Grace Baldridge is joined by Cecilia Betsill to talk about Gilles de Rais. Orphaned at a young age, Gilles grew up during the Hundred Years War and fought alongside Joan of Arc. After the war, Gilles spent his fortune away funding his rendition of the Siege of Orleans. Gilles eventually would go broke, attempt to break into his former castle, and go on trial for torturing and murdering children. Some historians argue that the accusations against Gilles were merely part of a political plot to seize all his funds and property.
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first, suprise to see the show is back… i though it went off the air.. so happy it is not…!!!! my favorite..
I am in France at the moment and a couple hours drive from the chateau of Gilles de Rais in Vendee in the village of Tiffauges… what is surprising to me is that in spite of all those crimes he was buried in a church ( eglide des Carmes) under the insistance of women that saved his remain from the fire his body was supposed t be consumed by… Women seemed to be very forgiven. He has awaken passions and his place is visited by hundeds of people in the summer months… children are fascinated… i certainly will drive up there soon so intrigued i am by that story.
I adore you Grace. Wanted to post but I think I had to reply to a post. What a smart humorous woman. Along with beautiful. Grrrrrrrrr how do I just post. New member mother’s day present keep on going on. ?????
People who claim to practice magic today still use human remains. Check out tumblr “bonegate” some time. All of what we think of as witch craft comes from medieval catholicism magic is really only the non-mainstream practices of me people outside of an area’s dominant religion. There is no on going tradition of magic paganism is a non sense term used to refer to a multitude of folk/ nature practices that have little or nothing in common with one another
Paganism and the crafts are still incredibly prominent in every culture on our planet in one form or another. It’s not a past tense sort of thing as was alluded. Not that witches make human sacrifices, but honestly the story shared here screams more of medieval Catholicism than witchcraft.
Would enjoy some British MWF, the moors murderers, offer an interesting variant of Folie à deux and their persistent attempts to blame or involve David Smith add another layer creep to the pair. The police’s delay in arresting Myra because she was a young woman, the tapes and the fact that one of the children’s bodies was never found because of the moors bleak and ever changing nature. I grew up 10-20 minutes from the moor where they buried most of their victims. Hindley and Brady’s crimes are horrific but the different ways in which each of them were regarded after their crimes came to light if particularly interesting.
Does anyone know when MWF is supposed to air? The posts have been very irregular lately so I can’t tell
It airs Monday for Members, and Wednesday on http://www.youtube.com/poptrigger
Earlier in the season, we were putting up more than one a week for members because we had shot a bunch in advance. As of now, we’re at one a week. Hope this helps.
Perfect thanks so much :)
also I would love to see one on the Glenn Coe massacre of the McDonald’s … I am a descendant
Pope Callixtus III, born, Alfons de Borja, ordered a new trial for St. Joan of Arc , at which she was posthumously vindicated. House of Borgia,founded in 1455, was coming to power in rome seeking to be pope…. these cats killed, poised, raped, bribed, swindle land, stole seats to become pope (mainly,Rodrigo Borgia, Pope Alexander VI , and his children.)….. which is why i nominate them to have an episode!!!
Although a thousand children has to be a made up number, I’m willing to believe that indeed something happened here, and the reason we do not have any physical evidence of bodies leftover is because there were so many people also dying from the plague. If the servants were seen burning some child’s body somewhere, they would just have to say, “the boy had the plague” and no one would questions it.
GRACE!!!! NO! NO! NO! I had a French History Phd. Professor that gave a lecture on Gilles De Rais.
The guy, Gilles, was the general of the battle and he was the reason the war was won with the English. He had plenty of experience at raping and pillaging as a noble as part of his daily times. He was a real poster boy for rape and pillaging. People and children were regularly taken to his torture dungeons when they arrived at his castle for begging. He was known among nobles to display heads, childrens, whenthe nobles were visiting.
There was a study my professor told us about that was titled along the line of Excremental philosophy
The reason I believe Gilles was guilty without the evidence? What forensic policy was there back then to require producing the evidence for the court? More so, In class my prof. told us about how the taken children were a regular thing. It was common knowledge of his “fiefdom” area that children who went to the castle commonly didn’t return. What could they do or say to their “Landlord” of those times?
And? the most revealing reason I believe Gilles was guilty?
Like Matt Laurs? under the desk lock the door button?
Gilles De Rais had a fully functionally stocked torture dungeons.
Just Ned to point out that people with mental illness are way way way more likely to be the victims of violent crime than commit violent crimes. Just rarely there is a comorbidity of illness, trauma and nature. Most serial killers don’t have any diagnosable mental illness. Nor do most mass shooters most common amongst killers is depression
I enjoyed this. unlike Bathory I have few doubts he did some of what he is a accused of. if his money was the motive they already had enough to convict and take it but look at the confessions they read similar to modern day killers in the kinds of things he liked to do (with a few demon-y things thrown in for 15th century flavor). Even how he described the demon is how some people with schizoaffective disorder describe interactions with auditory hallucinations. Likely his battle experiences or the brutal execution of his friend caused a break. First he relived his glory days with the pageant then when that self soothing technique was unavailable he got out of control. Someone with schizoaffective & ptds and the slightest masochistic traits would exactly like him
Great. show. Accidentally viewed one of your shows earlier and was surprised at how interesting it was. Who would have thunk it? Murder? With friends?
Loved the episode !
I’m French and don’t remember studying/discussing Gilles de Rais at school. We do tackle the Hundred-Years War during elementary school but focus more on Jeanne d’Arc and less on that darker side of History as you put it (though let’s face it the Hundred-Years War wasn’t that much of a happy time to begin with)
That said, Gilles de Rais is definitely part of French folklore and is almost always present in stories taking place during that time period. He is usually depicted as an ambiguous character, which quite fits the fact no one knows for sure if he was a tragic hero or a serial murderer.
For instance he is one of the secondary characters in Jhen a series of BDs (French and Belgian graphic novels) and if I remember correctly (I haven’t read them in a while), in these, he both has his shining moments and his very (very) dark ones.
If you’ve seen some of the elaborate and absurd false confessions people come up with, this shouldn’t surprise you, especially given his penchant for the dramatic. And it is safe to assume that they wanted NO ONE to be able to say out loud “Hey, maybe he’s not guilty.” With these kinds of charges, even if you KNEW he was innocent, you couldn’t say so without appearing to be sympathizing with the most evil man ever.
All they had to do was keep threatening him with horrific tortures he knew they were capable of, keep him talking, and there you go.
If I was being tortured to death for a confession, I would confess and exaggerate just to have it over soon. I’d be curious as to how history was written and by who. Being a tumultuous time, Occam’s razor would suggest he was made a target by those who wanted his assets.
Joan of Arc was “super a virgin.” (good funny Grace, I chuckled)
Has anyone ever been MORE super a virgin?
Mary, I guess, or was she Super Mega-Virgin, most virginy of all-time, NO topping!
Everyone else is just run-of-the-mill, average virgin.
don’t forget the partial-virgins, and the only slightly virgin.
Or the “virgin in my mind.”
Or acting like a virgin.
Or EXTRA virgin olive oil…. wait. Wrong comment thread.
Well, Jesus would have to be more of a virgin, i guess.
Can’t have some holy surrogate outdo the son of god in the fine art of not getting laid, now can we?