Gilles de Rais (1404 – 1440), was a Breton knight, the companion-in-arms of Joan of Arc, and a Marshal of France, but is best known as a prolific serial killer of children. He was born in late 1404 to Guy de Laval and Marie de Craon, but grew up under the tutelage of his maternal grandfather Jean de Craon following the deaths of his parents in 1415. De Rais' fortunes increased substantially with his marriage in 1420 to the wealthy Catherine de Th...
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Gilles de Rais (1404 – 1440), was a Breton knight, the companion-in-arms of Joan of Arc, and a Marshal of France, but is best known as a prolific serial killer of children. He was born in late 1404 to Guy de Laval and Marie de Craon, but grew up under the tutelage of his maternal grandfather Jean de Craon following the deaths of his parents in 1415. De Rais' fortunes increased substantially with his marriage in 1420 to the wealthy Catherine de Thouars, and gifts of money granted him following the War of the Breton Succession. From 1427 to 1435, Rais served as a commander in the Royal Army, and in 1429 fought beside Joan of Arc in some of the campaigns waged against the English and their Burgundian allies during the Hundred Years War. In 1434–35, he retired from military life, dabbled in the occult, and depleted his wealth by staging an extravagant theatrical spectacle of his own composition.
Sometime between spring 1432 and spring 1433, the first child-murder occurred and was followed...
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