Prelati had already confessed to the invocation of evil spirits, and that he had made offerings of the blood and of the members of an infant. Being interrogated, he made his formal confession, also reduced to writing, but it turned out that this was only a repetition of an informal confession, so excited no great surprise. The interrogators seemed more interested in the invocation of demons than in the abduction and murder of the infants. Gilles and François were brought together before the judges and the Bishop, and upon the conclusion of the séance they were sent back to their respective prisons. On parting, Gilles turned towards François, and sobbing, embraced him with sorrow, and addressed to him his last words: “Adieu, François, my friend. Never again will we see each other in this world. I pray that you may have good patience and hope in God, and that we will see each other in the great joy of Paradise. Pray to God for me and I will pray for you.”

They tenderly embraced each other and then separated, never to see each other again. This scene happened, and these two confessions were made, before the two officers in private audience, in chambers, as it were.

On the next day, Saturday, October 22d, the judicial confession of Gilles was made, and presented before the court. It is herewith given in the procès-verbal of the session:

Translation of the Confession of Gilles de Retz.

“On Saturday, the 22d of the aforesaid month of October, the aforesaid master Guillermus Champeillon, promoter, prosecutor, on the one hand, and the aforesaid Gilles de Retz, defendant, on the other, personally repaired to the trial before the before-mentioned lords, the reverend Father, the Lord Bishop of Nantes, and Brother John Blouyn, vicar of the said Inquisitor, who had taken their seats in the tribunal there in the aforesaid place at the vesper hour for the rendition of justice. And acting in accordance with the assignment of the day of trial on the motion of the said prosecutor, the afore-mentioned lords, the Bishop of Nantes and Brother John Blouyn, vicar of the aforesaid Inquisitor, asked the aforesaid Gilles, defendant, whether he wished to say anything or make any opposition or objection to (the evidence or charges) produced or maintained in this case and similar cases. The defendant, indeed, said and replied that he did not wish to say anything, and fully and of his own accord, and with great compunction and bitterness of heart, as was evident at first sight, and with copious shedding of tears, confessed that the already recorded [charges], elsewhere, as [mentioned] above, extra-judicially confessed to, [namely] in his room in presence of the aforesaid reverend Father, the Lord Bishop of Saint-Brieuc, of master Pierre de l’Hospital, the President, of John de Touscheronde and of John Parvi, as well as all and everything contained and described in the articles inserted above, will be and are true. And adding to his extra-judicial confession already inserted and not receding from it, which the same accused wished right here [to be considered] as repeated and declared, and as he stated, rectifying the defects if perchance he had omitted anything in it, and moreover more fully declaring and enlarging, he freely confessed some things contained in a summary form in certain of the afore-mentioned articles, and said, to wit, that he had committed and perpetrated very many other greater and more enormous crimes and sins against God and His commandments than are contained in the articles already inserted, from the beginning of his iniquitous youth against God and His writings, and that he had offended our Saviour Himself by the evil training he had had in his boyhood in which he had endeavoured to perform whatever pleased him with unbridled rein and had given himself to everything illicit; and imploring those present who had children, that they have their sons brought up and trained in their youth and boyhood in religious instruction and virtue.

