Trial of Gilles De Rais

by George Bataille

  Item, she declares having heard that many other children had been lost, in Brittany and elsewhere, about which there was a great outcry. And, among others, she heard a man from around Tiffauges, whose name she has forgotten, say that for one child lost around Machecoul, seven were lost around Tiffauges; they were taken in the country while watching the animals, and nobody knew what had happened to them or had become of them.

  [Signed:] De Touscheronde, Coppegorge, Chatau.

  MACÉ SORIN and his wife declare that around the same time indicated by the said wife of the said Édelin, the child of Édelin’s wife was lost, without anyone’s knowing what became of it; and right around the same time they had heard that a child of Alexandre Chastelier, another of someone named Roussin, and another of a man named Guillaume Jeudon, who was living with Guillaume Hilairet, had also been lost; and it was supposed then that they had been handed over to the English for the liberation of Milord de Sillé, their prisoner, given the rumor that his ransom and liberation required them to deliver up to a certain number of small children, of whom they would make pages.

  Item, they state that a son of Georget Le Barbier, their close neighbor, has been lost since Easter, without anyone’s knowing what had become of him. They heard great complaints of these and still other losses, but nobody dared to speak too much about it.

  [Signed:] De Touscheronde, Chatau, Coppegorge.

  PERRINE, the wife of Clement Rondeau of Machecoul, says that for a year already her husband has been so sick that he had received extreme unction and that they thought he was going to die. And before this time and earlier, Master François143 and the Marquis de Ceva, both of them Lombards, who were in Lord de Rais’ service,144 were lodged in her house in an upper chamber, where they slept together; and on the day when her said husband received extreme unction, because of the tears and crying that her husband’s state moved her to, this Perrine was installed in the evening in the room of Master François and the Marquis, who had gone to the castle of Machecoul, having left their pages in the said room to have supper. And when Master François and the Marquis returned, they were very irritated to find that Perrine had been allowed in and, showering her with insults, carried her, one by her feet, the other by her shoulders, to the staircase of the room, having decided to throw her from top to bottom; and with this in mind, the said François kicked her in the lower back; and she thinks she would have fallen had her nurse not caught her by the dress.

  Item, she says that afterwards she heard the said Marquis announce to the said François that he had found a beautiful page for him from around Dieppe, about whom François said he was extremely delighted. And so it was that a young, very beautiful child, saying that he was from the Dieppe region and that he was of a good family, came to stay with the said François, and he remained with him for about fifteen days. Then this Perrine, shocked, asked herself what had become of him and posed the question to the said François: and where was his said page? François responded that he had cheated him royally, that he had taken off with his two crowns, getting them from him in exchange for worthless signatures.

  Item, she says that afterwards this François and Master Eustache Blanchet went to stay in a small house at Machecoul, where a man named Perrot Cahu was living, whom they threw out and whom they relieved of the keys of the said house: this house is far from other habitations, in an isolated place, on an outside street with a well at the entrance; and in this small house, which is not a proper lodging for honorable men, the said François and Master Eustache slept; and the said Marquis, who frequently called on the said François and Master Eustache, slept in the house of the said Perrine and her husband.

  Item, she says that after the arrest of the said Lord and aforenamed fellows, in the presence of Jean Labbé and others, she saw some ashes removed from the house of the said Cahu, said to have come from the children who were burned, and the small shirt of a bloody child, which stank so horribly that she was sick from having smelled it.

  [Signed:] De Touscheronde, Coppegorge, Chatau.

  ANDRÉ BRÉCHET, of the parish of Sainte-Croix of Machecoul, declares under oath that about six months previously, he was supposed to spy on the castle of Machecoul, but that after midnight he fell asleep; and, as he was sleeping, a small man he did not know appeared on the ramparts, who woke him and showed him his naked dagger, saying: “You’re dead.” However, because of the said André’s pleas, this man did nothing to him, but continued on his way and took off. The said André was terrified, sweating all over. On the following day he ran into Lord de Rais, coming from the island of Boin, on his way to Machecoul. And thereafter he no longer dared to spy on the said castle.

