CHAPTER III
GILLE’S LIFE AT HOME IN BRITANNY
1430–1439
_The personal Appearance of Gilles de Retz. An Epitome of his Life. His Extravagance and ruinous Expenditures. His Inheritance. His Sales and Transfers of Property. His Love for the Theatre. Mysteries. That of the Siege of Orleans. Mysteries at Nantes. The Cathedral. Expensive Visit to Orleans. Maison de la Suze. The Decree of the King interdicting his Sale or Incumbrance of Property. The increasing Demand for Money drives him to Magic in Search for the Philosopher’s Stone and the Transmutation of base Metals into Gold. Magic._
There are but two known portraits of Gilles de Retz. That in the palace at Versailles is purely imaginative, and was only made to complete the series of the Marshals of France. It is not known by whom or at what time the other was made. In 1438, Gilles was thirty-five years old, tall, handsome, and well formed. He showed in his face, figure, and in every movement, his pride and spirit. He had a high, rather than broad, forehead; his nose was prominent and slightly aquiline; the nostrils were large and thin, and, on occasions of anger, spread and quivered in an interesting and threatening manner. His lips were rather thin but well coloured, and had a tinge of delicate and refined sensuality.
Like many of the Breton race, his complexion was fair, his eyes large and blue, and his eyebrows and lashes long and black. His hair was also long and black, and beard the same. It was soft and silky, and with its raven blackness became shiny, giving it a tinge of blue-black, which may have served as a foundation for his pseudonym in that country. His neck was neither too short, too long, nor yet too large, but seemed a column full of nervous strength, calculated to support solidly and well his head and brain, with whatever of pride, audacity, and confidence it might have. His shoulders were square, his body long, his waist small, while the bust and hips were large and fairly placed upon the muscular legs, which stood straight under him, giving his body firm support. His fingers were long and tapering, his hands small, and their fair complexion, when brought in contact with his velvet costume and lace ruffles, showed them to good advantage. Thus, he had the physical appearance of an athlete trained in all the exercises of the body; of much strength, a good walker, a good rider, and capable of any feat at arms.
Michelet (_Hist. de France_, vol. v., pp. 208–213) describes Gilles as of “_bon entendment, belle personne et bonne façon, lettré de plus, et appréciant fort ce qui parlaient avec élégance la langue latine_.”
Lemire says (p. 39) that Gilles, when he appeared before the Court, was dressed in pantaloons, skin-tight, after the fashion of the day, and shirt and vest, all of white wool, with boots also white. Over this was a doublet of pearl-grey silk embroidered with gold, with a hood of ermine; a sash of scarlet about his waist which supported a poniard with red velvet scabbard. He wore his military and seigniorial medals and orders, and about his neck a chain of gold with a reliquary. From the latter he never parted.
How much of this description is actual and how much imaginary will probably never be known; but in the attractiveness of his person and manner, Gilles de Retz compared with the best of his race in that country, and the foregoing might have been a fairly truthful representation. He seems the model of a gentleman of his time; his life being divided between the chase, war, and his adventures. He had beauty, force, riches, and occupied the highest rank among the nobility of his province. To him, nature and fortune had been blindly prodigal in their gifts.
On Gilles’s return from service in the army of France, after the murder of Joan of Arc, he retired to his château, dwelling alternately at Machecoul and Tiffauges, with an occasional visit to his Hôtel de la Suze in Nantes. He engaged in no serious business, but apparently resigned himself to domestic pleasures and happiness. He established himself in a princely fashion. The interiors of his châteaux were decorated in the most magnificent and luxurious manner possible. He maintained a small army, the members of which were in his own pay. He was passionately fond of music; he purchased instruments and organised all sorts of musical competitions and displays. He established a religious hierarchy, having as a member of his own household a pseudo bishop with a large retinue, and all the necessary paraphernalia, including rich vestments for his servants and expensive decorations for his chapels.
This luxurious, magnificent, expensive mode of living was carried on for so long a time, increasing to such an alarming extent, that his brother René presented a memoir or petition to the King, called in history _Mémoires des Héritiers_, wherein these expenditures and extravagances were set forth at as great length and with as much detail and redundant phrase as though it were a bill in equity. This memoir ended with the prayer that the King should pass a decree against Gilles, interdicting him from making sale, transfer, or alienation, or mortgaging or pledging any of his property. This process is not unknown to French law. Without having the law of primogeniture as in England, the heirs yet had certain rights which, consequent upon the death of Gilles, would accrue to them under the law of France, and thus it was that the King was prayed to take the necessary steps for the protection of the rights of the heirs. In this proceeding his brother, René de la Suze, seems to have been the principal and moving spirit, although he was afterwards aided and abetted by his cousin, Guy de Laval.
