vice, as abovenoted. And having killed him, Gilles had him thrown by the said Poitou into the latrines of an inn owned by a man named Boetden, near the aforesaid Lemoine’s house; the said friends of the accused lodging in Boetden’s inn or house, near the marketplace of Vannes; which Poitou descended into the latrines, in order to sink the cadaver and cover it, so that no one might discover it.
Item, the aforesaid Gilles de Rais, the accused, stated and confessed likewise that before the said François’ arrival, he had employed other conjurors, namely a trumpeter named Dumesnil, Master Jean de La Rivière, a man named Louis, Master Antoine de Palerne, and another whose name he does not remember. Which conjurors by his command performed many invocations, some of which he attended, as much at Machecoul as at other places; and, in particular, to see drawn in the soil a circle or figure in the form of a circle, which is necessary in that sort of invocation where the intention is to see the devil and to speak and make a pact with him. But the said accused said that he was never able to see the devil or speak with him, although he did everything he could, to the point that it was not his fault if he could not see the devil or speak with him.
Item, the same Gilles de Rais, oft-named, stated and confessed that the aforesaid Dumesnil, conjuror, told him once that the devil, in order to do and accomplish what the said accused intended to solicit and obtain from this same devil, expected to see done and to receive from him a note signed in the hand of the accused himself with blood from his finger, by which the latter promised to give the said devil, when he appeared at his invocation, certain things which he did not remember; and for that reason and to that end he signed his name,
Gilles
, to the said note with blood from his little finger. As to what was written in the said note he did not remember, except that he promised the devil what was mentioned there, on condition that the devil give to him and procure knowledge, power, and riches. But he is absolutely certain that as he has affirmed, whatever he might have promised the devil he had always retained his soul and life, and he said that the aforesaid note was not delivered, the devil not appearing to him and not having responded to that same invocation.
Gilles
, to the said note with blood from his little finger. As to what was written in the said note he did not remember, except that he promised the devil what was mentioned there, on condition that the devil give to him and procure knowledge, power, and riches. But he is absolutely certain that as he has affirmed, whatever he might have promised the devil he had always retained his soul and life, and he said that the aforesaid note was not delivered, the devil not appearing to him and not having responded to that same invocation.
Item, the said accused confessed that at an invocation by the aforesaid Master de La Rivière, in a wood not far from the garrison or the city of Pouzauges, the said La Rivière armed himself beforehand with weapons and gear, and then entered the aforesaid wood to perform the said invocation; and that he, the accused, with his servants and especially Eustache Blanchet, Henri, and Étienne Corrillaut, also known as Poitou, upon entering the wood, discovered the said La Rivière returning, who told him that he had seen the Devil in the guise of a leopard coming toward him, which passed by him without saying a word; and he, the accused, was frightened and terrified by what he said. And the accused added to his narration that the said La Rivière, to whom he had paid the sum of twenty gold royals, promised to return, which he did not do.
Item, the same accused stated and confessed that at another invocation of demons practiced by him and a conjuror whose name he does not remember, with Gilles de Sillé as well, in a room of the aforesaid Tiffauges castle, while he was in the said room, the said Sillé did not dare to enter the circle to perform the invocation, but retired to a window with the intention of throwing himself out of it if he perceived something fearful approaching, and he held in his arms an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary; the said accused himself was afraid in the circle, because the invoker had forbidden him to cross himself, because if he did, they would all be in great danger; but he remembered a prayer to Our Lady that begins with
Alma
, and at once the conjuror ordered him to leave the circle, which he immediately did while crossing himself; and he left the room promptly, leaving the invoker and locking the door behind him; then he discovered the said Gilles de Sillé, who told him that someone was beating and striking the invoker left alone in the room, which sounded as if someone were beating a featherbed; which he, the accused, did not hear, and he had the door of the room opened and at its entrance he saw the conjuror wounded in the face and in other parts of his body, and among other things, having a bump on his forehead so large he could barely stand up; and for fear that he might die in consequence of the said wounds, Gilles wanted him to be confessed and have the sacraments administered; but the conjuror did not die, and recovered from his wounds.
Alma
, and at once the conjuror ordered him to leave the circle, which he immediately did while crossing himself; and he left the room promptly, leaving the invoker and locking the door behind him; then he discovered the said Gilles de Sillé, who told him that someone was beating and striking the invoker left alone in the room, which sounded as if someone were beating a featherbed; which he, the accused, did not hear, and he had the door of the room opened and at its entrance he saw the conjuror wounded in the face and in other parts of his body, and among other things, having a bump on his forehead so large he could barely stand up; and for fear that he might die in consequence of the said wounds, Gilles wanted him to be confessed and have the sacraments administered; but the conjuror did not die, and recovered from his wounds.
(Gilles de Rais’ “in-court confession.”)
Item, the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, stated and confessed that he sent the said Gilles de Sillé into a region farther north, to find conjurors of demons or evil spirits. Which Gilles de Sillé, having returned, told him that he had found a woman who busied herself with like invocations: which woman had said to Sillé that if Gilles de Rais did not turn his soul away from the Church and his chapel, he would never accomplish what he desired; and that Sillé had met in the same region another woman who told him that if the said accused did not abandon a work begun by him or that he intended to pursue, or have it stopped, nothing good would ever come to him.
Item, that the said Gilles de Sillé had found in the same region an invoker whom he proposed sending to the said accused, which conjuror, who was preparing to join the said accused, drowned while crossing a river or stream.
Item, the said Gilles, the accused, stated and confessed that the said Sillé brought him another conjuror who also died immediately. And because of these unlucky deaths and the difficulties counterpoised to his guilty intentions in the aforesaid invocations or the like he said he believed that divine clemency and the intercession of the Church, from which his heart and his belief have never strayed, had mercifully arrived and prevented him from succumbing to so many tests and perils; and for this reason he intended to renounce his evil life, and make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the sepulcher of Our Lord and other places included in the Passion of his Redeemer and to do all that he could to obtain forgiveness for his sins, through the mercy of his Redeemer.
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