| Today May 16

Gilles De Rais - Place of Birth, Date of Birth, Age, Wiki, Facts, Net Worth, Birthday, Biography and Family

Gilles De Rais, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Family, Facts, Age, Net Worth, Biography and More in FamedBorn.com

How to Pronounce Gilles de Rais
leader in the French army, companion-in-arms of Joan of Arc, convicted serial killer of children

#50
Most Popular
Boost
Jan 01, 0001 Champtocé sur Loire, Pays de la Loire, France Died on 26 Oct 1440 (aged 1439)

leader in the French army, companion-in-arms of Joan of Arc, convicted serial killer of children

 Capricorn

About Gilles De Rais

  • Gilles de Rais (c.?September 1405 – 26 October 1440), Baron de Rais (French: [d? ??]), was a knight and lord from Brittany, Anjou and Poitou, a leader in the French army, and a companion-in-arms of Joan of Arc.
  • He is best known for his reputation and later conviction as a confessed serial killer of children. A member of the House of Montmorency-Laval, Gilles de Rais grew up under the tutelage of his maternal grandfather and increased his fortune by marriage.
  • He earned the favour of the Duke of Brittany and was admitted to the French court.
  • From 1427 to 1435, Rais served as a commander in the Royal Army, and fought alongside Joan of Arc against the English and their Burgundian allies during the Hundred Years' War, for which he was appointed Marshal of France. In 1434 or 1435 he retired from military life, depleted his wealth by staging an extravagant theatrical spectacle of his own composition, and was accused of dabbling in the occult.
  • After 1432, Rais was accused of engaging in a series of child murders, with victims possibly numbering in the hundreds.
  • The killings came to an end in 1440, when a violent dispute with a clergyman led to an ecclesiastical investigation that brought the crimes to light, and attributed them to Rais.
  • At his trial the parents of missing children in the surrounding area and Rais's own confederates in crime testified against him.
  • He was condemned to death and hanged at Nantes on 26 October 1440. Rais is believed to be the inspiration for the 1697 fairy tale "Bluebeard" ("Barbe bleue") by Charles Perrault.

Search Celebrity

    Celebrity of the day
    English singer-songwriter, rapper and actor
    Dappy

    English singer-songwriter, rapper and actor