Trial of Gilles De Rais (32 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
XXXV. Item, that the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, more or less during these forty years frequented the invokers and conjurors of evil spirits, diviners and sorcerers, and that he received, favored, and protected them; that he believed them; that he learned, practiced, and held as dogma the magic arts of geomancy and necromancy forbidden by divine, canonical, and civil law; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering.
XXXVI. Item, that five years ago, more or less, when the aforesaid Lord Duke of Brittany attacked the castle of Champtocé, and before the siege of the said castle, which the aforesaid Gilles de Rais, the accused, then possessed, the said Gilles de Rais, the accused — for fear that the Lord Duke, his men, his officers, and other persons might discover them — had the said Gilles de Sillé, Henriet, and Étienne Corrillaut, also known as Poitou, remove and place in coffers, to be transported by them to the castle at Machecoul in order to be burned, forty-five heads, with the bones of innocents inhumanly killed by the said Gilles, the accused,
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on which children he had detestably committed the sin of sodomy and other crimes against nature; and at the said castle of Machecoul these heads and bones were burned by the aforesaid Henri Griart, Gilles de Sillé and Étienne Corrillaut, also known as Poitou, by order of the said Gilles, the accused; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering.
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on which children he had detestably committed the sin of sodomy and other crimes against nature; and at the said castle of Machecoul these heads and bones were burned by the aforesaid Henri Griart, Gilles de Sillé and Étienne Corrillaut, also known as Poitou, by order of the said Gilles, the accused; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering.
XXXVII. Item, that Gilles de Rais, the accused, Henriet Griart, Étienne Corrillaut, Gilles de Sillé, Jean Rossignol, Spadine, Roger de Briqueville, André Buchet, and aforesaid others, as for each and every one of the crimes, offenses, and villainies, lent mutual assistance, counsel, and support, and were consenting agents and accomplices, each one among them respectively; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering, public, notorious, and manifest.
XXXVIII. Item, that the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, two years ago, more or less, examining in himself the great number of villainies, to wit, perfidious apostasy of the faith, offenses, and accursed crimes and sins designated above and others that he had detestably perpetrated which his conscience was oppressing him with, swore, vowed, and promised by God and by His saints that never again from there on out would he perpetrate or commit similar horrors and abominations, that he would abstain immediately and absolutely, and that for this purpose he would go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem where he would visit the Holy Sepulcher of the Lord; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering.
XXXIX. Item, that notwithstanding these aforesaid oaths, vows, and promises, the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, since then, as a dog returns to its vomit, inhumanly killed children and caused them to be killed, and cut their throats and caused their throats to be cut, both boys and girls, in the aforesaid places; and that he committed the said sin of sodomy, in which he wallowed, and that he continued, as abovesaid, in his accursed, unnatural lust; but it is because of the said unnatural sin of lust, according to the disposition of justice, that tremors, famines and pestilences occur here on earth; and that he invoked and conjured evil spirits and caused others to do so, and that for these reasons the said Gilles, the accused, relapsed into and persisted in the aforesaid crimes; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering, public, notorious, and manifest.
XL. Item, that regarding each and every one of these crimes, there were and are public rumblings and clamor.
(1. Bill of Indictment.)
XLI. Item, that for the aforesaid reasons the abovenamed Gilles de Rais, the accused, should be taxed with infamy; that he has committed the sin of sodomy, and that he has lapsed and relapsed into heresy, idolatry, and apostasy of the faith; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering.
XLII. Item, that two years ago the said Gilles de Rais, acting in a sacrilegious manner notwithstanding a fear of God, with several of his fellow accomplices furiously and recklessly dared to enter the said parochial church of Saint-Étennede-Mermorte, in the diocese of Nantes, with offensive arms; and that in a foolish display of violence he laid and caused others to lay hands on a certain Jean Le Ferron, cleric, originally of Nantes; and he had Le Ferron violently and forcibly chased and expelled from the said church by a certain Lenano, Marquis de Ceva,
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a Lombard, and by his other associates; then he had him imprisoned for days and months as much in the said castle at Saint-Étienne-de-Mermorte as in the aforesaid castle at Tiffauges, where he was detained, irons on his feet and hands; and that the said Gilles, the accused, violating the immunity of the Church, inasmuch as he violated it himself and also caused others to violate it, has incurred the sentence of excommunication, in accordance as much with the law as with the authority of the Council of Tours and the synodal statutes of the Church of Nantes; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering, public, notorious, and manifest.
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a Lombard, and by his other associates; then he had him imprisoned for days and months as much in the said castle at Saint-Étienne-de-Mermorte as in the aforesaid castle at Tiffauges, where he was detained, irons on his feet and hands; and that the said Gilles, the accused, violating the immunity of the Church, inasmuch as he violated it himself and also caused others to violate it, has incurred the sentence of excommunication, in accordance as much with the law as with the authority of the Council of Tours and the synodal statutes of the Church of Nantes; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering, public, notorious, and manifest.
