As with a lot of fairy tales adapted by Disney, the original story is a lot more darker. It’s complex and sad. It’s also one of the few fairy tales that is based on a real-life couple, and whether they lived happily ever after is something for you to decide.

The original fairy tale

The first version that leads to the invention of Belle was penned by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve (pictured above). It was first published in 1740 under the catchy title of La Belle et la Bête. It’s of novel length and contains many subplots.

This first version isn’t the one that most people are familiar with. Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont thought that it was a bit too long for a fairy tale and wrote an abridged version some years after Villeneuve’s death.

There’s a lot to be said about both versions. I could bore you for hours by comparing them to the Disney version, but that’s for a later blog post. Right now, we’re going to travel even further back into time and have a look at the real life couple who inspired Villeneuve to write this fairy tale.

The ‘wild man’ moves to Paris

Word of the existence of a hairy boy spread throughout Europe. When he was ten years old Petrus was taken to Paris and gifted to Henri II of France. Kings loved receiving odd gifts, and henri was very fascinated by this one.

The king assembled his best doctors. They examined the boy and all came to the same conclusion (a rare thing for doctors during the time), the boy had an abnormal amount of hair growth over his entire body, but he wasn’t a savage or a wild man. And he definitely wasn’t a beast. He was just a terrified ten-year-old who had been neglected since he still couldn’t speak a language.

Henri decided to give the boy an education. He learned Latin and was even given military training. The king also wanted the boy to live at court, and to that purpose Henri ennobled him.

Marrying Catherine

Petrus must have been grief-stricken when the man who had protected him all those years came to a gruesome end at the age of 40. Kings loved jousting tournaments and Henri was no exception. He was wounded in the eye by a splintered lance and died not long after of sepsis.

The king’s widow, Catherine de’ Medici acted as regent for her son after Henri’s death and she thought that Petrus should marry.

She picked a young woman who was also called Catherine. It’s uncertain where this Catherine came from which leads me to conclude that she probably wasn’t of noble birth. What is clear is that she didn’t know who she was going to marry, nor that she know about his husband’s condition until the wedding ring was slipped on her finger.

Even if she had known, she probably would still have married him, for who could refuse Catherine de’ Medici anything?

The couple’s life changed drastically when Catherine de’ Medici died in 1589. Her son, king Henri III followed her a couple of months later after being stabbed by a monk. France was in constant turmoil over religious disputes and there was no-one left to protect the Gonsalvus family.

The fact that they were still seen as a curiosity among the nobles saved them. Alexander Farnesse who was Duke of Parma took an interest in them and welcomed them into his household.

The last time Petrus Gonsalvus appears in historical records is in 1618 when he attended the christening of his grandson.

Happily ever after?

But as you can see in the picture above, the couple did have children. In fact, they had seven children of whom four inherited their father’s condition. Perhaps this also means that Catherine learned to love Petrus for the man who he was, perhaps it means that they found happiness after all?

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Petrus Gonsalvus would have led a life of hard labour, poverty and hunger if it wasn’t for his condition. He would never have learned to read or write and he would never have been a noble.

But this story could also have had a more tragic ending. What if Henri II and Catherine de’ Medici hadn’t taken an interest in this boy? Would he have been paraded in a cage throughout Europe like a circus lion? Would he have been an easy target for people wanting to fill their pockets?

Catherine de’ Medici was fond of humans who were different. Dwarfs were members of her household and they were often a form of entertainment whenever she held one of her lavish court festivals. The story also reminds of the ‘human zoos’ which became popular during the 19th and 20th centuries.

In a way the nobles saved the Gonsalvus family. The question is were their intentions noble? For them, he was a curiosity. A human curiosity. It’s a story that reveals a lot about the way of thinking during this time.

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Don’t hesitate to call me out if I have made any mistakes. I also would love to hear what you think about this couple, their life and their connection with Beauty and the Beast in the comments!