Talmont-Saint-Hilaire castle's ogress legend
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Béatrix de Machecoul, Guillaume de Mauléon's wife, lord of Talmont, was an ogress, says the legend!
Back in the 12th century… Béatrix was a pious and generous woman, who made several religious foundations. We don’t know why, but when she died, people started to said she was a bloodthirsty ogress, like the famous Gilles de Rais (Bluebeard) in the area…
It's like the story of the ogress of Pontgibaud, this poor coutess Brayère, who wouldn’t hurt a fly… Anyway, Béatrix made plenty of religious foundations and was pretty generous with poor people, but… did she do those things to expiate crimes?
The legend says: while her husband was in the Holy Land, she ate children’s heart in her castle of Talmont! One day, she asked her cook to serve his own son’s heart… the cook preferred to serve a dog's heart…
But even coated with a delicious sauce, Béatrix felt something was different, and didn’t eat! The poor cook, scared, threw himself to her feet and cried.
Believe me or not, but Béatrix, deeply touched, decided to let her life full of cruelty behind her, and started to make pious foundations and redeem herself for her horrible sins…