XLIII. Item, that the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, in many and various places and before many honorable persons said, divulged, and publicized the aforesaid crimes done and perpetrated by himself; and that he considered them as so much dogma; and that he had practiced and practiced often the said magic arts, the said invocations and divinations, and other superstitions, with the purpose of increasing his honor, knowledge, and power; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering, notorious and public.
XLTV. Item, that the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, committed and perpetrated the sin of sodomy unnaturally, and the other aforesaid crimes, sins, and villainies, in each of the aforesaid places and their vicinities, as abovesaid; and thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering.
XLV. Item, that the common opinion of men, the belief and assertion of the people, the true report, the common memory, the public voice and rumor, as much in the aforesaid parishes of Saint-Trinité, Machecoul, Saint-Étienne-de-Mermorte, Saint-Cyr-en-Rais, in the Nantes diocese, as in the greatest portion of the Breton duchy and in other adjoining regions, in which the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, was and is known, is that he was and is a heretic, a relapsed heretic, a magician, a sodomite, a conjuror of evil spirits, a seer, a cutter of the throats of innocents, an apostate, an idolater, having deviated from the faith and being hostile to it, a diviner, and a sorcerer. Thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering, commonly said, held, believed, presumed, seen, heard, reputed, public, notorious, and manifest.
XLVI. Item, that the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, had and has the habit of committing and perpetrating the said crimes and offenses for which he is publicly and notoriously defamed by honest and serious people and of which he is vehemently accused in each and every one of the aforesaid places; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering.
XLVII. Item, that the aforesaid things in general and in particular are clearly detrimental to our Catholic faith and our Holy Mother Church as well as to the public as a whole, inasmuch as they are a pernicious example unto many, and as they contribute to the peril of the said Gilles’ soul; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering.
XLVIII. Item, that each of these things and all of them were and are notorious and manifest in the said places to the extent that they could not be hidden by subterfuge or denied by retraction; on the subject of which there are public rumblings and rumors. And all these aforesaid things the said Gilles, the accused, acknowledges, and acknowledges as true.
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XLIX. Item, that considering the aforesaid crimes, excesses, and misdemeanors committed and wickedly perpetrated, the said Gilles de Rais incurred the aforesaid authorities’ sentence of excommunication and other punishments expected to be promulgated against like presumptuous people as are diviners, sorcerers, conjurors and summoners of evil spirits, abettors, adepts, believers in and partisans of evil spirits, magicians, and all those who have recourse to the illicit and forbidden arts; that, moreover, he lapsed and relapsed into and continues in heresy, that he offended Divine majesty, that he committed the crime of Divine high treason, against the Ten Commandments, against the rites and observances of our Holy Mother Church, that he damnably sowed the most flagrant of errors, which are noxious to Christian believers, and that on the other hand, he gravely and shamefully violated the jurisdiction of said Reverend Father, Lord Bishop of Nantes; thus it transpired, and this is a true rendering, notorious, and public.
Conclusion.
This is why the said prosecutor requests that you, Reverend Father, Lord Bishop of Nantes, and you, Friar Jean Blouyn, aforesaid Vice-Inquisitor into Heresy — or whomever of you it so pleases — by your definitive sentence, decree and declare that the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, is a heretic and perfidious apostate; declare that he committed and maliciously perpetrated the dreadful invocation of demons; that he has incurred by this the sentence of excommunication and other lawful punishments; and as a heretic, an apostate, and a conjuror of demons, that he ought to be punished and corrected as the law demands and canonical sanctions stipulate. Moreover, that you, Reverend Father, Lord Bishop of Nantes, and by your definitive sentence, decree and declare that the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, committed the crime and practiced the unnatural vice of sodomy on the aforesaid boys and children; that he maliciously perpetrated sacrilege, namely the violation of ecclesiastical immunity, and has incurred for this the sentence of excommunication and other lawful punishments; and that he ought to he punished and salubriously corrected, as the law and canonical sanctions demand; the said prosecutor humbly implores your gracious office to duly see to the swift fulfillment of justice in all of the aforesaid and every one of them.
This is why the said prosecutor requests that you, Reverend Father, Lord Bishop of Nantes, and you, Friar Jean Blouyn, aforesaid Vice-Inquisitor into Heresy — or whomever of you it so pleases — by your definitive sentence, decree and declare that the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, is a heretic and perfidious apostate; declare that he committed and maliciously perpetrated the dreadful invocation of demons; that he has incurred by this the sentence of excommunication and other lawful punishments; and as a heretic, an apostate, and a conjuror of demons, that he ought to be punished and corrected as the law demands and canonical sanctions stipulate. Moreover, that you, Reverend Father, Lord Bishop of Nantes, and by your definitive sentence, decree and declare that the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, committed the crime and practiced the unnatural vice of sodomy on the aforesaid boys and children; that he maliciously perpetrated sacrilege, namely the violation of ecclesiastical immunity, and has incurred for this the sentence of excommunication and other lawful punishments; and that he ought to he punished and salubriously corrected, as the law and canonical sanctions demand; the said prosecutor humbly implores your gracious office to duly see to the swift fulfillment of justice in all of the aforesaid and every one of them.
