The phrase "Bluebeard" remains on hearing for many generations. This character French legends familiar to anyone who in childhood read the fairy tales of Charles Perrault. The blue-bearded knight killed his beautiful wives one by one, as soon as they dared to violate the strictest prohibition of her husband: not to use the key to a certain mysterious room.

The next mistress of the castle, of course, could not cope with curiosity. She opened the cherished door and ... a terrible picture appeared to the beauty's gaze: in the cold twilight on the bloodied floor lay the lifeless bodies of her husband's former short-lived companions.

Stunned by the discovery, the girl finally realized the meaning of the gloomy warning of a strange spouse, however, too late. Taken by surprise, the unfortunate woman joined the monstrous collection in the dungeon.
For those who are less well-read, "Bluebeard" is simply a synonym for either a polygamist or a wife killer ...

There is a curious version that the noble and rich chevalier named Gilles de Ré, famous feats of arms side by side with the Maid of Orleans. Baron Gilles de Re was accused of intercourse with the devil, witchcraft, and the monstrous murders of innocent children, mostly boys, and pregnant women, which he committed in order to quench the thirst of the demons who served him with their blood.

Perhaps he also killed and ate unborn babies. An end to the crimes was put by a young man who miraculously escaped from the clutches of the villain, whom the devoted servants of the baron deceived into the possession of their master. He managed to escape and tell where to go. Gilles de Ré was tied up, tried by the Inquisition and executed.

Today, talkative guides tell tourists about these crimes in detail when visiting Mashkul, Tiffozh and Shamtos. It was in these three castles that, according to the baron himself, the most sophisticated murders took place. De Rais was a maniac, but an unusual maniac.
In his life, in a strange way, two completely contradictory beginnings intertwined: the gloomy base and the sublime heroic.

Over the centuries, somehow, the boys were transformed into girls, the wives of Bluebeard, and the story of a maniac necromancer turned into a story about a curious wife and husband, hiding under the mask of kindness and generosity the monstrous grin of the killer of women with too long a nose.

The fairy tale teaches us to trust our intuition, and if the groom's beard seems suspicious, then it's better not to hurry to move to his castle. It is also clear that the passion to poke your nose into every crevice will help to expose villainy, the main thing during investigative and search activities is to maintain secrecy and keep brothers with swords ready.

Gilles de Montmorency-Laval, Baron de Rais, Comte de Brienne, known as Gilles de Rais, or Gilles de Retz - French baron from the Montmorency-Laval family, marshal and alchemist, participant in the Hundred Years War, associate of Joan of Arc. He was arrested and executed on charges of serial killings, although the veracity of these charges is currently disputed. Served as a prototype for the folklore character " Blue Beard».

Gilles de Laval, Baron de Rais, was born in the autumn of 1404 at the castle of Chamtos in Anjou. Few of the French contemporaries could compete with Gilles by the nobility of origin. He belonged to two famous families of France - Montmorency and Craons; was the grandson of the hero of the Hundred Years' War, Brumore de Laval, and the great-nephew of the famous French commander, the winner of the British in the Hundred Years' War, Bertrand Dugueclin.

The Gilles family was related to all the noble families of eastern France. He himself had the status of the first baron of the Duchy of Brittany. Finally, his cousin was the future king of France, Charles VII of Valois.

The hero of a terrible legend was the firstborn in the family of Guy de Montmorency-Laval and Marie de Craon, Baroness de Rais. Unlike his younger brother Rene and sister Jeanne, from childhood he amazed everyone with his quickness of mind and indomitable temper.

The war with the British that had been going on for decades and the endless feudal strife undoubtedly left their mark on the upbringing of children in the families of the nobility. Parents hoped to see in the heir a worthy successor of glorious family traditions and believed that he would become a powerful lord and a valiant warrior: after all, this was so important in the Middle Ages, when strength was everything.

It is unlikely that anyone could have imagined that the boy would have time to become the hero of a “completely different novel” and meet his death with the stigma of a sophisticated killer. However, the parents were not destined to find out about this.

The year 1415 was tragic both for the whole of France and for the family of young Gilles. On October 25, near the village of Agincourt, the British, led by King Henry V, destroyed the entire flower of French chivalry. Shortly before this disaster, the future Baron de Rais lost his mother.

In the same year, his father died. The circumstances of his death are contradictory. There is a version that he laid down his head on the Agincourt field along with his wife's brother, Amaury de Craon. According to other sources, Guy de Laval was killed by a wild boar while hunting. So Gilles, along with his brother and sister, became orphans.

Perhaps the early death of the parents was one of the reasons for the future fate of their eldest offspring. However, there were plenty of orphans in France, and only one of them became Bluebeard ..

The children were in the care of relatives. The eleven-year-old Baron de Rais was raised by his maternal grandfather, Jean de Craon. For four years, Gilles was brought up in an atmosphere of aggressiveness and permissiveness.

The guardian grandfather was a typical representative of the nobility of that time - cunning, desperately
bold, cruel and merciless to enemies. His arrogance knew no bounds. He repeatedly instructed his grandson: “Remember, the de Rais family is above the laws of France!”

No one thought to curb the whims of little Gilles. Let him get used to achieve the fulfillment of his desires, if only he does not forget about his noble dignity and improves his possession of weapons.

Do not forget about other education. Jean de Craon encouraged an inquisitive grandson, invited good teachers. He received a good education for his time. Throughout his short life, he read a lot, was fond of collecting books, had an excellent library. Having already become an independent lord, he himself bound his treasures.

They were kept in Tiffauges - the works of Blessed Augustine, Ovid, Suetonius, Valery Maximus, personally bound by him. Gilles from childhood fell in love with music and theatrical performances. Education of this level was rare among the French nobility: many of its representatives were not able to simply sign a document at that time.

However, Gilles was also characterized by the prejudices of his age, they were simply relatively rare prejudices of the educated circle. The actions of supernatural forces, witches, magicians, the laws of astrology - all this, in the understanding of Baron de Rais, was part of reality, which, in addition, had book (we would say scientific) confirmation and explanation.

Warrior Jean de Craon could not allow his grandson to turn into a bookworm and recluse. At the age of fourteen, the young man was already drawing his weapon in skirmishes with the British. The taste of battle beckoned the young baron. At sixteen he takes lively participation in strife between the Montforts and Panthièvres, two noble families of France.

The young warrior is distinguished by courage, perseverance in battle and ... reckless cruelty. With his valor, Gilles won the favor of the overlord, the Duke of Brittany John V. He, of course, did not even think that in twenty years he would play an important role in organizing the investigation into the case of Gilles de Rais; while he raised the cup to the health of the young vassal.

In the same 1420, grandfather arranged family life grandson. It is curious that in this case, Gilles acted not as a passive figure, which would correspond to the mores of the time, but as a very active person. By the time of the marriage with Catherine de Thouar, the guardian had already twice tried to find a worthy couple for the young man. First, his choice fell on Jeanne de Paynel.

Having been refused, the enterprising Jean de Craon turned his attention to the vast possessions of the pretty Beatrice de Rogan, the niece of the Duke of Burgundy himself. The wedding broke down - there were too many opponents of the union of de Rais, Rogans and the House of Burgundy.

The third attempt was successful, as the matter was approached differently. Gilles and his restless grandfather decided to exclude any possibility of an insulting refusal: they simply stole the future bride from family nest. The frightened girl was escorted to the keep of the Shamtose castle, where three unlucky "rescuers" of Catherine, including her own uncle, soon landed. The prisoners, however, were released immediately after the wedding. As you can see, the young de Rais tried to strictly follow his grandfather's covenant: to always be above the law.

The marriage, as planned, became a profitable venture. The wife brought as a dowry 100 thousand livres in gold and movable property, the groom's land holdings increased significantly. At the age of twenty, having become a full and capable baron, de Rais could well consider himself one of the richest people in France. He was also successful in the military field.

France in the first half of the fifteenth century. belonging to the nobility meant not so much eminent wealth, which was desirable, but not prerequisite how much career. Hermits, who did not leave their castles and estates, of course, met, but the majority chose either the position of a nobleman, a courtier, or the path of a military leader. The combination of these two careers was not ruled out: many courtiers successfully commanded troops.

Gilles was not prone to intrigue, and a restless spirit attracted him to the battlefield. He loved military glory; The young aristocrat also liked the wild feasts of his comrades in arms. His military duty - the fight against the British - performed impeccably.

In 1424, not without the participation of his cousin - the famous nobleman Georges de La Tremoulle - Gilles de Rais appears at the court of the Dauphin Charles. The son of Charles VI and Isabeau of Bavaria was then a symbol of resistance to the English conquerors, but he had few means for waging war and lacked faithful people. At his own expense, Gilles is gaining an impressive detachment of cavalrymen.

