GILLES DE RAIS

We will not burden the reader who has come this far with any more of the intrigues among the nobles, except to say that lawsuits and feuds among them divided up the remainder of Gilles de Rais properties.

Gilles de Rais was hanged and his body tossed onto a pyre, but before the flames reached it, the Bishop had it removed and buried with Catholic rites. The church where his body lay was destroyed during the French Revolution. Catherine de Thouars, his wife, was only a footnote character in his life and soon after their marriage she disappeared from the scene. She resurfaced after Gilles execution, marrying Jean de Vendome, a rich and powerful man and ally of the Duke of Brittany. Gilles daughter, Marie, about whom even less is known, married an admiral in the French navy who, oddly enough was an enemy of the Duke of Brittany. She died childless.

Rene, now the Baron de Rais, controlled Champtoce until his death, despite the Duke of Brittanys lust for it. He died in 1473 leaving a daughter who also died childless. The de Rais line, so skillfully preserved by Jean dCraon, faded into obscurity.