Affair of the Poisons

[1] In 1672, upon the natural death of an officer of cavalry, an adventurer deeply in debt named Godin de Sainte-Croix, an inventory of his papers revealed, in a box, nine letters from his mistress, the Marquise de Brinvilliers, as well as an acknowledgment of debt from the marquise amounting to 30,000 livres, and various vials which, after being analyzed by an apothecary, were found to have contained various poisons that left little trace in the body.

La Grange appealed to François Michel Le Tellier, Marquis of Louvois, claiming that she had information about other crimes of high importance.

Louvois reported to the king, who told Gabriel Nicolas de la Reynie, who, among other things, was the chief of the Paris police, to root out the poisoners.

Authorities rounded up a number of fortune tellers and alchemists who were suspected of selling not only divinations, séances and aphrodisiacs, but also "inheritance powders" (a euphemism for poison).

Some of them confessed under torture and gave authorities lists of their clients, who had allegedly bought poison to get rid of their spouses or rivals in the royal court.

The most famous case was that of the midwife Catherine Deshayes Monvoisin or La Voisin, who was arrested in 1679 after she was incriminated by the poisoner Marie Bosse.

Questioned while intoxicated,[2] La Voisin claimed that Montespan had bought aphrodisiacs and performed black masses with her in order to gain and keep the king's favour over rival lovers.

Eleanor Herman, in her book Sex with Kings (2009), claims that the police, given reports of "babies' bones", uncovered the remains of 2,500 infants in La Voisin's garden.

[3] However, Anne Somerset disputes this in her book The Affair of the Poisons (2003) and states there is no mention of the garden being searched for human remains.

[4] Also involved in the scandal was Eustache Dauger de Cavoye, the eldest living scion of a prominent noble family.

He remained in France, only to find that his mother's high-profile disgrace prevented him from realising his personal ambitions, as he was effectively barred from pursuing a military career.

The series shows the courtiers being intoxicated with the powders and potions; even Madame de Montespan is portrayed as having a major role in the poisonings.

Scottish speed metal artist Hellripper's 2020 album titled The Affair of The Poisons contains lyrical themes based on the scandal.