The name Claudia Gaillard is remembered as the "Werewolf of Burgundy" in France. The area of Franche-Comté was filled with hysteria during the witch hunts of the 16th and 17th Centuries.
The most there who were executed as "werewolves" was more than 600 under Henry Boguet (1550-1619), the witch-finder of Burgundy. It was believed that the woman Claudia Gaillard was witnessed transforming into a wolf. The witness was probably a friend or neighbour, called Jeanne Perrin. According to Jeanne, she and Claudia were walking through the woods and talking about not having much alms. Then Claudia ran behind a bush and a wolf emerged. Jeanne ran away in a panic then dropped her alms that she was carrying.
Claudia had told Jeanne that her wolf self wouldn't have harmed her. The confession was enough for to convince everyone that she had turned into a werewolf. This word of mouth often got treated as evidence back then. She was put on trial, and the judge assumed that because Claudia didn't show emotions throughout her ordeal under torture, she had to be guilty of turning into a werewolf! The judge had said "Common report was against her. No one ever saw her shed a single tear, whatever effort might be made to cause her to shed tears."
Claudia was one of so many other unfortunate victims of the witch hunt mania. She was sentenced to death and then burned at the stake.
For more info on the werewolf trails, visit this link All That's Interesting page on "Inside Europe's Gruesome Werewolf trials".
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