Gilles de Rais

• Also known as Gilles de Retz

Gilles de Rais (1405-1440) or Baron de Retz is a knight and lord (seigneur) whose numerous domains are divided between Brittany, Anjou, Poitou, Maine and Angoumois. French war chief during the Hundred Years' War, he remains known ambivalently as one of Joan of Arc’s comrades-in-arms as well as for his conviction as a child-rapist assassin, executed for his crimes.