Becoming the Origin of Bluebeard
In 1440, an increasingly erratic Rais de Gilles got into a dispute with local church figures. A hot-headed aristocrat, hopped up on machismo and unused to having his wishes denied, Rais escalated things, until he ended up kidnapping a priest. That triggered an ecclesiastical investigation, that unearthed some pretty horrific stuff. It turned out that the once celebrated national hero had been murdering children – mostly boys, but also the occasional girl – by the dozens. His standard operating procedure had been to lure children from peasant or lower-class families to his castle with gifts, such as candies, toys, or clothing. He would initially put them at their ease, feed and pamper them, before leading them to a bedroom where Rais and his accomplices would seize their victims.
A Grisly Truth
As he confessed in his subsequent trial, Rais got a sadistic kick out of watching his victims’ fear, when he explained just what it was that he had in store for them. What was in store for them was nothing good – but we can skip the gory details. Suffice it to say that it involved torture and sodomy, and ended with the child’s murder, usually via decapitation. The victims and their clothing would then be burned in the fireplace, and their ashes dumped in a moat. After Gilles confessed to his crimes, he and he and his accomplices were condemned to death. He was executed on October 26th, 1440, by burning and hanging, simultaneously. His infamy inspired the fairy tale of Bluebeard, about a wealthy serial wife killer.
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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading
Ancient History Encyclopedia – Semiramis
Ancient Origins – The Search for El Dorado, the Lost City of Gold
Archaeology Archive, September 23rd, 1998 – King Arthur Was Real?
Atlas Obscura – The Modern Movement to Exonerate a Notorious Medieval Serial Killer
Encyclopedia Britannica – Semiramis
In Santorini – Atlantis and Santorini
Live Science – Santa Claus: The Real Man Behind the Myth
Museum of Hoaxes – Patagonian Giants
National Geographic History Magazine, February 5th, 2019 – Who Was the Real Robin Hood?
Ranker – 12 Characters From Ancient Mythology That Might Have Actually Existed in History
Telegraph, The, July 11th, 2010 – Historians Locate King Arthur‘s Round Table