1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:04,600 Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim 2 00:00:04,600 --> 00:00:11,000 Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Mankie. Listener Discretion advised. The year 3 00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:14,840 Speaker 1: was fifteen eighty eight, and the soon to be parents 4 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:20,360 Speaker 1: were eagerly awaiting their child's birth with excitement and trepidation. 5 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:24,239 Speaker 1: In fifteen eighty eight, you couldn't blame any couple for 6 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:29,520 Speaker 1: feeling nervous about childbirth, but Petrus and Catherine, the parents, 7 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:33,159 Speaker 1: had bigger worries even than getting through the birth with 8 00:00:33,479 --> 00:00:38,360 Speaker 1: mother and baby alive. Katherine was a perfectly ordinary woman, 9 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:44,240 Speaker 1: but the father was the French Court's most unusual looking member, 10 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:48,279 Speaker 1: and the question everyone, including the parents, wanted to know 11 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:53,080 Speaker 1: was what sort of child this baby would be. As 12 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:56,160 Speaker 1: soon as he or she was born, they would know 13 00:00:56,400 --> 00:00:59,880 Speaker 1: if the wrath of God or the superstition of myth 14 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:05,399 Speaker 1: might be waiting for them. As her labor progressed, Katherine 15 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:10,039 Speaker 1: gasped with pain. She gritted her teeth, squeezed her eyes, 16 00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:14,160 Speaker 1: and focused only on the immediate task ahead of her. 17 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:19,640 Speaker 1: As the contractions overtook her more and more heavily and frequently, 18 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:24,880 Speaker 1: she did what any mother of any child does. She pushed, 19 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:30,000 Speaker 1: and then the baby came crowning with hair at the 20 00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:34,440 Speaker 1: top of her head, a new baby girl, but no 21 00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:37,840 Speaker 1: one had been too terribly concerned about what the baby's 22 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:42,400 Speaker 1: sex would be. Catherine craned her neck trying to see 23 00:01:42,440 --> 00:01:47,040 Speaker 1: the baby, exhausted, no doubt, but still trying to sense 24 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:50,560 Speaker 1: the feeling in the room. Even through the haze of 25 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:55,760 Speaker 1: pain and hormones. Katherine must have felt the energy in 26 00:01:55,840 --> 00:02:00,680 Speaker 1: the room shift because the baby was born with hair 27 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:06,120 Speaker 1: not just on her head, but cascading from the entirety 28 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:10,120 Speaker 1: of her face and body. No, this isn't a scene 29 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:13,440 Speaker 1: from the new off brand Wicked spin off with a 30 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:17,560 Speaker 1: child magically born hairy instead of green. It was the 31 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:21,680 Speaker 1: reality of one of the most unusual families ever to 32 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:26,240 Speaker 1: be received in Royal court. The brand new baby girl 33 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:31,200 Speaker 1: was named Madeleine Gonsalvas, and within moments those in the 34 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:34,840 Speaker 1: room knew that she, like her father, was what was 35 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:38,560 Speaker 1: then called a her suit, a rare person who was 36 00:02:38,639 --> 00:02:44,840 Speaker 1: almost entirely covered in hair. The girl's father, Petraus Gonsalvus, 37 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:48,200 Speaker 1: was one of the most famous hair suits of his day. 38 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:53,560 Speaker 1: His entire face was covered in long, silky hair, His 39 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:57,600 Speaker 1: forehead and cheeks were covered on his face. The only 40 00:02:57,720 --> 00:03:00,840 Speaker 1: skin you could see was the pink of his lips. 41 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:06,080 Speaker 1: Today we have a scientific understanding of the genetic condition 42 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:12,440 Speaker 1: that causes excessive hair growth, called congenital hypertrichosis. But in 43 00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:18,040 Speaker 1: the sixteenth century Petras was considered a quote wild man. 44 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:23,400 Speaker 1: But the strangest, most interesting thing about Petras wasn't his 45 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:27,760 Speaker 1: medical abnormality. It was that beneath it he had been 46 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:31,080 Speaker 1: raised up in the court of Henry the Second, to 47 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:35,880 Speaker 1: read Latin literature, to wear noble clothing, to have a 48 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:40,600 Speaker 1: noble bearing and manners, and to receive military training. You 49 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:43,360 Speaker 1: would have no doubt if you looked at his face 50 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:45,840 Speaker 1: at the time of his daughter's birth, that he was 51 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:49,400 Speaker 1: a quote wild man. Yes, But you would also not 52 00:03:49,560 --> 00:03:52,040 Speaker 1: have any doubt if you looked at his clothing and 53 00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:55,960 Speaker 1: manners and listen to his voice, that he was a nobleman. 54 00:03:56,680 --> 00:04:00,960 Speaker 1: But how did the man covered in hair the wild 55 00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:06,520 Speaker 1: men of Tenerife, the family legally considered somewhere between human 56 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:10,760 Speaker 1: and beast, and the only family depicted in a sixteenth 57 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:16,040 Speaker 1: century natural history of beasts, become a favorite of nobility. 58 00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:19,120 Speaker 1: And how did they spend their lives in the French 59 00:04:19,320 --> 00:04:25,640 Speaker 1: noble court that's the sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes fairytale like story 60 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:33,839 Speaker 1: of Petras Gonsalvus. I'm Danish schwartz and this is noble blood. 61 00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 1: Petrus Gonsalvus was born in fifteen thirty eight on Tenerife, 62 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:44,440 Speaker 1: the largest of the Spanish controlled Canary Islands, just off 63 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:48,159 Speaker 1: the northwest coast of Africa. That island is known as 64 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:51,920 Speaker 1: the Isle of the Blest. The weather is beautiful all 65 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:56,880 Speaker 1: year long and the ocean's sparkle. But Petras was not 66 00:04:57,160 --> 00:05:01,279 Speaker 1: among the island's blest, at least not as a young boy. 67 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:05,279 Speaker 1: He was born with an unusual condition that meant he 68 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:10,280 Speaker 1: was entirely covered in hair. It was not an abnormality, 69 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:14,599 Speaker 1: he could hide inches of silky hair extended from every 70 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:17,640 Speaker 1: part of his face except for his mouth. From the 71 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:21,359 Speaker 1: time he was a child, Petras expected everyone he met 72 00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:25,000 Speaker 1: to stop and stare, no doubt wondering is this a 73 00:05:25,080 --> 00:05:29,200 Speaker 1: boy or some sort of animal. By the time Petris 74 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:32,400 Speaker 1: was born, the Canary Islands had been conquered by the 75 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:36,719 Speaker 1: Kingdom of Castile, now a part of Spain. The indigenous 76 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:40,760 Speaker 1: people of the island, called Guanches, were subject to a 77 00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:47,240 Speaker 1: controversial enslavement. Controversial because many were Christians after all. Whether 78 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:51,400 Speaker 1: or not Petras, probably born with the name Pedro, was 79 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:55,760 Speaker 1: actually a Guanche himself is a matter of historical speculation. 80 00:05:56,520 --> 00:05:59,400 Speaker 1: He may have been, or he may have been descended 81 00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:05,000 Speaker 1: from port or Spanish colonists. Because of his strange appearance, 82 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:10,000 Speaker 1: many Europeans from whom we get our history assumed that 83 00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:14,080 Speaker 1: he must have been a native. Some even speculated that 84 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:16,839 Speaker 1: he must have been a member of some other race 85 00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:20,960 Speaker 1: of hairy people who lived somewhere on the island. They 86 00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:25,640 Speaker 1: were wrong. We don't know how Petrus inherited his condition, 87 00:06:25,839 --> 00:06:28,960 Speaker 1: and whether others in his family had it before him, 88 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:32,680 Speaker 1: but there are no known records of anyone else on 89 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:36,640 Speaker 1: the island with the look of this wild man. Little 90 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:42,200 Speaker 1: Petras stood alone. The way he stood out and was 91 00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:47,040 Speaker 1: quite literally dehumanized put him at very high risk of 92 00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:51,440 Speaker 1: winding up enslaved. But history has a funny way of 93 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:56,040 Speaker 1: doing the unexpected, and Petras happened to be born during 94 00:06:56,120 --> 00:07:01,600 Speaker 1: a very particular period, during a very particular ular cultural trend. 