“After this confession, as it is already stated, judicially given and made by the aforesaid Gilles de Retz, the accused, of the contents in the aforesaid articles, and, [after] that extra-judicial [confession] repeated and declared, the same accused moreover made another confession of the following tenor, separate and apart, in the presence of the reverend Father in Christ, Lord John Prigencii, Bishop of Saint-Brieuc and the nobleman Pierre de l’Hospital, the above-mentioned President of Brittany, and of John Abbatis, the shield-bearer, and of me, John Parvi, notary public and general examiner of the ecclesiastical court of Nantes, a second of the secretaries of [this] cause and of similar causes, and of John de Touscheronde, also secretary of the civil court of the same place, concerning the afore-mentioned perpetrations, crimes, and sins, embracing the vices and sins mentioned ... [all] iniquitously committed by him: not only as much as is perhaps contained in the aforewritten articles already freely confessed to, by Gilles himself, the accused, and in order that said secret confession be more widely published, the same Gilles, defendant, thought it proper that, without departing from the said extra-judicial confession made by him concerning the said charges, but rather to strengthen and corroborate it, the confession itself be published in the vernacular for the benefit of the people and all then and there assisting, of whom the greater part knew no Latin; that, however, an introductory remark be added informing those present that the culprit submitted to this general revelation of his guilt in order by the shame this publication and confession of such crimes committed by him would cause him, the more easily to obtain from God pardon and remission for his sins and to have wiped away the transgression committed by him. [He wished the public to know] that during his youth he had always been tenderly reared, had committed as much as in him lay and with nothing to check his inclination, all the evil deeds he could, had centred all his hope, intention, and work upon the commission of illicit and shameful deeds and had employed [his hope, intention, and work] in unlawful acts by perpetrating said crimes—most earnestly beseeching and exhorting the fathers, mothers, friends, and relatives of all youths to guide their charges along the paths of honesty by setting them a good example and instilling into them sound doctrine, and to chastise every fault against good morals to save them from the snares into which he himself had fallen. By this secret confession which was examined and publicly read in court in the presence of the said Gilles, defendant, and approved by Gilles himself, the defendant, the said Gilles de Retz, the defendant, manifested of his own accord before all present and confessed that he, led by passion and the delight he took in satisfying his carnal appetite—of which mention will be made later on—had stolen or caused to be stolen very many boys—the number he could not remember; that he had put these boys to death and caused them to be killed and that with them he had committed crimes and sins ... [that he had killed] these boys, sometimes himself with his own hand, and sometimes through the agency of others and especially the above-mentioned Gilles de Sillé, the Lord Roger Briqueville, soldier, Henriet et Poitou, Rossignol and Little Robin, by various kinds and modes of torture, some by the amputation and separation of their heads from their bodies using daggers or poniards and knives; others, however, with sticks or other implements for striking by beating them on the head with violent blows; others again by tying them with cords and fastening them to some door or iron hook ... in his own room that they might be strangled and languish. [He continued] that with these boys even whilst languishing ... and after their death he took delight in kissing, in gazing intently at those who had the more beautifully formed heads and in cruelly opening or causing to be opened their bodies that he might see their interior, and that frequently, whilst these boys were dying, he would sit on their stomachs and take great pleasure in seeing them thus dying, and that he used to laugh heartily at the sight with the said Corrillaud and Henriet. The corpses he caused afterwards to be burned and reduced to ashes by the same Corrillaud and Henriet and others.

“Interrogated concerning the places where he had perpetrated the afore-mentioned crimes and at what time he had begun to do these things and concerning the number of those killed after this manner, he answered and said that [first he had done so] in the Château de Champtocé and from that year on in which lived the lord de la Suze, the maternal uncle of said defendant; that in this place he had killed and caused to be killed very many boys—the number he could not remember— ... the aforesaid Gilles de la Sillé alone knowing of the matter at that time; but that afterwards the aforesaid Roger de Briqueville and then Henriet, Stephen Corrillaud (alias Poitou), Rossignol, and Robin became successively his accomplices and sharers in these crimes. And he said that the bones both of the heads and the bodies of the boys killed in the aforesaid Château de Champtocé, as has been stated, which had been thrown into the lower apartment of a certain tower of that castle, he himself, defendant, produced from that spot, placed in coffins or chests, and transported by water to the place and castle of Machecoul aforesaid, burned there and caused to be reduced to ashes; that also, in the same place of Machecoul, he himself, defendant, seized, killed, and caused to be stolen and killed many other boys in large numbers—how many he could not recollect; and that, again, in the manor called la Suze, of Nantes, which he, Gilles, defendant, then owned, he had similarly killed and caused to be killed, burned, and reduced to ashes many other boys of whom he could not remember the numbers.... The same Gilles de Retz, defendant, narrated and confessed that all misdeeds, crimes, and transgressions above mentioned he committed and criminally perpetrated of his own free will and accord alone, for the purpose of satisfying his evil and iniquitous complacency and pleasure and not out of any other motive or intention, with no one to urge or advise him, defendant, or even to call to his attention such thoughts.

