The Affair of Poisons...

...Friend and author, Cathie Dunn, joins me today to talk about poison!  Thanks for making time in your busy schedule to be here, Cathie, and tell me more...

CD  Many thanks, Angela, and I’m very excited to tell your readers a little more about the (in)famous Affair of the Poisons, which took place in Paris in the 1670s and early 1680s.

Imagine the court of Louis XIV, the Sun King, at Versailles.  The blinding splendour of the palace, the beauty of the gardens, the fireworks, theatre plays and music recitals – and the bustle of hundreds of courtiers vying for the King’s attention and pleasure.  It is a time of entertainment and pleasure, of endless wars, but also of intrigue and scheming.

King Louis XIV acceded the throne in May 1643 at the age of four on the death of his father, King Louis XIII.  Young Louis spent his minority years under the regency of his mother, Anne of Austria, assisted by Cardinal Mazarin.  Louis centralized the state, making the monarch the sole ruler, by divine right.

The Affair of the Poison begins when Marie Madeleine d’Aubray, the Marquise the Brinvilliers, is accused of poisoning not only her father, but also her brothers, to gain their estates.  And she got away with it for several years.

Marquise de Brinvilliers
C. Le Brun Public domain

Unfortunately for the scheming Marquise, Godin de Sainte-Croix, her lover and accomplice died in 1672 (of natural causes), leaving an account of their actions in a diary he’d written in case he should die in suspicious circumstances.  Oh, the irony!

Torture by water during her trial in 1675 led to her admission, and she was promptly executed.  The Marquise was beheaded, as she belonged to minor gentry, then her body was burned on a pyre, the ashes thrown into the River Seine.

But was that it? At first, it seemed so. Then things began to happen.

In 1677, Magdelaine de la Grange, a fortune-teller, was arrested on suspicion of murder.  To save her skin, she promptly sent the Marquis de Louvois, a minister close to the king, a message saying she knew of a network of people involved in crimes that included poisoning and murder.  Louvois spoke to Louis, and they decided that Gabriel Nicolas de La Reynie, the Lieutenant General – the chief of the new police force in Paris – should investigate.  And so, the heads began to roll, like dominoes.

Over the coming months, fortune-tellers, alchemists and soothsayers were arrested and questioned, usually under torture.  The rack and early versions of water-boarding were frequently used to break people’s spirit.  Many were of no great importance, peddling ‘inheritance powders’ or love potions.  Whilst the potions were merely intended to ‘guide’ the victim towards an outcome sought by the buyers, ‘inheritance powders’ were, of course, a term for poisons.  This led to charges of murder.

For de La Reynie, it must have been like opening a Pandora’s Box – revealing a highly-interconnected network of men and women, including priests and midwives, across Paris’ underworld.

Events turned more sinister with the arrest of Catherine Monvoisin, called La Voisin, a midwife accused of procuring poisons and black masses (where babies were said to be sacrificed), in 1679.  Suddenly, the victims were no longer of the lower and middle classes.  La Voisin provided them, following torture, with names the Lieutenant General would rather not have heard: names of ladies and lords of the court!

Madame de Montespan
J-P Franque Public domain 

These courtiers were close to King Louis, with easy access to his circle: The Countess de Soissons, the Duchess de Bouillon, her sister, the Duke de Luxembourg, the Viscountess de Polignac – and including the famous Madame de Montespan, the King’s mistress of many years and mother of several of his children.

Françoise, Marquise de Montespan, was the biggest fish in the net, and one that the King could not afford to publicize!  Therein lay his dilemma.  Her apparent involvement in black masses, and her procurement of potions she sprinkled into his food – to retain his favour – must never be revealed to the public.  It is said that Louis destroyed a letter informing him of her misdeeds.

I would have loved to know if they had conversations about this, and what was said.

In February 1680, La Voisin was sentenced to death and burned at the stake.  But her revelations continued to have repercussions across Paris and Versailles.

To keep track of the many cases, de La Reynie established a special court, the Chambre Ardente (Burning Chamber), in 1679, where trials would be held, often behind closed doors to protect members of the nobility.  Over 400 people were implicated in the trade of potions, poisons and worse.  In 1682, the court was abolished again.  Clearly, the King deemed the revelations too close to his person to allow for any rumours to spread.

Many nobles, like the Countess de Soissons, were exiled.  Some were pardoned, though no longer allowed close to the king.  Others were merely warned.

As for all those ordinary people involved in the sordid trade – the fortune-tellers, priests, midwives, alchemists, astrologers, magicians, etc – a worse fate awaited. Some died under torture and many were sentenced to death, usually by burning at the stake or hanging (the men were often more ‘fortunate’ there than the women!).

But for many, Louis had a more long-term plan.  They needed to be shut up forever.  He issued a ‘lettre de cachet’ for many men and women involved.  These letters were signed by the King and one of his ministers, received the royal seal (hence the name), and served as the king’s decision on matters.

Château de Versailles:  D Crochet

In the case of the Affair of the Poisons, many dozens, possibly in the low hundreds, of men and women were issued with such a letter, meaning they’d be incarcerated for life.  Usually in solitary confinement in far-flung fortresses across the kingdom, these people had no way of spreading their knowledge.  It served the king’s purpose.

As for Madame de Montespan, her light continued to wane.  As mother to several of the King’s children, she would continue to remain in his inner circle for several years.  But his affections soon favoured other, younger, ladies…

AW  What a fascinating story!  So, what's next for you as a writer?

CD  My current work-in-progress is set during this era. It tells the tale of a young lady, Fleur, who is seduced by a courtier and left pregnant. When her mother removes her newborn child and tells her the child has died, Fleur runs away, and straight into the underworld of Paris, to discover what happened to her baby.

  

about the author... Cathie writes historical fiction and romance. She has published four novels and a novella. After many years in Scotland, Cathie now lives in Carcassonne in the south of France.

You can find Cathie's books Here

You can follow Cathie on Facebook  and on Twitter  You can find out more about her books and writing on her Website and her Blog