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These Vicious Crimes Will Make You See the Medieval Period in a New Light

Khalid Elhassan November 25, 2022 31 min

A Depraved Medieval Criminal

Criminal - A nineteenth century illustration depicts Gilles de Rais, his victims, and accomplices — A nineteenth century illustration depicts Gilles de Rais, his victims, and accomplices. Missed in History

The modus operandi of Giles de Rais was to lure children from peasant or lower class families to his castle with gifts, such as candies, toys, or clothes. He put them at their ease, fed and pampered them, before he eventually led them to a bedroom where he and accomplices seized their victims. As he confessed in his subsequent trial, de Rais enjoyed the terror in the children’s eyes, when he explained what was in store for them. What was in store was none too good.

The execution of Gilles de Rais. French National Library

Suffice it to say that it that it involved torture and sodomy, and ended with the child’s demise, usually via decapitation. The victims and their clothes would then be burned in the fireplace, and their ashes dumped in a moat. After de Rais confessed to his crimes, he and he and his accomplices were sentenced to death. He was executed on October 26^th, 1440, by burning and hanging, simultaneously. His infamy inspired the fairy tale of Bluebeard, about a wealthy serial wife killer.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.