Jean Chastel

Relief by Jean Chastel on a stele in the village of La Besseyre-Saint-Mary

Jean Chastel (born March 31, 1708 in La Besseyre-Saint-Mary, France ; † March 6, 1789 ibid) was a French innkeeper and day laborer. In 1767 he shot a wolf who is said to have been the beast of Gévaudan . Chastel grew up as the son of a farmer; In 1735 he married Anne Charbonnier, with whom he had nine children: five daughters and four sons.

Hunt the "Beast"

From 1764 to 1767, the so-called beast of Gévaudan killed around one hundred people in France. The Marquis d'Apcher organized hunts for the beast, in which Chastel took part. On June 19, 1767, he killed a wolf that is said to have had strange body features. Since the attacks subsequently stopped, it was believed that Chastel actually killed the beast. Rumors that Jean Chastel or his son Antoine bred the beast from a wolf and a dog and trained it to kill do not play a role in historical research today. Chastel transported the inadequately preserved carcass of the animal to King Louis XV. to Versailles . Almost two years earlier, however, the king had already been brought a wolf, also known as a beast, killed by his personal arms bearer François Antoine; the reward on the beast had then been paid. The king therefore ordered that the decayed animal that had been shot by Chastel should be buried immediately.

One of the many interpretations of the appearance of the "beast"

Conflict with royal game overseers

Jean Chastel and his sons Pierre (1739-1823) and Antoine (1745-1823) were embroiled in an armed confrontation with two royal sworn hunting overseers on August 16, 1765. These overseers, Louis Pélissier and François La Chenaye, had traveled to Gévaudan with François Antoine to hunt beasts. Pélissier and La Chenaye met the three local Chastels at the edge of the forest near Montchauvet and asked them whether it was safe to ride through the marshland in front of them. Although the Chastels knew about the dangers of the swamp, they declared, probably driven by their aversion to strangers, that it was safe to ride through it. When Pélissier and his horse almost sank into the swamp, the Chastels acknowledged this with laughter instead of helping. In a scuffle that followed, the Chastels turned their weapons on Pélissier. François Antoine was later informed of the incident and had the Chastels arrested. Fearing the revenge of the notorious family, he asked the Intendant Saint-Priest, who was responsible for the administration of the Languedoc province (Gévaudan belonged to this province), not to release the arrested persons until several days after his departure from Gévaudan.

Literary and cinematic processing

The German writer Markus Heitz published a two-part novel in 2006 about the Beast of Gévaudan, retelling the story of Jean Chastel using historical facts and pure fiction.

Markus Heitz: Rite . Droemer Knaur , 2006. ISBN 3-426-63130-X
Markus Heitz: Sanctum . Droemer Knaur, 2006. ISBN 3-426-63131-8

In the 2002 film Pact of the Wolves by Christophe Gans , Jean Chastel was played by Philippe Nahon , and in 2003 Jean-François Stévenin took over the role of Chastel in the television film The Beast of the Old Mountains by Patrick Volson.

Web links

Jean Chastel in the Nationmaster Encyclopedia

Individual evidence

^ Jean-Marc Moriceau: La bête du Gévaudan. L'histoire comme un roman. Paris 2009.
↑ Jay M. Smith: Monsters of the Gévaudan. The Making of a Beast. Cambridge 2011. pp. 201f.

personal data
SURNAME	Chastel, Jean
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	French innkeeper
DATE OF BIRTH	March 31, 1708
PLACE OF BIRTH	La Besseyre-Saint-Mary , France
DATE OF DEATH	March 6, 1789
Place of death	France

[1] Jean-Marc Moriceau: La bête du Gévaudan. L'histoire comme un roman. Paris 2009.

[2] Jay M. Smith: Monsters of the Gévaudan. The Making of a Beast. Cambridge 2011. pp. 201f.