BLUEBEARD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4582, 2 March 1893, Page 1

BLUEBEARD.

THE MABECHAL DE ; BBTZ. ; ;

-■•■ -:v (B«lffroi)i«i.) ; ■: „•:■;< : . Bluebeard was no less 1 a person than a Marshal of France. He was also a councillor and ohamberlain to the King, Charles VII. He was one of the most famous and powerful noblemen in ' Brittany^ a distinguished warrior and shrewd politician, his intrepidity on the field of battle being as remarkable a»>his sagacity "in council. Gillea de Laval was born at the Castle of Maohecoul Bomewhere ab6ut 1404, and was the eldest Bon of Guy de Laval, second of his name. Sire de Betz, Lord of Maohecoul, Maule*on,, v TiffaugeB J Larbux-Boterean, Pornio, Chantole and -Various other places in Brittany. When •' only twenty he became, by the death of his father, master of a vast territorial inheritance, which was increased by his • marriage with Catherine de Thouars in 1420. He employed part of hiß fortune in the cause of Charles VII. and in strengthening the French crown. From 1426 to 1433 consecutively he was engaged r in military enterprises against the English. For these services he was created Marshal of France, by the King. He accompanied Charles to Eheims on the occasion of his coronation, and had the honour of bearing the oriflamme, brought for the ceremony from the abb'ey of S. Remi. Suddenly, to the surprise of. everyone, he quitted the service of Charles VII. and , sheathed for .ever his sword, in the retirement of the country. During the. year 1440 a terrible rumour ..spread through Brittany, and especially through the anoient pays de Bets,, which" extends from .Nantes to Paimboeuf, that Gilles de Laval, Mar^ohal de Betz, 'was guilty of. crimes .of the. most diabolical nature. The .: Marshal seldom visited the dnoal court, < but he often appeared in the city of Nftntea, , where he inhabited the Hdteldela Suze.witha princely retinue. . He wm always accompanied by a guard of i two hundred men-at-arms, and a numerous • suite of pages, esquires, chaplains, singers, and .astrologers, all of. whoia he paid handsomely. ' Whenever he left the townj or moved to one of his other seats, the . cries and execrations of the poor which his presence had restrained, broke forth, and curses .both loud: and deep followed him from the infuriated fathers while the . .. mothers, wailed to heaven for the infants which had been torn from their, cradles ; and almost from- their armß, and which Bad experience , taught them they r should never -see again. . In the surrounding .villages . strange tales of unnameable horrors, circulated in a whisper. Yet people were , slow to believe them. How could there be anything wrong with ao pious, so Godfearing an individual as the Sire de Betz? .Children playing, in the forest; those sent on errands, and even those left at home when their parents were but, alike mysteriously disappeared. Two or three out , of the same family in, many instances were ' spirited away. . Babies left in their cradles, and youthfe o£ sixteen or seventeen — one a diminutive youth o£ twenty— were among the missing. "..' .' ,' .. ; '-. : .>,,, • . Ia 1440, when several hundred— the . exaot amount is not known certainly— . "children had disappeared, the exasperation of the people would no longer.be restrained^ it broke, all bounds, and. with one voice, they charged the marshal with the murder • .. of their offspring, whom they, declared he < had sacrificed, to the devil. John V., Duke of Brittany; heard thiß charge, but -.;■:■ coald not believe that his, relation, a man who had served his country so bravely, who uwas in auoh a high position and known to ; be bo devout, could possibly be guilty of ' the horrors < laid to his : charge. Jean de , Chateaugiron, Bishop, of, Nantes, . and the wise* and noble Pierre deTHoapital, grand .. senechal of Brittany, also wrote to the . ' duke, expressing very decidedly their ; views, that such a scandalous charge :' demanded thorough investigation. At i, length John yielded to their ropresentatione, and authorised them •to eeize the. - persons of the Sire <3e Betz and his accomplices. On Oot. 10 Che trial began. Gilles de Laval, when confronted with the rack, • shuddered, and declared that rather than be tortured he would confess all. When the confessions of Henijiet and Ponton were read '- to :him he turned deadly, pale, and exclaimed, "God had loosened their, tongues so that they had spoken the truth." Urged to relieve bis- conscience by acknowledging . his crimes, after a moment's silence he ,; aaid, "Messires, it is quite true; that I have fobbed -mothers of their' little ones, and that I have killed them or caused' them to be ' killed, either by cutting their throats .with daggers or .; knives, or ,elae ; I, have had their skulls broken by hammers or Bticks ; sometimes I ' , Ixad their limbs hewn off one after another; at other times 1 ripjped ihem open, that T might examine their cntraie and hearts; I have occasionally strangled them or put >. them to a slow death; and when the fr children were dead I, had their bodies burned and reduced' to ashes/' This horrible frankness staggered Pierre de THoßpjtal. "When did you begin your execrable practices?" he aßked. "The Evil One must have possessed you." "It came to me from mjself," answered Gilles de Laval; "no doubt at the instigation of the Devil i but these acts of cruelty afforded me incomparable delight. The . ...desire to commit these atrocities came upon me eight years, ago. I left court to go to Chantoncee, that I might claim the property of my grandfather, deceased. In the library of the castle I found a Latin book, Suetonius, I believe, full of accounts \ of the cruelties of the Boman Emperors. I read the charming history of Tiberius, Caracalla and other Cte3are, and the plea- - sure they took in watching the agonies of - tortured children. Thereupon I resolved to imitate and surpass these same Ccesars, and • i- r that very night I began to do so. For some ::.-,!■ while I confided' my secret to no one, but > afterwards I communicated it to my . copein, Gilles de Sille, then to Master Boger de Briqueville, neit in succession to Henriet, Pontou, Bossignol and Bobin/' On Oot. 25, 1440, sentence was pronounced'against the Sire de Eetz. Foi the sorcery and magio he wag condemned ■ ■ to pay an enormous fine. For his other ' j-j crimes; " notwithstanding his quality, * ■ dignity and nobility," he was condemned .. to- bs -hanged and burned—^the sentence to be carried out the next morning between ''' eleven and twelve o'clock. A similar sen- - ten ce was pronounced upon Henriet and • • TPontou. Tbe, exoontion took place in the ■meadow of La Madeleine. Three gibbets . we erected, one higher thAn the others, '■>'" and beneath eaoh was a pile of faggots, » •■■"■■ tar and brushwood. Before placing himself in the hands of the executioners, De Bete preached a pious oration to his accomplices, and the orowd, which seems blasphemous when we remember the monater who spoke *it. It might have been -the utterance of some martyr going to the " stake and wishing to increase the faith of "ibis fellow* sufferers. He also had the effrontery to declare that he wftß the ' broth er of all presen t, particularly of thoe e ■ whose children he had murdered. He was ! ' executed first, Unlike his victims, his ,'*■'■ ''agony was short. His body was cut down ' .-■-• before the flames bad tune to consume it, -' and was. handed over for burial to some _'''a:*'-Crtrmelite monks and some veiled women, ' . /said to be relatives and members of the 1 "■''■ moat illustrious families in Brittany. 1 Henrieti and-Pontou, on the contrary, were allowed to hang and be burned to duat. TPh^ir ashes were then scattered to the . winds.