“Furthermore, he declared and confessed that, after the expiration of a year and a half, the Lord Eustace Blanchet aforesaid summoned the aforesaid François Prelati from the country of Florence in Lombardy and invited him to the same Gilles, defendant, for the purpose of invoking demons according to the intention of the defendant, and that François, summoned to the same defendant, informed him that he, François, had discovered in the country whence he had come means of conjuring up a certain spirit by the aid of incantations, which spirit had promised him, François, that he would cause a certain demon called Barron to come to him, François, as often as the same François might desire.

“Likewise, the same Gilles de Retz declared and confessed that the same François made several invocations of demons in compliance with a command of himself, defendant, both during his absence and sometimes when he was present, and that he himself, defendant, was in person present at three such invocations of François who made them: One in the Château Tiffauges, another in Bourgneuf de Retz, aforesaid, and that concerning the third aforesaid invocation he did not recall in which place it was made. And he added that the said Lord Eustace knew that the said François was making such invocations, but that the same Lord Eustace was not present at these invocations, since neither the defendant himself nor François would permit him to be present at the incantations, as the same Lord Eustace had an indirect, evil, and restless tongue.

“Besides, the selfsame defendant declared and confessed that during these invocations there were traced as characters on the ground figures of a circle and a cross, and that the same François possessed a book which he had carried about his person, as he used to say, which contained many names of demons and formulæ for the making of such conjurations and invocations of demons, which names and formulæ he, defendant, could not remember; that the said François held and read this book for about two hours during and for each invocation; but that at none of his own conjurations or invocations the defendant saw or noticed any devil, and that none spoke to him, at which he, defendant, was much displeased and vexed.

“Afterwards the same defendant declared and confessed that after a certain invocation made by the said François during the absence of the said defendant, the same François on his return from that very invocation informed the said defendant that he, François, had seen and addressed the said Barron, who had told him, François, that he, Barron, did not appear to the said defendant because the defendant had deceived Barron regarding some promises read by the said defendant to the said Barron and because he had not fulfilled his promise. Hearing this, the said defendant bade François ask the same devil what he wished to receive from the said defendant and that whatever the same Barron might wish to receive and ask of the said defendant, he, the defendant, would give him—except his soul and life and provided the devil would give and grant him, defendant, whatsoever he would ask. The defendant added then that it had been and was his intention to ask and acquire from the same devil knowledge, riches, and power, by the possession and aid of which he, defendant, would be enabled to return to his former state of dominion and power; and that, afterward, the same François told the said defendant that he had conversed with the devil and that the said devil, among other things, required and wished that the defendant present to him, the devil, a limb or limbs of some infant. That the defendant, later, delivered to the said François the hand, heart, and eyes of an infant to be offered and given to the same devil by the said François, on the part of the said defendant.

“Again, the said Gilles de Retz, defendant, declared and confessed that before he, defendant, took part in the second of the three aforesaid invocations at which he assisted in person as is stated above, he [defendant] wrote and signed with his own hand a grant ... to the bottom of which he appended his name in the vernacular, videlicet ‘Gilles,’ the contents of which, however, he does not remember; which grant he composed and signed with the intention of handing it over to the devil if and while he came, conjured or summoned by the said François, and this he did acting upon the advice of the said François, who previously had told the defendant that he, the defendant, must hand over that grant to the devil as soon as the spirit should come or approach: and that during this invocation the defendant continually held that grant in his hand waiting to hear the promise and agreement concerning which François and the devil should come to terms regarding the matters which the said defendant was to promise and to do for the devil, who did not appear or speak with them so that, accordingly, the defendant did not ever hand over the mentioned grant.

“Again, said defendant declared and confessed that he himself sent the aforesaid Stephen Corrillaud, alias Poitou, along with the said François, as François was one night going out to make one of the aforesaid invocations. These two on their return, drenched by a heavy rainstorm, stated to the said defendant that during the invocation nothing had come to them.

