Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/276

Rh 258 R A I R A I RATS, RAIZ, or RETZ, GILLES DE (d. 1440), marshal of France, seigneur of Hautpart and of many other lordships, who was hanged and burned at Nantes in 1440, has left a name connected directly with one of the most horrible stories in history, and indirectly with other curious matter. Not much is known of Rais before the trial which made his name infamous. He was of the noblest blood of the marches of Brittany, being on the father's side of the Laval branch of the ducal family of Montfort, and being connected through his mother and by marriage with the houses of Craon, Thouars, and others. His possessions in the district from which he took his name, and which borders the estuary of the Loire on the south, as well as along the river, were great, and his chief seat was at Champtoce". He had served in the English wars with the credit of a brave knight, had a rather special reputa- tion for devotion, had been marshal since 1429, and had held the alms -dish at the coronation of Charles VII. Suddenly he was arrested, tried, and, as above stated, executed on the evidence of accomplices and his own con- fession. The crimes with which he was charged extended over some fourteen years. During that period it was alleged that he had, through different agents, especially a woman called La Meffraie, kidnapped or enticed to his various abodes large numbers (Monstrelet says 100, others 140) of children. These children, after being sub- jected to every outrage of lust and cruelty, were sacrificed to the devil, their blood used for magical ceremonies, their bodies burned, and their bones buried in the precincts of Rais's castles. The ultimate purpose of this devil- worship was asserted to be the acquisition by Rais (who was assisted by divers sorcerers, especially an Italian im- ported for the purpose) of power and honours in the state. The depositions were very full and still exist, and on them and his confession Rais was executed. It is, however, somewhat suspicious that the bishop of Nantes, who pro- moted, and the duke of Brittany, who sanctioned the pro- ceedings, were both bitter personal enemies of Rais, while the king, who was also concerned, had for a main part of his policy the putting down of feudal barons who, like Rais, held posts of vantage in the country. The two chief contemporary authors who mention the case, Monstrelet and Chastellain, speak of it with somewhat less horror than might, even allowing for possible political sympathies, have been expected. Monstrelet (who says that Rais was charged with the murder of pregnant women also) says that " many ladies and damsels " begged his body of the duke, and that great part of the nobles of Brittany, not only his relations, had great sorrow and sadness for his death. Chastellain introduces the ghost of Rais in rather striking fashion in his Temple de Bocace as " followed by a multitude of little children crying ' Vengeance.' " The affair affected public imagination as much because of the rarity of a criminal of such rank being brought to justice as of the heinousness of the crimes attributed to him. Locally it took a very strong hold of the popu- lar mind, and a tradition not easy to trace connects it with the Bluebeard legend, which finally took shape in the hands of Perrault. This connexion, however, hardly bears examination. In the first place, there is no evidence that Rais ever was called Bluebeard, though a contemporary English adventurer who is mentioned by Holinshed was so called, and may have left a bad reputation in France. In the second, it is impossible to trace even the most superficial resemblance between the stories. In Bluebeard there are no children concerned, no unnatural crimes, no sorcery ; it is merely one of the numerous stories of "punished curiosity" so fre- quent in folk-lore. As it stands the Rais story is too horrible to make much of a figure in literature; but it has attracted some students of causes celebrcs, notably Dumas file in his Tristan le Roux. For authorities besides the passages of Monstrelet and Chastellain above quoted, Michelet, Histoire dc France, and Vallet de Virivillc, Histoire de Charles VII., may be consulted. Mezeray's account, usually followed in books of reference, is loose ; he had evidently not seen the records, nor even Monstrelet. But his assignment of a state crime against the duke as the real cause of death is very probable, though not formally correct. RAISINS are the dried fruits of certain varieties of the grape vine, Vitis vim/era, which grow principally in the warm climate of the Mediterranean coasts and are com- paratively rich in sugar. The use of dried grapes or raisins as food is of great antiquity (Numb. vi. 3 ; 1 Sam. xxv. 18, xxx. 12). In mediaeval times raisins imported from Spain were a prized luxury in England, and to the pre- sent day Great Britain continues to be the best customer of the raisin-producing regions. " Raisins of the sun " are obtained by letting the fruit continue on the vines after it has come to maturity, where there is sufficient sunshine and heat in the autumn, till the clusters dry on the stocks. Another plan is partially to sever the stalk before the grapes are quite ripe, thus stopping the flow of the sap, and in that condition to leave them on the vines till they are sufficiently dry. The more usual process, however, is to cut off the fully ripe clusters and expose them, spread out, for several days to the rays of the sun, taking care that they are not injured by rain. In unfavourable weather they may be dried in a heated chamber, but are then inferior in quality. In some parts of Spain and France it is common to dip the gathered clusters in boiling water, or in a strong potash lye, a practice which softens the skin, favours drying, and gives the raisins a clear glossy appearance. Again, in Asia Minor the fruit is dipped into hot water on the surface of which swims a layer of olive oil, which communicates a bright lustre and softness to the skin. Some superior varieties are treated with very great care, retained on their stalks, and sent into the market as clusters for table use ; but the greater part are separated from the stalks in the process of drying and the stalks winnowed out of the fruit. Raisins come from numerous Mediterranean localities, and present at least three distinct varieties, (1) ordinary or large raisins, (2) sultana seedless raisins, and (3) currants or Corinthian raisins (see vol. vi. p. 715). The greater proportion of the common large raisins of English commerce comes from the provinces of Malaga, Valencia, and Alicante in Spain ; these are known by the common name of Malaga raisins. Those of the finest quality, called Malaga clusters, are prepared from a variety of muscatel grape, and preserved on the stalks for table use. This variety, as well as Malaga layers, so called from the manner of packing, are exclusively used as dessert fruit. Raisins of a somewhat inferior quality, known as "lexias," from the same pro- vinces, are used for cooking and baking purposes. Smyrna raisins also come to some extent into the English market. The best quality, known as Eleme", is a large fruit, having a reddish yellow skin with a sweet pleasant flavour. Large-seeded dark-coloured raisins are produced in some of the islands of the Greek Archipelago and in Crete, but they are little seen in the British markets. In Italy the finest raisins are produced in Calabria, inferior qualities in central Italy and in Sicily. From the Lipari Islands a certain quantity of cluster raisins of good quality is sent to England. In the south of France raisins of high excellence Provence raisins in clusters are obtained^ at Roquevaire, Lunel, and Frontignan. Sultana seedless raisins are the produce of a small variety of yellow grape, cultivated exclusively in the neighbourhood of Smyrna. The vines are grown on a soil of decomposed hippurite limestone, on sloping ground rising to a height of 400 feet