Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 3.djvu/505

 ENRIQUE DE VILLENA. 489 maintaining that Gilles is the original of Bluebeard, the monster of the nursery-tale rendered universally popular in the version of Charles Perrault. Yet, even without admitting that the story is of Breton origin, there would seem to be no doubt that in Brittany, La Vendee, Anjou, and Poitou, where the terrible baron had his chosen seats of residence, he is known by the name of Bluebeard, and the legend — possibly an older one — of cruelty to seven wives, has been attached to him who had but one, and who left that one a widow. Tradition relates how the demon changed to a brilliant blue the magnificent red beard that was his pride ; and everywhere, at Tiffauges, at Champtoce, at Machecoul, for the peasant, Blue- beard is the lord of the castle where Gilles ruled over their forefa- thers. Even yet, when the dreaded ruins are approached at dusk, the wayfarer crosses himself and holds his breath. In one ballad the name of Bluebeard and of the Baron de Rais are interchanged as identical, and Jean de Malestroit, Bishop of Nantes, is the cham- pion who delivers the terrorized people from their oppressor.* Another phase of the popular belief in magic is illustrated in Don Enrique de Aragon, commonly known as the Marquis of Vil- lena. Born in 1384, uniting the royal blood of both Castile and Aragon, his grandfather, the Duke of Gandia and Constable of Castile, destined him for a military life, and forbade his instruction in aught but knightly accomplishments. The child's keen thirst for knowledge, however, overcame all obstacles, and he became a marvel of learning for his unlettered companions. He spoke numerous languages, he was gifted as a poet, and he became a voluminous historian. The occult arts formed too prominent a portion of the learning of the day for him to neglect them, and he became noted for his skill in divination, and for interpreting dreams, sneezes, and portents— things, we are told, not befitting a royal prince or a good Catholic, wherefore he was held in slight esteem bv the kings of his time, and in little reverence by the fierce chivalry of Spain. In fact, he is spoken of in terms of undis- guised contempt, as one who with all his acquirements knew little that was worth knowing, and who was unfit for knighthood and for worldly affairs, even for regulating his own household ; that he
 * Bossard et Maulde,pp. 406, 408, 412.