Gilles De Rais – A Christian with the Dark Side

Gilles became a knight and with his grandfather’s inheritance he bought the best equipment for the battle in Orleans. A girl fought with him, who said that she was listening to the voices of saints and inspiring for the freedom of Orleans and made Charles VII king of France. That girl was Jean d’Arc.

Gilles after the battle of Orleans gained recognition among society and was the man who crowned Charles VII as emperor. His reputation reached the highest levels until 1432 and Gilles was the second man after the emperor in power. He also had five castles and a lot of money in his name after the death of his grandfather, Jean de Craon. His property and his money made Gilles one of the most hated men in France and his enemy sought to accuse him and take control of his fortune.

Having bored his life after the death of his grandfather, according to Gilles, he lived in his five castles and began a brief horrible action, unlike the life he lived before. Gilles was homosexual but married a girl named Cathrine de Thouars for financial reasons only.

In his castles, Gilles lured young people with the excuse of teaching them the lifestyle of high society and tortured them to death, after raping them for pleasure. Many boys and girls were victims of Gilles and his associates, with an estimated number of 80 to 200 (others say about 600).

In addition, Gilles was a Christian and gave part of his money to build small churches and a cathedral temple. This behavior gave him the advantage of having the clergy on his side and serving his purposes. But Gilles without earning money in the style of leaving him, when he ran out of money, he used the gold from his churches for his needs.

His needs were to find money because he retired as a gentleman at the age of 36 and also wanted to become a powerful politician. Because he was a weak man in politics, they were people who coveted his property and easily became a target.

According to the facts, Gilles wanted money and fame so much that he began to give money to alchemists. The alchemists took advantage of him and one of them, named Francois Prelati, told him that he could sell his soul to the devil to earn money and become famous. Prelati was a suitor, handsome and seemed like a person who could be trusted. He was also homosexual and Gilles fell in love with him. But Prelati was smart and took advantage of Gilles.

All these actions made Gilles a hated person and on May 15, 1440, Gilles kidnapped the clergyman Jean le Ferron. That was the beginning of the end for Gilles. The Archbishop of Nantes to investigate Gilles’ castles and with the help of the Duke’s army found evidence about Gilles’ horrible crimes. Gilles was arrested along with his associates and sentenced to death on October 26, 1440. Before the execution, Gilles confessed to his crimes but the details were so horrifying that even the judges ordered them not to write them down.