(1. Bill of Indictment.)
And the said prosecutor gives, speaks, and establishes the proof of each and every one of the aforesaid things by the best means possible and proper, and he requests your permission to establish that proof, which he offers to do, with the exception of all superfluous proofs, as noted, which he expressly affirms; and with the exception of the right to correct, add, change, diminish, interpret, ameliorate, reiterate, and prove, if necessary, at a reasonable time and place.
[Signed:]
J
.
Delaunay, J.
Petit, G.
Lesné.
J
.
Delaunay, J.
Petit, G.
Lesné.
2. Letters, dated July 26, 1426, from the Inquisitor into Heresy in the French realm; Friar Jean Blouyn commissioned as Vicar of the Inquisitor.
Friar Guillaume Merici, of the Dominican Order, professor of theology, Inquisitor into Heresy in the French realm, delegated by apostolic authority, to our beloved brother in Christ, Jean Blouyn, of the convent of the same order in Nantes, greetings in the author of the faith, Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Since according to the Apostle the evil of heresy spreads like a canker and insidiously destroys simple souls if not extirpated in time by the diligent hoe of the Inquisition, it is appropriate to proceed advantageously with all the solicitude and circumspection of the office of the Inquisition against heretics and their defenders, and also against those accused or suspected of heresy and against hinderers and disturbers of the faith. Also, putting complete trust in the Lord as to your ability and your aptitude for exercising the work of the Lord in this domain, by virtue of the counsel provided us by several discreet friars of the same order, we have made, instituted, and created by the terms of the present letters, and make, institute, create, and ordain you, the best we could do in every manner and form of law, our vicar in the city and diocese of Nantes, giving and conceding to you the power to inquire of, cite, accuse, pursue, seize, detain, and proceed against, by all available opportune and judicial means, to a definitive sentence inclusively, all and every one of whatsoever heretics and aforesaid others there may be, but also to do all other things relevant, as much customarily as lawfully, to the said office of the Inquisition; to which charges in our place as much as possible we commit you by the present letters, as much by virtue of the common law as by that of the aforesaid Inquisition’s special privileges. In witness whereof we have affixed our seal to the present letters.
Given in Nantes, July 26, 1426.
Thus signed:
G
.
Mérici
.
G
.
Mérici
.
Saturday, October 15, 1440.
Gilles de Raisʹ submission and first confessions. Swearing-in of the accused and production of the first witnesses.
On Saturday, October 15th, arraigned before the said Reverend Father in God, Lord Bishop of Nantes, and Friar Jean Blouyn, aforesaid Vice-Inquisitor, sitting on the bench to administer the law in the great upper hall of La Tour Neuve, in the morning at the hour of Terce, the said Milord Guillaume Chapellion, prosecutor and plaintiff, on the one hand, and Gilles de Rais, knight and baron, the aforesaid accused, on the other, personally appeared.
At the said prosecutor’s request, the aforesaid Lords Bishop of Nantes and Friar Jean Blouyn, Vice-Inquisitor, told the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, that even though elsewhere he chose not to speak or object against anything in the said articles and positions, nonetheless they would permit him, to the extent that they permitted him earlier, to speak or object to anything. Which Gilles responded that he did not intend to speak or object against anything in the said articles, and at the said prosecutor’s request, the said Lords Bishop of Nantes and Friar Jean Blouyn, Vice-Inquisitor, interrogated the said Gilles, the accused, to see whether he intended to say or propose anything and contest that Lords Bishop of Nantes and Friar Jean Blouyn, Vicar, were his judges in the case and the cases of this order. Which accused then said no; moreover, he intended and intends to concede that the said Reverend Father in God, Lord Bishop of Nantes, and Friar Jean Blouyn, Vicar, had been and were his competent judges in the case and the cases; furthermore he intended and intends to acknowledge that the said Reverend Father in God, Lord Bishop of Nantes, and Friar Jean Blouyn, Vicar of the aforesaid Inquisitor, Guillaume Mérici, had been and were in the case and the cases of this order his competent judges, confirming and approving their jurisdiction, as he asserted; and he consented to recognize them and whatever judge among them that they wanted; and he voluntarily averred that he had maliciously committed and perpetrated the expressed crimes and offenses within their jurisdiction; and he solicited humbly, devoutly, and tearfully the said Lords Bishop of Nantes and Friar Jean Blouyn, Vicar, and all other ecclesiastics about whom he had spoken badly and indiscreetly, to pardon him for the insults and offensive things that he had addressed to them, and he admitted his shame for having pronounced them. Which Lords Bishop of Nantes and Vicar of the Inquisitor pardoned this same Gilles, the accused, for the said insults, and did so for the love of God.
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