Trial of Gilles De Rais (38 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
3. Sentence brought against Gilles de Rais, “guilty of crime and unnatural vice with children.”
In the name of Christ,
We, Jean, Bishop of Nantes, sitting on the bench and with our minds set on naught but God alone, having examined and investigated the legal grounds and developments of the case of the faith brought before us on the part of our prosecutor, deputed by us to the case, and claimant against you, Gilles de Rais, our subject and justiciable, the accused party; considering the depositions of witnesses for their part and that of our prosecutor, in this case produced, sworn in, and diligently examined; considering the faithful account of their depositions; considering your confession, voluntarily given by you before us in trial, and publicly pronounced; and every other item and matter considered, which, from a canonical point of view, engrossed our minds; having taken counsel with the reverend fathers, the masters of theology, and the jurists, by the definitive sentence that we set down in these instruments, we decree and declare you, the aforesaid Gilles de Rais, appearing personally before us in court, guilty of committing and maliciously perpetrating the crime and unnatural vice of sodomy on children of both sexes; and for it with these instruments we excommunicate you and conclude that you have incurred other lawful punishments, in order to punish and salutarily correct you and in order that you be punished and corrected as the law and canonical sanctions demand.
[Signed:]
Delaunay, J. Petit, G. Lesné
.
IIIDelaunay, J. Petit, G. Lesné
.
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And first:
FRANCOIS PRELATI, examined and interrogated October 16, 1440, during the aforesaid pontificate and general council, on all things contained in the promulgated articles, successively and in order, deposed that he originally came from Monte-Catini in Val di Nievole, near Pistoia, in the diocese of Lucca, in Italy; a cleric, as he affirms, having received the clerical tonsure from the Bishop of Arezzo; having studied poetry, geomancy, and other sciences and arts, in particular alchemy; aged twenty-three or thereabouts, to the best of his belief.
Item, he stated and deposed that about two years ago, while he was staying at Florence with the Bishop of Mondovi, a certain Milord Eustache Blanchet, a priest, came to him, who made his acquaintance through the mediation of a certain master from Monte-Pulciano, and that then the same Eustache and he saw each other frequently for a time, eating and drinking together, and doing other things; finally the aforesaid Eustache asked him, among other things, whether he knew how to practice the art of alchemy and the invocation of demons; to which the aforesaid François responded yes; and then the same Eustache asked whether he wanted to come to France. To which the aforesaid François responded that a relative of his acquaintance, named Martellis, lived in Nantes in Brittany, and that he would be glad to see Martellis. Then the aforesaid Eustache told the same François that in France there lived a great personage, namely Lord de Rais, who much desired to have about him a man learned and skilled in the said arts, and that, if the aforesaid François were skilled in that department and wanted to accompany him to the aforesaid Lord, he could receive generous accommodations. Whereupon, on account of the aforesaid things, the aforesaid François consented to accompany the same Eustache to the aforesaid Lord de Rais, and with that they took to the road to France; and the same witness carried with him, from Florence, a book dealing with invocations and the art of alchemy. And they arrived at Saint-Florent-le-Vieil, a city that belongs to no diocese, situated in the ecclesiastical province of Tours, and they stayed there for several days. And from this same place the aforesaid Eustache wrote to the aforesaid Lord de Rais in order to announce their arrival; upon learning which, the said Lord immediately sent the men named Henriet and Poitou, namely Étienne Corrillaut, his familiars, with two others, to travel towards the said witness and said Eustache, who arrived at Tiffauges, in the diocese oF Maillezais. After their arrival, having received the aforesaid François and Eustache, and having been informed by the latter that this François was skilled and learned in the aforesaid arts, Lord de Rais rejoiced immensely; with which Lord the aforesaid witness stayed continuously for a period of about sixteen months thereafter.