Warriors under a black cross on a golden background could be found in all major clashes with foreigners. Their commander is, as always, bold, decisive and... very cruel to the captives. He gained a reputation as a hangman - perhaps the only circumstance that somewhat clouded the image of a brilliant knight.

It is worth noting that cruelty was quite in the spirit of the time, and something very gloomy had to be done in order to be talked about as a cruel person.

Everyone has events that shock to the core, often changing the further course of life. Something similar, in all probability, happened to Baron Gilles de Rais on Sunday, March 6, 1429, at Chinon. He saw her - the Virgin from the people's prophecy. Rumor claimed: will appear immaculate virgin sent by God to save France. And so it happened.

A girl from the Lorraine village of Domremy appeared to the Dauphin Charles to fulfill the Divine plan. We will never know what happened in the soul of our hero at the sight of Joan of Arc. Maybe love was born there? This cannot be argued, but he turned out to be the only one who remained faithful to the Virgin until her tragic captivity.

Jeanne wished that de Rais personally guarded her in the campaign and in battle. Since then, they have fought shoulder to shoulder: the girl who will be canonized, and her knight, who left behind a terrible memory of manic murders.

The detachment of Gilles de Rais was the core of the army with which Jeanne lifted the siege of Orleans. Then there were the assault on the fortress of Georges and famous battle under Pat, where Gilles invariably found himself in the thick of the battle.

July 17, 1429 coronation took place Charles VII in Reims. Baron de Rais and three other especially close knights were entrusted with important mission. They were appointed "hostages of the holy vessel" and sent to the abbey of Saint-Remy for a precious vial of peace, which, according to legend, was brought by angels during the baptism of the Frankish king Clovis. According to custom, before the ceremony of chrismation, a drop of this oil should be mixed with holy oil.

On the same day, de Rais received another honor: at the time of the coronation, he accompanied the king along with Joan of Arc, who held the white royal banner - oriflamme. Soon Charles VII elevated Gilles de Rais to the rank of Marshal of France. Two months later he was honored again: the king granted the baron the right to place family coat of arms heraldic image of a lily. Note that only persons of royal blood could have a “royal flower” in their coat of arms. Outside this narrow circle of people, except for Gilles de Rais, only the family of Joan of Arc was awarded such a privilege.

After an unsuccessful attack on Paris from the army Virgin of Orleans some military leaders were recalled by the king. Among them was Gilles de Rais.

History, as you know, does not tolerate subjunctive mood, but who knows how events would have turned out if the marshal had been next to Jeanne on that ill-fated Tuesday, May 23, 1430, under the walls of Compiègne! The baron would rather lay down his head himself than allow the Burgundians to capture the Virgin. Upon learning that the king was not going to take any action to free Jeanne, de Rais - the only one of all the associates of the savior of Orleans - at his own peril and risk, hastily recruited a detachment of volunteers and rushed to Rouen. Here, in an English prison, the French heroine awaited her fate. Several times Gilles tried to break into the city, but all these operations ended in failure. May 30, 1430 Joan of Arc was burned alive in the Old Market Square.

I would like to believe that it was the death of the Virgin and the betrayal of the king that caused Gilles a deep mental trauma that predetermined his future fate. All the best that he believed in was trampled down, trampled into the dirt ... In this case, extenuating circumstances appear in the de Rais case.

But there is another possibility as well. Proximity to Jeanne (loyalty and devotion by no means exclude cruelty) compromised the baron in the eyes of the king and his entourage. Who wants to be constantly reminded of their betrayal?

Be that as it may, voluntarily or involuntarily, the marshal left the court, left his military career and retired to the Shamtose castle. military exploits were replaced by unbridled orgies and drunken brawls, which from 1432 began to alternate with alchemy, and then black magic.

Only three times during this time Gilles de Rais returned to his glorious past.

First, in 1434 in Orleans, with his own money, he staged the "Mystery of the Siege of Orleans", in which Jeanne's feat was glorified. And this despite the fact that the accusation of heresy and witchcraft weighed on her memory!

Then in 1437, believing in miraculous salvation Virgin, he received an impostor in the castle of Tiffauges, a certain lady d'Armoise, provided her with money and a detachment of soldiers.

And in 1439, he himself, together with the imaginary Joan of Arc, took part in the campaign against the British.

Revelry, hunting fun, theatrical performances and military adventures required huge funds. Gilles had emptied his treasury long ago, but the threat of ruin did not frighten him. The baron began to sell his possessions on the cheap, while stipulating the right of a subsequent - within six years - redemption. De Rais seemed to be seized by some kind of hysterical madness, not without (a six-year term) some kind of rational beginning.

The family was concerned about the squandering of ancestral possessions. Gilles' brother, Rene de Suze, obtained a special ordinance from the king of the publication in 1435, by virtue of which Baron Gilles de Rais was forbidden to sell or mortgage his possessions, and anyone to buy or take them as a pledge. But the baron, thus limited in rights, remembered well the testament of his grandfather. Rod de Rais remained above the laws, and his head did not pay the slightest attention to the royal decree. The deals continued.

Most often, the buyers were the Duke of Brittany John V and his chancellor, Bishop of Nantes Jean de Malstroy. Of course, they were not very happy with the six-year buyout clause. But where does this apparently crazy baron get the money from? But Gilles de Rais himself knew well how this would happen. He was simply sure that with the help of alchemical experiments he would be able to get the so-called "philosopher's stone."

In the Middle Ages, this term meant a certain mysterious and miraculous mineral, with the help of which any metal can be turned into gold. In addition to quick enrichment, the philosopher's stone made it possible to become extremely powerful, gain eternal youth and the ability to revive the dead, in a word, comprehend all the secrets of the universe.

Gilles got assistants - a whole motley retinue. In 1437 we see next to the baron his cousin - Gilles de Sille; a certain Roger de Briqueville, a charlatan; a priest from Saint-Lô, Eustache Blanchet; the summoner of spirits - Jean de La Riviera; two inseparable friends of uncertain status, twenty-six-year-old Henrie (Henri Griard) and Poitou (Etienne Corillo, four years younger).

With the help of his henchmen, Gilles de Rais equips, first in Shamtos, and then in Mashkul, something like laboratories. And yet, the most gloomy glory was the castle of Tiffauges. Tired of constant failures, the baron sent Eustache Blanche in search of a powerful magician. There was an opinion that such magicians were able to summon demons and force them to fulfill any desires. In May 1439, Blanchet brought the Italian minorite monk Francesco Prelati to Tiffauges, assuring him that he was the real sorcerer.

At 24, Prelati was already an experienced charlatan. A good education and pleasant appearance attracted "clients" and inspired confidence. It was not difficult for the Italian to convince the master of Tiffauges of his ability to summon a demon named Barron.

Very soon, the young alchemist and Baron de Rais began to be united not only by magic, but also by the tender feelings that Gilles began to have for the Italian.

In the lower hall of the Donjon Tiffauges, among the spoils of war and knightly armor, Prelati drew a huge circle, inside of which were depicted crosses, mystical signs and symbols. All this, coupled with spells from some big book, equipped with a massive iron clasp, should have made it easier to summon a demon.

One day, Prelati told his "sponsor" that the dream of an inexhaustible source of gold had finally come true. The demon had already scattered countless ingots throughout the hall, but forbade anyone to enter the room for several days. Gilles was delighted, he was eager to admire the result of the work of his beloved magician. Prelati volunteered to accompany the baron.

He was ahead of de Rais, opened the door to the hall and immediately slammed it, skillfully depicting a terrible fright on his face. Gasping for breath, the sorcerer informed his master that a vile giant green snake writhed there. Both panicked and ran away. Having mastered himself, Gilles, picking up a crucifix in which a piece of the life-giving Cross was kept, expressed a desire to return. Prelati convinced the excited marshal not to do so.

As a result, it turned out that the insidious demon turned gold into tinsel, which in the hands of the alchemist took the form of a reddish powder. The resourceful charlatan explained the failure by the lack of sacrifice. The demon requires human blood and flesh, and in large quantities.

Bad rumors have been circulating about Señor de Rais for a long time. It was rumored that during the night orgies, he, reveling in his cruelty, tortured the boys from peasant families. Indeed, after the return of de Rais from royal service in the vicinity of the castles of Shamtose, Mashkul and Tiffauges, cases of missing children of ten to thirteen years became more frequent.

It is possible that Prelati, speaking of the need for human sacrifice, had in mind the criminal inclinations of his master. Thus, the Italian wanted to tie him even more to black magic, and therefore to himself.

It is also possible that the missing children were "recorded to the account" of Gilles retroactively - after the investigation and trial.

