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A mystery still unsolved…
The legend
La Bête du Gévaudan is a legendary animal that killed or wounded around a hundred people in the Gévaudan region of Languedoc, France (now divided between Lozère and Haute-Loire). The events took place during the reign of Louis XV, between 1764 and 1767.
Course of events
In early summer 1764, a cowherd claimed to have been attacked by a “beast”. That same month, a young girl was killed in the village of Les Hubacs. She was the beast’s first official victim. On August 8, a second 14-year-old girl was found lifeless near the hamlet of Mas Méjean. Both had been killed in the Allier valley.
Duhamel’s dragons
Through the gazettes of the time, the story of the Beast of Gévaudan made the rounds of France, and even spread to neighboring countries: under general ridicule, the king found himself obliged to act. He sent Captain Duhamel and his dragoons to help the inhabitants of Gévaudan.
Jacques Portefaix’s battle
Since the arrival of the beast, children have been herding cattle in groups for greater safety. This is the case for the seven children at Le Villaret, five boys and two girls aged between eight and twelve. The Beast attacks them, first circling around them, then seizing one of the youngest boys; but the others manage to prick the beast with blades attached to their sticks and make it let go. However, it has time to devour part of its victim’s cheek. It then returns to the charge, seizing the youngest by the arm and carrying him away.
One of the children suggests running away while she’s busy, but another, Jacques Portefaix, urges them to rescue their companion. Attempting to reach the beast by the eyes, they manage to make it let go and keep it at bay until several men arrive, alerted by the cries. The Beast then fled into a nearby wood.
Jeanne Jouve’s battle
Jeanne Jouve sees her 9-year-old daughter, holding her youngest brother, being attacked by the beast. Jeanne throws herself at it and manages to make it let go, but it comes back and tries to attack the youngest child: the mother interferes.
The beast pounced on little Jean-Pierre, another 6-year-old brother, grabbing him by the arm and carrying him off. The mother jumps on him. A long fight ensued, with Jeanne being pushed to the ground, scratched and bitten several times. Finally, the Beast, still holding Jean-Pierre, manages to escape, only to be confronted by the two older children, who were preparing to take the herd to pasture; they manage to free their younger brother and drive the Beast away. Jean-Pierre succumbs to his injuries a few hours later.
Political fallout
The English, who were at war with the French at the time, had heard of the beast’s story and were greatly amused by it: for example, an English cartoon shows the king’s entire army routed by the beast and, next to it, the beast killed by a cat protecting her kittens.
The king had to act: he sent his dragoons to kill the beast to stop the mockery, and when François Antoine killed the famous loup des Chazes, he made people believe the beast was dead. When the killings resumed, there was no mention of them in any of the gazettes.
The beast today
A statue of the Beast of Gévaudan can be seen in Marvejols (see illustration).
The films
Three films were made on the theme of the Beast of Gévaudan:
- “La bête du Gévaudan”, from 1967, is a TV movie directed by Yves André Hubert.
- “Le pacte des loups”, from 2001, is a film directed by Christophe Gans.
- “La bête du Gévaudan” (The Beast of Gévaudan), 2003, is another TV film directed by Patrick Volson.
The 2001 film “Le pacte des loups” (The Wolf Pact) was a great success, and is considered one of France’s most popular films abroad. In France, it sold over 5 million tickets. The film stars Monica Belluci and Vincent Cassel!
The books
Numerous books dedicated entirely to the beast have been published!
For an exhaustive list, see the Wikipedia article on the Beast of Gévaudan.
Le Gévaudan
Gévaudan (Occitan: Gavaudan or Gevaudan; Latin: Gabalitanus pagus) is an ancient French province. At the time of the French Revolution, its territory was used as the basis for forming the department of Lozère. Only the canton of Saugues was attached to the Haute-Loire department.
Gévaudan is, in fact, the name of the former province that became the department of Lozère after the French Revolution.
The word “Gévaudan” comes from the word “Gabale”, the Gaulish people who were Vercingetorix’s allies in the Gallic War against the Roman Empire. The capital of the Gabale region was Javols, a commune that still bears this name today.
The Gévaudan has long been a sparsely populated and inaccessible area. Around 1500 BC, the region is described as covered in dark, dense forests. What would later become the department of Lozère was a particularly cold region, with a very marked continental climate, resulting in terrible, interminable winters. The sun’s rays struggle to warm the ground through the interlacing woods and vegetation. The land is hostile, with countless lakes and ponds that make the soil spongy, marshy and not very fertile. There are no roads, and men cross the Gévaudan guided by their instinct, forging their way between waterholes and thousand-year-old trees. The few hermits living in these vast, inhospitable expanses survive by hunting, fishing and gathering. Trade was at a standstill and only a few families managed to survive in Gévaudan.
Gradually, the population grew and began to clear land for cultivation. Today, the Aubrac plateau is a vast, arid expanse, but at the time it was a vast, dark forest. It was the monks who gradually cleared and shaped the vast plains we know today to develop sheep farming.
This massive deforestation of the Aubrac has created a humid mid-mountain environment, particularly conducive to the development of local biodiversity. The high plateau is also renowned for the quality of its air. In fact, apart from the low population density, pollens and mites are very rare above 1200 m altitude, making it the ideal place for the development of climatism.
Even today, the Lozère department has preserved its wild nature and limited population. Unfortunately, these characteristics scare away the children who were born here, attracted by the urban glow, but her grown-up children will always return to this land of introspection and its quietly powerful landscapes.