95 00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:06,440 Speaker 1: At this time, there was a courtly interest in human 96 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:12,640 Speaker 1: quote specimens and marvels. It was considered fashionable a mark 97 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:17,240 Speaker 1: of high social status to have dwarves at court, along 98 00:07:17,320 --> 00:07:21,040 Speaker 1: with all manner of people with mental and or physical 99 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:25,960 Speaker 1: conditions that they at court found fascinating. There was at 100 00:07:25,960 --> 00:07:29,680 Speaker 1: this time both a fear and fascination with a medieval 101 00:07:29,880 --> 00:07:33,720 Speaker 1: mythical figure known as the so called wild Man of 102 00:07:33,760 --> 00:07:37,720 Speaker 1: the woods, a man covered in hair like an unknowable 103 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:43,440 Speaker 1: mythological Sadar of the forest. Renaissance artists like Albrecht Durr 104 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:47,679 Speaker 1: were known to paint these wild men into German coats 105 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:53,960 Speaker 1: of arms. Medical science and popular belief offered many explanations 106 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:59,400 Speaker 1: for abnormal births, ranging from God's wrath to an errant 107 00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:04,000 Speaker 1: mixture of the male and female quote seed that was 108 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:09,960 Speaker 1: believed to constitute human beings. One particularly popular theory at 109 00:08:09,960 --> 00:08:14,800 Speaker 1: this time for both physicians and common folk alike, centered 110 00:08:14,840 --> 00:08:19,200 Speaker 1: on the idea that a mother's imagination, her thoughts, beliefs, 111 00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:23,760 Speaker 1: and fantasies during pregnancy could shape the body of her 112 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:29,920 Speaker 1: unborn child, often to disastrous effect. In his fifteen seventy 113 00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:34,520 Speaker 1: three book on surgery, Ambrose Pere concluded that at least 114 00:08:34,600 --> 00:08:38,800 Speaker 1: one pursuit child came to be because quote the mother 115 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:42,600 Speaker 1: had looked too intently at the figure of Saint John 116 00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:46,120 Speaker 1: wearing a fur skin, an image that was tied at 117 00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:49,520 Speaker 1: the bottom of her bed while she was conceiving the child. 118 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:54,400 Speaker 1: Of course, today we would consider these individuals neither monsters 119 00:08:54,480 --> 00:09:00,000 Speaker 1: nor marvels, but merely humans with genetic differences. But for Petres, 120 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:04,680 Speaker 1: the courtly interest in quote human marvels saved him from 121 00:09:04,720 --> 00:09:09,199 Speaker 1: a possible life of enslavement. He was a hersuit, which 122 00:09:09,240 --> 00:09:13,240 Speaker 1: made him too unique, too unusual, too valuable to be 123 00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:17,760 Speaker 1: a common slave. Of course, this would eventually lead to 124 00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:21,520 Speaker 1: a different sort of loss of autonomy, but one I 125 00:09:21,520 --> 00:09:28,000 Speaker 1: imagine was far far more comfortable physically, and so Petras 126 00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:31,599 Speaker 1: found himself on a ship bound for the European mainland. 127 00:09:32,040 --> 00:09:35,840 Speaker 1: He did not speak any language that the Venetian ambassador 128 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:40,320 Speaker 1: to Spain, whose our source here could understand. Petris was 129 00:09:40,440 --> 00:09:46,880 Speaker 1: considered something between human and magnificent zoo specimen. Traveling alongside 130 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:52,120 Speaker 1: several parrots, Petras was brought first to Venice, then to France. 