Joseph Marshall de Brett Marechal, Baron d'Avray

Perhaps it is France's long history as the heartland of heresy20 that provided such fertile soil: the heretics perhaps coming to believe their own bad publicity, with a Gallic shrug accepting their fate as `natural' Satanists. Perhaps the most shocking satanic individual of medieval times was another Frenchman, Joan of Arc's marshal, Gilles de Laval, Marechal and Baron de Rais,21 a sexual pervert who derived ecstatic pleasure from the torture and butchery of children. In 1440 he was accused of the abduction and murder of 140 named children, but some estimate the number as high as 800. However, he was not always criminally insane, or if he was he hid it well: as a young man he had been remarkable for his absolute piety and generosity towards the Church. At just twenty-four years old he was a national hero, due to his heroic exploits at the side of La Pucelle ('The Maid', or Joan of Arc); later he became Marechal (Marshal) of France. After Joan's burning as a witch and the end of his martial exploits, Gilles retired to his country estates - and began his life as a serial sex murderer ...»