Gilles de Rais (English Wikipedia)

Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Gilles de Rais" in English language version.

refsWebsite
Global rank English rank
124th place
544th place
5th place
5th place
666th place
1,300th place
2nd place
2nd place
6th place
6th place
low place
low place
515th place
1,261st place
low place
low place
121st place
142nd place
3rd place
3rd place
1st place
1st place
512th place
1,957th place
6,247th place
low place
low place
low place
low place
low place
958th place
1,915th place
489th place
377th place
low place
low place
26th place
20th place
2,161st place
2,535th place
1,617th place
6,466th place
low place
low place
879th place
3,323rd place
7,003rd place
low place
1,261st place
5,597th place
1,681st place
2,023rd place

academia.edu

aeja.org

archive.org

bnf.fr

gallica.bnf.fr

books.google.com

bulletin-numismatique.fr

cairn.info

digitale-sammlungen.de

francia.digitale-sammlungen.de

doi.org

e-periodica.ch

gutenberg.org

jeannedarc-orleans.fr

jstor.org

la-croix.com

lhistoire.fr

openedition.org

books.openedition.org

journals.openedition.org

ouest-france.fr

persee.fr

psl.eu

chartes.psl.eu

republicain-lorrain.fr

rtl.fr

slideshare.net

fr.slideshare.net

uni-heidelberg.de

journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de

web.archive.org

wikipedia.org

fr.wikipedia.org

  • "Retz" is the modern spelling of the Pays de Retz. The toponym is spelled "Rais", "Rays" or "Raiz" in the Middle Ages,[2] in accordance with the fluctuating spelling of the time.[3]
    To designate Gilles de Rais, archivist-paleographer Matei Cazacu [fr] prefers to use the archaic "Rais" spelling since it's commonly associated with this historical figure.[4]
  • In Louis Gabriel Michaud's Biographie universelle ancienne et moderne (1824), polygraph Pierre-Hyacinthe Audiffret (1773–1841) placed Gilles de Rais' birth around 1396. However, this stems from an incorrect reading of the brief drawn up by Rais' heirs.
    Auguste Vallet de Viriville suggests that Rais was born "probably in 1406".[14]
    Abbot Eugène Bossard [fr] (1853–1905) relies on the Dominican friar Augustin du Paz [fr], who dates the marriage of Rais' parents to February 5, 1404.[15] Based on the length of a pregnancy, Bossard then calculated that Rais "probably came into the world around September or October of the same year".[16]
    Dr. Jules Hébert, vice-president of the Academic Society of Brest, agreed with Bossard's interpretation, but expanded the time frame: "The birth of Gilles de Rays must therefore have taken place in the last months of 1404, or at the beginning of the following year, as no historian has given an exact date."[17]
    In his article on Rais' youth, Ambroise Ledru (1849–1935), president of the Maine Province Historical Society, reproduced several testimonies gathered during a judicial inquiry carried out in Angers in 1461–1462 at the request of René de Rais, Gilles' younger brother. This document includes statements from two Champtocé residents: a helmsman named Jean Rousseau and a sergeant named Michel Guiot. The first witness claims to have attended Rais' baptism some 52 years earlier (around 1409 or 1410), in the parish church of Saint-Père de Champtocé, while the second affirms that Rais was born "55 years ago or thereabouts", around 1406 or 1407.[18]
    According to the same angevin survey, the marriage of Guy de Laval and Marie de Craon was celebrated by Jean du Bellay, abbot of Saint-Florent de Saumur; however, the latter did not become abbot of the said place until 1405.[19][20]
    Archivist René Blanchard emphasized that the legal instruments dated February 5 and 17, 1404 "constantly speak of marriage to the future and leave no doubt on this point"; consequently, "Gilles was born at the earliest at the end of 1404." Assuming that Rais could not have begun his military career too young before "soon reaching the highest ranks", Blanchard adds that "it does not seem possible to put Gilles' birth much further back than a year after his parents' union." Blanchard also judges 1407 to be too late, giving no credence to Michel Guiot's testimony on the grounds that the sergeant erroneously dates Jean de Craon's death.[21]
    Matei Cazacu builds on Blanchard's remarks, but also points out that Jean de Craon and Guy de Laval had to submit the deed of their agreement to the Parlement of Paris prior to the marriage. The homologation took place on May 2, 1404; this procedure delayed Guy de Laval and Marie de Craon's nuptials by as much, thus postponing the birth of their first child "to 1405 at the earliest".[13] Besides, Cazacu suggests that Rais' birth or baptism date could possibly coincide with Saint Giles' feast day on September 1st, hence his first name.[22]
    Afterwards, medievalists Jacques Chiffoleau [fr] and Olivier Bouzy [fr] refer to 1405 as the year of birth[23][24]
    Also following Cazacu, while stressing that Rais' date of birth is "doubtful", medievalist Claude Gauvard puts it "probably on September 1, 1405".[25]
  • Member of learned societies of Touraine, Charles Mourain de Sourdeval [fr] asserts that Guy de Laval-Rais died before his wife Marie de Craon, the latter subsequently marrying Charles d'Estouville, seigneur de Villebon.[30] Abbot Eugène Bossard endorses this assertion.[31]
    However, archivist-paleographer Arthur Bertrand de Broussillon points out that this is a homonym error : Charles d'Estouville did indeed marry a Marie de Craon, but she did not belong to the younger branch of La Suze.[32]
    In fact, Gilles de Rais' mother predeceased her husband, as Guy de Laval-Rais' will and testament attests. In this document, dated 28 or 29 October 1415, Rais' father declares that he wishes to be buried at Notre-Dame de Buzay "near the tomb of my dearest wife Marie de Craon" ("juxta sepulturam dicte carissime deffuncte uxoris mee Marie de Credonio").[33]
    Matei Cazacu suggests that Marie de Craon died "probably while giving birth to her second child, René, in January 1414".[34]
    The exact date of her death remains unknown.
  • The date of Guy de Laval-Rais' will and testament, 28 or 29 October 1415, is given by Matei Cazacu as that of his death.[34] Abbot Arthur Bourdeaut erroneously dates Guy de Laval-Rais' last will and testament to 28 September 1415,[35] an error repeated by Georges Bataille[36] and then Jacques Heers [fr].[37]
    In this document, Gilles de Rais' father declares that he is "suffering from a serious bodily infirmity" ("infirmitate gravi detentus corpore"), with no further details. Matei Cazacu cautiously hypothesizes that the cause of death was malaria, a disease rife in Vendée at the time.[34]
    In a fictional account, journalist and novelist Pierre La Mazière (1879–1947) portrayed Rais' father as having been gored by a wild boar during a hunting accident,[38] a spectacular death narrated again in a novel by Marc Dubu[39] and then in an essay by Georges Meunier.[40] From then on, this fictional event was successively taken at face value by various authors.[41][42][43][44][45][46]
  • Abbot Eugène Bossard refers to Rais' feats of arms during the Breton Civil War of 1420,[106] while Abbot Arthur Bourdeaut,[107] Émile Gabory [fr][108] and Georges Bataille[109] consider it unlikely that the young Rais took part in this conflict, pointing out that no source confirms this. More recently, Matei Cazacu concurs with Bossard.[105]

worldcat.org