Then, at the said prosecutor’s request, the aforesaid Lords Bishop of Nantes and Vicar of the aforesaid Inquisitor assigned and fixed to the prosecutor and said Gilles de Rais, the accused, in order to proceed immediately in these same cases as by law, the following Monday, so that the said Gilles could see the other witnesses produced on the part of the prosecutor in the case and the cases of this order.
Of which the said prosecutor requested us, aforesaid notaries public and scribes, to make one and several public instruments,
In the aforesaid place, in the presence of the Reverend Father in God, Milord Jean Pregent, Bishop of Saint-Brieuc, the honorable and discreet Master Pierre de L’Hôpital, President of Brittany, Regnaud Godelin, licensed in law, the aforesaid Guillaume de Grantbois, Jean Chauvin, Guillaume de Montigné, Robert de La Rivière, licensed in both courts of law, and many other witnesses assembled in large numbers, specially called and requested.
[Signed:] Delaunay, J. Petit, G. Lesné.
Monday, October 17, 1440.
* * *
Production of various witnesses.
* * *
Monday, October 17th, arraigned before the aforesaid Bishop of Nantes and Friar Jean Blouyn, aforesaid Vice-Inquisitor, sitting on the bench to administer the law in the great upper hall of the said Tour Neuve, at the hour of Vespers, the said prosecutor and plaintiff, on the one side, and Gilles de Rais, the accused, on the other, appeared in person.
* * *
(Production of various witnesses.)
* * *
Which prosecutor, satisfying the term, produced in the capacity of witnesses the men named Lenano, Marquis de Ceva,85 Bertrand Poulein,86 Jean Rousseau,87 Master Gilles Heaume, licensed in law,88 and Friar Jean de Lanté, Benedictine prior of Chéméré, in the said diocese of Nantes, peremptorily summoned by the aforesaid Robin Guillaumet, cleric, by mandate of the said Lords Bishop of Nantes and Friar Jean Blouyn, Vicar of the aforesaid Inquisitor, as the said Robin reported verbally to have summoned them before the said Lords Bishop of Nantes and Friar Jean Blouyn, Vicar, and us, aforesaid notaries public and scribes in the same court, in order to bear immediate witness to the truth in the case and the cases of this order; which witnesses the said Lords Bishop of Nantes and Friar Jean Blouyn, Vicar of the said Inquisitor, in the presence of the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, judged that they should be admitted and allowed them to take an oath, and they required to excuse them from bail since they would have to depose in the case and the cases of this order. All and every one of which witnesses thus admitted, in the presence of the said Gilles, the accused, swore to tell and attest to the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, as they knew it, on the subject of the articles put forward by the said prosecutor in the case and the cases of this order, and also on all and every one of the things on which they would be interrogated; entreaty, favor, love, fear, rancor, mercy, friendship, and enmity being set aside and ceasing totally among the parties. This being done, at the said prosecutor’s request the said Lords Bishop of Nantes and Friar Jean Blouyn, Vicar of the aforesaid Inquisitor, asked the said Gilles, the accused, whether he himself intended to interrogate the witnesses as to their merit in examination and interrogation, in expectation of which the said Lords Bishop and Vicar assigned to the accused the same day and all the following day to do so. Which Gilles, the accused, then responded to the said Lords Bishop of Nantes and Friar Jean Blouyn, Vicar of the Inquisitor, that he did not intend to interrogate any witnesses. Of which witnesses the said Lords Bishop of Nantes and Friar Jean Blouyn, Vicar of the aforesaid Inquisitor, charged us, aforesaid notaries public and scribes, to proceed faithfully with the examination. Moreover, at the said prosecutor’s request, the aforesaid Lords Bishop of Nantes and Friar Jean Blouyn, Vicar of the Inquisitor, fixed and assigned to the prosecutor and Gilles, the accused, the following Wednesday, so that the aforesaid Gilles, the accused, could see certain other witnesses by the said prosecutor produced, received, and admitted to take an oath in the case and the cases of this order.
Of which things the said prosecutor requested us, aforesaid notaries public and scribes, to make one and several instruments.
