Despite being part of the narratives of fairy tales, the romance story is inspired by a real story.
Being one of the classics among fairy tale stories, “Beauty and the Beast” tells the story of the impossible romance between a sweet and kind young woman and a monstrous creature who happen to live together in a castle.
Despite being a French fiction story, written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot, and first published in 1740, the characters’ narratives have very real inspirations, as they bring a creative look at the life of Petrus Gonsalvusa man born in 1537 in Tenerife – Canary Islands (a Spanish archipelago).
Petrus who?
Petrus he was a different boy from the others due to a medical condition that caused his body and face to be completely covered by thick hair, except for the palms of his hands and soles of his feet, peculiarities associated with that of a werewolf.
This characteristic is now known as Hypertrichosis but, in the 16th century, it was something unknown and seen as frightening by the population. The fact aroused the curiosity of the French court in 1547, who came to believe that the boy, then only ten years old, was some sort of exotic pet.
So, under the name of Dom Petrus Gonsalvus, the young man lived much of his life at court as an experiment, where he was monitored and evaluated because the king believed that she had no learning ability. However, the boy was increasingly intellectual and presented class like everyone around him.
Over the years, Petrus began to grow into a strong man, and aroused the queen’s interest Catherine de Medici in finding a young woman to marry her, as she was curious to know what her children would be like.
So they chose the beautiful Catherinedaughter of a servant of the Court, in order to assess what would be the behavior of Petrus faced with that situation – believing that the event would make the boy’s “animal side” come out.
Then, the forced marriage between the two took place in 1573, when Petrus turned 17 years old, surprising the court by not showing any animalistic behavior, but adapting to his new status and meeting his new wife.
Over time, the couple had 7 children, 4 of whom inherited the condition of Petrus. The feature caused them to be displayed and gifted as pets to aristocrats when the family traveled to the Royal Court.
Finally, the last days of the life of Petrus were spent in Capodimonte, on Lake Bolsena, in Italy, a place to which he had traveled years before with his wife and who was the last to live, since he died in 1618, around the age of 80, leaving Catherine widow.
Source: Recreio
