Baron Gilles de Rais: The Medieval Serial Killer

I am often skeptical of confessions particularly if torture is used most people will confess to any thing to get the pain to stop

Thanks for leaving the Class to leave the details of the child murders out. Much appreciated.

Yeah, I find very hard to believe a big chunk of that. The king Of France was "displeased" with Jeanne d'Arc, not because she was accused of "being a heretic" (he couldn't CARE LESS! - everyone knew it just a political trial!)- but because she wanted to throw the English out of France COMPLETELY, while he was satisfied with his coronation at Reims. It gave him the legitimacy he craved, and now wanted to bide his time, muster his resources, consolidate his throne and Monarchy. Given how WEAK Henry the VI'th of England was - completely different from his father - it was a good bet, that the English would fall into disarray by their own means. The King Of France had to win France first - reorganize the Army (or start doing that at least) so no more defeats like the one at Agincourt would happen.
As for Gilles he may have taken ENGLISH knights for ransom - but the French ones he might've considered as "traitors". That said - it's not difficult to imagine that all those who accused him during his (so-called) "trial" had an "agenda". Whether it was taking a chunk of his lands(for the Crown, for the Church, for many other nobles) OR - getting their punishment reduced if not completely thrown out the window, if they "collaborated". Today we call it "snitching" or rather "RATTING OUT" ...but it is a practice as old as humanity itself.

I’ve looked into this some, and I agree with you about Gilles’ guilt. It doesn’t surprise me that the man who had numerous children tortured by his own admission couldn’t tolerate even the thought of torture himself. His blaming his activities on how he was raised made me think of Bundy’s blaming his activities on watching porn. Thanks for covering this subject!

Feral would love to meet this guy it be real bad for him what a pile of trash. Poor kids Edit can't say what i wanted doesn't matter i stated my point lol

Joan of Arc knew nothing of war, was naive, and got people killed. The maniac saved her ass. Her ego would not have gone well, if not for him. He was a maniac but saved her ass.

Thank you for talking about the truth. Too often figures like joan of arc are shown in a sanitised, positive way. How can we learn from history if we dont teach the truth?

Kinda reminds me of the story of the French nibles jill delray and john dark. My special education history teacher told me about them back when i first learned of my dyslexia. Vrey fanscaitign ohw similar ti si

Oddly learnt about him from a Japanese anime: Fate Zero.

Strongly suspect he was completely framed. Lots about him, his contemporaries and his times available on net . . .

yabbits live in the woods but, nobody in the court cases you're using (about people misremembering etc) had the most heinous grotesque torture devices to threaten you, and witness to plenty of people being tortured and executed, in public, to make anyone do or say what they think the church wants, lest they turn their eye towards you(shudders). Besides raping kids,?, NOBODY does it like religions.....NOBODY!!!

Chained to a table with a rat cage on your stomach with no bottom so the rat eats through your body??? I do not believe much of what the church or royalty had to say back then, just like I don't believe anything a corporation or capitalist masterclass has to say, it's all fluff and propaganda.

He is the first person to claim affluenza as a defense!

Taking at face value proceedings of the same courts which prosecuted Jews for human sacrifice.

He was a pervert and a satanist.

Joan of Arc wasn't blonde! She had dark brown hair.

Makes you wonder how many killers existed back then due to the lack of good investigative abilities. I guess one good part is with the smaller populations means everyone knows each other.

It’s kinda sad this monsters death was relatively painless but Joan who was a hero and a godamn saint but got burned at the stake and the worst part is apparently it took day for her to die, 3 whole days and nights of agony just to to be relit in the next morning

Have to come back and finish this later!@

He was so rich I doubt he was framed , while there may be exagerration.

Thanks!

Dude was for sure framed,,,just look what they did to Joan of Arc!!!

Celtic Frost got me interested in learning who Gilles de Rais was.

He must have paid those clergymen a lot to get such a lenient sentence after what he did.

man this guy really doesn't like Joan of arc

Of course he was guilty, this would be a far to elaborate conspiracy for the 1400s, befriending sorcerers, the madness of extravagant parties. This was clearly a mad man capable of serial sick crimes.

In such an often chaotic, war torn landscape as medieval Europe it's entirely possible there were successful serial killers we'll never discover who simply covered their tracks by travelling and keeping a low profile, unlike the famous (and often exaggerated) legends of Gilles or Bathory. Mind you, it's also incredibly believable that abuse was absolutely rampant among such a society and the nobility in particular, so not being a prolific vampiric serial killer doesn't imply innocence instead. Serial abuse is simply much easier to get away with than serial killings that never actually leave behind any proof with supposedly hundreds of local bodies over decades just disappearing without a trace. 40 odd over 9 years is much more believable - roughly 4 a year if consistent, though it's likely it wasn't, potentially worsening with mental health and substance issues or increasing over time, though sadly it's unlikely any of Gilles' victims survived once he established his habits. I do believe he's responsible for many murders and fits the modern definition of "serial killer" and other terms YT dislikes, just not the "hundreds" so often cited in poorly researched exaggerated clickbait, which this video is certainly not. It seems likely that Gilles did abuse and kill a number of children while also being blamed for a number of disappearances or deaths simply for proximity, reputation or drama, bloating the contradictory numbers in his trial in ways we see in similar modern circumstances. The descriptions of his crimes are simply too specific and cruel, and Gilles' fixations too in line with modern murderers, to claim it was all a sham or that none of the victims died. The associations with murdering adult women, however, seem entirely unrelated and fabricated (and likely easier to stomach than the gruesome testimonies of the real trial when used as folklore)