131 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:56,640 Speaker 1: He was presented as a diplomatic gift for the new King, 132 00:09:56,760 --> 00:09:59,760 Speaker 1: Henry the Second, who became King of France on his 133 00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:04,040 Speaker 1: twin twenty eighth birthday in fifteen forty seven. At this point, 134 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:07,839 Speaker 1: Petras was just ten years old. He must have been 135 00:10:07,880 --> 00:10:12,400 Speaker 1: both intrigued and terrified looking around the French court. He 136 00:10:12,480 --> 00:10:15,680 Speaker 1: had never before left the gentle sea breeze of his 137 00:10:15,840 --> 00:10:19,480 Speaker 1: island back home. He didn't know what this foreign king 138 00:10:19,679 --> 00:10:23,000 Speaker 1: intended to do with him. Indeed, the new king did 139 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:26,480 Speaker 1: not at first know himself. He had never seen someone 140 00:10:26,559 --> 00:10:29,840 Speaker 1: like little Petras presented to him like a gift as 141 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:33,480 Speaker 1: valuable as foreign jewels. No one at court had ever 142 00:10:33,520 --> 00:10:38,079 Speaker 1: seen anyone like Petris. Legend has it that court doctors 143 00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:41,200 Speaker 1: inspected the little boy wondering if he would open his 144 00:10:41,320 --> 00:10:44,720 Speaker 1: mouth and make the growling sounds of an animal. But 145 00:10:44,960 --> 00:10:47,600 Speaker 1: he was only a little boy, and a little boy 146 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:50,840 Speaker 1: who did not speak the language of the people around him. 147 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:54,959 Speaker 1: Maybe King Henry was curious. Maybe he was running an 148 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:59,200 Speaker 1: experiment to see whether this little wild boy could grow 149 00:10:59,280 --> 00:11:02,520 Speaker 1: up to be a nobleman. Maybe he saw something of 150 00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:06,240 Speaker 1: himself in this little boy. After all, when Henry was 151 00:11:06,280 --> 00:11:10,319 Speaker 1: around Petris's age, he had been held hostage in Spain 152 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:13,960 Speaker 1: in exchange for the release of his father. Maybe in 153 00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:18,400 Speaker 1: this little wild boy Henry saw an image of himself 154 00:11:18,480 --> 00:11:22,920 Speaker 1: caught between Spain and France. But for whatever reason, or 155 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:26,600 Speaker 1: maybe just because he thought he was interesting. Henry the 156 00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:31,319 Speaker 1: Second made an incredible decision about the little hersuit boy's future. 157 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:36,800 Speaker 1: He decided to educate him. Pedro Gonzalez learned Latin and 158 00:11:36,920 --> 00:11:42,280 Speaker 1: adopted the Latin name Petris Gonzalvez. He proved able to 159 00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:45,480 Speaker 1: read Latin even better than most of the courtiers in 160 00:11:45,559 --> 00:11:50,600 Speaker 1: Henry's court. Petris was given military training, He wore gold 161 00:11:50,760 --> 00:11:54,840 Speaker 1: lined vestiments fit for a noble He sat for portraits 162 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:59,320 Speaker 1: for artists far and wide. It was never quite clear, 163 00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:03,240 Speaker 1: or at least least it's not quite clear now legally speaking, 164 00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:07,160 Speaker 1: whether he was even considered fully human. But he was 165 00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:10,640 Speaker 1: certainly educated in the manners not just of a human, 166 00:12:10,760 --> 00:12:15,800 Speaker 1: but of a nobleman. And so Petris Gonsalvis, the Canary 167 00:12:15,840 --> 00:12:18,880 Speaker 1: Island boy covered in hair, grew up in the way 168 00:12:18,920 --> 00:12:23,320 Speaker 1: of an educated nobleman in King Henry the Second's French court. 169 00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:28,640 Speaker 1: In fifteen fifty nine, when Petris was twenty two, he 170 00:12:28,800 --> 00:12:32,800 Speaker 1: was hairy as ever, but now fully outfitted as a nobleman, 171 00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:37,320 Speaker 1: and the first serious risk to his position took place 172 00:12:37,400 --> 00:12:41,079 Speaker 1: in the form of a calamity. King Henry the Second, 173 00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:46,560 Speaker 1: who had ensured Petris's protection and education died he was 174 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:50,320 Speaker 1: mortally injured in a jousting tournament when he was just 175 00:12:50,520 --> 00:12:55,760 Speaker 1: forty years old. Petris's future was thrown into doubt. Yes, 176 00:12:55,880 --> 00:12:59,120 Speaker 1: King Henry had treated him as a nobleman rather than 177 00:12:59,160 --> 00:13:03,040 Speaker 1: a wild man, whether due to human empathy or as 178 00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:08,280 Speaker 1: a proto science experiment. But Henry's young son, Francis the Second, 179 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:12,880 Speaker 1: the new King, just fifteen, could easily make a different 180 00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:17,600 Speaker 1: choice when it came to Petris's fate. Petris's life at court, 181 00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:21,760 Speaker 1: his life itself, could be over with a single decree. 182 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:26,440 Speaker 1: But fortunately for Petris, King Henry's widow and the new 183 00:13:26,520 --> 00:13:31,640 Speaker 1: King's mother, Catherine de Medici, decided that Petris's courtly life 184 00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:37,079 Speaker 1: should be maintained. Catherine would be an incredibly stable patroness 185 00:13:37,679 --> 00:13:41,840 Speaker 1: over the next thirty years. As King Francis died and 186 00:13:41,960 --> 00:13:45,200 Speaker 1: gave way to his brother, King Charles the Ninth, who 187 00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:48,320 Speaker 1: died and gave way to their brother, King Henry the Third, 188 00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:53,320 Speaker 1: Catherine de Medici remained in power and Petris remained at court. 189 00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:57,600 Speaker 1: In fifteen seventy three, when Petris was thirty six years old, 190 00:13:57,960 --> 00:14:01,719 Speaker 1: Catherine de Medici made a decision. She determined that if 191 00:14:01,720 --> 00:14:05,440 Speaker 1: Petras was to remain essentially a nobleman at court. He 192 00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:09,240 Speaker 1: had to do what nobleman did, which was get married. 193 00:14:10,320 --> 00:14:13,760 Speaker 1: Why did Catherine make that decision? Here we have a 194 00:14:13,800 --> 00:14:18,280 Speaker 1: little bit more evidence. Catherine had a specific interest in 195 00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:22,680 Speaker 1: the quote human marvels at court. She had already arranged 196 00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:25,920 Speaker 1: for two dwarves to marry to see if they would 197 00:14:25,960 --> 00:14:30,040 Speaker 1: create a new breed of humans. In other words, it 198 00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:35,560 Speaker 1: was sport, not kindness. That said, given the alternatives available, 199 00:14:35,960 --> 00:14:39,680 Speaker 1: living as a pseudo mascot figure at court for the 200 00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:44,440 Speaker 1: amusement of the royal family wasn't the worst life available 201 00:14:44,520 --> 00:14:48,400 Speaker 1: to someone who fit outside of the mainstream. It's also 202 00:14:48,680 --> 00:14:52,560 Speaker 1: possible that Catherine had just taken a liking to Petras, 203 00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:56,160 Speaker 1: and for whatever reason, she decided that she wanted his 204 00:14:56,320 --> 00:14:59,760 Speaker 1: bride to be one with a typical amount of hair, 205 00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:03,200 Speaker 1: although we can only speculate whether that was out of 206 00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:07,920 Speaker 1: kindness or curiosity, or just the fact that her suits 207 00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:12,760 Speaker 1: were incredibly rare. But Catherine's determination that he would have 208 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:17,720 Speaker 1: a typically haired bride created a new problem for Petras. 209 00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:21,720 Speaker 1: The court wanted to find him a wife, but who 210 00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:24,600 Speaker 1: would want to marry a man who was thought of 211 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:30,760 Speaker 1: as a beast? The answer was a young woman also 212 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:35,440 Speaker 1: named Catherine. A quick aside about vocabulary that I'm going 213 00:15:35,480 --> 00:15:38,840 Speaker 1: to use in the story of Petrus Gonsalves, we wind 214 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:43,960 Speaker 1: up using words like her suit and glabrous glabrous meaning smooth, 215 00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:49,520 Speaker 1: so Catherine would be Petris's glabrous bride. We can't know 216 00:15:49,720 --> 00:15:53,160 Speaker 1: for certain what Catherine and Petris might have been thinking 217 00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:56,920 Speaker 1: when they first met one another. Maybe Catherine saw some 218 00:15:57,200 --> 00:16:00,080 Speaker 1: kindness in his eyes from the start, maybe she he 219 00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:04,560 Speaker 1: was quietly afraid, maybe he was apologetic about his condition, 220 00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:08,560 Speaker 1: or maybe he stood proud. What we do know is that, 221 00:16:08,920 --> 00:16:12,880 Speaker 1: to the surprise of the court, the couple settled into 222 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:18,080 Speaker 1: a married life that was shockingly normal. The two seemed 223 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:23,800 Speaker 1: to genuinely love each other, and soon enough Catherine was pregnant. 224 00:16:24,480 --> 00:16:27,720 Speaker 1: Of course, then there was no understanding of the science 225 00:16:27,760 --> 00:16:31,880 Speaker 1: of genetics. Nobody in the fifteen hundreds was learning about 226 00:16:31,920 --> 00:16:36,360 Speaker 1: Mendel and fruitflies in high school biology class because Mendel 227 00:16:36,400 --> 00:16:40,320 Speaker 1: wouldn't be born for another few hundred years. So Petrus 228 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:44,200 Speaker 1: and Catherine didn't know what to expect from the union 229 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:48,520 Speaker 1: of a pursuit man and a glaborous woman. Would their 230 00:16:48,640 --> 00:16:52,760 Speaker 1: baby follow its mother or its father would it somehow 231 00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:56,080 Speaker 1: be a combination of both, or would it be born 232 00:16:56,200 --> 00:17:01,760 Speaker 1: with some other unknowable supernatural condition entirely the moment of 233 00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:06,080 Speaker 1: birth arrived, Catherine went into labor and Petras waited with 234 00:17:06,200 --> 00:17:10,240 Speaker 1: bated breath to discover the fate of his child. And 235 00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:14,159 Speaker 1: as they discovered, the baby was a girl, and like 236 00:17:14,240 --> 00:17:19,080 Speaker 1: her father, she was covered in hair. We don't know 237 00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:22,359 Speaker 1: a lot about Petras in his own words. Most of 238 00:17:22,359 --> 00:17:25,920 Speaker 1: what we know comes from the paintings that curious artists 239 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:29,400 Speaker 1: made of him and his family, and from the records 240 00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:33,280 Speaker 1: that curious medical scientists made of their visits to him. 241 00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:37,720 Speaker 1: We can imagine him stoically accepting his fate, or we 242 00:17:37,760 --> 00:17:40,960 Speaker 1: can imagine that he was quietly bitter about it. We 243 00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:44,040 Speaker 1: can imagine that he was proud of his own successes 244 00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:46,680 Speaker 1: and grateful for the life he got at French Court. 245 00:17:47,359 --> 00:17:51,080 Speaker 1: Or we can imagine he was resentful of the impossibility 246 00:17:51,440 --> 00:17:54,919 Speaker 1: that he would be treated like an ordinary person, resentful 247 00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:59,240 Speaker 1: that his life was as a curiosity. We do have 248 00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:03,680 Speaker 1: one s each attributed to him by Urus Hofnagel, who 249 00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:07,439 Speaker 1: included the Gonsalvis family as the only humans in his 250 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:12,879 Speaker 1: four volume collection of natural history in this speech, Petrus 251 00:18:13,040 --> 00:18:17,000 Speaker 1: calls himself quote the foster child of the King of France, 252 00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:21,119 Speaker 1: Tenerif brought me forth hair all over my body, a 253 00:18:21,200 --> 00:18:24,639 Speaker 1: marvelous work of nature. God was moved to give me 254 00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:28,200 Speaker 1: a wife of excellent figure as well as our marriage. 255 00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:33,159 Speaker 1: Bed's dearest token. It pleases nature to distinguish. Whereas some 256 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:37,679 Speaker 1: children repeat in figure and color their mother, others follow 257 00:18:37,800 --> 00:18:43,080 Speaker 1: their father in their hairy vestimens. Indeed, Patris and Catherine 258 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:47,840 Speaker 1: had seven children together, three girls all her suit, and 259 00:18:48,119 --> 00:18:53,240 Speaker 1: four boys, two each pursuit and glabrous. If the above 260 00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:57,280 Speaker 1: speech really was delivered by Petras, it seems he saw 261 00:18:57,320 --> 00:19:01,159 Speaker 1: his life and family as a blessing of God and nature. 262 00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:06,960 Speaker 1: But of course, no matter how blessed, no situation lasts forever. 263 00:19:10,840 --> 00:19:13,919 Speaker 1: The Gonsalvis family had long held a place at the 264 00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:16,720 Speaker 1: French court, but it was always a place that was 265 00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:20,480 Speaker 1: contingent on the good graces of those in power. And 266 00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:26,320 Speaker 1: in fifteen eighty nine, Petris's longtime protector, Catherine de Medici, died. 267 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:31,160 Speaker 1: That same year, her son, King Henry the Third was assassinated. 268 00:19:31,800 --> 00:19:35,560 Speaker 1: For the Gonsalvis family, that meant that they no longer 269 00:19:35,640 --> 00:19:40,480 Speaker 1: had anyone really protecting their position in France, and so 270 00:19:40,640 --> 00:19:44,240 Speaker 1: for the second time in his life, Petrous Gonsalves was 271 00:19:44,320 --> 00:19:47,280 Speaker 1: forced to say goodbye to the place that had been 272 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:52,520 Speaker 1: his home. The family left France. They moved between courts 273 00:19:52,600 --> 00:19:56,720 Speaker 1: in Austria and Rome, and ultimately wound up in Parma 274 00:19:56,880 --> 00:20:00,560 Speaker 1: present day Italy. Initially under the protection of the Duke 275 00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:04,440 Speaker 1: of Parma. They received another courtly type of life there. 276 00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:08,440 Speaker 1: They were given a servant and a government grant. One 277 00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:11,760 Speaker 1: of their hairsuit sons got married to a glaborous woman 278 00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:15,080 Speaker 1: in a ceremony at the church. They all seemed to 279 00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:19,159 Speaker 1: be having a relatively happy life. Much of what we 280 00:20:19,280 --> 00:20:23,000 Speaker 1: know about the Gonsalvis family today comes from art history, 281 00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:28,800 Speaker 1: as I mentioned. In fact, the family's congenital condition, hypertrichosis, 282 00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:33,960 Speaker 1: is sometimes known as Ambras syndrome, after the many Gonsalvis 283 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:39,359 Speaker 1: family portraits held in Austria's Ambras Castle. A number of 284 00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:44,200 Speaker 1: the portraits and paintings depict Petrus and his daughters, all 285 00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:47,560 Speaker 1: with their faces covered in hair and all wearing their 286 00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:53,160 Speaker 1: noble finery. The portraits of his daughter Antoinette arouse particular 287 00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:57,960 Speaker 1: interest among art historians. Looking sweet, she was painted by 288 00:20:58,119 --> 00:21:03,760 Speaker 1: Lavinia Fontana, of the first professional female painters of the Renaissance. 289 00:21:04,560 --> 00:21:08,560 Speaker 1: In the paintings we still have today, Petris's wife, Catherine 290 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:13,080 Speaker 1: is sometimes depicted hair only on her head, her arms 291 00:21:13,119 --> 00:21:16,480 Speaker 1: serenely around the shoulders of the family she seems to 292 00:21:16,680 --> 00:21:22,000 Speaker 1: truly love. In sixteen seventeen, it's believed Petris attended his 293 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:27,800 Speaker 1: grandson's christening. He likely died the next year, aged eighty one. 294 00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:31,480 Speaker 1: We know that at least one of his married children 295 00:21:31,800 --> 00:21:35,600 Speaker 1: had pursuit children of their own, but after that we 296 00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:41,080 Speaker 1: don't have further records. The family lived, died, and faded 297 00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:46,760 Speaker 1: from history. Maybe the genetic odds meant that the condition disappeared. 298 00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:50,600 Speaker 1: Maybe the family line at some point came to an end. 299 00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:54,880 Speaker 1: In either case, the family's fate has dissolved away from 300 00:21:54,960 --> 00:21:58,600 Speaker 1: the history books. They leave us a legacy of portraits 301 00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:03,200 Speaker 1: and of an unlikely, even fairytale like story of rising 302 00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:06,960 Speaker 1: through the noble ranks. But this is also a story 303 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:11,840 Speaker 1: of gaps and speculation. Petris Gonsalves was treated as an 304 00:22:11,840 --> 00:22:15,960 Speaker 1: oddity and curiosity in his time, which made him famous. 305 00:22:16,560 --> 00:22:19,720 Speaker 1: That is the only reason we still know of him today, 306 00:22:20,400 --> 00:22:23,679 Speaker 1: and so it's unfortunate that so little of his story 307 00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:27,320 Speaker 1: is left to us, because now trying to understand him 308 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:30,320 Speaker 1: and trying to write about him in a nuanced way, 309 00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:34,400 Speaker 1: we're left with little more than the simple notion that 310 00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:38,639 Speaker 1: he existed, That a quote wild man was brought to 311 00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:44,560 Speaker 1: French court, and isn't that interesting. That's the story of 312 00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:48,880 Speaker 1: Petras Gonsalves, the noble wild Man. But stick around after 313 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:52,200 Speaker 1: a brief sponsor break to hear more about the famous 314 00:22:52,240 --> 00:23:04,520 Speaker 1: fairy tale that the Gunsalvist family may have inspired. If 315 00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:08,399 Speaker 1: the story of Petris Gonsalvius, the quote beastlike man and 316 00:23:08,520 --> 00:23:12,359 Speaker 1: his lovely wife Catherine reminded you of a fairy tale 317 00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:15,919 Speaker 1: you've heard before, you wouldn't be the first. Many have 318 00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:21,280 Speaker 1: suggested that the unlikely love between Petras and Catherine Gonsalves 319 00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:24,919 Speaker 1: was the real life origin of Beauty and the Beast. 320 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:28,880 Speaker 1: That fairy tale was first written by French author Gabrielle 321 00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:33,479 Speaker 1: Suzanne Barbeau de Villeneu and published in France in seventeen forty, 322 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:37,480 Speaker 1: a little over a century after Petrus's death. A real 323 00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:41,959 Speaker 1: life origin for the famous fairy tale does seem plausible 324 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:46,080 Speaker 1: and even kind of romantic. It's the fun fact that 325 00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:50,760 Speaker 1: people love to repeat, particularly on the internet. But did 326 00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:55,840 Speaker 1: Villeneuve know about the Gonzalez family. We can't be sure, 327 00:23:55,920 --> 00:24:01,640 Speaker 1: but unfortunately it's probably unlikely. There's no evidence for it, 328 00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:07,040 Speaker 1: and in fact, her written version describes the beast as 329 00:24:07,119 --> 00:24:11,240 Speaker 1: having scales and a trunk like an elephant, which doesn't 330 00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:14,880 Speaker 1: align with the look of Petras. But if you are 331 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:17,840 Speaker 1: one of the many who wish the Gunsalvis has had 332 00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:20,439 Speaker 1: inspired Beauty and the Beast, no need to give up. 333 00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:25,720 Speaker 1: In the famous Jean Cocteaux movie adaptation from nineteen forty six, 334 00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:30,720 Speaker 1: the beast looks strikingly similar to a famous full length 335 00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:34,840 Speaker 1: portrait of Petris in Noble Robes. What else looks a 336 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:38,040 Speaker 1: lot like that portrait? The image of the Beast you 337 00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:41,760 Speaker 1: probably have in your head from the nineteen ninety one 338 00:24:41,960 --> 00:24:47,639 Speaker 1: Disney cartoon. So Petris Gonsalves may have not directly inspired 339 00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:51,280 Speaker 1: the literary version of the story, but he and his 340 00:24:51,359 --> 00:24:55,359 Speaker 1: wife Catherine, who built a loving family together despite the 341 00:24:55,480 --> 00:25:00,000 Speaker 1: expectations of others, may live on in the fairytale memory 342 00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:06,200 Speaker 1: of children everywhere, having inspired the beast's physical representation. Thank 343 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:09,600 Speaker 1: you for listening. One quick note of housekeeping before we 344 00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:13,560 Speaker 1: go if you're interested in reading and writing. Noble Blood 345 00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:18,480 Speaker 1: staff writer Courtney Sender has a podcast, newsletter and writers 346 00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:23,440 Speaker 1: group called The Craft Lab, which features weekly craft readings 347 00:25:23,480 --> 00:25:27,000 Speaker 1: and discussions of the greats. Courtney has been a professor 348 00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:30,639 Speaker 1: of creative writing for fifteen years, and now she's giving 349 00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:34,360 Speaker 1: what you can't get in school, the inspiration, motivation, and 350 00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:37,800 Speaker 1: passion you need to energize your writing and help bring 351 00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:40,600 Speaker 1: your projects to life. So if that's something that sounds 352 00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:43,720 Speaker 1: interesting to you, we're linking to her podcast in this 353 00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:56,760 Speaker 1: episode description. Noble Blood is a production of iHeartRadio and 354 00:25:56,920 --> 00:26:00,520 Speaker 1: Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted 355 00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:04,640 Speaker 1: by me Dana Schwartz, with additional writing and research by 356 00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:09,400 Speaker 1: Hannah Johnston, Hannahswick, Courtney Sender, Amy Hit, and Julia Melaney. 357 00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:13,679 Speaker 1: The show is edited and produced by Jesse Funk, with 358 00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:19,320 Speaker 1: supervising producer rima il Kaali and executive producers Aaron Manke, 359 00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:24,200 Speaker 1: Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 360 00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:28,800 Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 361 00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:31,640 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.