The dark pageant

Edward Lucie-Smith

In the wars and confusion of 15th-century France, two romantic figures have become the stuff of legend: Joan of Arc, whose destiny led her through the flames to be viewed as a saint, and her champion Gilles de Rais, the glittering Marshal of France, who has gone down in history as a byword for limitless evil. What did happen to the hundreds of young victims who were taken to Gilles' castle and never returned? Gilles' story is told here through the eyes of Raoul de Saumur, his lifelong comrade-in-arms, impelled by curiosity to fathom his friend's secret. yet terrified himself by what he might discover.