Thank you

chinon—a handsome city; there’s a maine in france 2. & nevers 2 😻😹

He was guilty. They could have come up with far better things if they wanted to get rid of him.

Hahahah

Seems to me I’ve read that Gilles de Rais was broke at the end of his life. In fact, I read that he used black magic specifically to create new wealth after he’d spent his fortune.

😩 (sigh) On the surface, Baron Gilles de Rais looks ‘ guilty as sin ‘ and a real ‘ born scoundrel ’ . I still wonder how much to what, if any, degree that his unscrupulous grandfather’s bad influence might have contributed to his unstable grandson’s despicable character.

That aside, It’s still hard to contradict the damning and irrefutable evidence against him. The Baron’s own and renowned reputation for brutality, hostility, and blatant criminality also didn’t help his own case….

“ Comme on faist son lict, on le treuve.” (“ As one makes one’s bed, one finds it. ”)

😅He was the 'P Diddy" of his times !!!!!!.

It's abundantly clear he WAS framed: 1) he wasn't the only one, other's were similarly falsely accused & executed 2) the accusations against him would entailed a network of hundreds (if not thousands) of collaborators & facilitators whom were never identified 3) his accusers were notably rewarded for their participation, which makes no sense; what interest do authorities have in paying witnesses in a criminal trial? He was a powerful, wealthy political figure that used aggressive tactics to further his interests & that's why he was executed.

Your Joan of Arc footage could be enhanced by a Movie from the late 90s called "The Messenger"

The catholic church is just as rotten as he was. The committed even worse than he did using the shield of the church and religion to do it.

Or like so many people, he was set up by the "church " like knights Templars were because the king and the church wanted their money and assets.

After what the pope pulled with de molay , i don't believe a word from the church. Or what they pulled with the Inquisition. Their sanctimonious outrage is staggering.

I believe this video needs to be remade, as it is very biased towards the Gilles de Rais being guilty. None in modern day can say for absolute sure what Gilles de Rais did but when a jury of modern historian and other experts acquit a historical figure through the documents and evidence remaining I am inclined to believe them rather than a person trying to sell me on their fictional history book. I think the best way to remake this video is to present why he was acquitted in modern times, what documents and evidence is presented there and losing all the "but I believe he was evil" comments. After all historically the church and people in power accused each other of being satanic or bad to gain power all the time. In fact one of the pictures you present in the video is the trial of Galileo, where every evidence shows that Galileo was right, however he was made to confess his "sins" to avoid the torture of him and his servant.

Thanks for including the sources, the book of the trial transcript and all that along with the admonition not to look it up. I will take your advice. I imagine that the final hours/day so fthose children were terrible. I don't need to know the details.

That painting looked like Lord Farquaad

He truly might actually have been innocent in all of these charges trumped up.... The victors write the history Just like with World War II ;-)

History is His Story meaning the victor !!

Gosh. Didn't expect a brit to be against the Maid of Orleans. Oh Wait.....

The most surprising part to me is that Gilles still believed he would enter Heaven after all

Very interesting. Thanks!

John de Crayon? 🖍️

Gilles was a simp

Often chronic addicts, are unable to stop what they are doing, even though they know it is wrong and destructive, or hurting others around them. There are able to see it is wrong and that it needs to stop. But they cannot. We see this in all forms of addictions. Alcoholics, chronic drug abusers, sex addicts alike will say they wish they had never started and encourage others to stop, even as they carry on. This is addiction. De Rais, in final confession, sounds to me, very much like an addict, confessing he could not stop, but wishes he had never started. In short form, he was addicted to sex with minors, of the same sex. And then removed the evidence of that, by abuse of power. Personally, I take the confession as likely frank, but of evidence of his wrong doing. (Assuming of course its authentic, what was written down). Most mental illness, and addiction, consists of what is called Fragmentation. Where in essence the sufferer becomes two people. One is who there were, or planned to be, while the other is the person they would not chose to be in better moments. This later persona is really due to addiction, trauma, or some other event that crates the separation. Again, we see this is drug use, sex addiction, over-eating, partner abuse, etc. And it is often rooted in past events, such as bad parenting, being abused when young, misguidance, etc

Definitely guilty.