“Again, the said defendant declared and confessed that wishing to assist at a certain invocation which François proposed to make, the latter expressed his dissatisfaction that Gilles should then be present at the invocation. Returning from the invocation, he told the said defendant that, if he had been present at the invocation, he would have run great risk, for at that invocation there came and appeared a serpent to the same François which filled him with great fear: hearing this the said defendant after taking and causing to be carried near him a particle of the True Cross in his possession, expressed a longing to go to the spot of the said invocation where the said François claimed to have seen the reptile. This, however, he did not in deference to François’s prohibition.

“Again, the same Gilles de Retz, defendant, declared and confessed that at one of the three aforesaid invocations at which he assisted, as is stated above, the said François informed him that he, François, had seen the said Barron who showed him a large quantity of gold and, among other things, an ingot of gold; but the said defendant said he had seen neither the devil nor the said ingot but only a sort of gold-leaf [auripelli aurum-pellis (?)] under the form of a leaf of gold which he, defendant, did not touch.

“Again, the said defendant declared and confessed subsequently that when he was recently at the court of the most illustrious Lord and Prince, the Lord of Brittany, in the Canton Jocelin, of the diocese of Maclovia he, defendant, caused to be killed several boys furnished him by the aforesaid Henriet, ... in the above stated manner.

“Again, the same defendant declared and confessed that the said François, acting on the instigation and during the absence of the defendant, performed there, viz. at Jocelin, an invocation of the demons, at which he learned that nothing took place.

“Again, the said defendant, setting out from Bituris, dismissed the said François at the same Château de Tiffauges, asking him meanwhile and during the absence of the said defendant to attend and devote himself diligently to such incantations, and to repeat to the defendant whatsoever he would learn, do, and think in that regard; and that François wrote to him, the absent defendant, as has been stated, in cipher, called in French par paroles couvertes, that his transactions went on satisfactorily and that at this time the same François sent him, the defendant, a certain object after the manner of an ointment lodged in a silver capsule and purse (bursa) also made of silver, the said François writing at the same time to the aforesaid defendant that this was an entirely precious object and advising the said defendant furthermore in his letter to guard the object solicitously. The defendant, giving credence to this admonition of the said François, hung the object with the above-mentioned bursa about his neck and wore it for several days thus suspended; afterwards, however, the defendant removed the object from his neck and threw it away, as he discovered that it would not in the least benefit him.

“Again, the same defendant declared and confessed that the said François once told him that the aforesaid Barron bade the defendant feed, in the name of the said Barron, three poor men on three great feasts, which the defendant did on a certain All Saints’ Day, and only once.

“Interrogated why he thus kept in his house and about his person the afore-mentioned François, he made answer that François was clever, valuable to him, and pleasant company because he spoke Latin beautifully and charmingly, and because, furthermore, he showed himself anxious concerning the proper administration of his affairs.

“Again, the said defendant declared and confessed that, after the last festival of St. John the Baptist, a certain handsome youth who stayed with a man named Rodigus dwelling in the aforesaid Place Bourgneuf de Retz, was one night brought to him, defendant, as he dwelt in the same place, by the said Henriet and Stephen Corrillaud, alias Poitou, and that during that night the defendant ... caused him to be killed and to be burned near Machecoul.

“Again, the said defendant declared and confessed that, news having reached him that the soldiers of the municipal fortress of Paluau strove to put to death the captain of the fortress, St. Stephen de Mala, when, indignant at this, he, defendant, set out with his men and rode on a certain day, which he did not remember, from daybreak intending to attack the soldiery of the fortress of Paluau, seize them, and punish them if he could meet them, the said François, who rode among the others in the retinue of the said defendant, foretold from the start of this expedition that the defendant would not find on that day the said soldiery of the fortress of Paluau, and that in fact he did not meet them, so that the intention of the defendant was frustrated.

“Again, the same Gilles de Retz declared and confessed that he had detained in his power and caused to be killed two apprentices, one of Guillemain Sanxaye and the other of Petri Jaquet, named Princzay or Princé....

“Again, the said defendant declared and confessed in court that, at the time of his last stay at Vienne (Veneti) in the month of last July, Andrew Buschet handed over and delivered up to the said Gilles, defendant, in the dwelling house of a certain John Lemoyne at which the said Gilles, defendant, was at that time enjoying hospitality, a certain boy, ... and that he himself afterwards caused the said Poitou to throw the killed lad into the privy of a residence belonging to a certain Boetdan, close by the residence of the said Lemoyne, in which residence or house of Boetdan the horses of said defendant had been sheltered (apud marchiliam) near the market-place of said Vienne, and that Poitou for this purpose flooded the privy so as to submerge and cover the corpse of said boy, lest it be discovered.

“Again, the said Gilles similarly declared and confessed that before the arrival of the aforesaid François he had had other conjurors of demons, that is to say, a certain trumpeter called de Mesnill, master John Ripparia, a certain Louis, master Anthony de Palermo, and another whose name he could not remember; that these conjurors at the instigation of said Gilles, defendant, made several incantations of spirits, at some of which the said Gilles, defendant, was present in person, both near the aforesaid Château de Machecoul and elsewhere [and that he attended], principally to see the circle or outline or sign of a circle drawn on the ground prior to the incantation, with the intention of seeing the devil, of speaking with him, and making bargains with him. But the same defendant declared that he never could see nor converse with the said devil, though for this purpose he had taken all the pains he could, so that indeed it was not the fault of the said defendant that he did not see the devil nor converse with him.

“Again, the frequently mentioned Gilles declared and confessed that the aforesaid de Mesnill, wizard, informed the defendant once that the devil, in order to do and fulfil the things which the said defendant intended to ask and obtain from the said devil, desired to receive from the said defendant a grant, written, made by him, defendant, with his own hand, and signed with the blood of one of his fingers, in which grant the aforesaid defendant should promise to give to the said devil whenever he appeared during the invocation of the said defendant, certain things which he, defendant, could not remember; and that the same defendant, for this purpose and end, signed the said grant with his own hand, with blood drawn from his little finger, and subjoined his own name to the said grant, i. e., Gilles [see p. [22]]. That he could not accurately remember the other statements contained in this grant, except that he promised by the honour of said grant to deliver up to said devil the articles mentioned in the grant, provided that the devil would give or grant the same Gilles knowledge, power, and riches. But the defendant is quite certain, as he says, that whatsoever he may have promised the devil by this or other grants, he always and decidedly made exception of and reserved his soul and his life: and he says that this grant was not handed to the devil at this time, since he did not appear to the said Gilles, defendant, at or during said incantation.

“Furthermore, the said defendant likewise declared and confessed that once the said master John Ripparia made one of his invocations in a wood or grove situated near the Château de Pouzauges, and that this Ripparia, before going to make this invocation, armed himself with weapons and implements of protection to his body, and thus armed he approached the said grove intending to make the invocation;—and that, when the said defendant, accompanied by his servants and, especially, by Eustace, Henriet, and Stephen Corrillaud, alias Poitou, aforesaid, started after a little while towards the said grove and met the said de Ripparia returning from that grove, then the said de Ripparia told the said Gilles, defendant, that he had seen the devil coming to him in the guise of a leopard that passed in front of him and told something to him, de Ripparia, which, as he said, infused great fear into the said de Ripparia. And the defendant added in his narration, that the said de Ripparia, to whom the defendant had given the sum of twenty louis d’or (regalium auri), took his departure after this invocation, promising to return later to the said defendant, which he did not do.

“Similarly, the same accused said and confessed that when another invocation of the demons which the accused and a certain one of the above-mentioned invocators, whose name is not mentioned, and who was an associate of Gilles de la Sillé, made in a certain room of the above-mentioned Château Tiffauges, de la Sillé himself did not attempt to enter the circle or circular sign made in the said room for the invocation, nay, rather, he withdrew to a window of that room with the intention of jumping out if he should feel anything terrible approach, there holding in his arms an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary; and the said accused standing within the circular sign, feared very much, and especially as the said invocator forbade him to make the sign of the cross, as otherwise they, the accused and the invocator, would be in great danger, nor did the accused for this reason attempt to make that sign, but then remembering a certain prayer of the Blessed Virgin Mary which begins ‘Alma,’[4] said invocator ordered the said accused to go out of the circle, and withdrawing quickly and going out of the room, the invocator being left remaining there, and the door of the room being closed by the above-said invocator, he went to the aforesaid Gilles de la Sillé, who forthwith said to the accused that the invocator thus left in the room was beaten and struck to such an extent as if the striking was done by kicking. And when the accused heard this, he opened the room right away, and in the entrance of the room said accused saw said invocator [lying] on his face, grievously wounded and weakened in other parts of his body, among other strokes and blows then sustained by said invocator, ... in the forehead and otherwise wounded so that the invocator could not support himself, wherefore said accused, fearing that said invocator by reason of that beating would die, wanted and made said invocator receive the sacrament of confession; he, however, did not die, but got well after that same trouncing.

[4] Alma Redemptoris Mater, an anthem chanted during Advent.

“The said Gilles de Retz, accused, also said and confessed that he commissioned the aforesaid Gilles de la Sillé [to go] to the upper country to look for and bring to said Gilles, accused, invocators of demons or malignant spirits. And that this Gilles de la Sillé, thus commissioned and then having returned, related to the same Gilles, accused, how he, de Sillé, had found a woman who occupied herself with such invocations, and that she said to the same de Sillé that unless Gilles de Retz would remove his heart from the Church and his chapel, he could never fulfil his intention; and that the said de Sillé found in those parts another woman who had said to the same de Sillé that unless the said accused would desist and cease from a certain work on which he was intent and which he desired to follow out, he would never have a day’s luck. Also, said de Sillé had found in these parts an invocator whom the said de Sillé proposed and began, as he said, to conduct to the said accused, but that on the way, the invocator, being disposed to come to the said accused, as he was crossing a river or stream, accidentally fell in. Also said Gilles, accused, said and confessed that de Sillé brought another invocator to said accused and that he died without delay; in and from the obsequies of such unfortunate deceased and from other previous difficulties, which interfering he could not come to the aforesaid invocations and his other damnable intentions; he said that he believed the Divine clemency and intercessory prayers of the Church, from which his heart and hope never deviated, mercifully preserved him from perishing in such risks and dangers, and for this reason he proposed to desist from his bad life for the future and to visit the [holy] places in Jerusalem and to visit abroad the principal places of the life and Passion of his Redeemer, and to perform other [penances] by which he might mercifully obtain from his Redeemer the pardon of his sins. Wherefore, after he had said and confessed freely and of his own accord the aforesaid things at the trial, as recorded, he exhorted the people there present, and especially the ecclesiastics who were present in the majority, that they always hold in reverence and in the highest esteem holy Mother Church and never depart from it, especially adding that had he, the accused, not directed and attached his heart and mind to the Church, he could never have escaped the malice and schemes of the devil, nay, rather he believed that the devil would long since have strangled him and almost have carried off his soul by reason of his enormous crimes and sins; and he, moreover, exhorted every head of a family to avoid permitting their children’s being clothed in soft raiment and living in idleness, hinting and asserting that from idleness and excess at table many evils spring, more expressly declaring in his own case that idleness and the too frequent and too choice partaking of delicate meats and blood-stirring wines were the chief sources of his having committed so many sins and crimes.

“For which sins and crimes committed by him, as stated, he, Gilles de Retz, accused, humbly and in tears begged mercy and pardon of his Creator and Most Holy Redeemer, as well as of the parents and friends of the aforesaid children cruelly murdered, and of all others whom he had sinned against, or injured, both those there present or elsewhere, and the help of the devout prayers of all Christ’s faithful and Christ’s worshippers, both present and absent.

