The Black Baron - The Strange Life of Gilles De Rais

He rode with Joan of Arc and was made a Marshal of France; a decade later he confessed to the murder of scores of children. The Black Baron follows him from battlefield to scaffold.

Gilles de Rais (1405–1440) inherited one of the largest fortunes in France and spent it. Raised to Marshal in 1429 for his part in the relief of Orléans and the victories at Jargeau and Patay, he withdrew soon after to his castles at Machecoul and Tiffauges, where he kept a private chapel, staged enormous entertainments, and employed the Italian cleric François Prelati to summon a demon and make gold.

Arrested in September 1440, he was condemned by both the church and the secular courts and put to death at Nantes that October. Tennille Dix published this account, following the man rather than the myth – though it is the myth that has lasted, since de Rais has been named again and again as the original of Bluebeard.

This edition features:

• A full-length life of the Breton nobleman who fought beside Joan of Arc in the campaigns of 1429
• The relief of Orléans, the victories at Jargeau and Patay, and the coronation of Charles VII
• The occult experiments, invocations, and reckless spending that emptied one of Europe's great fortunes
• The double trial of 1440, his confession before the judges, and the execution on the Île de Biesse
• An introductory biography taken from the 1911 edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica