GILLES DE RAIS. 477 him and carried him off, body and soul. This trust in the saving power of the Church gave him the absolute confidence in his sal- vation which is not the least noteworthy feature in his strange character. When, after he and Francesco Prelati had corrobo- rated each other's confessions, and they were about to part, he em- braced and kissed his necromancer with sobs and tears, saying, " Adieu, Francoys, mon amy / we shall see each other no more in this world : I pray God to give you patience and knowledge : be certain that if you have patience and hope in God we shall meet each other in the great joy of paradise. Pray God for me, and I will pray for you." There was none of the agonizing doubt that racked the tender conscientiousness of the Friends of God, no men- tal struggle, but the calm assurance, born of implicit belief in the teachings of the Church, that a man might lead a life of unimagi- nable crime and at any moment purchase his salvation.* How long Gilles might have continued his devastating career it would be hard to guess, had it not suited the interest of Duke Jean and of his chancellor, Jean de Malestroit, Bishop of Nantes, to bring him to the stake. Both of them had been purchasers of his squandered estates, and might wish to free themselves from the equity of redemption, and both might hope to gain from the con- fiscation of what remained to him. To assail so redoubtable a baron was, however, a task not lightly to be undertaken : the Church must be the leader, for the civil power dared not risk arousing the susceptibilities of the whole baronage of the duchy. Gilles's impetuous temper furnished them the excuse. The marshal had sold the castle and fief of Saint-Etienne de Malemort to Geoffroi le Ferron, treasurer of the duke — possibly a cover for the duke himself — and had delivered seizin to Jean le Ferron, brother of the purchaser, a man who had received the tonsure and wore the habit of a clerk, thus entitling him to cleri- cal immunity, even though he performed no clerical functions. Some cause of quarrel subsequently arose, which Gilles proceeded to settle in the arbitrary fashion customary at the time. On Pentecost, 1440, he led a troop of some sixty horsemen to Saint- Etienne, left them in ambush near the castle, and w r ith a few fol- lowers went to the church where Jean was at his devotions. Mass
- Bossard et Maulde, Pr. pp. xxvii.-xxviii., xlvi., xlvii., lii., lv., lviii., Ixxii., lxxx.
