Sound like a tale? Well, it is not. In fact, The Affair of the Poisons rocked 17th century France.
In 1675, Marie-Madeleine Marguerite d’ Aubray, Marquise de Brinvilliers, conspired to poison her father and siblings in an attempt to inherit their estates. Her lover Army Captain Godin de Sainte-Croix was her accomplish. She fled but was captured and confessed to the plot.
She was tortured with the water cure, where one is forced to drink 16 pints of water, then beheaded and eventually burned at the stake.
Implicated was Madame de Montespan, the mistress of King Louis XIV.
Catherine Deshayes, known as La Voisin, operated as an adviser and fortune-teller to ladies at the French court. She supplied them with potions, magic and charms.
Françoise Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart (1640-1707), marquise de Montespan, aka Madame de Montespan
Water Torture of Marie-Madeleine Marguerite d’ Aubray at chateu Fort Liberia
Version in höherer Auflösung (958 × 883 Pixel, Dateigröße: 226 KB, MIME-Typ: image/jpeg)
Present Day photo of chateu Fort Liberia
Portrai of Marie Madeleine by von Charles Lebrun, 1676
Marie Madeleine's trial opened up a new realm of suspiciousness and made many question other mysterious deaths. King Louis XIV was afraid he was going to be poisoned so he began a top secret investigation into the poisonings. Accusations of sorcery, Satanism, witchcraft and infanticide began to surface. Something purely evil was being conducted in his court. What King Louis did not expect to find was one of his mistresses being implicated in the investigation.