In the said place in the presence of the Reverend Father in God, Lord Jean Prégent, Bishop of Saint-Brieuc, Masters Pierre de L’Hôpital, President of Brittany, Robert de La Rivière, Regnaud Godelin, Jean Chauvin, Hervé Levy, Guillaume de Montigné, and the aforesaid Milord Guillaume Després, rector of the church parish of Bourg-Barré, in the Rennes diocese, and Master Olivier Solidé, canon of Nantes, with many other witnesses assembled in the same place in large numbers, specifically called and requested.
[Signed:] Delaunay, J. Petit, G. Lesné.
Wednesday, October 19, 1440.
* * *
Continuation of the production of witnesses.
* * *
Wednesday, October 19th, the aforesaid Master Guillaume Chapeillon, prosecutor and defender, on the one hand, and the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, on the other, appeared personally in arraignment before the Reverend Father in God, Lord Jean de Malestroit, Bishop of Nantes, and Friar Jean Blouyn, Vicar of the aforesaid Inquisitor, sitting on the bench to administer the law in the aforesaid place, at the hour of Terce, in the morning.
Which prosecutor, satisfying the writs of the term, produced in the case and the cases of this kind in the capacity of witnesses the venerable Milord Jacques de Pencoëtdic, a professor in both courts of law, Jean Audilaurech, André Seguin, Pierre Vilmain, Master Jean Lorient, Jean Briand, Jean Le Veill, Jean Picard, Guillaume Michel, Pierre Drouet, Eutrope Chardavoine, Robin Guillemet, surgeon, Robin Riou, Jacques Tinnecy, and Jean Letournours, whom the aforesaid Robin Guillemet, cleric, by mandate of the said Lords Bishop of Nantes and Friar Jean Blouyn, Vicar of the aforesaid Inquisitor, had peremptorily summoned, and whom the same Robin reported verbally to the aforesaid Lords Bishop of Nantes and Friar Jean Blouyn, aforesaid Vicar, and us, notaries public and scribes, to have summoned before them in this same trial to bear immediate witness to the truth, in the presence of the said Gilles, the accused. Whom the Lords Bishop of Nantes and Friar Jean Blouyn, aforesaid Vicar, received as witnesses and consented to excuse them under surety since they had to depose in the case and the cases. Who thus received as witnesses, in the presence of Gillies, the accused, swore upon the Holy Gospels to tell, and attest to, the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, as they knew it, of the things upon which they would be examined and interrogated; entreaty, esteem, love, fear, favor, hate, rancor, mercy, kindness, friendship, and enmity ceasing and being equally set aside. And on this account the said Lords Bishop and Friar Jean Blouyn, the aforesaid Vice-Inquisitor, asked Gilles de Rais, the accused, whether he intended to interrogate the witnesses, in which case they assigned for him, the accused, the same day and all of the following; which Gilles responded that he intended to interrogate no one. Of which witnesses the aforesaid Lords Bishop of Nantes and Vicar of the Inquisitor charged us, the aforesaid notaries public and scribes, to make a faithful examination. That done, the said Lords Bishop and Vicar of the Inquisitor, at the said prosecutor’s request, assigned to the same prosecutor and the said Gilles, the accused, the following day, so that the defending party could see produced any and every claim, by which they intended to strengthen the case and the cases of this order, and in order to proceed immediately. Then the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, at the said prosecutor’s request, was interrogated by the said Lords Bishop of Nantes and Friar Jean Blouyn, Vicar of the aforesaid Inquisitor, to know whether he intended to give, say, propose, allege, or produce on his behalf or in his justification some important motive for the crimes, offenses, or deeds brought against him and declared in the articles promulgated. Which accused responded immediately that he did not know what to say other than what he had already said.
* * *
(Continuation of the production of witnesses.)
* * *
Of which things the said prosecutor requested u
s, aforesaid notaries public and scribes, to make one and several public instruments,
In the aforesaid place in the presence of the aforesaid Reverend Father in Christ, Jean Prégent, Bishop of Saint-Brieuc, Master Pierre de L’Hôpital, President of Brittany, nobleman Milord Robert d’Épinay, knight, Master Gilles Lebel, Robert de La Rivière; Raoul de La Moussaye, provost of the church of Guérande, in the Nantes diocese, Regnaud Godelin, licensed in law, and Jean Guiolé, provost allocated to Nantes, with many other witnesses specifically called and requested.