Item, he said that after staying a while at Tiffauges he made the acquaintance of a certain Breton from Brittany who, at the same place, at Tiffauges, in the diocese of Maillezais, was lodging at the house of Geoffroy Leconte, the captain of the castle of the same place, and was caring for his wife, who was suffering from an eye malady; among this Breton’s things the witness found a book bound in black leather, part paper, part parchment, having letters, titles and rubrics all in red. Now, this book contained invocations of demons and several other questions concerning medicine, astrology and more; which books
98
the witness showed a little later to the aforesaid Gilles. After having looked at and glanced through them, the same Gilles decided that together they would try out and test the contents of these books, particularly those parts regarding the aforesaid invocations. Thus, one night after dinner, in the large lower hall of the castle at Tiffauges, the aforesaid Gilles and witness, having taken candles and other things, with the book in question that the witness had brought, as he said, drew, using the tip of a sword in the soil, several circles comprising characters and signs in the manner of armories, in the composition and drawing of which the aforesaid Gilles de Sillé, Henriet, and Poitou, also known as Étienne Corrillaut, as well as Milord Eustache Blanchet, participated. After the aforesaid circles and characters were drawn and the light was lit, all the aforesaid except Milord Gilles de Rais and the witness, by order of the aforesaid Milord Gilles, left the aforesaid room, while the same Gilles and witness placed themselves in the middle of the aforesaid circles, at a certain angle close to the wall, where the witness traced another character with burning coal from a earthen pot; upon which coals they poured some magnetic dust, commonly called
magnetite
,
99
incense, myrrh, aloes, whence a sweet-smelling smoke arose. And they remained in the same place for almost two hours, variously standing, sitting, and on their knees, in order to worship the demons and make sacrifices to them, invoking the demons and working hard to conjure them effectually, the aforesaid Gilles and witness reading by turns from the aforesaid book, waiting for the aforesaid invoked demon to appear, but, as the witness affirms, nothing appeared that time.
98
the witness showed a little later to the aforesaid Gilles. After having looked at and glanced through them, the same Gilles decided that together they would try out and test the contents of these books, particularly those parts regarding the aforesaid invocations. Thus, one night after dinner, in the large lower hall of the castle at Tiffauges, the aforesaid Gilles and witness, having taken candles and other things, with the book in question that the witness had brought, as he said, drew, using the tip of a sword in the soil, several circles comprising characters and signs in the manner of armories, in the composition and drawing of which the aforesaid Gilles de Sillé, Henriet, and Poitou, also known as Étienne Corrillaut, as well as Milord Eustache Blanchet, participated. After the aforesaid circles and characters were drawn and the light was lit, all the aforesaid except Milord Gilles de Rais and the witness, by order of the aforesaid Milord Gilles, left the aforesaid room, while the same Gilles and witness placed themselves in the middle of the aforesaid circles, at a certain angle close to the wall, where the witness traced another character with burning coal from a earthen pot; upon which coals they poured some magnetic dust, commonly called
magnetite
,
99
incense, myrrh, aloes, whence a sweet-smelling smoke arose. And they remained in the same place for almost two hours, variously standing, sitting, and on their knees, in order to worship the demons and make sacrifices to them, invoking the demons and working hard to conjure them effectually, the aforesaid Gilles and witness reading by turns from the aforesaid book, waiting for the aforesaid invoked demon to appear, but, as the witness affirms, nothing appeared that time.
Item, the witness said that one could read in this book how demons had the power to reveal hidden treasures, teach philosophy, and guide those who acted. The words of invocation that they used then were conceived thus: “I conjure you, Barron, Satan, Belial, Beelzebub, by the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, by the Virgin Mary and all the saints, to appear here in person to speak with us and do our will.” Interrogated to know whether, in the event the demon had appeared in the same place, they would have made some gift or offering, the witness said yes: a live cock, dove, pigeon, or turtledove to engage him not to harm them during his invocation, and so that he would more easily grant them what they solicited.
Item, he said that the same Gilles and he made plans on another occasion to summon in the aforesaid place by other means, namely, with the aid of a stone called diadochite, and a crested bird; but lacking the stone, they did not do so.
He said, moreover, that in the same place the aforesaid Gilles and he performed several such invocations in the aforesaid manners and forms.
Item, he said that one night, he and Poitou, namely Étienne Corrillaut, the aforesaid servant of the aforesaid Rais, the latter knowing and prescribing it, and in his name, left the aforesaid castle at Tiffauges, in the aforesaid diocese of Maillezais, bringing the aforesaid book with tapers, magnetic dust, and other aromatics with which to summon demons, and arrived at a field about the distance of an arrow’s flight below the pond of the aforesaid place, close to Montaigu; and there they drew a circle and characters similar to the aforesaid others and then lit the fire as above, and made the aforesaid invocations. And the witness recommended that the aforesaid Poitou, namely Étienne Corrillaut, not cross himself while entering the circle, and while they remained there, lest it prevent the invoked demon from appearing; and they performed the said invocation as the witness and said Gilles had in the aforesaid room, and nothing appeared; and they remained there about half an hour; they made that invocation about an arrow’s flight away from an old, uninhabited house. As they were returning from the place of the said circle it began to rain torrentially, and the wind blew violently, and it was pitch dark.
Item, he declared that he had heard it said by a certain Guillaume Daussy, a familiar and servant of the said Gilles, that the same Gilles killed young boys, and caused them to be killed, in his room at Tiffauges, and in his room at Machecoul and at the entrance to the same said place, and that he offered their blood and members to demons, performing the aforesaid evocation of these same demons.
Item, that he had heard the man named Guillaume say that the said Gilles committed sodomy on the said boys.
Item, he said that about one year before, he had seen a child six months old, in the said room at Tiffauges, killed and stretched out on the floor, in the presence of Gilles de Sillé; which child he believes was killed by the said Sillé.
Item, that, as the said Gilles and witness performed several invocations together, at which the conjured demon did not appear, the said Gilles asked the witness why it happened thus and for what reason the invoked demon had not appeared or spoken to them, and he told the witness himself to ask the same thing of the devil. To find out, the witness made an invocation, and obtained from the invoked demon the response to the aforesaid question, which was that the said Gilles promised to give the conjured demons many things, but did not keep his promises; and that, if the same Milord Gilles intended the demon to appear and speak to him, each time he appeared and spoke to him, Gilles would have to give a cock, hen, dove, or pigeon, provided that the same Gilles did not solicit from this invoked demon anything considerable, and that if by chance he solicited something of the sort, he was then obligated to provide the demon some member of a young boy; and this is what the witness reported to the aforesaid Gilles.
Item, he said that this being brought to the attention of the said Gilles, the same Gilles, on one occasion a little later, carried into the said François’ room the hand, heart, eyes, and blood of a young boy, kept in a glass, and gave them to him so that, as soon as they performed an invocation, François could offer and give them to the demon should he respond to the said invocation; as to whether the said members were those of the child the witness said he had seen dead in the said hall at Tiffauges, or those of another, he does not know, as he affirms.
Item, that not long after the aforesaid, the witness and the said Gilles, in the aforesaid place, that is, in the hall at Tiffauges, performed an invocation with the aforesaid ceremonies, with the intention of offering and giving the hand, heart, eyes, and blood to the demon if he appeared; at which invocation the demon did not appear, which is why a little later the witness wrapped the aforesaid hand, heart, and eyes in a piece of linen and buried them close to Saint Vincent’s chapel, within the enclosure of the said castle at Tiffauges, in sacred soil, to the best of his belief.
Item, he said that he practiced several invocations in the aforesaid hall, placing incense, myrrh, and aloes on the fire lit in the earthen pot set in the center of the circle. At which invocations the devil named Barron appeared to him often, and as many as ten or twelve times, in the form of a handsome young man about twenty-five years old.
Item, he said that he had practiced three invocations in the presence of the said Milord Gilles at which the devil did not appear, nor had he ever again appeared to Gilles in the presence of the witness, and the witness did not know whether he had ever appeared to Gilles again.
Interrogated to know with whom, or by whom, and where the witness learned the art of the aforesaid invocations, he responded that it was in Florence and with a certain Master Jean de Fontenelle, a doctor, three years before.
Interrogated as to the manner by which he learned, he stated that the said Master Jean led him into an upper chamber of his house where, one day, he sketched a circle like the one mentioned before, and that he then performed invocations in the aforesaid manner. Which having been done, up to twenty birds like ravens appeared. Which birds did not speak to them. And nothing else was done for the time being.
Item, that on another occasion, in the aforesaid place, in the presence of the witness, the same Fontenelle performed the said invocation, and that then the devil named Barron appeared in the form of a young man, as previously noted, whom the said Jean de Fontenelle introduced to the witness; and the witness, closing a deal with the devil, promised to give him a chicken, dove, turtledove, or pigeon, each time he appeared to the witness.
Item, he said that when, accompanied by Poitou, namely Étienne Corrillaut, he went into a field outside the village of Tiffauges, as was reported before, the said Milord Gilles gave him a letter, written in French in Gilles’ own hand, to deliver to the devil if he appeared at the invocation that the witness and the said Poitou, namely Étienne Corrillaut, were about to perform, and that they did as stated before; which letter contained, in effect, the following: “Come at my bidding, and I will give you whatever you want, except my soul and the curtailment of my life.” Which letter he later returned to Gilles, the devil not having appeared at the aforesaid invocation.
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