“Wherefore the aforesaid master, Guillermus Chapeillon, promoter in case of said Gilles de Retz, accused, having the free confession of the matter and the other facts legitimately proved against same accused, immediately asked that a certain day and suitable closing day of trial for same Gilles de Retz, accused, be preferred and assigned for bringing [trial] to an end, and seeing to its being brought to an end as well as for judgment and definite sentence [being pronounced] by said reverend Father in Christ, the Lord Bishop of Nantes, and Brother John Blouyn, vicar of said Inquisition, and by every one of them or of those, and by those assigned and deputed to this [trial], and made in writing and promulgated in [this] trial and trials of this kind: or that said Gilles de Retz, accused, should state cause, if he had a reasonable one, why this should not be done. Whereupon the lords, the Bishop, and the vicar of the aforesaid Inquisition said that Tuesday next was fixed, determined on, and assigned for the prosecutor and for Gilles de Retz, accused, he not opposing it, to proceed to justice, as it might seem necessary in this and similar trials.

“Of the aforesaid [things], said prosecutor asked that one and several documents be made and drawn up for him by us, the subscribed notaries and scribes. There were present in aforesaid place [of trial] reverend Father in Christ, Lord Jean Prigencii, Bishop of St. Brieuc, master Pierre de l’Hospital, President of Brittany, Robert de Ripparia and Lord Robert d’Espinay, aforesaid soldier, and the nobleman Yvone de Rocerff, as well as the honourable men, masters Yvon Coyer, dean, John Morelli, chanter, Graciano Ruitz, Guillermo Groygueti, licentiate of laws, Jean de Castrogironis, Peter Aprilis, Robert Vigerii, Gauffredo de Chevigneyo, licentiate of laws, the seigniors of Nantes, Gauffredo Piperarii, capicerio, Peter Hamonis, John Guerrine, John Vaedie, and John Symonis, the canons of the Church of the Blessed Mary of Nantes and St. Brieuc, Herveo Levy, Seneschal Corisopitensi, and master Guillermo de la Loherie, licentiate of laws, advocate of the secular court of Nantes, as well as several other witnesses gathered in [that] great crowd, being specially summoned and called for the aforesaid things.

(Signed) “De Alneto. } Notaries.”
“Jo. Parvi.
“G. Lesne.

(Signed)“De Alneto.}Notaries.”
“Jo. Parvi.
“G. Lesne.

By this time all hope seemed to have departed from Gilles. He had none of the bravado that sustained him at the beginning of the trial. He apparently had recognised his condition and had thrown himself upon the mercy of God. One can easily understand how he was thus affected while under the influence of the saintly churchmen by whom he was surrounded, with their prayers and beseechings that if his body was to be condemned for the deeds done, he should at least save his soul from the fires of hell. When Gilles was interrogated before the court as to the genuineness of this confession, and asked if he desired to make any retraction or explanation, he seemed to add to, rather than detract from, it; and believing, as was probably the truth, that he could only save his soul by making a surrender of all his thoughts and a confession of all his sins, he seemed to insist on having the record of his crimes made fuller and in greater detail, so that none of them, even with all their horror, should be omitted. It was during this session that he used the remarkable words partially quoted in the early part of this book, page [7]:

“If I have so much offended against God, I owe it, alas, to the evil direction that I received in my youth. I went, at that time, the reins upon my neck, free to pursue all my pleasures, and did not restrain myself from anything evil.”

And addressing himself to the parents in the crowd, he said:

“O you, who have sons and daughters, I pray you to instruct them in good doctrine in their infancy and their youth, and to lead them with care in the paths of virtue.”

The relief produced on his mind by his confession, casting off the great load he had been carrying, caused his spirits to rise to a contemplation of the situation, which produced a calm, if not a joy, in the assurance that he had made his peace with God and secured a place in Paradise. Apparently stimulated by this feeling, he grew eloquent, and though some of the words may have been put into his mouth by those who reported him, yet one can easily see that he was filled with emotion, and that the thoughts crowded thick upon him because of his belief that in this way his soul had escaped hell fire: