Beauty and the Beast is
a tale as old as time with deep folkloric roots,
but the famous version may have been inspired by the
lives of Catherine and Petrus Gonsalvus. In the 1500s, they were
treated like freaks of nature by European royalty, and
their tragic story did not have a fairy tale ending. So, today, we're
going to take a look at how the real couple that
inspired Beauty and the Beast led remarkably tragic lives. But before we get started,
be sure to subscribe to the Weird History channel. After that, please
leave a comment and let us know what other
real folk stories you would like to hear more about. OK, now, be our guest, as we
take a look at the true story behind this famous tale. In the Disney version
of Beauty and the Beast, Belle is an intelligent,
strong-willed beauty who falls for a man who has been
cursed to look like a beast. In spite of the curse,
the beast has caring eyes, a heart of gold, and the
singing voice of Robby Benson. He also has a fierce
devotion to Belle. And in between all the
singing with dishes, twirling through
candlelit ballrooms, and impromptu snowball
fights, the couple falls deeply in love. Disney's Beauty and the
Beast earn a fairy tale ending when their
love breaks the curse, and the two live happily ever
after in a castle, something that holds true in both the
1991 animated movie and the 2017 live action remake. But the real couple
that inspired the story did not get a fairy tale ending. And there was no curse to break. The beast had to live with his
condition for his entire life. The real beast, who,
not surprisingly, didn't like to be
called a beast, was a man known through most of
his life as Petrus Gonsalvus. He was born in 1537
in the Canary Islands. And he had a
hereditary condition that made him appear hairy. Given that most
people at the time were somewhat less
than enlightened, instead of being
treated like a person, Petrus was dismissed
as a wild man. Stories of wild men had
flourished for centuries. They were seen as more
animal than human, barbarians that lived on
the edges of civilization. And unfortunately,
everyone assumed that young Petrus was
somehow not fully human because of his condition. When he was only 10
years old, Petrus was cruelly locked into
an iron cage, where he was given raw meat and animal feed. In 1547, young Petrus
was shipped off to France as a gift to King Henry II
of France for his coronation. If Yelp had existed
in the 16th century, we're going to guess
that Petrus would have given his trip to France
no stars because as soon as he arrived, he was
immediately locked in a dungeon for observation,
as if he were a wild animal. The court's doctors,
and academics then poked and prodded
him for a while and eventually concluded
that he was not a wild man, but rather, he was a 10-year-old
boy with soft, thick hair growing on his face and limbs. Petrus even told
them his name, which the French transformed
from Pedro Gonzales to Petrus Gonsalvus. King Henry declared that Petrus
should receive an education. Nonetheless, he still
thought of Petrus as a savage who was
incapable of learning, so the king did not
expect Petrus to succeed. Young Petrus, however,
shocked the court by becoming fluent in Latin
and learning noble etiquette. After disproving the
stereotypes about beasts, Petrus became an
important court guest. Once Petrus proved himself
an even greater curiosity, a savage who could be educated,
he became an important figure in King Henry's court. Along with his noble education
in at least three languages, Petrus was allowed to dress like
a nobleman and eat cooked food. The king even
reportedly took a liking to Petrus, which was
considered a great honor in the 16th century. Along with his rise
in social status, Petrus's living
conditions improved, and he was no longer
locked in a cage or stashed away in a dungeon. Yet he was still seen as less
than human, a freak of nature meant to dazzle
visitors to the court, just as dwarfs were kept at
royal courts for entertainment, Petrus was treated
like a human pet. Artist Agostino Carracci even
painted a portrait of three of the members of
King Henry's court where Petrus was
shown naked, wearing only a small fur as a symbol
of his status as a wild man. The portrait was titled
Hairy Harry, Mad Peter, and Tiny Amon. Petrus was the first
recorded person to suffer from hypertrichosis,
a condition that caused excessive hair
growth on the body. Hypertrichosis is
extremely rare, so rare, in fact, there are
only about 50 known cases in history. Dermatologist Sarah
K. Taylor reports that since the Middle Ages,
approximately 50 individuals with congenital hypertrichosis
have been described. And according to the
most recent estimates, approximately 34 cases
are documented adequately and definitively
in the literature. But the French court didn't
care about the uniqueness of Petrus's medical condition. They just wanted to
marvel at the savage who dressed like a nobleman. There is no wicked queen in
the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast,
but there sure was one in the real
life version, and it was Catherine de' Medici. After King Henry's
death, Catherine, who was his wife and
mother to his heir, became the queen
regent of France. She had a reputation
for devious actions, like when she invited her
religious rivals to Paris for an arranged marriage
and then ordered thousands of people
slaughtered in the streets. Queen Catherine
thought it would be hilarious to arrange
a marriage for Petrus, but she decided not to
tell his future bride about his condition. Queen Catherine found her
beauty in a young maiden who was also named Catherine. She was the daughter of
a royal court servant. And the queen couldn't wait
to see what kind of children the beauty might
produce with the beast. Would they be covered in
hair like their father? Queen Catherine hoped to
manufacture her own royal pets from the unconventional
arranged marriage. When Queen Catherine
announced to maiden Catherine that she would soon
wed, there was no way to reject the queen's
arranged marriage. Just as royalty were often
married off without their say, kings and queens could
dictate the marriages of their court followers. Of course, Queen
Catherine had a surprise for the unsuspecting bride. Her husband was covered in hair. Catherine's reaction to
her husband's appearance was not recorded,
but rumors swirled that the beauty was initially
unhappy with the union. Certainly finding a wild
man at the end of the aisle must have been quite shocking
for a young Catherine. But like in the fairy
tale, beauty eventually came to see past the
beast's rough exterior. And over time, she came
to care for Petrus. The two were married
for 40 years. Within a handful of years
after their wedding, Catherine and Petrus had two
children, neither of whom were born with their
father's condition. Queen Catherine must
have been disappointed that her experiment didn't work. But then the next two children
were born covered in hair, proving to Europe's nobility
that beauty did not necessarily always conquer the beast. Catherine and Petrus had
seven children total, and four of them were born
with their father's condition. Europe's royal courts went
crazy for the Gonsalvus family, and the family spent much
of their time touring around Europe so that
nobles could gawk at them. Catherine, Petrus,
and their children were sent on tour to
entertain Europe's royalty. Across Europe, people
marveled at the wild family, and naturalists
studied the children. In the 1580s, the
Gonsalvus family had their portraits painted
at a number of courts. In the paintings,
the wild children were always shown
in noble dress, as if to highlight the gap
between their savage appearance and their civilized status. In the 1590s, the famous
naturalist, Ulisse Aldrovandi, examined the
eight-year-old daughter of Petrus and Catherine
and commissioned a drawing of the family. Multiple authors published their
descriptions of the curiosities as if the children
were not human beings. The family eventually
settled in Parma, Italy, where Duke Ranuccio
Farnese employed them. But the Gonsalvus family was
still treated like property. And there was no way for
them to lead a normal life. Instead, their
condition was exploited by aristocrats, who
still just wanted to gawk at freaks of nature. In a tragic turn
of events, the duke sent away the four hairy
Gonsalvus children as gifts to his noble friends. Just like Petrus, they were
seen as pets rather than people. There were no paintings made
of the Gonsalvus children who were born without
Petrus's condition. Artist Joris
Hoefnagel's portrait of Catherine and Petrus, painted
sometime between 1575 and 1580, hints at the mystery of
their true relationship. Although they were
married for 40 years and produced seven children,
were they truly in love? Their marriage was arranged as
a joke for a European royalty. And their children were snatched
away to act as court pets. Their story is so
bleak that it's difficult to imagine how it
became the basis of the fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast. But what about the relationship
between Catherine and Petrus? The portrait shows Catherine's
hand on Petrus's shoulder. Does that indicate
warmth between the pair, or does the steady far off
look shown on her face hint at something more tragic? We may never know. The real life
Beauty and the Beast were trapped in Europe's
royal courts, where they lived with aristocrats
and wore beautiful clothes, but had no control
over their lives. In his biography of
Petrus, Robert Zapperi described the couple as
neither captured nor free. And sadly, the same fate
struck their children. While the fairy
tale version ends with Beauty and the Beast
happily wed, in real life, no one knows what
exactly happened to Catherine and Petrus. After being shuffled from
one court to another, they eventually settled in the
small village of Capodimonte in Italy. Catherine died in
1623, according to the town's
registrar of death. But there is no record
of Petrus's death, perhaps because only people who
received the last rites were recorded in the registrar. It is possible that Petrus was
not considered human enough to receive last rites. Even at death,
Petrus may have still been seen as a curiosity
rather than a man. You can probably see why
Disney changed that ending. So what do you think? Are you going to look at the
Disney film differently now? Let us know in the
comments below. And while you're at it, check
out some of these other videos from our Weird History.
