Gilles de Rais

Everyone knows the story of Joan of Arc - the patron saint of France, the heroine who was burnt at the stake for her valour and her faith. History has been less kind to Gilles de Rais, a man whose story is less heroic and more macabre. In the dungeons of his castle, the sounds of chains, the heat of fires, and the screams of children became his legacy. But did any of it really happen? Was he a mass murderer of children, or a victim of his wealth and military success? Those secrets are buried under stone and ash and legend, and we may never know for sure...