Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 3.djvu/504

 488 SORCERY AND OCCULT ARTS. the marriage contract. He resolutely set to work to recover the alienated or confiscated lands, and succeeded in gaining possession of some of the finest estates, including Champtoce and Ingrandes, though his death at the siege of Cherbourg, in 1450, prevented his enjoying them. Marie not long after was remarried with Andre de Laval, Marshal and Admiral of France, who caused her rights to be respected, but on her death without issue in 1457 the inheri- tance passed to Gilles's brother, Rene de la Suze. The interminable litigation revived and continued until after his death in 1474. He left but one daughter, who had been married to the Prince de Deols in 1446 ; they had but one son, Andre de Chauvigny, who died without issue in 1502, when the race became extinct. The barony of Rais lapsed into the house of Tournemine, and at length passed into that of Gondy, to become celebrated in the seventeenth century through the Cardinal de Retz.* Admitting as we must the guilt of Gilles de Rais, all this throws an uncomfortable doubt over the sincerity of his trial and conviction, and this is not lessened by the fate of his accomplices. Only Henriet and Poitou appear to have suffered; there is no trace of the death-penalty inflicted on any of the rest, though their criminality was sufficient for the most condign punishment, and the facility with which self-incriminating evidence was obtainable by the use of torture rendered unknown the device of purchasing testimony with pardon. Gilles de Sille, who was regarded as the worst of the marshal's instigators, disappeared and was heard of no more. Xext to him ranked Roger de Briqueville. It is some- what mysterious that the family seem to have regarded this man with favor. Marie de Rais cherished his children with tender care. In 1446 he obtained from Charles VII. letters of remission rehabilitating him, which he certainly could not have procured had not Pregent de Coetivy favored him, and the latter, in a letter to his brother Oliver, in 1449, desires to be remembered to Roger. f If the student feels that there is an impenetrable mystery shrouding the truth in this remarkable case, the Breton peasant was troubled with no such doubts. To him Gilles remained the embodiment of cruelty and ferocity. I am not sufficiently versed in folk-lore to express an opinion whether M. Bossard is correct in
 * Bossard et Maulde,pp. 370-82. t Ibid. pp. 380; Pr. pp. cxlv.-cxlvi.