Trial of Gilles De Rais by George Bataille Page B
Authors: George Bataille
Tags: History, Psychology, Retail, France, True Crime, Non-Fiction, Criminology, European History, Amazon.com, Medieval History, Social History, v.5, Cultural Anthropology, Literary Studies
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party himself was obscurely conscious of the commotion that, under these conditions, would result from his death.
His naivete on this day was on a par with the naïveté of the judges whom he had moved. It is thus that he requested that the president of the secular tribunal intervene on behalf of the Bishop of Nantes, who had presided over the ecclesiastical tribunal; the “excessive” desire of the criminal was that a procession of all the people, which the Bishop himself and the men of his church would arrange, would accompany him to the place of execution in order to pray to God for him and his accomplices, who were going to die after him.
The judge promised immediately to request this favor, which was accorded him.
He had previously requested and obtained a previous favor: since he was expecting to be hanged and, as soon as he was hanged, delivered to the flames, “before the flames could open his body and entrails,” he would have liked to have been taken from the furnace, placed in a coffin, and led into the church of the Carmelite monastery at Nantes.
So well had they arranged things that his death was the occasion of a theatrical pageant.
Leaving the castle of La Tour Neuve, where the convict had been judged, the procession of an immense crowd chanting prayers and songs accompanied the miserable wretch, who had brought to the end his contempt for these little people who followed him and who were now supplicating God for him. The procession arrived at a meadow beyond the Loire that overlooked the city.
The church songs that he always loved to distraction lent to his death the resplendence that he could never get enough of in his lifetime. It seems that as soon as possible, “women of noble lineage” took care to pull out of the flames the dead man who, from the end of a rope, had appeared for one instant engulfed in the flame’s bewildering splendor.
Then they placed him in a coffin, and solemnly the body was carried to its last resting place in the church, where the peaceful solemnity of the funeral service awaited him.
Analysis of Historical Facts
ANALYSIS OF HISTORICAL FACTS
The first part of the introduction — which has preceded — considers the problem of Gilles de Rais in its entirety.
In this second part, we have assembled the details of his life, their immediate consequences, and various related questions.
The Historical Facts in Chronological Order
----
1400
----
By a series of circumstances, before he is even born, a colossal fortune is piled on the head of the abominable Gilles de Rais.
On the verge of dying heirless, the last descendant of the house of Rais, Jeanne la Sage, decides to adopt Rais’ future father, Guy de Laval II of the house of Montmorency-Laval, and make him her heir.
This Guy de Laval is the nephew of Constable Du Guesclin.
If he accepts Jeanne la Sage’s proposition, he is expected to renounce the title and arms of Laval, at the same time assuming for himself and his descendants the title and arms of Rais.
----
1401
September 25
----
Guy de Laval II accepts the inheritance of the barony of Rais and the conditions that Jeanne la Sage had posed to him.
----
1402
May 14
----
For a moment, the combination of circumstances leading up to Gilles’ immense fortune and destiny is apparently compromised. For reasons unknown to us, Jeanne la Sage renounces the appointment of Guy de Laval as her lawful heir. She leaves everything to Catherine de Machecoul, Pierre de Craon’s widow. But, by a twist of fate, destiny nicely reestablishes what was decided upon earlier. It requires an alliance between the houses of Laval and Craon. The Craons were then the most powerful feudal house in Anjou (after the descendants of Louis I (1339- 1384), Jean le Bon’s youngest son, to whom his father had given the appanage of Anjou).
----
( 1402)
----
----
1404
February 5
----
In fact, Guy de Laval II secures Jeanne de Rais’ inheritance in spite
His naivete on this day was on a par with the naïveté of the judges whom he had moved. It is thus that he requested that the president of the secular tribunal intervene on behalf of the Bishop of Nantes, who had presided over the ecclesiastical tribunal; the “excessive” desire of the criminal was that a procession of all the people, which the Bishop himself and the men of his church would arrange, would accompany him to the place of execution in order to pray to God for him and his accomplices, who were going to die after him.
The judge promised immediately to request this favor, which was accorded him.
He had previously requested and obtained a previous favor: since he was expecting to be hanged and, as soon as he was hanged, delivered to the flames, “before the flames could open his body and entrails,” he would have liked to have been taken from the furnace, placed in a coffin, and led into the church of the Carmelite monastery at Nantes.
So well had they arranged things that his death was the occasion of a theatrical pageant.
Leaving the castle of La Tour Neuve, where the convict had been judged, the procession of an immense crowd chanting prayers and songs accompanied the miserable wretch, who had brought to the end his contempt for these little people who followed him and who were now supplicating God for him. The procession arrived at a meadow beyond the Loire that overlooked the city.
The church songs that he always loved to distraction lent to his death the resplendence that he could never get enough of in his lifetime. It seems that as soon as possible, “women of noble lineage” took care to pull out of the flames the dead man who, from the end of a rope, had appeared for one instant engulfed in the flame’s bewildering splendor.
Then they placed him in a coffin, and solemnly the body was carried to its last resting place in the church, where the peaceful solemnity of the funeral service awaited him.
Analysis of Historical Facts
ANALYSIS OF HISTORICAL FACTS
The first part of the introduction — which has preceded — considers the problem of Gilles de Rais in its entirety.
In this second part, we have assembled the details of his life, their immediate consequences, and various related questions.
The Historical Facts in Chronological Order
----
1400
----
By a series of circumstances, before he is even born, a colossal fortune is piled on the head of the abominable Gilles de Rais.
On the verge of dying heirless, the last descendant of the house of Rais, Jeanne la Sage, decides to adopt Rais’ future father, Guy de Laval II of the house of Montmorency-Laval, and make him her heir.
This Guy de Laval is the nephew of Constable Du Guesclin.
If he accepts Jeanne la Sage’s proposition, he is expected to renounce the title and arms of Laval, at the same time assuming for himself and his descendants the title and arms of Rais.
----
1401
September 25
----
Guy de Laval II accepts the inheritance of the barony of Rais and the conditions that Jeanne la Sage had posed to him.
----
1402
May 14
----
For a moment, the combination of circumstances leading up to Gilles’ immense fortune and destiny is apparently compromised. For reasons unknown to us, Jeanne la Sage renounces the appointment of Guy de Laval as her lawful heir. She leaves everything to Catherine de Machecoul, Pierre de Craon’s widow. But, by a twist of fate, destiny nicely reestablishes what was decided upon earlier. It requires an alliance between the houses of Laval and Craon. The Craons were then the most powerful feudal house in Anjou (after the descendants of Louis I (1339- 1384), Jean le Bon’s youngest son, to whom his father had given the appanage of Anjou).
----
( 1402)
----
----
1404
February 5
----
In fact, Guy de Laval II secures Jeanne de Rais’ inheritance in spite
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