# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/gilles-de-rais
# Generated: 2026-08-31T23:27:58.623Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/gilles-de-rais"
name: "Gilles de Rais"
slug: "gilles-de-rais"
description: "A Marshal of France who fought alongside Joan of Arc, then convicted in 1440 of murdering more than 140 children. The trial record remains one of the most detailed—and contested—accounts of serial violence in medieval archives."
tagline: "Leader in the French army, companion-in-arms of Joan of Arc, convicted serial killer of children"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/F%C3%A9ron_-_Gilles_de_Rais_(1405-1440)_-_MV_962.jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "France"
  isoCode: "FR"
profileType:
  name: "Other"
  slug: "other"
birthDate: "1405"
deathDate: "1440-10-26"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           58.73
  momentum:             0
  historical:           25.46923066666667
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  60
  trendDirection:       "FALLING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Historical Figures"
    slug: "historical-figures"
  - name: "Journalist"
    slug: "journalist"
  - name: "France"
    slug: "france"
  - name: "Europe"
    slug: "europe"
  - name: "Medieval Era"
    slug: "medieval-era"
sources:
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q311634"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_de_Rais"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Gilles%20de%20Rais"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%96%D0%B8%D0%BB_%D0%B4%D1%8C%D0%BE_%D0%A0%D0%B5"
    title: "Жил дьо Ре"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://br.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jili_Raez"
    title: "Jili Raez"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_de_Rais"
    title: "Gilles de Rais"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_de_Rais"
    title: "Gilles de Rais"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_de_Rais"
    title: "Gilles de Rais"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_de_Rais"
    title: "Gilles de Rais"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%96%CE%B9%CE%BB_%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%B5_%CE%A1%CE%B5"
    title: "Ζιλ ντε Ρε"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_de_Rais"
    title: "Gilles de Rais"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_de_Rais"
    title: "Gilles de Rais"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_de_Rais"
    title: "Gilles de Rais"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%DA%98%DB%8C%D9%84_%D8%AF%D9%87_%D8%B1%D9%87"
    title: "ژیل ده ره"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_de_Rais"
    title: "Gilles de Rais"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_de_Rais"
    title: "Gilles de Rais"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%96'%D7%99%D7%9C_%D7%93%D7%94_%D7%A8%D7%94"
    title: "ז'יל דה רה"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_de_Rais"
    title: "Gilles de Rais"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hy.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D4%BA%D5%AB%D5%AC_%D5%A4%D5%A5_%D5%8C%D5%A5"
    title: "Ժիլ դե Ռե"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_de_Rais"
    title: "Gilles de Rais"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_de_Rais"
    title: "Gilles de Rais"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B8%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BB%E3%83%89%E3%83%BB%E3%83%AC"
    title: "ジル・ド・レ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%A7%88_%EB%93%9C_%EB%A0%88_%EB%82%A8%EC%9E%91"
    title: "질 드 레 남작"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_de_Rais"
    title: "Gilles de Rais"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_de_Rais"
    title: "Gilles de Rais"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pl.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gilles_de_Rais"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%BA%D9%8A%D9%84_%D8%AF%D9%8A_%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%B2"
    title: "غيل دي ريز"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AC%D9%8A%D9%84_%D8%AF%D9%89_%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%B2"
    title: "جيل دى ريز"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Gilles de Rais inherited vast estates across Brittany, Anjou and Poitou, and in 1429 he joined the French royal army as a captain during the Hundred Years' War. That year he was elevated to Marshal of France after campaigns that included Joan of Arc, though little evidence survives of any close bond between them. By the 1430s he had withdrawn from the war and begun selling his lands to finance what his family called ruinous spending. In July 1435 King Charles VII placed him under interdict. Five years later he assaulted a cleric inside a church and seized a castle, violating ecclesiastical immunity. Arrested in September 1440, he faced parallel trials—one ecclesiastical, assisted by the Inquisition, for heresy, sodomy and the murder of 140 or more children; one secular, for the attack and crimes against "several small children." He was hanged and burned on 26 October 1440 with two servants. Most historians accept his guilt, though some urge caution with confessions extracted under inquisitorial procedure, and medievalists note the need to weigh testimony against the role of rumor and the judges' own expectations.