From the _Mémoires des Héritiers_ we get a knowledge of the property of Gilles de Retz. The list of his lands, possessions, and income, with his family ancestry, through which he received them, was as follows:
From the house of Rais, left by Joan la Sage, first the title of Baron and then the rank of Dean of Barons in the duchy of Brittany, with its châteaux and dependencies in great number, of which the principal only are named--Machecoul, Saint-Étienne-de-Mer-Morte, Pornic, Prinçay (or Princé), Vue, Ile de Bouin, etc.
From the house of Montmorency-Laval, the original ancestry of his father,--independent of his adoption by Joan la Sage,--the seigniories of Blaison, of Chemillé, of Fontaine-Milon, and of Grattecuisse in Anjou; of Ambrières, Saint-Aubin-de-Fosse-Louvain, province of Maine; and others in Brittany.
From the house of Craon, through his grandfather and his mother, the Hôtel de la Suze at Nantes; the seigniories and châteaux of Briollay, Champtocé, and Ingrandes, province of Anjou; of Sénéché, Loroux-Botereau, Bénate, Bourgneuf-en-Rais, Voulte, and others.
From his wife, on their marriage, Tiffauges, Pouzauges, Chabanais, Confolens, Châteaumorant, Savenay, Lombert, Grez-sur-Maine, with “_plusiers autres terres fort belles, et leurs dépendencies_.”
The value of this immense property has been estimated at four and a half millions of francs, though this may be exaggerated. His personal property was valued at one time at a hundred thousand golden crowns, and his income was variously estimated from thirty to sixty thousand pounds per annum.
It was alleged that he had made sales and transfers of property in an improvident manner and to an unjustifiable extent, dissipating to that extent his patrimony, to the damage of his estate and the detriment of his heirs. These were given somewhat in detail in the _Mémoires_, etc., viz.:
To Gauthier de Brussac, Captain-at-arms, the towns and seigniories of Confolens, Chabanais, Châteaumorant, and Lombert;
To Jean de Marsille, the châtellenie, land, and seigniorie of Fontaine-Milon in Anjou;
To Messire William de la Jumelière, the château and lands of Blaison, of Chemillé, in Anjou;
To Hardouin de Bueil, Bishop of Angers, the land and seigniory of Grattecuisse, the châtellenie and château of Saveny, half the forest of Brecilien;
To Messire Guy de la Roche-Guyon, the château and lands of Motte-Achard, and of Maurière, in Poitou;
To Jean Malestroit, Bishop of Nantes (who was soon to be his judge), the château and lands of Prigné, of Vue, Bois-aux-Treaux in the parish of Saint-Michel-Sénéché, and _un grand nombre de terres situés dans le clos du pays de Rais pour une somme énorme_;
To William de Fresnière and Guillemot le Cesne, merchants of Angers, the lands and seigniories of Ambrières, Saint-Aubin-de-Fosse-Louvain in the province of Maine;
To Jean de Montecler, one of his men-at-arms, and to Guillemot le Cesne, aforesaid, the lands and seigniories of Voulte and Sénéché;
To Jean Rabateau, president of the parliament, the lands and seigniories of d’Auzence, de Cloué, and de Lignon;
To William (apothecary at Poitiers), Jean Ambert, and Jacques de l’Epine, the lands Brueil-Mangon-lez-Poitiers;
To Georges Tremoille, late favourite of the king, now in retirement, twelve hundred “reaux” of gold on the rents of Champtocé, to pay interest money on twelve thousand “reaux” of gold formerly borrowed from him;
To Perrinet Pain, bourgeois and merchant of Angers, much interest money on loans secured on his lands and seigniories;
To the Chapter of Notre Dame, Nantes, his superb Hôtel de la Suze;
To Jean le Ferron, Saint Étienne-de-Mer-Morte, etc., etc., etc.
During some period, most likely in his younger days and before his services in the army, Gilles de Retz became enamoured of the theatre. His taste in this luxury was in the same extravagant style as the chapels, the bishop, and his religious secretaries.
There have been many histories of the theatre and the drama in France written by French historians. _Histoire du Théâtre en France_, Paris, 1881, two volumes, Monsieur Petit de Julleville; _Histoire de la Société Française au Moyen Âge_, Paris, 1880, by Monsieur Rosières; _Mise en Scène des Mystères_, Paris, 1885, by M. Paulin, Paris; _Le Drame Chrétien_, by M. Marius Sepet; _Tableau de la Littérature au Moyen Âge_, by M. Villemain; _Histoire du Théâtre Français_, Paris, 1745 to 1749, fifteen volumes, by les Frères Parfaict; _Dictionnaire du XIX^{me} Siècle_, by La Rousse; and there may be many others, but with them all, our understanding of the extravagance and expenditure, and the consequent elegance and richness attained by theatres in France during the period in which we are now interested, would be incomplete without a study of the life of Gilles de Retz. His love for the theatre manifested itself not simply in looking at the spectacle and hearing the play, but in organising, arranging, and presenting the plays of the time in theatres established and conducted by himself. Some of these presentations were in his own châteaux, but others were given in the neighbouring cities--Nantes, Angers, Blois, Orleans, and minor places in the provinces of Brittany, Maine, Anjou, Touraine, and Poitou.
One cause of his indulgence in theatrical display appears to have been the desire to make himself popular with the people. That he loved the theatre and its plays, and that they gave him pleasure, is not to be doubted, but after all, it is supposed that his ambition to shine among the people formed the real foundation.
The theatre had always been intended as a means of amusement. An attempt was made in France and the Latin countries during the fifteenth century, to combine in the theatre instruction of a religious kind with pleasure and amusement. This attempt was fostered by the clergy, and, in its execution, theatrical plays were performed in sundry chapels and sanctuaries. Whether the Passion Play at Oberammergau is a revival or continuation of this custom, is suggested but not decided. But such plays were common enough in the fifteenth century and met with favour in the Church. In its origin, this departure was exclusively religious, and was adopted by the Church as an ingenious and original continuation of the education of the people in the mysteries of the Christian religion. Originally, it employed only sacred topics, and used only terms taken from the ritual, or from the Bible, and was altogether in prose Latin.
With the lapse of time, the imagination of authors, and the progress of popular language, theatrical representations passed from the chapels and holy places to the public places, and the Latin language was superseded by the vulgar. The priests who had conducted the play gave way to laymen, and the liturgy of the drama was superseded by other compositions. While religious scenes were continued and religious thoughts were the principal inspiration, yet there came interruptions and lapses. Secular and historic pieces were put upon the boards. These were occasionally fixed together and played, first one and then another, without attempt at regularity or continuation, as we in the present day may have everything from tragedy to farce in the same season at the same theatre. In the fifteenth century the favourite representations were the “Mysteries” and next the “Moralities,” and after these, dramas and farces. The former were religious or historic dramas, calculated as much for religious or historical instruction and entertainment as for pleasure and amusement. The Last Judgment, the Birth of Christ, the Baptism in Jordan, the Marriage in Cana, and other Mysteries in the life of Christ were presented, usually on holy days, at Christmas, Easter, Ascension Day, and Pentecost. In not a few cases the theatre was in the open air, and this custom has been kept up in Brittany and certain provinces in France to the present day. While there are regular theatre halls in the cities, yet throughout the country are travelling troupes of mountebanks, jugglers, conjurers, etc., with trained dogs and other animals, who, arriving at a small town in the afternoon, pitch their tents upon the market-place or any other open square which can be secured, advertise the play by beating of drums or ringing of bells, charge one sou for a stand-up admission, and two sous for admission and a seat. The stage is made by unrolling a strip of carpet upon the ground or pavement. And here will be performed the sublime tragedy, the touching drama, and the roaring farce.
In the fifteenth century the plays, especially the Mysteries, whether religious or historic, were elaborate and extensive. The scene of the play varied according to its necessity and so was changed from town to country, from open street to walled town, the audience and actors being moved with it, as in certain ancient Greek theatres. An immense amount of decoration was required, which, however, was not usually a painted canvas stretched upon a frame, representing the desired object; but these scenes were made of the real thing, and the decoration, especially of the streets and walls about, were of hangings, usually of tapestry, though in cases of need any gaily coloured stuffs, like coverlets, bed-spreads, table-cloths, or carpets would be pressed into service. This custom exists in Brittany to the present day. The author well remembers one of the holy days in August, 1882, when, visiting the village of Savenay near Nantes, which by chance was one of the seigniories of Gilles de Retz, he witnessed the decoration of the village. The well-to-do residents brought out their tapestries and hung them along the fronts of their houses and garden walls; the poorer people, their carpets and coverlets, or anything which helped to make a gay appearance; while in one particular residence a bolt of white cotton cloth was brought out and stretched along the wall, covering it for a distance of fifty or sixty yards. This kind of decoration is not uncommon, and even in Nantes and Angers a greater amount of tapestry may be seen on a single holy day than otherwise during a year’s residence.
Where required by the action of the drama, the scenes were built in the fashion of scaffolds. In the Mystery of the Creation the lower scaffold represented the earth, while the second or upper represented the heavens. In the Last Judgment and the Resurrection it consisted of two great scaffolds, making three stones one above another, the upper one of which represented Paradise, with God upon His throne, the Virgin, the Christ, the angels; all the holy things. The middle stage represented the earth with the mortals engaged in their everyday duties; while the lower one represented Sheol with the Prince of Darkness in command, and the demons, small and great, engaged in their supposed task of keeping up the fires and of stirring up the spirits of the damned. The description of all this interests us in its relation to Gilles de Retz only because of its extravagance and immense expenditure.
The historic Mystery was also a favourite. The Mystery of the Siege of Orleans appears to have been the most popular and the most frequently played. But there were others: the Passion of Metz, the Mystery of Paris, that of Saint Michel of Angers, of Saint Barbe. Gilles de Retz organised, equipped, and presented no less than ten of these Mysteries. They were long, too; the Moralities contained about twelve hundred verses; while the Mysteries had many thousand verses, that of the Siege of Orleans having twenty thousand five hundred and twenty-nine lines; and they not infrequently required an entire day in the performance. The presence and aid of five hundred persons were required on some of these grand occasions.
