CHAPTER I

GILLES DE RETZ

_His Name, Family, Marriage, and Education_

The original of Bluebeard in the Mother Goose story was Gilles de Rais (changed in 1581 to Retz), though he is sometimes called _Gilles de Laval_ in history. Neither the date nor place of his birth is known with precision, but it took place in the autumn of 1404, probably at Machecoul, one of the family châteaux in the southern part of Brittany.

The ancestors of Gilles de Retz belonged to four noble and illustrious families in Brittany: 1. Laval, sometimes called Montmorency-Laval; 2. Rais (changed to Retz in 1581); 3. Machecoul; and 4. Craon. These families could trace their ancestry to the eleventh or twelfth centuries. Gilles’s father was a Laval or Montmorency-Laval, named Guy; his grandfather was also Guy, and many of his ancestry bore the same surname. His grandmother was a sister of the great Du Guesclin; his great-grandmother was Joan, called _la Folle_, or “the Crazy.”

The House of Rais in that day was represented by Joan la Sage (the Wise), 1371–1406. Being without heirs she, in 1400, by solemn act, adopted Guy de Laval, the father of Gilles, as her heir and successor. A legal impediment existed in an act of disinheritance which had been passed against Joan la Folle, the grandmother of Guy de Laval, and it required a special decree to enable Guy to accept the inheritance. This was finally done under the condition that he should abandon the name, arms, and escutcheon of the family of Laval, and bear those of Rais. But Joan la Sage afterwards repented of her choice and attempted, by act of May 14, 1402, to change her succession in favour of Catherine de Machecoul. This begat a suit-at-law, which was taken by appeal to the Parliament at Paris. By this time Jean de Craon had come to be the heir of his mother, Catherine de Machecoul. He had a daughter named Marie, and for the settlement of a contest which, it was feared with reason, might be interminable, it was agreed between the families, as it was between York and Lancaster, that the representatives of the two respective houses should be intermarried, and accordingly, in the spring of 1404, Guy de Laval (changed to be Guy de Rais) was married to Marie de Craon, and thus it was that Guy de Laval, the father of Gilles, became the heir and successor of Joan la Sage (of Rais), received her property, and took her name.

There has been some dispute among the historians of Brittany as to dates, but it is agreed that the contest at law between the two families was begun in 1402, was still found on the parliamentary records in 1403, and was settled by the marriage, which the best authorities agree took place February 5, 1404.

Guy de Laval (Rais) and Marie de Craon were the parents of Gilles de Rais, who was their first-born. His birth is believed to have taken place at the château of Machecoul during the last months of the year 1404. A doubt has been thrown over these dates, especially that of his birth, because of his extreme youth when he made his appearance in public affairs. If born at that time, he would appear to have been a Marshal of France at twenty-five years of age; but this was not impossible, and the weight of the evidence seems to favour the dates as given.

The parents of Gilles had another son, René de la Suze, but he seems to have made but little figure compared with his redoubtable brother. Guy de Laval, the father, died on the last day of October, 1415, and the records show his last will and testament dated on the 28th and 29th of that month. He gave the tutelage of his sons to a distant cousin, John de Tournemine; but by some means not appearing, the maternal grandfather, Jean de Craon, took upon himself their guardianship. The mother, Marie, was remarried soon after the death of her husband, to Charles Desouville, the Lord of Villebon. The grandfather of Gilles and René seems to have been excessively indulgent and devoted to the children, and if he was old, he was of strong will, fiery temper, staunch patriotism, and obstinate disposition.

In 1417, when Gilles was but thirteen years old, he was engaged by his grandfather to Joan Peynel, the daughter of Foulques Peynel, the Lord of Hambuie and Briquebec; but the contract was voided by her death. In November, 1418, the grandfather made for him a second contract of marriage, this time with Beatrice de Rohan, the eldest daughter of Alain de Porhoet. The contract was signed at Vannes with great ceremony in the presence of an illustrious throng of Breton nobles. But this contract came to an end, as did the former, by the unfortunate death of the young lady. This double failure did not, however, discourage the doting grandfather. He immediately proceeded with his arrangements for a third contract, this time with Catherine de Thouars, the daughter of Miles de Thouars and Beatrice de Morgan, and this marriage was celebrated on the last day of November, 1420. The young wife, Catherine, brought to her husband, Gilles, the property of Tiffauges, Pouzauges, Savenay, Confolons, Chabenais, and others of minor importance. The first two mentioned were well provided with châteaux. The property and château of Machecoul came to Gilles through his mother’s family, and the château and property of Champtocé came to him upon the death of his grandfather. This, with the fortune of his father, Guy de Laval, to which must be added that of the family of Rais left by Joan la Sage, made Gilles de Rais one of the richest barons of the province.

Under the conditions of the adolescence of Gilles de Retz, his education may be better imagined than described. Left at the age of eleven an orphan or a half-orphan, by the death of his father; the remarriage of his mother within a year thereafter; the contest of greater or less gravity over his guardianship, which ended in the success of his maternal grandfather, whose best recommendation for the position seems to have been his love for his grandchildren and his subsequent willingness to indulge them, and also his great desire to get them (especially the elder) married and off his hands, a proceeding which he conducted with such celerity that the young man was engaged three times with all pomp and formality, and finally married by the time he was sixteen years old: this would seem to afford but little time or opportunity to obtain an education, even under the best facilities, however studious and seriously inclined he might have been.

Education did not stand very high in the province of Brittany at this era. There was much excuse, especially for the nobles and barons of Brittany, for their lack of education. The profession of war seems to have been the highest recommendation, and the shortest, as well as the easiest and most agreeable, road to preferment. There is much to be said on the score of patriotism and the needs of the country, for, as will be seen farther on, it was an era of war, and Brittany was in the midst of it. The education in arms was almost inevitable; it had greater attraction for Gilles than books, arts, or sciences; and it appears that his grandfather allowed him to pursue his own wishes and desires without even an attempt at control. Gilles, during his trial, said: “In my youth I was allowed to go always according to my own sweet will.” Nevertheless, he spoke three languages, Latin, French, and Breton, had some knowledge of chemistry, and it seems to be without question that he had a library, so well chosen as to be an object of commendation and attraction to highly educated persons. In the inventory of his effects, taken in 1436 and found among his records, is a receipt of Jean Montclair given to Jean Bouray, for a book a copy of Ovid’s _Metamorphoses_, described to have been in parchment covered with leather-gilt, with copper clasps and locks of silver-gilt, with a crucifix of white silver on the back.