It is authentically known that the baron instructed his servants, already mentioned Henrier and Poitou, to deliver children to him in Tiffauges. For the same purpose, he hired the old woman Perrin Martin, nicknamed La Meffre.

The testimonies of the servants, Prelati, and even Gilles de Rais himself are full of horrifying details that are hard to believe. The baron admitted, for example, that once, as a sacrifice, he presented a cup to the mythical demon, in which he placed the head, hand, eyes and genitals of the child, pouring abundantly on them with the blood of the victim.

Henriet and Poitou claimed that during such seances, de Rais wrote appeals to the demon on scraps of parchment, using either his own blood or the blood of the victims as ink. The same henchmen stated at the church court that the baron had ordered them to destroy about forty children's corpses in the Mashkul castle as soon as he learned about the possible transfer of part of his possessions to the control of brother Rene.

Popular rumor then attributed to Gilles from 7 to 8 hundred such victims, but in the indictment of his trial another figure was set - 140!

The envoys of Gilles hunted for children in the villages and cities under the leadership of the chief huntsman, de Briqueville. The old woman Perrine Marten lured the children, the baron's servants stuffed them into bags and carried them to the castle. The details of the murders that appeared at the trial are horrendous. It was said that Gilles cut the throats of his victims, pulled out the insides, raped agonizing children, dismembered corpses, collected the heads he liked ...

At times, the owner of the castle was seized with pangs of conscience. Then he began to sob, announced the end of the criminal vigils, vowed to go to the Holy Land to repent. But those were only moments of weakness.

It is not known how long such experiments would have continued (if, of course, they actually took place) if those in power had not connected his exposure with their material interests. Neither the Duke of Brittany, nor his chancellor - the Bishop of Nantes - did not want to return the lands to de Rais: not six years after the deal, nor ever at all, especially since it became possible to eliminate the baron himself and seize his other possessions.

Apparently, they were not too worried about the fate of local peasant children, since at first they did not pay attention to the terrible rumors that were circulating around.

For the arrest of Gilles de Rais, they found another reason, making him the object of church persecution. Thus, John V and his chancellor, Jean de Malstroy, among other things, hoped to avoid a confrontation with the local chivalry, for whom de Rais was not the first lord, but continued to be a hero of France.

Events developed rather quickly. In the summer of 1440, the Marshal of France sold the castle of Saint-Etienne de Malmore to the treasurer of the Duke of Brittany, Geoffroy de Ferron, who may have played the role of figurehead. During the act of transferring ownership between the marshal and the brother of the treasurer - the clergyman Jean de Ferron - there were some misunderstandings. Some time later, on Trinity Day, Baron de Rais, at the head of a detachment of sixty people, broke into the church of the castle of Saint-Étienne, where Jean de Ferron was taking communion at that time.

Marshal ordered de Ferron to be taken to Tiffauges, and left his garrison in Saint-Étienne. A few days later, Tiffauges was besieged by the troops of the constable of France and the Duke of Brittany. Gilles, releasing de Ferron, considered the conflict settled, but the pursuit machine was already running.

The Church, in the person of the Bishop of Nantes-de Malstroy known to us, brought charges of sacrilege against Baron Gilles de Rais, as he committed violence in the church of Saint-Etienne and violated the inviolability of a clergyman by raising his hand against Jean Ferron.

Malstrua turned to the Holy Inquisition for help in the investigation. The Grand Inquisitor of France, Guillaume Mirici, sent his representative, Jean Blouin, to Nantes. The inquisitor was interested, first of all, in information relating to the practice of alchemy and black magic. Rumors of infanticide in the baron's castles immediately surfaced. Interrogations of witnesses - the parents of the missing children - began. Seven people testified against the baron.

On September 13, a summons was sent to Gilles de Rais in Mashkul demanding to appear in a week in Nantes, at the episcopal court. At the same time, all the baron's henchmen, including Francesco Prelati, were arrested and escorted to the Tour Neuve fortress in Nantes.

The Inquisition knew how to get the necessary testimony from its victims. Already on September 28, all those arrested began to unanimously give accusatory evidence. They looked like participants in some crazy competition: each tried to build on himself and his master as many accusations as possible.

During the first four sessions of the church court, de Rais himself flatly refused to acknowledge any of the acts incriminated to him. It was very difficult for him to withstand the onslaught of two accusers at once in the person of Bishop de Malstroy and Inquisitor Blouin. The situation for the baron was further complicated by the fact that the court deprived him of the right to a lawyer.

In anger, the marshal shouted various insults at the judges. He declared that none of those present had the right to judge him - Baron Gilles de Rais, Marshal of France, hero of Orleans and Pate. He accused the judges of corruption and trade in church positions, called the accusation of killing 800 children a slander. They did not want to listen to him and rejected the request to appeal to a higher authority. The verdict was sealed.

On October 13, ending the next public meeting, Bishop de Malstroy announced that the court had concluded that Baron Gilles de Rais was guilty on 49 counts, including the murder of 34 boys. Then the inquisitor solemnly excommunicated Gilles de Rais from the Church. In response, the baron declared that it was better to be hanged than to recognize an unjust judgment.

The interrogation of witnesses began, of which two of Gilles' servants, André and Poitou, raised a whole heap of horrors against him. But especially valuable were the testimony of Prelati, who gave an amazingly detailed and extensive picture of magic and necromancy, which Gilles Rae indulged in with his participation. But here again a surprising circumstance emerges.

This Prelati, an obvious necromancer, a man who possessed a tamed devil, came out dry from the water. He was released alive and well, as well as the sinister Meffre, the supplier of living goods. Obviously, the righteous judges were too grateful to them for their testimony and considered it ignoble to punish such useful witnesses.

During the next two days strange changes took place in the defendant. Probably, he was unable to endure the excommunication: despite all his crimes, he remained a religious man. Perhaps he was struck by the sight of henchmen, mutilated in the dungeons of the Inquisition. After all, he could - in the case of the truth of the accusation - experience pangs of conscience,

One way or another, but on October 15, Gilles de Rais repented of his deed. With tears in his eyes, he pleaded guilty and begged the judges to lift the excommunication. On October 20, the criminal asked to stop the investigation, make the testimony public and pass the final verdict, but the inexorable inquisitor demanded details and appointed the next day the use of torture.

Gilles was depressed. As soon as he was brought to the dungeon and shown the instruments of torture, he begged for mercy and agreed to answer all the questions of the inquisitor and other members of the court.

The details he gave were appalling. He stated that he went on about his passions. The chairman of the secular court, Pierre de l'Opital, could not believe what he heard for a long time. In response to his bewilderment, de Rais exclaimed:

- Truly, there were no other reasons or intentions, except for those that I told you. I confessed to you things worse than these, I confessed to you so much that you can sentence ten thousand people to death!

De Rais understood his doom, he was afraid of hell, he hoped for the forgiveness of the Lord. He believed in Divine mercy, manifested in the case of the complete repentance of the sinner. Perhaps that is why, parting forever with Prelati in the courtroom, the baron said tenderly:

Goodbye, Francesco, my friend. We will only meet in paradise.

He did not suspect that Prelati would be able to avoid execution this time. He was released at the request of the Duke of Anjou, who made him the court alchemist. A few years later he was accused of forging the seal of his patron and executed.

On October 22, the last interrogation took place. In hysterics, Gilles fell to his knees and, sobbing, began to ask those present to pray for him. sinful soul. He asked for forgiveness from the parents of the missing children.

Three days later, the final verdict of the church court was pronounced. Gilles de Laval, Baron de Rais, marshal of France, was guilty of apostasy, summoning demons and sacrilege, as well as crimes against human nature including the murder of 140 children. He was subject to excommunication from the Church and transfer to the hands of secular justice.

Gilles steadfastly listened to the verdict. He did not expect a different outcome and, repenting, asked to remove the excommunication and give him the opportunity to confess before his death. One of the directors of the process, Jean de Malstrois, “in the name of the love of God” performed a rite of reunion with “our mother, the Catholic Church” over de Rais.

Having confessed and received the remission of sins, Gilles was escorted to a secular court. Here the death sentence was pronounced for the Baron de Rais and his servants Henrier and Poitou. Three condemned had to accept death by hanging and subsequent burning. In addition, Gilles de Rais had to pay a fine of 50,000 livres before his execution in favor of the Duke of Brittany.

John V could be satisfied: the enterprise was completed with a certain benefit for him. In his last word The suicide bomber asked for three favors: first, to arrange a solemn procession of those praying for the salvation of his soul before the execution; secondly, he asked that he be executed before the servants, so that they would be strengthened in spirit and, thirdly, he asked that his ashes be buried in the church of Notre Dame de Carmel in Nantes. All these simple wishes were fulfilled. On the morning of October 26, a funeral procession moved to the city square of Nantes.

Those who a few days ago cursed the savage de Rais, mourned his fate and tearfully prayed to the Lord to forgive all the sins of the criminal. Gilles calmly ascended the platform and, before accepting death, found the strength to preach to the audience. Then he said goodbye to Henriet and Poitou. A few seconds later, the rope crossed out the life line of the thirty-six-year-old marshal of France.

The flame of the fire soared too high, and the rope quickly burned out - de Rais's body fell into the fire, from where he was immediately pulled out by the relatives of the executed. Until the end of the XVIII century. the remains of the baron rested in the church of Notre-Dame de Carmel. During the years of the revolution, the grave was devastated, and the ashes disappeared. Only the name remained, which became a symbol of manic cruelty.

Nevertheless, it must be admitted that there are many ambiguities in the case of Gilles de Rais.

The process was organized by the enemies of the baron, people interested in his death. The bodies of the murdered children were never found; the exception is two children's skeletons found at Tiffauges. It was then impossible to date the time of death of the victims, so a mistake could have occurred.

During the process, the investigation was able to find only ten people who directly accused de Rais of killing children, and he was charged with a much larger number of deaths. Finally, as history shows, the Inquisition was rarely interested in the truth. For her, it was a matter of honor to prove the accusation, and by any means, including torture and perjury.

The materials of the case suggest that the confessions of "Bluebeard" could turn out to be the delusions of a mentally unbalanced person who became a victim of psychosis on the basis of religious and mystical exaltation, which was so common at all stages of human existence.

The history of Gilles de Rais is surrounded by such a thick fog of legend created during the process that it is already difficult or impossible to discern the true features of the person who was once an associate of Joan of Arc. As for the Bluebeard, Charles Lie, stipulating that he is not an expert in terms of folk legends, he is still very surprised in what way Gilles Rae turned into "Bluebeard" folk tales. Meanwhile, in one Breton ballad, the names of Bluebeard and Gilles Rae alternate in couplets so that both faces were obviously considered to be one.

The folk fantasy has turned tortured children into murdered wives. And the blue color of the beard probably comes from a different legend altogether.

For some reason, the accusations against Gilles de Rais are believed more often than others. Maybe because romantic literature took pleasure in exploiting his name, turning into the most terrible villain of the one who could be revered as national hero France. Meanwhile, these accusations are ad nauseam standard. old saying says: "When they want to kill a dog, they say that it is rabid."

In an effort to arouse general curiosity and hostility, theologians invented all these abominations and attributed them to the Cathars, the Templars, the witches, the Freemasons. Once upon a time, during the persecution of Christianity, similar legends spread about the abominations of the Christian cult - sinful sin during worship, frantic feasts, communion with the blood of babies, etc.

If you sum up the number of children allegedly killed by the "witches", it will be surprising how the Europeans did not die out at all. The trial of Re is distinguished only by greater thoroughness compared to the usual trials of "witches": witnesses, details ...

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The prototype of the character could serve as the French baron and marshal Gilles de Rais, who was executed on charges of numerous murders.

The tale has served as the basis for a number of theatrical versions. The most famous are the eponymous operetta by Jacques Offenbach and Bela Bartok's opera The Castle of the Duke Blue Beard. In both cases, the plot is greatly changed: in the operetta - in an ironic way, and in the opera - in a philosophical and mystical way.

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✪ BLUEBEARD: The prototype of a spooky fairy tale character from childhood

✪ Charles Perrault "Bluebeard".

✪ Perro Charles "Bluebeard" (ONLINE AUDIOBOOKS) Listen

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Plot

A wealthy aristocrat nicknamed Bluebeard is afraid of women: firstly, because of of blue color beard, for which he received such a nickname, and secondly, due to the fact that the fate of his seven ex-wives remains unknown. He proposes to one of the daughters of a neighbor, a noble lady, inviting the mother to decide for herself which of the daughters to marry. In fear of him, none of the girls dare to marry him. As a result, having won the heart of the youngest daughter, the master plays a wedding with her, and she moves to his castle.

Soon after the wedding, the gentleman, about to leave on business, gives his wife the keys to all the rooms, including the mysterious closet below, forbidding her to enter there under threat of death. In the absence of her husband, the young wife cannot stand it, opens the door and discovers a pool of blood and the bodies of all the missing wives of Bluebeard there. Terrified, she drops the key into a pool of blood and, recovering herself, tries to wipe off the blood. But since this key is magic, it doesn't work.

Unexpectedly, Bluebeard returns ahead of time and, from the excitement of his wife, guesses that she has violated the ban. Seeing a bloody stain on the key, he passes a death sentence on his wife. She asks him for five minutes to pray before her death, and she sends her older sister to the tower to see if the brothers have arrived. Bluebeard runs out of patience, he grabs his wife, but at that moment her brothers arrive and kill him.

Plot options

The English plot of the tale is slightly different from the French. There, Bluebeard simply kidnaps someone he happened to meet along the way. beautiful girl and forcibly makes her his wife. All the servants in Bluebeard's castle are corrupt, except for one beautiful shepherdess, with whom the young mistress became friends. Bluebeard leaves, leaving the keys to his wife, and forbids opening the only closet. The hostess and the shepherdess a week before the return of Bluebeard to the castle, out of curiosity, open the closet and see the corpses of women hanging on seven hooks, the eighth hook is free. In horror, the young woman lets go of the key, it falls and is stained with blood. The girls try to wipe off the blood, but the more they wash, the brighter the stain becomes, and it will never be erased from the magic key. Realizing that the mistress cannot escape punishment, the shepherdess sends a talking jay with terrible news to the brothers of her mistress. Bluebeard returns and sharpens a knife to kill his disobedient wife. The shepherdess is looking tensely from the tower to see if the brothers of the hostess are coming. AT last moment the brothers are doing well. There is a battle: two brothers fight with Bluebeard, and his sinister three dogs: Dogs big and strong as bulls, for an hour. However, the brothers manage to win and kill them. They take home a sister and a young shepherdess, on which younger brother marries with the blessing of his parents. And the shepherdess receives Bluebeard's castle as her wedding dowry.

Plot origin

There are two traditional versions of the origin of the Bluebeard character, and they both go back to the infamous famous people from Brittany.

According to the first, the prototype of the legend was Gilles de Rais, who lived in the 15th century and was executed on charges of murdering several of his wives and ritual killings 80 to 200 boys for the purpose of summoning demons. It is worth noting that these allegations were most likely falsified. So, he had only one wife, and after his arrest and death, there was a fairy tale among the people that the devil dyed his blond beard blue because he killed six of his wives, and archaeologists, when examining his castle, did not find any remains that testify massacres and burials. Perhaps the baron was slandered by order of King Charles VII, who was a friend of de Rais, and later his enemy. In 1992, French scientists achieved historical justice - they organized a new "posthumous trial" in the Senate of the French Republic. Having carefully studied documents from the archives of the Inquisition, a tribunal of several parliamentarians, politicians and expert historians fully acquitted Marshal de Rais.

According to the second version, the legend is connected with the ruler of Brittany, Conomor the Accursed, whose wife Tryphina discovered secret room in his castle, where the corpses of all three of his ex-wives were kept. The spirits informed her that they were killed while pregnant. Having become pregnant, Tryphina escapes, but Conomor catches her and decapitates her.

It must be noted that indirect influence The plot was also influenced by the fate of the two wives of King Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, who were executed on the orders of their husband for adultery and high treason. In some illustrations and adaptations of the fairy tale visual image Bluebeard is very much in common with the appearance and costume of Henry VIII.

Russian translation

Screen adaptations

• The silent short fairy tale film by Georges Méliès " Blue beard" (fr. Barbe-bleue) 1901 is the first film adaptation of the novel. Starring Georges Méliès himself.
• In 1951, the film "Bluebeard (film)".
• In 1972, the movie Bluebeard was released, starring Richard Burton. Wrote music for the film

Who hasn't heard of the villain immortalized by Charles Perrault under the name of Bluebeard? Since the story was published in 1697 in the collection “Tales of My Mother Goose ...”, all the children of Europe have read it, but not every adult knows where it came from. It is believed that Gilles de Montmorency-Laval, Baron de Rais, Marshal of France, hero of the Hundred Years War, contemporary and colleague of the famous Joan of Arc, served as the prototype of the Bluebeard. But did he rightly get the “laurels” of a murderer and a sorcerer?

On the morning of October 26, 1440, the square in front of the Nantes Cathedral was crowded with a huge crowd. Everyone wanted to look at the execution of a noble lord, accused of monstrous crimes. In the cathedral, Marshal Gilles de Rais repented and asked for forgiveness. The church - for apostasy, heresy, blasphemy and witchcraft. From his lord, Duke Jean of Brittany, for the numerous murders of young children. The ceremony was not long - already at ten o'clock a procession of wagons set off from the square to the place of execution: on the first - the marshal himself, behind him - two of his closest bodyguard servants and, according to their own testimony, assistants in wicked deeds - Henri Griar and Etienne Corillo . These two, people of no nobility, half an hour later will be burned alive at the stake. The executioner will strangle their master with a garrote, "symbolically" set fire to brushwood under the dead body, immediately pull out the corpse, which will be handed over to relatives. Those, however, will beware of burying the "monster" in the family crypt - he will find eternal rest under an unnamed slab in a Carmelite monastery on the outskirts of Nantes ...

Confidant of the Dauphin

“Once upon a time there was a man who had beautiful houses both in the city and in the countryside, dishes, gold and silver, furniture all embroidered and carriages, gilded from top to bottom. But, unfortunately, this man had a blue beard, and it made him so ugly and so terrible that there was not a single woman or girl who would not run away when she saw him. Already at the very beginning of the tale, it seems, there is the first slander against the hero of our story, who, judging by the portraits, wore a neatly trimmed dark beard.

Gilles de Rais, born in 1404 in the castle of Mashcoul on the border of Brittany and Anjou, is the offspring of an old and noble family that gave France twelve marshals and six constables (the holder of this position combined the duties of commander in chief and minister of war).

Sources do not say anything about his childhood, which is usual for that troubled era. Only the most known general information. In 1415, eleven-year-old Gilles and his younger brother Rene lost both parents: Guy de Laval's father, Baron de Rais, died either in the war or in a duel, his mother died a little earlier, and the children were under the care of their grandfather Jean de Craon . He, apparently, put a lot of effort into instilling in Gilles a love of reading and the sciences - occupations, in fact, not very popular among the rather rude chivalry in those days. In any case, in adulthood his pupil passionately collected antiquities and showed extreme inquisitiveness of mind. After spending most life in the saddle and on the battlefield, he nevertheless managed to compile a rich library and never spared money to replenish it.

Even at a young age, this brilliant knight profitably (but, mind you, for the first and only time!) Married the maiden Catherine, granddaughter of the Viscount de Thouars, and received, in addition to his already considerable fortune, two million livres of dowry and vast lands in Poitou (in including the castle of Tiffauges, which is destined to play a significant role in its future fate). He was little interested in his wife and paid almost no attention to her. Suffice it to say that they had - in 1429 - only one daughter, Marie de Laval.

But the Baron de Rais used his wealth, at least lovingly, carefully and diligently. AT short term it helped win over the heir, Prince Charles of Valois, and get a place in his retinue. The young dauphin, almost the same age as Gilles, unlike his new courtier, lived forever on the edge of the financial abyss, due to which his chances for the French crown were approaching zero. Yes, and the crown was illusory: half of the country had long been firmly occupied by the British and their allies the Burgundians, and in many provinces local feudal lords were in charge. Poor in all respects, the prince could hardly manage to hold only the cities in the Loire Valley, and at the same time he did not stick his nose out of his residence in the Château de Chinon.

The Hundred Years War raging all around determined the field of our hero. He decided to bet on the Dauphin Charles, in those years the correctness of this choice was not at all obvious. However, the baron did not betray him and did not miscalculate.

national hero

In Gilles de Rais, the blood of the famous constable Bertrand Duguesclin, the most famous of the country's commanders, who died in 1380, flowed. Of course, the laurels of the famous ancestor did not give rest to the great-nephew of the "thunderstorm of the British". And he managed to achieve the same loud fame. Overcoming the lethargy and apathy of his overlord and friend Charles, Baron de Rais spared no effort and means. He formed large detachments at his own expense and made - from 1422 to 1429 - very successful raids on lands occupied by the enemy, stormed several castles and finally covered himself with national glory, fighting hand in hand with Joan of Arc near Orleans and at Jarjo. For these exploits, Montmorency-Laval became Marshal of France at the age of 25 - an unprecedented case! Evil tongues claimed that this happened due to the fact that Baron de Rais, with his own money, supported not only the army, but also Charles with his entire court, paying for all kinds of feasts, hunts and other amusements that the Dauphin so adored. However, no one questioned the actual military exploits of the marshal.

After the memorable Orleans victory in May 1429, the war rolled to a successful end for Charles. On July 17 of the same year, he was crowned in Reims - the place where traditionally from 498 they were crowned king french kings. There was already so little doubt about the victory of the Valois that Gilles de Rais thought it appropriate to carefully signal to the newly minted sovereign that now that everything was going well, it was time to start paying off the loans. And, as often happens in similar cases, the marshal not only did not receive back the money spent, but in addition he fell into disfavor and was removed from the court. After all, it is well known: a small debt gives birth to a debtor, a large one - an enemy.

Mistake by Gilles de Rais

Since 1433, our hero is officially retired. He lives quietly in the castle of Tiffauges in remote Brittany and, out of boredom, reads books on alchemy. In the end, there was also an urgent need for her - his financial affairs were still going badly, and the hope of correcting them with the return of the royal debt had vanished.

Apparently, in search of a way out of financial difficulties, Gilles de Rais also makes the main strategic mistake in life. In 1436, he cordially hosts the new Dauphin, Louis. Accepts as the son of his old fighting friend and king. The baron could not help but know that the Dauphin, the future King Louis XI, the most cunning of the monarchs of Europe, was already intriguing against his father and, in fact, was hiding from the royal wrath on the marshal's estates. Knowing Charles well, how could he doubt that the shadow of enmity between father and son would fall on him in the most direct way (even if formally Louis' visit was presented to him as an "inspector's" check).

Punishment followed immediately. In order to get at least some cash, the marshal had to mortgage real estate - first one castle, then another ... These operations were absolutely legal and profitable, but a decree followed from the king: to restrict Baron Gilles de Rais in commercial transactions with his possessions. For the disgraced marshal, this was a considerable blow - with great zeal, he began to look for a way to turn lead into gold. He ordered his alchemist Gilles de Silla to concentrate on this task alone.

Almost the entire first floor of Tiffauge Castle was converted into an alchemical laboratory. The owner did not skimp on expenses. His agents bought on an industrial scale the components needed for the experiments, some of which - for example, shark teeth, mercury and arsenic - were very expensive at that time.

But, as you might guess, this did not help - it was not possible to get gold. In his hearts, the marshal said goodbye to the more or less sober de Sille and in 1439 invited the chief alchemist Francesco Prelati to take the place, who, apparently, convinced the baron of his exclusivity. Perhaps he was attracted by the fact that the Italian directly stated that he was a sorcerer and kept in the service of a personal demon, through which he communicates with world of the dead(and this at a time when the baron's former "learned men" were mostly priests).

Unfortunately, very soon Francesco Prelati gained enormous power over his master, a man who was both erudite and out-of-the-box thinking. The latter quality made him always want to communicate with extraordinary people, who clearly break the framework of his contemporary ideas about science. However, this time our hero did not recognize the obvious charlatan.

Over time, all of Brittany heard about their witchcraft exercises and was horrified to such an extent that the Duke of Brittany himself, whose vassal was the Baron de Rais, had to intervene. Soon the duke, at the head of two hundred armed soldiers, was knocking at the gates of Tiffauges. Clouds thickened over the marshal's head, but he himself did not yet know how menacing they were.

Another villain...

Most philologists - researchers fairy tales, as well as historians, agree that in the history of Bluebeard, the real plot with the execution of Gilles de Rais superimposed in a bizarre way on the mythological, literary, and not vice versa, as is usually the case. From the early medieval in Brittany (as well as in the Celtic regions of Great Britain - Cornwall and Wales) there was a popular story about the Earl of Conomor, who married a certain Trephinia, later a saint. He asked for the girl's hand from her father, Count Geroch, but he refused "because of the extreme cruelty and barbarism with which he treated his other wives, whom, as soon as they became pregnant, he ordered to be killed in the most inhuman way." So, in any case, reports the "Biography of the Saints of Brittany." Then, through the mediation of one righteous abbot, the wedding - with the solemn oaths of Conomor to behave with dignity - nevertheless took place. But as soon as Trephinia became pregnant, the count - a pagan at heart - nevertheless killed her, apparently performing some kind of diabolical ritual. Further, as the legend says, the resurrection of the saint and the punishment of the murderer followed. Isn't it true that the contours of the future "horror story" about Bluebeard are quite visible? Considering that in the 15th century, when Gilles de Rais lived, stories of this kind were the main body of local folklore, it is not surprising that the fate of the marshal joined them. And it is not surprising that the children "tortured" by the seigneur de Montmorency-Laval merged into people's memory with wives from the legends of Conomor, and already in this form they got to Charles Perrault. A common thing in the history of literature...

Trial Strike

At the end of August 1440, Monsignor Jean de Malestruet, Bishop of Nantes, chief adviser and "right hand" of the Duke of Brittany, spoke in cathedral with a sensational sermon before a crowd of parishioners. His Eminence allegedly became aware of the heinous crimes of one of the noblest nobles of Brittany, Marshal Gilles de Rais, "against young children and adolescents of both sexes." The bishop demanded that "people of every rank" who had at least some information about these "chilling deeds" informed him about them.

The bishop's speech, full of meaningful omissions, made the listeners feel that the investigation had serious evidence. In fact, Malestruet was then aware of a single disappearance of a child, which somehow managed to be connected with Gilles de Rais, and it happened a month before the fateful sermon. There was no question of direct evidence - it is obvious that the ruling elites of the Duchy of Breton simply decided to use the opportunity to deal with the disgraced marshal.

Soon the bishop had a reason to inform the head of the Inquisitorial Tribunal of Brittany, Father Jean Blouin, about everything. In general, the investigation has since unfolded in all directions. A few days later, an indictment was issued. He made a strong impression on his contemporaries. What was not here: both human sacrifices to a domestic demon, and witchcraft “with the use of special technical means", and the murder of children with the dismemberment and burning of their bodies, and sexual perversions ...

A 47-count indictment was sent to the Duke of Brittany and the Inquisitor General of France, Guillaume Merici. Marshal was officially informed of them on September 13, 1440, and invited him to appear in the episcopal court for an explanation.

accusation of witchcraft

The meeting of the tribunal was scheduled for September 19, and Gilles de Rais probably understood that he had more than good reasons to avoid appearing. If he could still consider the accusations of missing children "not dangerous", then the witchcraft manipulations detailed in the indictment could cause great trouble. The Church persecuted them very fiercely. In addition, the Duke of Brittany also authorized a secular trial, and it also gave some results ...

In principle, it remained possible to flee to Paris and fall at the feet of Charles VII, but, apparently, there was very little hope for the help of an old friend, since the accused did not want to use this means. He remained at Tiffauges and announced that he would certainly appear in court. Here his situation was further worsened by his own close associates, whose nerves were not so strong. Gilles' friend, Roger de Briqueville, and a former trusted alchemist, Gilles de Sille, just in case, went on the run. In response, the prosecutor of Brittany Guillaume Chapeillon announced their search, which gave him a legal opportunity to come with the guards to the baron's castle and seize other suspects there: the Italian sorcerer and the baron's bodyguards - Griar and Corillo. All these people spent the last years side by side with the owner and, of course, could tell a lot about his activities. What they, in fact, did at the court, which met in October 1440 in the city hall of Nantes. The authorities tried to give the process as much publicity as possible: it was announced in the squares of all the cities of Brittany, and everyone who could have at least some, true or imaginary, relation to the case was invited to it (at the same time, the accused’s demand for a lawyer was rejected!) . Spectators were admitted freely, and their influx was so great that many had to hang around the doors. Gilles de Rais was insulted, women rushed at the guards in order to break through closer and be able to spit in the face of the “damned villain”.

As for the testimony... Suffice it to say that it lived up to the expectations of the crowd.

The alchemist Francesco Prelati, under oath, stated that Baron de Rae composed and wrote with blood an agreement with the demon Barron, in which he undertook to bring the latter bloody sacrifices for three gifts: omniscience, wealth and power. The witness does not know whether the accused received these gifts, but he made sacrifices: at first he tried to pay off with a chicken, but at the request of Barron he switched to children.

Gilles de Sille spoke in detail about the sexual behavior of his former patron - heinous abuse of minors of both sexes. In addition, he confirmed that the baron participated in alchemical experiments, being aware of their sinfulness, and thus fell into heresy.

Their parents testified about the missing children. Some of them stated that the last time they saw their children was when they sent them to the possessions of the Baron de Rais to beg. Finally, Griar and Corillo gave the most terrible evidence that the marshal collected human heads that were kept in a special dungeon of the castle, and also that, sensing the danger of arrest, the marshal personally ordered them to destroy these heads (the testimony is especially important, in view of the fact that during numerous searches in the marshal's possessions did not find anything suspicious).

Seal of Evil

How did the connection between the real-life Baron Gilles de Rais and the literary character Bluebeard come about? And why is the "beard" exactly "blue"? It is known that, while collecting Breton legends, Charles Perrault, in particular, wrote down the following: Comte Odon de Tremeac and his bride Blanche de Lerminier were driving past the castle of Gilles de Rais. The baron invited them to dinner. But when the guests were about to leave, he ordered the count to be thrown into a stone bag, and the frightened Blanche offered to become his wife. She refused. Then he took her to the church and began to ardently swear that, if she agreed, "he would forever give her soul and body." Blanche agreed - and at the same moment she turned into a blue Devil. The devil laughed and said to the baron: "Now you are in my power." He made a sign, and Gilles' beard also turned blue. “Now you will not be Gilles de Laval,” Satan rumbled. “Your name will be Bluebeard!” Here you have the combination of two storylines: in the folklore consciousness, allegedly tortured children turned into wives, and the color of the beard became the “seal of evil spirits”. Of course, the legend was also overgrown with topographic features: literally all the ruined castles near Nantes and in the Loire Valley by the time of Perro were attributed to Gilles de Rais, and in Tiffauges, for a couple of coins, they showed a room where he slaughtered either little children or women.

Forced confession

No matter how strong nerves the experienced commander possessed, he must have experienced a shock. All the more respect is due to the imperturbable calmness with which he continued to repeat his innocence and demand a lawyer. Seeing that no one thought to listen to him, he declared that better go to the gallows than to be present in court, where all the accusations are false, and the judges are villains. This, in turn, could not be tolerated by the “villains”: the Bishop of Nantes immediately excommunicated the accused from the church, and on October 19 the court decided to torture him in order to “encourage him to stop the vile denial.”

Gilles de Montmorency-Laval, Baron de Rais, was stretched out on the so-called staircase. This method of torture, the most popular in France at that time, consisted in the fact that the victim, tied by the arms and legs, was stretched on a horizontal grid, as if on a rack. Under torture, the courageous marshal quickly repented of his former stubbornness and promised to be more accommodating in the future. To begin with, he knelt before the bishop, humbly asked him to remove the excommunication, and later began to testify and little by little "confessed" to everything. True, new tortures were required for a complete “surrender” before the court, on October 21, but after them Gilles de Rais publicly agreed that he “enjoyed the vice”, and described in detail his favorite methods of murder and his own feelings at the same time. The baron himself named the number of children tortured by him - 800 (thus, he had to kill one child a week for the last 15 years!). But the court prudently considered that 150 would be enough.

On October 25, the Bishop of Nantes repeatedly "expelled Gilles de Rais from the bosom of the Church of Christ" for "such grave sins against the dogmas of faith and human laws that it is impossible for a person to imagine them." On the same day, the "sinner", of course, was sentenced to the fire - along with his "talkative" accomplices. As an act of special humanity (after all, it was about the Marshal of France), in the event of repentance and reconciliation with the church, Gilles de Rais was promised not to burn him alive, but to strangle him first.

The marshal chose to reconcile with the church on these relatively humane terms and was executed with his accomplices the next day. Among the relatives of the executed marshal, there was not a single one who would risk defending his name and honor.

Several centuries passed before some historians began to point to different kind flaws and inconsistencies in the charges in the trial of the hero of the Hundred Years War. The very fact of committing the acts incriminated to him is doubtful. In any case, his slander by specially trained witnesses seems very likely, and confessions under torture are inexpensive. In addition, the following fact also raises suspicions: the most odious characters of the process, like the sorcerer Francesco Prelati, were only imprisoned (from which, by the way, he quickly and easily escaped). Perhaps they slandered de Rais at the initiative of the king, who had a strong dislike for his ex friend: he was sure that Gilles supported the disgraced Dauphin Louis, and most importantly, Charles really did not want to return the huge debt to the marshal.

Only in 1992 did French scientists achieve historical justice - they organized a new "posthumous trial" in the Senate of the French Republic. Having carefully studied the documents from the archives of the Inquisition, the tribunal of several parliamentarians, politicians and expert historians completely acquitted the marshal.

It's all Bluebeard: Barbe bleue, Barbe Rouge, The Bloody Baker, Bluebeard (Estonia), Bluebeard (France)
Bluebeard (Germany), Blue-beard (United States), Bopoluchi, Captain Murderer, Greenbeard, The History of Mr. Greenwood, Ímarasugssuaq, Who Ate His Wives, King Bluebeard, mr. Fox (England), Sulasa-Jataka, The Tale of Knight Bluebeard

Classical version, French - C. Perro

Women are afraid of a wealthy aristocrat nicknamed Bluebeard: firstly, because of the blue color of his beard, for which he received such a nickname, and secondly, because the fate of his six ex-wives remains unknown. He marries one of the daughters of a neighbor, a noble lady, for himself, offering the mother herself to decide which of the daughters to marry. In fear of him, none of the daughters dares to put forward their candidacy. As a result, having won the heart of the youngest daughter, the master plays a wedding with her, and she moves to live with him in the castle.

Shortly after the wedding, the gentleman leaves, saying that he is forced to leave on business, and gives his wife the keys to all the rooms, including the mysterious closet below, forbidding her to enter there under the threat of death. But during the departure of her husband, the girl cannot stand it and opens the door, discovering a puddle of gore and the bodies of all the previous wives of Bluebeard. Terrified, she drops the key into a pool of blood and, recovering herself, tries to wipe off the blood. But since this key is magic, it doesn't work.

Unexpectedly, Bluebeard returns from the trip ahead of schedule and, from the excitement of his wife, guesses that she has violated the agreement. She asks him for five minutes of time to pray, and she sends her older sister to the tower to see if the brothers have arrived. As time passes, Bluebeard runs out of patience, he takes out a knife and grabs his wife, but at that moment her brothers arrive and kill him.

Option English

The English plot of the tale is slightly different from the French. There, Bluebeard simply kidnaps a beautiful girl who happened to meet him on the way and forcibly makes her his wife. All the servants in Bluebeard's house are corrupt, except for one beautiful shepherdess, with whom the young mistress became friends. Bluebeard leaves, leaving the keys to his wife, and forbids opening the only closet. Out of curiosity, the hostess and the shepherdess open the closet and see the corpses of women hanging on seven hooks, the eighth hook is free. In horror, the young woman lets go of the key, it falls and is stained with blood. The girls try to wipe off the blood, but the more they wash, the brighter the stain becomes. Realizing that the mistress cannot escape punishment, the shepherdess sends a talking jay with terrible news to the brothers of her mistress. Bluebeard returns and sharpens a knife to kill his disobedient wife. The shepherdess is looking tensely from the tower to see if the brothers of the hostess are coming. At the last moment, the brothers still have time. A battle ensues: the two brothers fight Bluebeard and his sinister dogs. However, the brothers manage to win. They take home a sister and a young shepherdess, whom the younger brother marries with the blessing of his parents.

Eastern option

Similar to the tale of Bluebeard is a plot from the Thousand and One Nights. This is the story of Princess Nuzhan-al-Zaman, who succumbed to the persuasion of an unfamiliar Bedouin. Seeing that she is lonely, he invites her to go with him: “I got six daughters, and five of them died, and one is alive ... And if you have no one, I will make you, as it were, one of them, and you will become like my children." "And the Bedouin ceaselessly calmed her heart and spoke to her with soft speeches until she felt inclined towards him... And this Bedouin was the son of debauchery, crossing roads and betraying friends, a robber, treacherous and cunning...". Once in his power, Nuzhan al-Zaman suffers beatings and humiliation and prepares for death when a visiting merchant comes to her aid and ransoms her from a Bedouin.

Brothers Grimm variant

A more complex retelling of the fairy tale "Wonder Bird" (Fitchers Vogel), recorded by the Brothers Grimm. There is a certain sorcerer living in a dark forest. He goes door to door and grabs the girls, whom no one ever sees again after that. So he comes to the house of "one man who had three beautiful daughters." All of them take turns getting to the sorcerer. Curiosity destroys the first two: they look into the forbidden room, the sorcerer finds out about this and kills them. The third girl is luckier. She comes to the forbidden room, sees the murdered sisters, revives them, manages to hide her act from the sorcerer and becomes his bride. She sends him to her parents with a basket of gold in which her sisters are hidden. As soon as the girls get home, they call for help. The third sister, having rolled herself in feathers and turned into a miracle bird, meets the sorcerer and his guests unrecognized. “But as soon as he entered the house with his guests, and then brothers and native brides soon appeared, sent to help her. They locked all the doors of the house so that no one could escape from there, and set fire to it from all sides, and the sorcerer burned down along with all his rabble on fire

Option diabolical

Curious stories told by old-timers are cited in his monumental study by Abbot Bossard. Past the castle of Gilles de Rais, Count Odon de Tremeaki, his bride, Blanche de Lerminere, is riding. Gilles (who is said to have a beautiful red beard) invites them to dinner. But when the guests are about to leave, Gilles orders to throw the count into a "stone bag" and invites Blanche to become his wife. Blanche refuses - Gilles insists. He leads her to the church, where he promises her his soul and body in exchange for consent. Blanche agrees and at the same moment turns into a blue Devil. The Devil laughs and says to Gilles: "Now it's in my power." He makes a sign and Gilles de Ré's beard turns blue. "Now you will not be Gilles de Laval," cries the Devil. "They will call you Bluebeard." The story ends with the fact that since then Gilles has been known to everyone only under the name of the Man with the Blue Beard. Years later, a certain monk meets several lovely girls on a beautiful flowering meadow. They do not sing or dance, but only weep bitterly. "What happened to you?" the old man asks. "We mourn our friend, Gwennola, the most beautiful of us. The terrible Bluebeard killed her, as he killed all his wives." "Nothing," says the old man. "I swore to protect my parishioners." He goes to the castle and prays for Bluebeard's soul for a long time. "But Gilles de Laval does not believe in God!" the girls exclaim. "So much the worse for him!" - the old man answers and continues to pray for several days without stopping. The story ends with the words: "Again the girls sing songs and dance in the meadow. No more Gilles de Laval! Bluebeard is dead!"

Italian variant

There is a similar Italian fairy tale - "Silver Nose". A widow comes to a wealthy nobleman and asks him to hire her as a laundress. eldest daughter. The rich man agrees, because the girl, when she saw him, was not at all afraid (and he had a huge silver nose). He takes her in and gives her the keys to all the rooms except for one door. Every night Silver Nose enters the girl's room and leaves a rose in her hair. Somehow he leaves on business, leaving the maid alone. She then opens the forbidden door. Inside, she sees hell - a fiery room where the souls of the damned writhe in eternal torment. The girl in horror quickly slams the door behind her, but the flower in her hair is scorched. When Silvernose returns, the flower serves as proof of her deed. "Well, why doesn't anyone listen to me - after all, I warn you!" he shouts, opens the door and throws the girl inside.

a source of information.

Blue beard - a fairy tale for children school age. She tells about a rich man whose beard was blue and everyone was afraid of him because of this. One of the girls decided to marry him, he seemed to her a good person and not so scary. And in vain, because he turned out to be the murderer of his wives. The girl almost paid with her life because of her curiosity.

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Fairy tale Bluebeard read

Once upon a time there was a man who was followed by a lot of good things: he had beautiful houses in the city and outside the city, gold and silver dishes, embroidered chairs and gilded carriages. But, unfortunately, this man's beard was blue and this beard gave him such an ugly and formidable look that all the girls and women used to, as soon as they see him, so God give them legs as soon as possible.

One of his neighbors, a lady of noble birth, had two daughters, perfect beauties. He wooed one of them, not appointing which one and leaving the mother herself to choose his bride. But neither one nor the other agreed to be his wife: they could not decide to marry a man whose beard was blue, and only quarreled among themselves, sending him to each other. They were also embarrassed by the fact that he already had several wives, and no one in the world knew what had become of them.

Bluebeard, wanting to give them the opportunity to get to know him better, took them, along with his mother, three or four of their closest friends, and several young people from the neighborhood, to one of his country houses, where he spent a whole week with them. The guests walked, went hunting, fishing; dancing and feasting did not stop; there was no sleep at night; everyone made fun, invented funny pranks and jokes; in a word, everyone was so good and cheerful that the youngest of the daughters soon came to the conclusion that the owner’s beard was not at all so blue, and that he was a very amiable and pleasant gentleman. As soon as everyone returned to the city, the wedding was immediately played.

After a month, Bluebeard told his wife that he was forced to leave for at least six weeks on a very important matter. He asked her not to be bored in his absence, but, on the contrary, to try in every possible way to disperse, invite her friends, take them out of town, if she likes - to eat and drink sweetly - in a word, to live for her own pleasure.

“Here,” he added, “are the keys to the two main storerooms; here are the keys to the gold and silver dishes, which are not put on the table every day; here - from chests with money; here - from boxes with precious stones; here, finally, is the key with which all the rooms can be unlocked. But this small key unlocks the closet, which is located below, at the very end of the main gallery. You can unlock everything, enter everywhere; but I forbid you to enter that closet. My prohibition on this matter is so strict and formidable that if you happen to—God forbid—unlock it, then there is no such misfortune that you should not expect from my anger.

