Editing Gilles de Rais (section)

==Early life==
Gilles de Rais was likely born in late 1405<ref>{{fr icon}} Matei Cazacu, ''Gilles de Rais'', Paris: Tallandier, 2005, p.11 ; 23-25.</ref> to Guy II de Montmorency-Laval and Marie de Craon in the family castle at Champtocé-sur-Loire.<ref>{{fr icon}} Ambroise Ledru, "Gilles de Rais dit Barbe-Bleue, maréchal de France. Sa jeunesse, 1404-1424", ''L'union historique et littéraire du Maine'', vol. I, 1893, pp.270-284; {{fr icon}} Matei Cazacu, ''Gilles de Rais'', 2005, p.11.</ref> He was an intelligent child, speaking fluent Latin, illuminating manuscripts, and dividing his education between military discipline and moral and intellectual development.<ref name="BenedettiP33">{{Harvnb|Benedetti|1971|p=33}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Wolf|1980|p=13}}</ref> Following the deaths of his father and mother in 1415, de Rais and his younger brother René de La Suze were placed under the tutelage of Jean de Craon, their maternal grandfather.<ref name="BenedettiP35">{{Harvnb|Benedetti|1971|p=35}}</ref> Jean de Craon was a schemer who attempted to arrange a marriage for twelve-year-old de Rais with four-year-old Jeanne Paynel, one of the richest heiresses in Normandy, and, when the plan failed, attempted unsuccessfully to unite the boy with Béatrice de Rohan, the niece to the Duke of Brittany.<ref name="BenedettiPP37–38">{{Harvnb|Benedetti|1971|pp=37–38}}</ref> On 30 November 1420, however, Craon substantially increased his grandson's fortune by marrying him to Catherine de Thouars of Brittany, heiress of La Vendée and [[Poitou]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Wolf|1980|p=28}}</ref> Their only child Marie was born in 1429.<ref name="BenedettiP45,102">{{Harvnb|Benedetti|1971|pp=45,102}}</ref>