A Turn to Alchemy and Satanism
Gilles de Rais had inherited significant landholdings and estates from both his father and maternal grandfather. He married a rich heiress, which match brought him even more extensive holdings, and made him one of France’s greatest magnates. He retired from the military in 1434, but he was not as good at money management as he was at the management of men in battle. He soon dissipated his fabulous wealth with a lavish lifestyle that rivaled the king’s. Within a year of retirement, de Rais lost most of his lands, and his family secured a royal decree that forbade him to mortgage what was left.
To raise more cash, de Rais turned to alchemy: he hoped to figure out a way to turn base metals into gold. He also turned to Satanism, and hoped to gain knowledge, power, and riches, through the devil. Another thing he turned to was the serial murder of children. In 1440, an increasingly erratic Gilles got into a dispute with local church figures, and things escalated until he eventually kidnapped a priest. That triggered an ecclesiastical investigation, which unearthed some horrific stuff. It turned out that the once celebrated national hero had been murdering children – mostly boys, but also the occasional girl – by the hundreds.
