Bluebeard: A Contribution to History and Folklore E-Book

Thomas Wilson

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 211

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

The story of Bluebeard has become a classic in infantile mythical (folklore) literature wherever the English and French languages are spoken. Rev. Dr. Shahan suggests its possible existence in earlier languages and more distant countries. The story is more or less mythical. While it does not follow history with any pretence of fidelity, it has come to be recognised by the historians and literati of France as representing the life of Gilles de Retz (or Rais), a soldier of Brittany in the first half of the fifteenth century. He was of noble birth, was possessed of much riches, was the lord of many manors, had a certain genius and ability, made some reputation as a soldier at an extremely early age, fought with Joan of Arc, and was Marshal of France. At the close of these wars he retired to his estates in Brittany, and, in connection with an Italian magician, he entered upon a search for the Elixir of Youth and the Philosopher's Stone. Together they became possessed by the idea that the foundation of this elixir should be the blood of infants or maidens, and, using the almost unbridled power incident to a great man (at that early date) in that wild country, they abducted many maidens and children, who were carried to some one of his castles and slain. Suspicion was finally directed toward him; he was arrested, tried, convicted, sentenced to death, and executed at the city of Nantes, October 27, 1440, at the early age of thirty-six years.

Leseprobe

Bluebeard: A Contribution to History and Folklore

Bluebeard: A Contribution to History and FolkloreINTRODUCTIONCHAPTER I Gilles de RetzCHAPTER II Gilles as a Soldier. 1420–1429CHAPTER III GILLE’S LIFE AT HOME IN BRITANNY 1430–1439CHAPTER IV Gilles’s CrimesCHAPTER V Gilles’s Trial before the Ecclesiastical TribunalCHAPTER VI The Trial before the Civil CourtCHAPTER VII The ExecutionAPPENDIX A Mother Goose PublicationsAPPENDIX B Bluebeard StoriesAPPENDIX C Mystery of the Siege of OrleansAPPENDIX D Depositions against GillesCopyright

Bluebeard: A Contribution to History and Folklore

Thomas Wilson

INTRODUCTION

The story of Bluebeard has become a classic in infantile mythical (folklore) literature wherever the English and French languages are spoken. Rev. Dr. Shahan suggests its possible existence in earlier languages and more distant countries. The story is more or less mythical. While it does not follow history with any pretence of fidelity, it has come to be recognised by the historians and literati of France as representing the life of Gilles de Retz (or Rais), a soldier of Brittany in the first half of the fifteenth century. He was of noble birth, was possessed of much riches, was the lord of many manors, had a certain genius and ability, made some reputation as a soldier at an extremely early age, fought with Joan of Arc, and was Marshal of France. At the close of these wars he retired to his estates in Brittany, and, in connection with an Italian magician, he entered upon a search for the Elixir of Youth and the Philosopher’s Stone. Together they became possessed by the idea that the foundation of this elixir should be the blood of infants or maidens, and, using the almost unbridled power incident to a great man (at that early date) in that wild country, they abducted many maidens and children, who were carried to some one of his castles and slain. Suspicion was finally directed toward him; he was arrested, tried, convicted, sentenced to death, and executed at the city of Nantes, October 27, 1440, at the early age of thirty-six years.

The author of this volume was sent, in 1882, to the good city of Nantes as United States Consul. While resident there he entered upon the investigation which resulted in this volume. He obtained access to the original records of the trial in the archives of the department, and made a photographic copy of one of its manuscript Latin pages which is shown in its proper place. The trial of Gilles de Retz took place in the château of Nantes, sentence was pronounced at the Place Bouffay, and he was executed on the Prairie de la Madeleine, the exact locality being now occupied by the Hospital of St. Anne. The author procured photographs and drawings of some of these localities, which will appear in this volume.

* * * * *

Monsieur Charles Perrault was the author of the story ofBluebeard. He was born at Paris, January 12, 1628. His father was an advocate, originally from Tours. He was the youngest of four brothers: the oldest, Peter, was destined for the Bar, but became the Receiver-General of Finances under Louis XIV. and his Prime Minister Colbert, though he afterwards fell out of favour and died in poverty; Claude studied medicine; and Nicholas, theology. Charles was taken up by Colbert and made Superintendent of Public Buildings throughout the kingdom. While in this position, the erection of the Observatory and the reconstruction and completion of the Palais du Louvre were determined upon. Plans for these buildings were to be decided by competition, and the renown of the name of Perrault is greatly increased by the fact that Charles’s brother Claude, although educated as a doctor of medicine and not as an architect, designed plans which, after much discussion and investigation, extending even to Rome, were finally adopted by the King and his Minister. Charles Perrault became a member of the Academy—one of the “Immortal Forty.” He introduced many improvements into their methods, the principal of which was for securing the attendance of members, and a continuance of, and devotion to, the work of preparing the great French Dictionary. An episode in his life, covering several years, was his poem ofLe Siècle de Louis le Grandand the parallel between the ancients and moderns, which produced a discussion among the most brilliant writers of France. Boileau, Racine, La Fontaine, Longpierre, Buet, Arnauld, and other illustrious champions took up the cudgels against Perrault and Fontanelle, and in favour of the ancient classic heroes.