  [Signed:] De Touscheronde, Coppegorge, Chatau.

  PERROT PASQUETEAU, JEAN SOREAU, CATHERINE DEGRÉPIE, GUILLAUME GARNIER, PERRINE, the wife of Jean Veillart, MARGUERITE, the wife of Perrot Redinet, MARIE, the wife of Jean Caeffin, JEANNE, the wife of Étienne Landais, of Fresnay, near Machecoul, declare under oath that one day after last Easter they heard Guillaume Hamelin and Ysabeau, his wife, sorrowfully complaining of the disappearance of two of their children, not knowing what had become of them. Since then, they had not heard whether anyone had seen these children or come upon them.

  [Signed:] De Touscheronde, Coppegorge, Chatau.

  YSABEAU, the wife of Guillaume Hamelin, living in the borough of Fresnay, where she and her husband had gone to live about a year before, from Pouancé, declares under oath that about seven days before the end of last year, she sent two of her children, two boys, the one aged fifteen, the other seven or thereabouts, to the village of Machecoul to buy bread with the money she had given them, and they did not return, and since then she has been unable to find out where they were. But the day after she had so dispatched them, Master François and the Marquis,145 who were living with Lord de Rais,146 whom she says she knows well and has seen many times, came to her house. The Marquis inquired whether she had recovered from the problem with her breast; in response to which she asked him how he knew she had been suffering, because, in fact, she had not. He told her that she had, after which he said that she was not from the region, but from Pouancé; and she asked him how he knew that, and he responded that he well knew it; then she acknowledged that he was right. Thereupon he cast a glance inside the house and asked her whether she were married, and she responded yes, but that her husband had come into their region looking for work. And as he saw two small children in the house, namely one girl and one boy, he asked her whether they were hers; she responded yes, whereupon he asked her whether she had only two children; to which she responded that she had two more, withholding the fact of their disappearance from him, which she dared not tell. Then they left and when they did she heard the Marquis say to the said Master François that two of the children had come from that house.

  She says, besides, that about eight days earlier she had heard that Micheau Bouer and his wife, of Saint-Cyr-en-Rais, had also lost a child who had not been seen since.

  [Signed:] De Touscheronde, Chatau, Coppegorge.

  PIERROT SOUDAN, of Fresnay, declares under oath that, around the time indicated by the said Ysabeau,147 he saw the said Master François148 and said Marquis149 speaking with the said Ysabeau in front of her house, but did not hear what they were saying because he was so far away that it simply would have been impossible. He had likewise heard Ysabeau complaining of the disappearance of her two children, and Micheau Bouer of another child, all of whom have not been seen by anyone insofar as he could discover.

  [Signed:] De Touscheronde, Coppegorge, Chatau.

  GUILLEMETTE, the wife of Micheau Bouer, of Saint-Cyr-en-Rais, declares under oath that seven days after last Easter her son, aged eight, who was beautiful and fair, had gone begging for alms at Machecoul and did not return, and she had not heard any news of him since, although her husband, the father of the said child, had made inquiries after him in various places; and on the following day, the day they distributed alms at Machecoul for the deceased Mah�
� Le Breton, as she was watching the animals, a large man dressed in black, whom she did not know, came to her and asked, among other things, where her children were, why they were not watching the animals. To which she responded that they had gone begging at Machecoul. Whereupon he left her and vanished.

  [Signed:] De Touscheronde, Coppegorge, Chatau.

  GUILLAUME RODIGO, also known as Guillaume de Guérande, and his wife, living at Bourgneuf-en-Rais, declare under oath that on last Saint-Bartholomew’s Eve, Lord de Rais and his men, among them Master Eustache Blanchet and Poitou, came to lodge at Bourgneuf-en-Rais. And the said Lord supped at the house of Guillaume Plumet. At this Rodigo’s then was a young boy aged fifteen, named Bernard Le Campus, from around Brest, who had been previously entrusted to one of his uncles and the mancadre150 of Brest to learn French in his home. That same day the said Master Eustache and Poitou spoke with the said young man, who was very beautiful and very clever, the witnesses not knowing what they said to him, and the said Poitou came to their house as an agent for the said Lord, seeking to buy from the said Rodigo what he had to sell, saying that he had already closed the sale between the said Rodigo and the said Lord. And that same evening, around ten o’clock, the child left their house without his garment, shoes, or hood, unbeknownst to and in the absence of the said Rodigo and his wife. Their chamberlain told them that before departing, the child had told him he was leaving and asked him to tend to and arrange the cups, whereupon he left the house; they have never seen the child again, or heard what happened to him, although the said Rodigo inquired of the said Lord and his men, and offered forty crowns to have him back. To which the said Poitou and Eustache responded that if they could find him, they would gladly bring him back, but they feared that he had not gone to Tiffauges to be a page.

  MARGUERITE SORIN, of the parish of Saint-Aignan, chambermaid of the said Rodigo and his wife, declares under oath that at about the time indicated above, she and the said child being after supper in the house of the said Rodigo where they were playing together, the said Rodigo and his wife being not far away in another house of theirs, where they had supped, the said Poitou appeared, who asked them whether they played like that together. They answered yes, after which he took the child aside, laying one hand on his shoulder and holding his hat in the other, and spoke to him in a voice so low that she could not hear. Then, having thus spoken, the said Poitou left. Immediately, the present witness asked the child what Poitou had said to him, who responded that he had not said a thing; a little while later the child told her that he wanted to go away, and asked her to take care and arrange his affairs; then he left, unwilling to tell her where he was going even though she insisted. He left his garment, his shoes, and his hood, going out in his cloak. Since then, she has neither seen him again nor had any news of him.

  [Signed:] De Touscheronde, Coppegorge, Chatau.

  GUILLAUME PLUMET and his wife, MICHEL GÉRARD, of Bourgneuf-en-Rais, declare under oath that they saw quite a young boy named Bernard, originally from Lower Brittany, living with the said Rodigo. He had been there before the previous Saint-Bartholomew’s Day, but, a short while before the said feast, Lord de Rais came to lodge and sleep at Bourgneuf; thereafter they heard the said Rodigo and his wife complaining bitterly of the loss of the said child, whom subsequently the witnesses never saw again, nor heard any more news of him.

  [Signed:] De Touscheronde, Coppegorge, Chatau.

  THOMAS AISÉ and his wife, living at Port-Saint-Père, declare under oath that for a year they lived at Machecoul, that they were still living there the previous Pentecost and that, being poor folk, around last Pentecost they had sent their son, aged about ten, to beg at the castle of Machecoul, where Lord de Rais was then residing; since that time they have not seen their child again, nor heard any news of him, with this exception: a small girl whose name and whose father she does not know told her that she had seen her son begging in front of the castle and that, first, alms had been given separately to the girls, then to the boys, and that after this second distribution she heard one of the castle servants say to the witnesses’ son that he had not received any meat, that he should enter the said castle where he should be given some; and in fact, with these words, he was made to enter the said castle.

  [Signed:] De Touscheronde, Coppegorge, Chatau.

  JEANNETTE, the wife of Eustache Drouet, of Saint-Léger, near Port-Saint-Pere, declares under oath that a year before the previous Christmas, about fifteen days before the feast, she had sent two of her boys, one aged ten, the other seven, to beg for alms in the village of Machecoul, because she had heard that Lord de Rais had them distributed there, and that, moreover, the men in that village willingly gave charity. And she states that her children stayed at Machecoul for several days, and that she had come upon some men who said they had seen them there; but afterwards, going there, she did not see them nor did she know what had become of them, although she and her husband asked about them numerous times.

  [Signed:] De Touscheronde, Coppegorge.

  October 2, 1440.

  Another inquiry and investigation made by Jean de Touscheronde and Étienne Halouart, appointed by the Duke, assisted by Nicolas Chatau, notary public of the court of Nantes, October 2, 1440.

  JEANNETTE DEGRÉPIE, [the widow of] Regnaud Donete, of the parish of Notre-Dame of Nantes, states and declares under oath that two years before, around Saint John’s Day, Lord de Rais residing then at his house in Nantes, she lost a child of hers, aged twelve, who was attending school. And that she has not heard any news of him since then, except that fifteen days ago she heard Perrine Martin, detained in the Nantes prison, confess that she had led the said child to the said Lord in his room, in his house of La Suze, in the said place of Nantes, and that the said Lord had ordered her to take him to Machecoul and hand him over to the porter; she confessed, moreover, that she actually had conveyed the said child there.

  Item, she says that Jean Hubert and Denis de Lemion, of the same place of Nantes, each lost his son,151 whom she knew and whose loss she had heard them bemoaning; and since their complaints, she had not seen the children again.

  Item, she says that given the complaint that she lodged with a fellow named Cherpy or with others of the said Lord’s men, because [her child] sometimes frequented the house of La Suze, near which the said Perrine was living, this Cherpy and the said Lord’s men told her that they thought he had gone to Machecoul to become a page.

  [Signed:] Étienne Halouart, De Touscheronde, Chatau.

  JEAN JENVRET and his wife, of Sainte-Croix-de-Nantes, declare under oath that two years ago, eight days before Saint John the Baptist’s Day, Lord de Rais then residing in Nantes in his house, La Suze, they had lost their son, aged nine, who was attending school, and who sometimes frequented the said house of La Suze; and they had not had any news of him since then, except that three weeks before, they heard that Perrine Martin, detained in Nantes prison, confessed to having led the said child to Lord de Rais, in his castle at Machecoul.

  [Signed:] De Touscheronde, Étienne Halouart, Chatau.

  JEAN HUBERT and his wife, of Saint-Leonard of Nantes, declare under oath that two years previously, on the Thursday following Saint John the Baptist’s Day, they lost a boy of thirteen, who was attending school; Lord de Rais then residing in his house in Nantes. Theretofore, this child, who had been employed for a week, lived with Prince, a member of the said Lord’s retinue. Prince, on engaging him, was supposed to set the child up in the best conditions and had promised to do him and his parents much good, but he did not return them their child or even give them a reason for letting him go. The child told them that this Prince had a horse that he dared not mount for fear the horse would kill him. Whereupon his parents told him that he should return to school, but the child responded that there was a proper gentleman staying with Lord de Rais, who called himself Spadin, whom he had struck up a friendship with, and whom he desired to stay with, as he had promised to fit him out well, convey him to another region,15
2 and do him much good. Trusting the child, the parents let him go, and he left, in fact, the very next day after his return from the said Prince, in fact, so that he spent only one night in their house. Subsequently, as he went to live at La Suze, where the said Lord was then, they saw their child there during the next seven days. But during this time, the said Lord was absent for four or five days, having left a party of his men and the said child at La Suze. And the day the Lord returned, the child came to his parents and told his mother that Lord de Rais was quite fond of him, that he had just cleaned his room and that his master had given him a round loaf of bread made for the said Lord, which he had brought her. Also he told her that a fellow named Simonnet, one of the said Lord’s servants, had given him another round loaf of the same bread to take to a woman in town. And the witnesses say that since that time, they have not seen their child again nor had any news of him, even though they complained about it to the said Lord’s men, who responded that a Scottish knight, who was quite fond of him, had taken him away. Also, a month before, they unsuspectingly complained in front of the wife of Master Jean Briand, and this woman accused the said Hubert’s wife of claiming that the said Lord had killed her child. To which Hubert’s wife responded that she had done nothing of the sort, but Briand’s wife retorted that she had, and that she was going to regret it, she and the others.

  Item, the witnesses say that after the loss of their child the said Lord stayed in Nantes about fifteen days, in the course of which Spadin sent for Hubert, so the latter says, and asked him where his child was; to which he responded that he did not know, but that he had entrusted him to Spadine153 and that he was responsible: whereupon the said Spadine retorted that he was crazy and that he himself was responsible for the loss of his child. They also say that they heard Degrépie, [the widow of] Regnaud Donete, Denis de Lemion and his wife, and Jean Jenvret and his wife likewise grumbling about losing their children.