"The Original Blue-Beard - The History of Gilles De Retz" is Thomas Wilson's 1899 biography of Gilles de Rais (1405–1440), a French knight and lord who led the French army and was one of Joan of Arc's companion-in-arms. Rais lived an extravagant life and even dabbled in the occult before being hanged for a series of child murders in 1440 in Nantes. It is believed that Rais was the inspiration for "Bluebeard", a French folktale of a wealthy man who murders all of his wives but his last, whose brothers finally put an end to him and his terrible crimes. Contents include: "Gilles De Retz", "Gilles as a Soldier", "Gille's Life at Home in Brittany", "Gilles's Crimes", "Gilles's Trial Before the Ecclesiastical Tribunal", "The Trial Before the Civil Court", "The Execution", "Mother Goose Publications", "Bluebeard Stories", "Mystery of the Siege of Orleans", etc. Read & Co. History is proudly republishing this classic biography now in a brand new edition complete with an introductory biography from "Encyclopaedia Britannica" (1911).