One of the first paragraphs in the chapter on the extravagant and ruinous folly of Gilles in the _Mémoire des Héritiers_, tells that the establishment, organisation, and equipment of these theatres and the performance of the plays was at the expense of Gilles. The succeeding paragraphs enlarge upon his immense and ruinous expenditures in this regard. The decoration, apparel, apparatus, the costumes of all the actors, were ordered by him. He required the best of everything, while the question of expense or even of value seemed as nothing. When he wanted them, he wanted them, and they were purchased at the asking price. Each person had his special costume according to his rôle and dignity; the beggar, the varlet, the huntsman, as well as the soldier, knight, and noble, the fair ladies, the saints in heaven, were all accoutred and equipped with stuffs of such richness as would magnify the greatness and power of the author and owner of it all, and gratify his inordinate ambition. Gold, silver, velvet, precious stones, rich armour, luxurious harness, fine embroidery, silken stuff, satin, and all the marvels of art in profusion. When the ornaments of the Church were required in any scene or play, there were copes, chasubles, dalmatics, albs, and all the ecclesiastical robes so rich and sumptuous. His ecclesiastical paraphernalia was at the command of the theatre.
The follies and ambition of Gilles not only required his theatrical costumes and property to be of the richest and most expensive stuffs, but in his maladministration they were bought at highest prices, payment frequently made with promises greatly increasing their cost. With all this, his pride was such that he never permitted the same dress to be worn twice; everything was required to be made anew for each representation, or for each series of representations. New costumes seem to have been his particular fad in that day, so that he could use the same terms which now appear in the playbills of the city--“entirely new and elegant costumes.” Having been once used, they were thrown aside or sold at whatever could be gotten for them. This meant to buy at the highest price and sell at the lowest, a system which we well know produces financial ruin. His ambition and desire to please led him into foolish and useless expenditures. All his theatres and the plays rendered by him were free; the people who attended paid nothing. Gilles paid the expenses of the entire entertainment. Consequently, one can easily understand the statements made in the _Mémoirs_ of the ruin wrought by these representations, the cost of each one being thirty, forty, and fifty thousand francs (six, eight, and ten thousand dollars).
Gilles’s favourite play was the Mystery of the Siege of Orleans. Here he was not only actor but principal. It was a drama in verse though not in rhyme. It was based upon the events of that memorable siege. Quicherat says of it that its historic value is _nil_, not because the author has removed it from the domain of history, but for the contrary reason, that he was quite too near, both in space and time, to the events as they happened, and was, therefore, unable to take the rôle of historian, and make deductions. He could not form conclusions, nor announce principles: all that he did was to recount the actions and events as they happened day by day. He was a recorder, not an historian. The drama or poem was largely romance; while recounting the daily progress of the siege, it was not a veritable or trustworthy journal thereof. The words put into the mouths of the various actors were probably never spoken by them, certainly never were heard by the author. But they were the speech of the day; they were news gathered at the time and which might have appeared in the daily newspapers, if such things had then existed. It is because of their nearness to the events that they are not history. How long the Mystery of the Siege of Orleans continued to be represented in the theatre as a drama is immaterial.
One hundred and forty personages have been introduced upon the stage, not counting the groups of soldiers, peasants, citizens, musicians, etc. The Marshal de Retz figured in it as one of the prominent actors, in close relation to the King and to Joan of Arc. Not only is his name mentioned, but he himself had a speaking part and was present on the stage. Naturally he would take his own part and appear under his own name in the play; and this was both a compliment to his courage and ability as a soldier, and his versatility as an artist. While it kept him constantly before the people, it gave him an opportunity to gratify his ambition. It is useless to give any description of it, for it is simply the representation of the siege of Orleans written by one who, while he did not copy the journal, had it under his hand while writing the drama. Because it is in verse, it will not be practicable to translate much or any of it, but a few paragraphs will be given in which Gilles de Retz figured, and will be inserted (Appendix C) for the purpose of bringing out his part.
A description of one of these Mysteries has been given us by Monsieur Paul Saunière. Its presentation took place in the Place Notre Dame before the Cathedral at Nantes, on May 21, 1439, under the direction, and at the expense, of Gilles de Retz. It was the Mystery of the Lord Jesus Christ and of the Virgin Mary. It was written by a young poet, Jean Lanoë, and Gilles de Retz is reported to have paid him the sum of ten golden crowns. Whether the story told by Saunière is absolute verity, is of slight consequence. There can be little doubt that it represents truthfully the custom of the period relating to such spectacles, and is a fair description thereof. Much of it is recognised as in accordance with habits and customs of that country in the present day.
All public proclamations and announcements by official authority in the provinces are made through the aid of either trumpet or drum, but in Brittany with the trumpet. The herald or other officer, when making an official sale, begins generally at the City Hall, makes the round of the city, sounding his trumpet at prominent places, calling the people together to hear his announcement, which he makes _viva voce_, and so passes on to the next place, repeating the performance. Lost children are cried in the same way, except that when done by a private individual a bell is used.
In the present case, the herald-at-arms was richly dressed in the livery of his master, the Baron de Retz, accompanied by a guard of four soldiers, or men-at-arms, who escorted him and kept the crowd at a distance while he blew a call on his trumpet; and then he made his announcement, which is given as follows:
“We, noble and powerful Baron, Gilles de Retz, Marshal of France, Lord of Champtocé, Tiffauges, Machecoul, Saint Étienne-de-Mer-Morte, Pornic, and other places, do by these presents make known, that by the express permission of the high and powerful Lord Seignieur, Jean de Malestroit, by the Grace of God and the Holy Father, the Bishop of Nantes, there will be given on the 21st day of the present month, at two o’clock afternoon, at the Place of Notre Dame, a presentation of a Mystery concerning the life of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and of Madam, the Holy Virgin, His Mother.”
When the herald ceased, the soldiers closed up the circle that had been made around him and prepared to escort him to another place, while the crowd cried, “Liesse, Liesse, to the Marshal--Liesse to our Lord Bishop!” The herald and his men-at-arms departed and the crowd dispersed.
The locality of the presentation of this spectacle adjoined the cathedral on its right as one stands facing it. This Mystery had but a single scene, and required but a single stage. This stage, intended for the use of the actors, was flanked on either side by an alcove or balcony; that on the left, intended for the high dignitaries of the Church and the city, the nobles, and other persons of distinction was decorated with long and heavy curtains of blue velvet bordered with gold, the upper portion thereof being provided with rings to slide upon a curtain rod, by which means the occupants of the alcove could be cut off from the view of the multitude. This balcony bore the arms of the archbishop and those of the city of Nantes. The balcony on the opposite side of the alcove was arranged with curtains in the same way, but it was draped with red velvet decorated with a border of white velvet and gold braid and tassels. This balcony bore two coats of arms, both belonging to the Baron de Retz--one was the house of Retz itself, gold with _croix de sable_; the other, that of Machecoul, _trois chevrons de gueules sur le champ d’argent_. The stage for the actors formed the centre of the alcove, but was brought to the front to enable the populace to see it, and was decorated with red velvet bearing the coat of arms of the city of Nantes.
As the hour for the spectacle approaches, the crowd gathers in the place, and soon it is a mass of people, bourgeoisie and peasantry, most of them wearing the peculiar costumes of the country.
The archbishop with his suite could reach his balcony by a private way. The Baron de Retz occupied his hotel called Maison de la Suze in the Rue Notre Dame. This Maison de la Suze has been destroyed, and no representation of it is in existence. There are, however, many other of the ancient streets lined on either side with houses belonging, if not to that precise epoch, to the one immediately following, and as such may here be given with propriety as presenting a reasonably faithful idea of the city. Many of these houses are historic and have been occupied by persons of renown and distinction. Similar houses are to be seen in other towns of Brittany--Vannes, Quimper, Angers, Laval, Dinan. These houses are usually built of frames of wood with great beams and posts as shown, and not infrequently the principal beams across the front of the house bear a carved inscription. The author has seen these in Vannes and Auray, of which the following are samples:
PAX HVNC DOMVN ET OMNIBUS HABITAN IRVS IN EA ICI JAN FOLLIART MA FAICT FAIRE LAN 1560.
AV NOM DE DIEV, DIEV SOICT EN MES AFFAIRES. YVES LEKME ET PERRINE LEBAR SA COMPAGNE ONT FAICT FAIRE SE LOGIS EN IVING 1565.
Returning to the spectacle of the Mystery: The Baron de Retz passes out from his great double gates or doors which form the entrance to his Maison de la Suze, accompanied by his guards of honour, whose glittering armour reflects brilliantly the rays of the sun. With their halberts, they press back the crowd to make way for the Baron and his suite. By his side, and within easy reach, walks one of his men-at-arms, holding a casque upturned, more or less filled with coined money, of which the Baron occasionally takes a handful and scatters among the crowd, first on one side and then on the other. Arrived at the balcony intended for him, the guards of honour open their ranks, press back the crowd, take their station at the foot of the steps and along the front of the balcony, while the Baron, accompanied by his suite, among which were his chapel, as it is called, comprising his bishop and some thirty ecclesiastics of divers names and functions, mount the balcony and take their places, the Baron, of course, at the front and centre. It is said that his display of church and ecclesiastical dignitaries was unwarranted, that it had never been authorised by the Pope, that his Bishop had no ecclesiastical jurisdiction, nor was he lawfully entitled to perform the functions or support the dignity, and it was also said that his appearance in this character had always irritated, if it did not anger the Bishop of Nantes.
The description of this spectacle has not been preserved to us, though, as with the Mystery of Orleans, of which a few copies of the libretto have been preserved, this spectacle at Nantes excited the populace and aroused their enthusiasm, to which they gave vent with cries of joy and great huzzas. The dignitaries were present with many of their suite, in gorgeous dress and costumes, their men-at-arms with casque and cuirass, Damascene steel and shining halbert and scabbard. Their coats-of-mail were fire-gilt, and covered them from waist to knees; gloves and boots of red leather completed a brilliant and striking costume. The prelates, on the other hand, with their magnificent official robes of scarlet and gold and silver, with the curtains and hangings of such royal magnificence, all served as a background for the play of the Mystery which, being of the Infant Jesus and the Virgin Mary, excited the deep-seated religious fervour and enthusiasm of the people. They manifested their joy and enthusiasm in the usual way of crowds, but the principal share was devoted to the Baron de Retz. This was the pleasure reserved for him; this was the compensation for his great expenditure. It gratified his ambition, tickled his vanity, gave him pleasure, justified his expenditure, confirmed his extravagant habits, and led him farther in the course which ended in his ruin.
It would scarcely be possible at this late date, to obtain a more complete report of the prodigalities of Gilles de Retz than is furnished by the _Mémoires des Héritiers_, which, as it was sufficient for the King, should be sufficient for us; but there will occasionally crop out of the historical desert of this ancient time a record which, by giving information on a particular subject, lifts the veil from his life and gives us glimpses into certain extravagances, whereby we may imagine the result. One of these, lately found among the archives at Orleans, and contributed by M. Doinel, is a memorandum of a visit of Gilles to that city from September, 1434, to August, 1435. He was accompanied by his suite and retinue, military and ecclesiastic. His brother, René de la Suze, was with him, which was the only time they are shown to have been together, and, curiously enough, it must have been while the _Mémoires des Héritiers_, if not already presented, were being prepared, or at least contemplated; for the decree of the King was published within the next two years; yet no mention is made therein of René’s presence on this trip.
Arrived at Orleans, Gilles de Retz installed himself, with his personal adjutants, at the Hôtel Croix d’Or (Golden Cross), while his suite and high officers with their respective retinues, were installed at the other hotels, until, as the minute says, there was not a hotel in all Orleans but was occupied, if not filled, by him or by the officers and men of his suite. His “college,” that is, the ecclesiastics, twenty-five or thirty persons, were installed at the _Écu_ (Crown) _de Saint Georges_; the choir and their leader at the _Enseigne de l’Épée_ (Sign of the Sword); his armourer, Hector Broisset, at the _Coupe_; his brother, René de la Suze, at the _Petit Saumon_ (Little Salmon); his councillors, Gilles de Sillé, Guy de Bonnière, Guyot de Chambrays, Guillaume Tardif, and Guy de Blanchfort, with his captain of the guard, Loys l’Angevin, at the _Grand Saumon_ (Great Salmon); his chevaliers, Monseignieurs de Martigné, Foulques Blasmes, Jean de Rains, and Bauleis, at the _Image de Sainte Marie Madeleine_; Jean de Montecler, with Colin le Godelier; his _Rais le herault_ (herald) and suite, with men-at-arms, at the _Tête Noire_; his chariots and horses, with those of his brother René, at the _Roche-Boulet_; the vicar of the chapel, the priest Le Blond and his barber, and the horses of the “college” at _l’Enseigne du Fourbisseur_; the Seignieur Jean de Veille, Bois-Roulier, his provost, George the trumpeter, at the house of Jeannette la Pionne; Thomas his _enlumineur_, at _le Dieu d’Amour_ (God of Love); while men-at-arms, servants, lackeys, and followers, occupied the _Cheval Blanc_ (White Horse), _l’Homme Sauvage_ (Savage Man), and _l’Écu d’Orléans_ (the Crown of Orleans).
While at Orleans, in 1434, he made thence, during the autumn, a trip to the Bourbonnais country, stopping for a time at Montlucon, at the hotel _l’Écu_ (Crown) _de France_. When his hotel bill for eight hundred and ten _reaux d’or_ was presented, he could pay only four hundred and ninety-five, and his two servitors, Jean de Sellier and Huet de Villarceau, became his guarantors of payment. Everything during the trip was at his expense. They all travelled on horseback, unless it was some high dignitary or _quelque malade_ (sick) who had a chariot. Horses and all expenditures were furnished by him, and preparing for such a trip, everybody was provided with new, striking, and, consequently, expensive costumes, suitable for the suite of such a rich and puissant Baron.
On his return to Brittany in August, 1435, it was found that his travels during the year had cost the round sum of eighty thousand golden crowns. The _Mémoires_ say this trip left a train of “devoured revenues, lands sold, seigniories mortgaged, works of art and valuables hypothecated, with considerable debts and unpaid loans _très onéreux_, which menaced ruin and opened an abyss threatening to engulf everything.”
Among the records found at Orleans was one which, made under the circumstances relating to his expenses and financial condition, throws a strong side-light on his character, bringing out the recklessly spendthrift side of it, and would go a long way towards justifying the King’s decree of the interdiction of the sale and mortgage of any property, which, it is not to be forgotten, shortly followed this visit to Orleans.
This paper, prepared by Gilles, provided:
“Saturday, xxvi day of March, MCCCCXXXIIII (1435 N.S.). The noble and puissant lord, Monsieur Gilles, Seignior of Retz, Count of Brienne, Lord of Champtocé and Pouzauges, Marshal of France, has lately, for the good of his soul, and looking to our Lord Jesus Christ, on behalf of himself, his late father, mother, relatives and friends, all sinners, made a foundation _in memory of the Holy Innocents_, at Machecoul in Rais, Duchy of Brittany.”
By this paper he appoints a full corps of priests, “vicar, dean, archdeacon, treasurer, canons, chapter, and college”; for the support and maintenance of this establishment he gives in trust, in due and formal language, to the King of Sicily and Duke of Anjou his castle and _châtellenie_ of Champtocé, and to the Duke of Brittany one-half the Barony and lands of Rais. He confirmed this gift before notaries named. He declared the two princes named should act as his trustees; and, providing for their possible refusal to act, he names respectively, and in succession, as future trustees, the King, the Emperor, the Pope; in case they all refuse, the lands shall be divided between the knights of the Orders of Saint John and of Saint Lazare.
All the Princes named refused, and each, as far as he could, interdicted and prohibited Gilles from carrying out his project. It accordingly fell through. Yet, at the moment of his establishing this priestly organisation, he was engaged, as we shall see farther on, in the commission of the most horrible and unnatural of crimes, for which he was, before the end of the decade, to be ignominiously executed.
His Maison de la Suze has been described, whether actually or only from similar houses of the epoch, is now impossible to tell; but it is said to have eclipsed, in its luxury and taste, the palace of the Dukes of Brittany. It was ornamented and decorated to a high degree. All countries were laid under tribute to furnish riches for its decoration: Italy for its painting and sculpture, Spain for its Cordovan leather, Flanders for its tapestry, Venice and Bohemia for their crystals and glassware, the Orient for its magnificent stuffs, and Persia for its tiles and _faience_; while, without doubt, the ceramics of his own and neighbouring provinces, like Tours, Orleans, Gien, Quimper, and Poitou (the latter the forerunner of Limoges), were represented in the luxurious fittings of the houses and châteaux of Gilles, the Baron de Retz.
The _Mémoire des Héritiers_, setting forth the extravagant and ruinous expenditures by which the principal of the estate was being dissipated, was duly presented to the King and the necessary proof offered to establish its allegations. The date is not given, but it should have been about 1432–33. In 1435–36, the King, having become satisfied of the truth of the matters alleged, through his Council of State and by letters patent, issued his decree of prohibition against the alienation or incumbrance by Gilles de Retz of any of his lands or seigniories. This decree has been preserved to us in Guepin’s _Histoire de Nantes_, pp. 131–133.
The Decree of Interdiction by the King, against the sale and incumbrance of his property commences with a description of the various noble families from which Gilles de Retz had descended; his titles, his property, baronies, châteaux, seigniories, his marriage, the properties of his wife--that is to say, Pouzauges, Tiffauges, Chabenais, Confolens, Château-Morant, Savenay, Lombert, Grez-sur-Maine, and other beautiful properties, the rental value of which amounted to six or seven thousand livres (pounds, about three hundred thousand francs, actual value); that from his said marriage, he derived also personal property of the value of one hundred thousand golden crowns; that he held in Grosses Baronies thirty thousand livres of true domains; that from his office of Marshal of France he received grand salary and pension from the King, with numerous gratuities; so that he had a yearly income of forty or fifty thousand livres or more. The said Gilles, after the decease of his father, took the administration of his estate to himself and used it according to his pleasure; he established himself in an estate grander than that to which he really belonged; kept two hundred horsemen, maintained a chapel of singers in his château numbering twenty-five or thirty persons, chaplain, clerks, children, and others; these were taken with him when he travelled; and in all things he managed his affairs so as to have in his château, because of the said chapel, more than fifty men or persons at his expense, and as many horses; he had also in said chapel a great quantity or number of ornaments, cloth of gold, silk, chandeliers and _censoirs_, crosses, plates, dishes, etc.; these were of such sumptuosity that they cost three times more than their value; he had several organs, one of which, carried by six men, was taken with him wherever he went; he often purchased cloth-of-gold at sixty or eighty crowns per _aune_ (ell) when it was not worth more than twenty-five, and a pair of “orfrays” (embroidered cloth of gold) at three or four hundred crowns, when they were not worth more than one hundred; he kept in the said chapel a dean, choir-leader, or singing-master, an archdeacon, vicar, schoolmaster, etc., as in the cathedral, and one of these priests or officers he undertook to establish and treat as a bishop; he paid to some of these four hundred crowns, and to others three hundred; he dressed them in robes with scarlet trains trimmed with plush and fur, with fine hats; all were kept and served with the most costly and expensive viands; the service of all these so-called priests (holy men) was nothing but vanity, without devotion and in defiance of good order. The said Gilles sent on several occasions to the Pope in the endeavour to obtain permission or authority that his choristers, or leaders, should be mitred as prelates, or like the canons of the church at Lyons. He made excessive gifts in wine, viands, and _hypocras_, to all who desired to eat or drink, keeping open house for that purpose, and those who had the government of his affairs lived like great lords; while the commoners frequently had naught, _ni boire ni manger_, when they came to table.
He played games, farces, _morisques_, and, on occasion, he performed the Mysteries of Pentecost and Ascension, on high scaffolds under which were _hypocras_ and strong wines, as in a cave.
The said Gilles constituted one of his familiars, Roger de Briqueville, as his procureur, agent, or attorney-in-fact, empowered to marry his daughter, Marie, at a time when she was only four or five years of age, to whatever man should seem good to the said de Briqueville, against the custom prevailing in the country to marry the daughters, issue of such high nobility, only with the assent of their parents and friends. He took it into his head to deal in alchemy, hoping thus to obtain the Philosopher’s Stone; sent to Germany and to different countries in search of the masters of this art, and brought to his château Monsieur Anth. of Palermo, making, with him, outrageous expenses from which no one derived any profit; in all of which things he acted without sense or understanding, and in a foolish, if not crazy, manner. It is found that he sold and alienated certain lands (describing them).
For these reasons, the King, being fully informed and having fully ascertained of the evil government of the said Sieur de Retz, through his Grand Council, issued his interdiction and prohibition against any alienation, transfer, mortgage, or pledge, by the said Gilles de Retz, of any of his lands or seigniories.
The King enjoined upon his Parliament the duty of carrying this decree of interdiction into effect; and under severe penalties, he forbade any captains, guards, tenants, or persons in charge, from attorning or delivering up to any stranger (to the title) any château or fortress of Gilles de Retz until Parliament should so order.
This decree was published “at the sound of the trumpet” at the principal places concerned--Orleans, Tours, Angers, Champtocé, Pouzauges, Tiffauges, Saint-Jean-d’Angely, and other places. The Duke of Brittany refused to accept, register, or publish the decree, and it was in vain that the “_femme, parents, et les amis_” of Gilles solicited him. It is alleged that this was to enable the Duke to take advantage of the necessities of Gilles, and purchase his lands at ruinous prices. He purchased some and took mortgages on others; Champtocé, Bourgneuf, Bénate, and Prinçay or Princé, were mortgaged for the sum of 100,000 crowns of gold, to be repaid within six years. In this way did Gilles, during these eight years of his life, dissipate the sum of _deux cents mille écus_ (200,000 crowns) of the heritage.
The King’s interdiction of the sale or mortgage of any of his property aggravated Gilles’s situation by increasing his difficulties in obtaining money. He had no scruples about borrowing money of whomsoever he could, and if repayment could be put off a sufficient length of time, would promise the return of it doubled or trebled, as the creditor demanded. The situation must have been irritating to Gilles, and doubtless proved his incentive to magic, by which he hoped to discover the Philosopher’s Stone, and, thereby, the means of converting the baser metals into gold. Whatever he may have done, or thought, in this direction prior to the passing of the decree, it seems that later he entered into closer relation with the alchemist and magician, and sought to study and practise the “black art” to a greater degree than he ever had done before.
From this on, we have to treat Gilles as a changed man, not only in his conduct, but in his character and desires. He separated from his wife, but established her in the château of Champtocé, while he installed himself with his retinue, including his magician, in the two châteaux, one at Machecoul, which he had received from his father, Guy de Laval, but principally at Tiffauges, which he had received from his wife. Here we have to treat of him no longer as a soldier, or as a noble of France, but in his character of magician, necromancer, debtor, robber, murderer.
Under these circumstances what course was Gilles to pursue, and what could he do to retrieve his fallen fortunes? He required money, he was spending more than his income; he was selling off his property and reducing his principal in the vain attempt to liquidate his debts and provide for his present expenses. He did not have strength of character to adopt a rigorous reduction of expenses and live on a moderate and conservative plan; indeed, such would hardly have been natural. The great man of a neighbourhood, who, having been entrusted with large sums of money; or the banker or trader who, being deeply indebted, endeavours to restore his broken fortunes by retrenchment of expenditures, only precipitates the catastrophe he seeks to avert. The ostensibly rich man who proposes to make himself better able to meet the demands of his business by disposing of his horses and carriage, closing up his houses, selling his yacht, giving fewer entertainments to his friends, instead of proving himself successful and inviting confidence in his ability to pull through, will prove the architect of his own doom. Therefore, what was Gilles de Retz to do? What he did, was to rely upon the success of his scheme for the discovery of the Philosopher’s Stone, in the hope to thus replenish his empty coffers.