In 1662, Perrault retired from his office in the Public Buildings, selling his right therein to Monsieur de Blainville, a son-in-law of Colbert. Until his death, May, 16, 1703, he devoted himself to literature and to the education of his children, and this was probably the happiest portion of his life, for he loved to be in the bosom of his family. He wrote for the amusement of his children that which has now become the most celebrated of his writings, which has done more to perpetuate his name and fame, and by which he is better known than by the more pretentious and serious papers and poems,—theContes de Mère l’Oye(Stories of Mother Goose). The first edition was published in 1697 under the name of his son, Perrault d’Armancourt, and dedicated to Mademoiselle Elizabeth Charlotte d’Orléans, the sister of the Duke of Chartres and the niece of Louis XIV. These Mother Goose stories were as follows:Little Red Riding-Hood,The Fairies,Bluebeard,The Sleeping Beauty,Puss in Boots,Cinderella,Requet à la Houppe, to whichLe Petit Poucet,The Adroit Princess, andThe Ass’s Skinwere afterwards added. There were still others in verse and fable translated. Perrault was more poet than prose writer—his serious works were in poetry:Painting,The Apology for Women,The Century of Louis the Grand,Genius(to Fontanelle), andA Portrait of the Voice of Iris. We, however, are interested alone inBluebeard.1

1See Appendix A.

Studious historians or astute critics may dispute Perrault’s history of Bluebeard having been founded upon the life of Gilles de Retz, but the country people (the folk) of Brittany will simply smile at such erudition and continue in their former belief that Bluebeard represents a cruel, wicked man who lived here hundreds of years ago and who was executed for his many crimes against humanity; and the old men and women and the nurses will repeat the story of Gilles de Retz under the name of Bluebeard,—sometimes how he abducted and murdered the children, and other times how he murdered his wives. In that country Gilles de Retz will always be known as Bluebeard, and we must accept their verdict as final.2

Rev. Dr. Shahan writes:

Dear Professor Wilson:

I have looked through your interesting work with the greatest pleasure. It is just such a tale as I would delight in tracing through its strange genesis and stranger propaganda....

I wonder if the actual facts were not soon plaited back into ancient nursery tales of a kindred tone, and a fresh lease of life thus given to mythical narratives that would otherwise not have had strength enough to perpetuate themselves to our time, at least in such intensity and vitality.

I would suggest as complete a literature of theBluebeardsubject as possible2and think perhaps it would be well to see what roots it had struck in German, Spanish, and Welsh soil,—fields always susceptible at that time to anything odd or romantic.

When I was a child how often I cried with Sister Anne on the high tower, and looked for the three specks out on the ocean “no bigger than the head of a pin.” Thank God! their steeds always breasted the flood bravely andarrived in time to save injured innocence. Is not that the true origin ofBluebeard, in an age of chivalrous ideal, of strict theologico-popular views of justice and of feudal individualism?

The box of Pandora and the key of Bluebeard may have some relationship—CURIOSITY, irrepressible though dangerous, is its keynote, and I wonder if it does not all come from India, like those mediæval tales that Gaston Paris tells about, or if it is not an old Gaelic myth, like that ofBalor-of-the-Mighty-Blowsso well translated by Standish O’Grady in hisSilva Gadelica....

Yours very truly,(Signed) Thomas J. Shahan.

2See Appendix B.

BLUEBEARD

CHAPTER I Gilles de Retz

His Name, Family, Marriage, and Education

The original of Bluebeard in the Mother Goose story was Gilles de Rais (changed in 1581 to Retz), though he is sometimes calledGilles de Lavalin history. Neither the date nor place of his birth is known with precision, but it took place in the autumn of 1404, probably at Machecoul, one of the family châteaux in the southern part of Brittany.

The ancestors of Gilles de Retz belonged to four noble and illustrious families in Brittany: 1. Laval, sometimes called Montmorency-Laval; 2. Rais (changed to Retz in 1581); 3. Machecoul; and 4. Craon. These families could trace their ancestry to the eleventh or twelfth centuries. Gilles’s father was a Laval or Montmorency-Laval, named Guy; his grandfather was also Guy, and many of his ancestry bore the same surname. His grandmother was a sister of the great Du Guesclin; his great-grandmother was Joan, calledla Folle, or “the Crazy.”

The House of Rais in that day was represented by Joan la Sage (the Wise), 1371–1406. Being without heirs she, in 1400, by solemn act, adopted Guy de Laval, the father of Gilles, as her heir and successor. A legal impediment existed in an act of disinheritance which had been passed against Joan la Folle, the grandmother of Guy de Laval, and it required a special decree to enable Guy to accept the inheritance. This was finally done under the condition that he should abandon the name, arms, and escutcheon of the family of Laval, and bear those of Rais. But Joan la Sage afterwards repented of her choice and attempted, by act of May 14, 1402, to change her succession in favour of Catherine de Machecoul. This begat a suit-at-law, which was taken by appeal to the Parliament at Paris. By this time Jean de Craon had come to be the heir of his mother, Catherine de Machecoul. He had a daughter named Marie, and for the settlement of a contest which, it was feared with reason, might be interminable, it was agreed between the families, as it was between York and Lancaster, that the representatives of the two respective houses should be intermarried, and accordingly, in the spring of 1404, Guy de Laval (changed to be Guy de Rais) was married to Marie de Craon, and thus it was that Guy de Laval, the father of Gilles, became the heir and successor of Joan la Sage (of Rais), received her property, and took her name.

There has been some dispute among the historians of Brittany as to dates, but it is agreed that the contest at law between the two families was begun in 1402, was still found on the parliamentary records in 1403, and was settled by the marriage, which the best authorities agree took place February 5, 1404.

Guy de Laval (Rais) and Marie de Craon were the parents of Gilles de Rais, who was their first-born. His birth is believed to have taken place at the château of Machecoul during the last months of the year 1404. A doubt has been thrown over these dates, especially that of his birth, because of his extreme youth when he made his appearance in public affairs. If born at that time, he would appear to have been a Marshal of France at twenty-five years of age; but this was not impossible, and the weight of the evidence seems to favour the dates as given.

The parents of Gilles had another son, René de la Suze, but he seems to have made but little figure compared with his redoubtable brother. Guy de Laval, the father, died on the last day of October, 1415, and the records show his last will and testament dated on the 28th and 29th of that month. He gave the tutelage of his sons to a distant cousin, John de Tournemine; but by some means not appearing, the maternal grandfather, Jean de Craon, took upon himself their guardianship. The mother, Marie, was remarried soon after the death of her husband, to Charles Desouville, the Lord of Villebon. The grandfather of Gilles and René seems to have been excessively indulgent and devoted to the children, and if he was old, he was of strong will, fiery temper, staunch patriotism, and obstinate disposition.

In 1417, when Gilles was but thirteen years old, he was engaged by his grandfather to Joan Peynel, the daughter of Foulques Peynel, the Lord of Hambuie and Briquebec; but the contract was voided by her death. In November, 1418, the grandfather made for him a second contract of marriage, this time with Beatrice de Rohan, the eldest daughter of Alain de Porhoet. The contract was signed at Vannes with great ceremony in the presence of an illustrious throng of Breton nobles. But this contract came to an end, as did the former, by the unfortunate death of the young lady. This double failure did not, however, discourage the doting grandfather. He immediately proceeded with his arrangements for a third contract, this time with Catherine de Thouars, the daughter of Miles de Thouars and Beatrice de Morgan, and this marriage was celebrated on the last day of November, 1420. The young wife, Catherine, brought to her husband, Gilles, the property of Tiffauges, Pouzauges, Savenay, Confolons, Chabenais, and others of minor importance. The first two mentioned were well provided with châteaux. The property and château of Machecoul came to Gilles through his mother’s family, and the château and property of Champtocé came to him upon the death of his grandfather. This, with the fortune of his father, Guy de Laval, to which must be added that of the family of Rais left by Joan la Sage, made Gilles de Rais one of the richest barons of the province.

Under the conditions of the adolescence of Gilles de Retz, his education may be better imagined than described. Left at the age of eleven an orphan or a half-orphan, by the death of his father; the remarriage of his mother within a year thereafter; the contest of greater or less gravity over his guardianship, which ended in the success of his maternal grandfather, whose best recommendation for the position seems to have been his love for his grandchildren and his subsequent willingness to indulge them, and also his great desire to get them (especially the elder) married and off his hands, a proceeding which he conducted with such celerity that the young man was engaged three times with all pomp and formality, and finally married by the time he was sixteen years old: this would seem to afford but little time or opportunity to obtain an education, even under the best facilities, however studious and seriously inclined he might have been.

Education did not stand very high in the province of Brittany at this era. There was much excuse, especially for the nobles and barons of Brittany, for their lack of education. The profession of war seems to have been the highest recommendation, and the shortest, as well as the easiest and most agreeable, road to preferment. There is much to be said on the score of patriotism and the needs of the country, for, as will be seen farther on, it was an era of war, and Brittany was in the midst of it. The education in arms was almost inevitable; it had greater attraction for Gilles than books, arts, or sciences; and it appears that his grandfather allowed him to pursue his own wishes and desires without even an attempt at control. Gilles, during his trial, said: “In my youth I was allowed to go always according to my own sweet will.” Nevertheless, he spoke three languages, Latin, French, and Breton, had some knowledge of chemistry, and it seems to be without question that he had a library, so well chosen as to be an object of commendation and attraction to highly educated persons. In the inventory of his effects, taken in 1436 and found among his records, is a receipt of Jean Montclair given to Jean Bouray, for a book a copy of Ovid’sMetamorphoses, described to have been in parchment covered with leather-gilt, with copper clasps and locks of silver-gilt, with a crucifix of white silver on the back.

CHAPTER II Gilles as a Soldier. 1420–1429

First for John V., Duke of Brittany, against the House of Blois. He Joins the Army of France and is Assigned to Duty with Joan of Arc. Crowning of the King, and Gilles Made Marshal of France.

In the condition of his country at that time, it was but natural that this handsome, impetuous, rich, and powerful baron should take up arms as his profession. France and England were in the midst of the Hundred Years’ War. Brittany, Gilles’s own duchy, had been since the death of John IV. engaged in a civil war over the succession. The family of Montforts (son of a younger son) had gained the victory over the Penthièvres and Blois (daughter of an elder son). Gilles’s father and his family had fought on the side of Blois, but on his defeat they had made their peace with the victorious Duke.

When Gilles was about sixteen years old an incident occurred which renewed the civil war and swept him into its midst. The head of the Blois family, with his mother, the daughter of De Clisson, set a trap for John V. (De Montfort), Duke of Brittany, inviting him, under a flag of truce, to a friendly conference to be held at the castle of Champtoceaux. This conference was only a pretence, the flag of truce was violated, and John V. was entrapped and held prisoner. He was treated with great severity, bound in chains, and cast into a dungeon. This inhuman treatment on the part of the Blois and Penthièvres, being in violation of every principle held sacred by men and soldiers, aroused the indignation of the Bretons to a pitch beyond control. The peculiar interest of this to the present memoir is that, while the ancestral families of Gilles de Rais had always theretofore fought on the side of the Penthièvres and Blois, they now turned to the other side and took up for John V. of Montfort.

Du Guesclin, the uncle, and Brumor, the grandfather, of Gilles de Rais on his father’s side, were now dead; but Jean de Craon, his grandfather on his mother’s side, he who had been so indulgent a guardian, still lived, and on the 23d of February, 1420, a few months before the marriage of Gilles, they repaired to the town of Vannes, attending upon a session of the States-General, convoked in the absence of the Duke by his wife. Part of the ceremony of Gilles and his grandfather was the oath of allegiance for the deliverance of their prince: “We swear upon the cross to employ our bodies and our goods, and to enter into this quarrel for life and for death,”—and they signed it with their proper hands and sealed it with their seals. The war broke out anew. Alain de Rohan was made Lieutenant-General. An army of fifty thousand men volunteered and took the field under him. In the front rank, by the side of his grandfather, at the head of all the vassals of their united baronies, was Gilles de Retz. This army marched against Lamballe which capitulated, Guingamp, the same, and successively Jugon, Chateaulan, Broon, and finally against the château of Champtoceaux in which the Duke was incarcerated. This resisted the assault but was besieged and finally taken, the fortress demolished, and John V. was released and returned to Nantes where he was given a triumphal entry.

The Château de Clisson, the headquarters of the Penthièvre faction, was south of Nantes twenty kilometres, and in the immediate neighbourhood of the most extensive property of Gilles de Retz. In revenge for his adhesion to the Duke of Brittany, which Margaret de Clisson was pleased to call his treason to her side, she found it most convenient to raid and destroy the adjacent properties of Gilles de Retz. In reprisal, the Duchess of Brittany confiscated certain rights which Olivier, Count de Blois, had in or about the Château de Clisson, and transferred them to the family of Gilles, and this was ratified by the Duke after his release. Then, as he says, “In recognition of the good and loyal services of his cousins, of Suze and Rais,” he gives to them all the lands of Olivier de Blois, formerly Count de Penthièvre, and of Charles his brother. This was afterwards compromised by the payment of a certain sum of money. Penthièvres, Blois, and Clisson were cited to appear before the States-General, at which Gilles and his grandfather assisted as counsellors; and, as an end of all things, the Parliament of Brittany declared the Penthièvres guilty of felony, treason, andlèse-majesté, condemned them to death, and deprived them in perpetuity of their name, arms, and all honour in Brittany; but they escaped to France.

This was the introduction of Gilles de Retz to the profession of arms and his first appearance as one of the lords of the country. He was at that time only sixteen years old, and immediately upon the conclusion of this campaign he was married to Catherine de Thouars.

France, at that epoch, was in danger of the fate which afterwards befell Poland. The duchy of Aquitaine, which comprised nearly all south-western France, had for its duke Edward III., King of England. The duchy of Burgundy had for its head Philip the Good, who was Count of Flanders and was stronger in his duchy than was the King of France in his kingdom. These two were banded together by a treaty, offensive and defensive, and they and their countries were then, and had been for nigh sixty years, carrying on war against France with the avowed determination of establishing the King of England on her throne. The Duke of Bedford, son-in-law of the Duke of Burgundy, was the English general commanding in France. The Count of Richemont, the second son of the Duke of Brittany, was also the son-in-law of the Duke of Burgundy. Thus these strong nobles, princes, and kings were allied against France. In the dukedom of Brittany the contending houses of Blois and Montfort had been aided, respectively, by the King of France and the King of England, and had accepted and supported an English army on Breton soil. We all know of the condition of the dukedom of Normandy; how, only a few hundred years earlier, William captured England at the battle of Hastings and established himself as her king. This process was now in danger of repetition, only with the conditions reversed, and France had then in prospect a worse fate than she ever had before or since.

Such was the condition of France at the time of the death of Charles VI., on October 21, 1422, when his son, Charles VII., came to the throne. Charles VII., was married to Mary of Anjou, the daughter of Yolande of Aragon, Queen of Sicily, the widow of Louis of Anjou; a woman of noble heart, great spirit and patriotism, and devoted to France. Yolande set herself, with all her beauty and diplomacy, to divide and break up this coterie of great noblemen who had organised themselves against the King, and to induce some of them to become supporters of France. On March 24, 1425, Yolande started for Brittany accompanied by sundry powerful seigneurs. Jean de Craon, grandfather of Gilles de Retz, was one of those approached, and his valiant services rendered to John V. of Brittany, in releasing him from the dungeon at Champtoceaux, gave him great and deserved influence.

Gilles de Retz had returned to his home after the defeat of the Blois party, and was residing there in the quiet and peace of his newly married life, when this new turn was made in the political kaleidoscope. A council of the States-General of Brittany was assembled at the city of Nantes, and Gilles was one of the seigneurs in attendance. Naturally, he would be one of the lieutenants of his grandfather, Jean de Craon, who had openly espoused the cause of the King of France, and who went into the council with the expressed desire to win the Duke of Brittany in that direction. The Assembly pronounced strongly in favour of the alliance with the King of France, and the month of September was fixed as the time, and the town of Saumur, midway between Nantes and Angers, was appointed as the place, for a conference between the Duke of Brittany and the King of France. The terms fixed by the Duke were the same as those laid down by the Duke of Burgundy—that was, the expulsion of the Penthièvre and Blois families from the Court of France. The King consented, and thus gained the active aid of the Duke of Brittany and the moral support of the Duke of Burgundy.

The peace between the Duke of Brittany and the King of France brought its first great fruits in the offer to the King by the Count of Richemont, the brother of the Duke of Brittany, of his services against England, which was accepted, and he, the Count of Richmont, was made Constable of France. To him, probably more than to any other man, was France indebted for the final victory over England, and the establishment of France in her place among the nations of the world. Gilles de Retz, still with his grandfather, Jean de Craon, embraced the side of the King with ardour. He was rich and Charles was poor. He entered with spirit into all the pleasure and gayety of the Court. He became a pronounced favourite, and despite the subsequent defection or opposition of the Duke of Brittany, and the renunciation or withdrawal of favour from the Count of Richemont, Gilles de Retz and his grandfather remained indissolubly bound to Charles VII. and to France.

The first appearance of Gilles de Retz in the service of the King of France, or as a member of his Court, was September 8, 1425. He took service with the Breton troops and made his first essay as a soldier on the side of the King of France in the siege of Saint-Jean-de-Beuvron.

Gilles de Retz associated himself with Ambroise de Loré and the Baron Beaumanoir (the son or grandson of him who led the fight for Brittany in theCombat de Trente