They Judged Him for 140 Murders. Then Took His Castles.

In October 1440, a Marshal of France was hanged at Nantes. The tribunal had recorded 140 names. The first in the file was twelve years old. That is the case. But that is not the film. The film is about what happened to his land. Who judged him. Who had already bought it. The trial had two principal judges: Bishop Jean de Malestroit and Duke Jean V of Brittany. Both had their hands on Gilles de Rais's properties before the sentence was delivered. The confession was obtained under threat of excommunication. The bodies were never recovered or identified. In 1904, historian Salomon Reinach studied the transcript and asked one question: can a tribunal be a reliable witness when it profits directly from the conviction? The 1440 conviction was never overturned. The mainstream view still holds Gilles de Rais guilty of most of what the articles claim. But Charles VII's letter of January 3, 1443 is in the archive. The land is not. Sources: Minutes of the 1440 ecclesiastical trial / Archives of Loire-Atlantique and Maine-et-Loire / Salomon Reinach monograph, 1904 / Lettre patente, Charles VII, January 3, 1443. — 🕯️ More dark history reconstructed as cinema:    • Dark Architects of Murder   — Chapters: 00:00 The Execution at Nantes (1440) 01:13 The Corrupt Judges and the Stolen Castles 01:38 The Soldier Who Rose at Orléans 02:44 Marshal of France at Age 24 03:41 The Massive Fortune of Gilles de Rais 04:24 Spending a Fortune: The Private Chapel & Theatre 04:57 Why He Sold His Land to the Church 05:30 The King's Royal Interdict (1435) 06:05 Alchemy and the Italian Occultist Francesco Prelati 06:56 Dark Magic: The Demon Rituals at Tiffauges 08:03 Eye-Witness Testimony: The Trial Begins 08:35 The Mystery of the Disappeared Children 09:51 The Terror at Machecoul & La Meffraye 11:17 The Fatal Mistake: Attacking the Church 11:52 The Arrest of Gilles de Rais 13:17 The Horrific Charges: Murder & Heresy 14:17 The Confession of a Serial Killer 15:22 The Hanging at Nantes: What Happened to the Bodies? 16:17 King Charles VII's Secret Letter (1443) 17:27 Was He Innocent? Reinach's Theory — 📌 Subscribe for new films every two weeks.