The wife of Bluebeard promised to fulfill his orders and instructions exactly; and he, having kissed her, got into the carriage and set off on his journey.

Neighbors and friends of the young woman did not wait for an invitation, but all came on their own, so great was their impatience to see with their own eyes those innumerable riches that were rumored to be in her house. They were afraid to come until the husband left: his blue beard frightened them very much. They immediately went to inspect all the chambers - and there was no end to their surprise: everything seemed to them magnificent and beautiful! They got to the storerooms - and what they didn’t see there! Lush beds, sofas, rich curtains, tables, tables, mirrors so huge that you could see yourself in them from head to toe and with such wonderful, unusual frames! Some frames were also mirrored, others were made of gilded carved silver. Neighbors and friends incessantly praised and extolled the happiness of the mistress of the house, but she was not at all amused by the spectacle of all these riches: she was tormented by the desire to unlock the closet below, at the end of the gallery.

Her curiosity was so strong that, not realizing how impolite it was to leave the guests, she suddenly rushed down the hidden stairs ... ... almost broke her neck. Running to the closet door, however, she stopped for a moment. Her husband's prohibition crossed her mind. Well, she thought, I'll be in trouble for my disobedience! But the temptation was too strong, she could not cope with it. She took the key and, trembling like a leaf, unlocked the closet.

At first she did not make out anything: it was dark in the closet ... the windows were closed. But after a while, she saw that the whole floor was covered with dried blood and in this blood the bodies of several dead women, tied along the walls, were reflected, these were the former wives of Bluebeard, whom he slaughtered one by one. - She almost died on the spot from fear and dropped the key from her hand.

At last she came to her senses, picked up the key, locked the door, and went to her room to rest and recover. But she was so frightened that in no way could she completely come to her senses.

She noticed that the key to the closet was stained with blood; she wiped it off once, twice, a third time... but the blood didn't come out. No matter how she washed it, no matter how she rubbed it, even with sand and crushed bricks, the blood stain still remained! This key was magical and there was no way to clean it; blood came out on one side and came out on the other.

That same evening Bluebeard returned from his journey. He told his wife that on the road he received letters from which he learned that the case on which he was supposed to leave had been decided in his favor. His wife, as usual, tried her best to show him that she was very happy about his soon return.

The next morning he asked her for the keys. She handed them to him, but her hand trembled so much that he easily guessed everything that had happened in his absence.

“Why,” he asked, “is the key to the closet not with the others?”

“I must have forgotten it upstairs on my table,” she answered.

- Please bring it, do you hear! said Bluebeard.

After several excuses and delays, she was finally to bring the fatal key.

- Why is this blood? - he asked.

“I don’t know why,” she replied. poor woman and turned pale as a sheet.

- You do not know! said Bluebeard. - Well, I know! You wanted to enter the closet. All right, you go in there and take your place next to the women you saw there.

She threw herself at the feet of her husband, wept bitterly and began to ask him for forgiveness for her disobedience, expressing the most sincere repentance and grief. It seems that the stone would have been moved by the prayers of such a beauty, but Bluebeard's heart was harder than any stone.

“You must die,” he said, “and now.

“If I must certainly die,” she said through tears, “so give me a minute of time to pray to God.”

"I'll give you exactly five minutes," said Bluebeard, "and not a second more!"

He went down, and she called her sister and said to her:

- My sister, Anna (that was her name), please go up to the very top of the tower, see if my brothers are coming? They promised to visit me today. If you see them, give them a sign to hurry up.

Sister Anna went up to the top of the tower, and the poor unfortunate thing from time to time shouted to her:

"Sister Anna, can't you see anything?"

And sister Anna answered her:

Meanwhile, Bluebeard, grabbing a huge knife, yelled with all his might:

"Come here, come, or I'll go to you!"

“Just a minute,” his wife answered, and added in a whisper:

And sister Anna answered:

I see the sun is clearing and the grass is turning green.

- Go, go quickly! yelled Bluebeard, “otherwise I’ll go to you!”

- I'm coming! - answered the wife and again asked her sister:

Anna, sister Anna! can't you see anything?

“I see,” Anna answered, “a large cloud of dust is approaching us.

Are these my brothers?

“Oh no, sister! this is a flock of sheep.

- Are you finally coming? cried Bluebeard.

“Just a little more,” his wife answered, and again asked:

Anna, sister Anna! can't you see anything?

“I see two horsemen galloping up here, but they are still very far away. Thank God,” she added after a while, “these are our brothers. I give them a sign to hurry as soon as possible.

But then Bluebeard raised such an uproar that the very walls of the house trembled. His poor wife came down and threw herself at his feet, all torn to pieces and in tears.

“It will serve no purpose,” said Bluebeard, “the hour of your death has come.”

With one hand he grabbed her by the hair, with the other he raised his terrible knife ... He swung at her to cut off her head ... The poor thing turned her extinguished eyes on him:

“Give me one more moment, just one more moment, to gather my courage…

- No no! he answered, “entrust your soul to God!”

And he already raised his hand... But at that moment such a terrible knock rose at the door that Bluebeard stopped, looked around... The door opened at once and two young men burst into the room. Drawing their swords, they rushed straight at Bluebeard.

He recognized his wife's brothers, one served in the dragoons, the other in the horse rangers, and immediately sharpened his skis; but the brothers overtook him before he could run behind the porch. They pierced him through with their swords and left him dead on the floor. The poor wife of Bluebeard was barely alive herself, no worse than her husband, she did not even have enough strength to rise and embrace her deliverers.

It turned out that Bluebeard had no heirs, and all his property went to his widow. She used one part of his wealth to marry off her sister Anna to a young nobleman who had long been in love with her; for the other part, she bought the captain's ranks for the brothers; and with the rest she herself married a very honest and good man. With him she forgot all the grief she had endured as Bluebeard's wife.

bluebeard prototype

The French marshal is considered the prototype of the Bluebeard. Gilles de Montmorency-Laval Baron de Rais Comte de Brienne is notorious as a Satanist, a man with a mental disorder. Rumor has it that in addition to the fact that the marshal was suspected of witchcraft, he also corrupted children, both boys and girls; practiced alchemy. However, he did not kill his wives, although many historians try to attribute this sin to him. Now this man is known as Gilles de Rais as an associate of Joan of Arc. He was executed for all his crimes, although in fact they relied more on rumors than on facts. He instilled too much fear in people.

For all the deeds of this man, and this is more than 200 crimes, he was considered and is considered one of the most dangerous and unpredictable criminals. It was for the fear he inspired that the author of Bluebeard, Charles Perrault, took him as a prototype for his fairy tale. By the way, many other writers and composers used this character in their works.

Although Gilles was like that on the one hand terrible person On the other hand, he was the bravest of warriors. The battle of Tourelles, in which he won, brought him fame and sealed his name in history, despite all his other dishonors.

There is also another version of who is the prototype of Bluebeard. They say once Tryphina, the wife of Conomor (the ruler of Brittany) wandered randomly into secret room husband, where she found the corpses of his ex-wives. With the help of magic, she learned that all the women were pregnant at that time. As soon as Tryphina became pregnant herself, she tried to escape, but she did not succeed.

Bluebeard: a summary

Bluebeard is a rich man who lives alone in his castle. Everyone around him knows and fears him. There are several reasons for this. The first is, of course, the color of his beard, which confuses with its abnormality, the second is the inexplicable disappearance of all the girls who marry him.

Two girls live near the Bluebeard's palace - sisters. He invites them along with his girlfriends and friends for a week-long vacation outside the city and the youngest of the sisters decides that their neighbor is not so scary. He begins to seem kind and helpful to her. And so she decides and marries Bluebeard.

The wedding is played and the girl moves to the castle. Unexpectedly, Bluebeard is going on the road and orders his wife to go for a walk and have fun, to use any wealth, but not to enter the closet. (Why does he then give her the key to this closet? Apparently, he still wanted her to enter it.)

Girlfriends come to the girl, they inspect the whole castle together, marveling at all the decorations and unheard-of riches. Then Bluebeard's wife can't stand it, runs into the closet and opens it. Oh, my God, there she discovers the corpses of ex-wives. Out of fear, she drops the key and stains it with blood. The terrible thing is that it is impossible to wash the blood - the key is bewitched. As soon as the girl rubs the stain, it immediately appears again.

In addition, Bluebeard returns ahead of time. He understands that his wife opened the door and wants to kill her. She asks for a couple of minutes, and she sends her sister to see if the brothers are coming, and if they are coming, hurry them up. Here Bluebeard grabs a knife and then the girl's brothers burst in and kill him.