[Signed:] Delaunay, J. Petit, G. Lesné.
Thursday, October 20, 1440.
* * *
The judges decide to torture Gilles.
* * *
On Thursday, October 20th, arraigned before the aforesaid Lords Bishop of Nantes and Friar Jean Blouyn, Vicar of the aforesaid Inquisitor, sitting on the bench to administer the law in the said great upper hall of La Tour Neuve, in the morning at the hour of Terce, the said Master Guillaume Chapeillon, prosecutor and defender, on the one side, and the aforesaid Gilles de Rais, the accused, on the other, appeared in person.
And fulfilling the appointed term, the aforesaid prosecutor, asking and soliciting the said Lords Bishop of Nantes and Friar Jean Blouyn, Vicar of the aforesaid Inquisitor, to fix and assign a convenient term for the said Gilles de Rais to speak or object to anything he wanted, orally or in writing, against the said things produced, the said Lords Bishop and Vicar of the aforesaid Inquisitor fixed and assigned to the same Gilles, the accused, on which to speak thus, the following Saturday, as well as to the prosecutor himself, on which to proceed immediately in the case as by law.
Then, however, at the said prosecutor’s request the said Lords Bishop of Nantes and Friar Jean Blouyn, the aforesaid Vice-Inquisitor, interrogated anew the said Gilles, the accused, to know whether he intended to give or propose something of importance on his behalf or in his justification, on the subject of the offenses and crimes raised and proposed against him, specified and declared in the aforesaid articles, and to say whatsoever it might be against the things thus produced. Which accused responded no, but that he was abiding by what he had already said at another time.
After which the said prosecutor in the presence of the said Gilles, the accused, hearing and understanding, requested Lords Bishop and Friar Jean Blouyn, Vicar of the Inquisitor, to fix and assign as well a term to the same Gilles, the accused, during which to see published the statements and depositions of the aforenamed witnesses. Which Gilles, the accused, said that that was not necessary, considering what he had already confessed and intended to confess again. Notwithstanding which, at the said prosecutor’s entreaty the said lords asked the accused whether they ought to publicize the witnesses’ statements and depositions. Which accused responded yes. Which statements and which depositions the aforesaid Reverend Father, Lord Bishop of Nantes, and Vicar of the Inquisitor published at once with the consent of the said Gilles, the accused; and once again, at the said prosecutor’s insistence, the Reverend Father, Lord Bishop of Nantes, and Vicar of the aforesaid Inquisitor asked the said Gilles, the accused, whether he intended to say or allege, orally or in writing, anything of importance against the said witnesses’ characters or against their depositions. Which accused voluntarily responded no.
* * *
(The judges decide to torture Gilles.)
* * *
In response, the said prosecutor declared that considering the confession of the said Gilles, the accused, considering the production of witnesses, their statements, and their depositions that sufficiently established the intent of the accused in the case, he entreated no less earnestly of the same Lords Bishop of Nantes and Friar Jean Blouyn, his judges, that in order to shed light on and more thoroughly scrutinize the truth, torture or the rack ought to be applied to the said Gilles, the accused.
Which Lords Bishop and Vicar of the said Inquisitor, having discussed everything with their experts, and having considered everything that had gone before, ordered the rack or torture for the said Gilles de Rais, and decided that the said Gilles should suffer torture and be submitted to interrogation and tortures.
Of which things the aforesaid prosecutor requested us, the aforesaid notaries public and scribes, to prepare him one and several public instruments. Present, in the aforesaid place, Reverend Father in God, Milord Jean Prégent, Bishop of Saint-Brieuc, nobleman Milord Robert d’Épinay, knight, the aforesaid Masters Hervé Levy and Robert de La Rivière, Milord Durand, rector of the church parish of Blain, in the said Nantes diocese, and Milord Michel Mauléon, rector of the church parish of Ancenis, in the said Nantes diocese, as well as many other people present and witnesses assembled there in large numbers, specially called and requested.
[Signed:] Delaunay, J. Petit, G. Lesné.
Friday, October 21, 1440.
* * *
1. Gilles humbly begs his judges to postpone the application of torture to the following day: they delegate the Bishop of Saint-Brieuc and the ʺPresident of Brittanyʺ to hear the confessions of the accused.
* * *
Friday, October 21st, the said Lords Bishop of Nantes and Friar Jean Blouyn, Vicar of the Inquisitor, presented themselves again in the morning, at the hour of Terce or thereabouts, in the lower hall of La Tour Neuve, stating and asserting that on the preceding day, namely Thursday, October 20th, they had decided to torture the said Gilles or submit him to canonical interrogation according, as it is written, to a judicial instrument of the said Thursday read before them in the presence of the said prosecutor and Gilles de Rais, the accused, and that, even though they themselves had fixed and assigned Saturday to Gilles, the accused, to say or object, orally or in writing, anything he wanted against what had been produced in the case or the cases of this kind, as well as to the said lord prosecutor, in order to proceed in the case and the cases of this kind; afterwards, since it would not be illegal, however, they intended to proceed with the torture ordered by them, as has been said, and to ensure its application; and at the request of the said prosecutor, appearing in person in the same location, they mandated that the said Gilles, the accused, be made to submit to the said torture.
The latter, by order of the said Lords Bishop of Nantes and Vicar of the Inquisitor, came and appeared personally before them in the said lower hall to submit to the said torture. And as the said Lords Bishop of Nantes and Vicar of the Inquisitor intended, in fact, to proceed with the application of the said torture or said interrogation of the said Gilles, the said Gilles begged them humbly to be willing to postpone the said application until the following day, which had been assigned as noted; saying that in the meantime he would deliberate somehow on the subject of the crimes and offenses brought against him, he would satisfy them to the extent that it would not be necessary to question him thereon; supplicating and requesting that the said Lord Bishop of Saint-Brieuc, in the interest of the ecclesiastical court, namely in the interest of the said Lords Bishop of Nantes and Vicar of the Inquisitor, and that the said Lord President, in the interest of the secular court, hear outside the place where the aforesaid torture had been ordered what the said Gilles de Rais, the accused, himself intended to confess on the subject of the articles proposed against him, and that the Lords Bishop of Nantes and Vicar of the Inquisitor yield their place to the said Lord Bishop of Saint-Brieuc; the said Lords Bishop of Nantes and Vicar of the Inquisitor consenting to the said accused’s supplication, yielded their place on this score to the said Bishop of Saint-Brieuc, then present and accepting the charge graciously; and in favor of the accused, they postponed the application of the said torture to the second hour of the afternoon of the present day, in the following manner: that if by chance the said Gilles, the accused, confessed the crimes with which he was reproached, or anything similar, then, at that hour even or later, the former would postpone the said application of torture to the following day.
On the subject of each and every one of which things the said prosecutor asked us, aforesaid
notaries public and scribes, to make one and several public instruments.
In the presence of noblemen Milord Robert d’Épinay, knight, Yvon de Rocerf, Master Robert de La Rivière, Pierre Juete, Jean de Vennes, and a large number of other witnesses specifically called and requested.
At this second hour of the afternoon on the said Friday, the said Lords Bishop and Vicar of the Inquisitor presented themselves personally in the said lower hall and, at the request of the said prosecutor, himself appearing personally in the same place, the said Lords Bishop and Vicar, by virtue of the aforesaid commission, sent to the said Gilles, the accused, in a certain upper chamber in the said castle of La Tour Neuve in Nantes, which he was given to inhabit and then supposed to remain in, the aforesaid Lords Bishop of Saint-Brieuc and President of Brittany, along with Jean Petit, one of the four aforesaid notaries public and scribes, in order to hear and report on whatever the accused might say on the subject of what was proposed to him, as it has been said. Which lords commissioners visited the said Gilles and, on the same day, having returned to the said lower hall, said and reported to the said Lords Bishop of Nantes and the Vicar that they had spoken to the said accused, who made a long confession in their presence, the content of which is provided below, which they then exhibited.
Trial of Gilles De Rais Page 26
