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Poison Affair
The Affair of the Poisons (, ) was a major murder scandal in France during the reign of King Louis XIV. Between 1677 and 1682, a number of prominent members of the aristocracy were implicated and sentenced on charges of poisoning and witchcraft. The scandal reached into the inner circle of the king. It led to the execution of 36 people. Context and origin In 1672, upon the natural death of cavalry officer Godin de Sainte-Croix, an inventory of his papers revealed a box containing nine letters from his mistress, the Marquise de Brinvilliers, as well as the marquise's acknowledgment of a debt amounting to 30,000 livres. This box also contained various vials which, after being analyzed by an apothecary, were found to have contained various poisons that left little trace in the body. The case began in 1675 after the trial of Madame de Brinvilliers, who was accused of having conspired with her lover, army captain , to poison her father Antoine Dreux d'Aubray in 1666 and two o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catherine Deshayes (Monvoisin, Dite «La Voisin») 1680
Catherine Monvoisin, or Montvoisin, née ''Deshayes'', known as "La Voisin" (c. 1640 – 22 February 1680), was a French fortune teller, commissioned poisoner, and professional provider of alleged sorcery. She was the head of a network of fortune tellers in Paris providing poison, aphrodisiacs, abortion, purported magical services and the arranging of black masses, with clients among the aristocracy and became the central figure in the famous Poison affair, ''affaire des poisons''. Her purported organization of commissioned black magic and poison murder was suspected to have killed 1,000 people, but it is believed that upwards of 2,500 people might have been murdered.Ramsland, Katherine (2005) ''The Human Predator.'' The Berkley Publishing Group, New York City. Life Little is known of Catherine Deshayes' early life. She learned fortune telling as a child and later married Antoine Monvoisin, who was active as a jeweller and silk merchant with a shop at Pont-Marie in Paris.The Af ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Séance
A séance or seance (; ) is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word ''séance'' comes from the French language, French word for "session", from the Old French , "to sit". In French, the word's meaning is quite general and mundane: one may, for example, speak of "" (). In English, however, the word came to be used specifically for a meeting of people who are gathered to receive messages from ghosts or to listen to a mediumship, spirit medium discourse with or relay messages from spirits. In modern English usage, participants need not be seated while engaged in a séance. Fictionalised conversations between the deceased appeared in ''Dialogues of the Dead'' by George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton, George, First Baron Lyttelton, published in England in 1760. Among the notable spirits quoted in this volume are Peter the Great, Pericles, a "North-American Savage", William Penn, and Christina, Queen of Sweden. The popularity of séances grew dramatically with the founding of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean-Baptiste Colbert
Jean-Baptiste Colbert (; 29 August 1619 – 6 September 1683) was a French statesman who served as First Minister of State from 1661 until his death in 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. His lasting impact on the organization of the country's politics and markets, known as Colbertism, a doctrine often characterized as a variant of mercantilism, earned him the nickname ''le Grand Colbert'' (; "the Great Colbert"). A native of Reims, he was appointed Intendant of Finances on 4 May 1661. Colbert took over as Controller-General of Finances, a newly created position, in the aftermath of the arrest of Nicolas Fouquet for embezzlement, an event that led to the abolishment of the office of Superintendent of Finances. He worked to develop the domestic economy by raising tariffs and encouraging major public works projects, as well as to ensure that the French East India Company had access to foreign markets, so that they could always obtain coffee, cotton, dyewoods, fur, pepper, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prison Saint-Lazare
Saint-Lazare Prison was a prison in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, France. It existed from 1793 until 1935 and was housed in a former motherhouse of the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians. History in the 12th century a Leper colony, leprosarium was founded on the road from Paris to Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis at the boundary of a marshy area near River Seine. It was ceded on 7 January 1632 to St. Vincent de Paul and the Congregation of the Mission he had founded. At this stage, in addition to being a headquarter for the congregation, it became a place of detention for people who had become an embarrassment to their families: an enclosure for "black sheep" who had brought disgrace to their relatives. The prison was situated in the ''enclos Saint-Lazare'', the largest enclosure in Paris until the end of the 18th century, between the Rue de Paradis to its south, the Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis to its east, the Boulevard de la Chapelle to its north and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol As and atomic number 33. It is a metalloid and one of the pnictogens, and therefore shares many properties with its group 15 neighbors phosphorus and antimony. Arsenic is notoriously toxic. It occurs naturally in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. It has various Allotropes of arsenic, allotropes, but only the grey form, which has a metallic appearance, is important to industry. The primary use of arsenic is in alloys of lead (for example, in car batteries and ammunition). Arsenic is also a common n-type dopant in semiconductor electronic devices, and a component of the III–V compound semiconductor gallium arsenide. Arsenic and its compounds, especially the trioxide, are used in the production of pesticides, treated wood products, herbicides, and insecticides. These applications are declining with the increasing recognition of the persistent tox ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Man In The Iron Mask
The Man in the Iron Mask (; died 19 November 1703) was an unidentified prisoner of state during the reign of Louis XIV of France (1643–1715). The strict measures taken to keep his imprisonment secret resulted in a long-lasting legend about his identity. Warranted for arrest on 19 July 1669 under the name of "Eustache Dauger", he was apprehended near Calais on 28 July, incarcerated on 24 August, and held for 34 years in the custody of the same jailer, , in four successive French prisons, including the Bastille. When he died there on 19 November 1703, his inhumation certificate bore the name of "Marchioly", leading several historians to conclude the prisoner was Italian diplomat Ercole Antonio Mattioli. His true identity remains a mystery, even though it has been extensively debated by historians, and various theories have been expounded in numerous books, articles, poems, plays, and films. During his lifetime, it was rumoured that he was a Marshal of France or a President o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Étienne Guibourg
The Abbé Étienne Guibourg (c. 1610 – January 1686) was a French Roman Catholic abbé and occultist who was involved in the ''affaire des poisons'', during the reign of Louis XIV. He has been variously described as a "defrocked" or "renegade" priest, and is said to have also had a good knowledge of chemistry. He is best known for performing a series of Black Mass rituals with Catherine Monvoisin for Madame de Montespan. Early life and ecclesiastic career Guibourg claimed to be the illegitimate son of Henri de Montmorency.''Geography of Witchcraft'' by Montague Summers (1927; reprint |
Black Mass
A Black Mass is a ceremony celebrated by various Satanic groups. It has allegedly existed for centuries in different forms, and the modern form is intentionally a sacrilegious and blasphemous parody of a Catholic Mass. In the 19th century the Black Mass became popularized in French literature, in books such as '' Satanism and Witchcraft'', by Jules Michelet, and , by Joris-Karl Huysmans. Modern revivals began with H. T. F. Rhodes' book ''The Satanic Mass'' published in London in 1954, and there is now a range of modern versions of the Black Mass performed by various groups. History Early Catholicism The Catholic Church regards the Mass as its most important ritual, going back to apostolic times. In general, its various liturgies followed the outline of Liturgy of the Word, Offertory, Liturgy of the Eucharist and Benediction, which developed into what is known as the Mass. However, as early Christianity became more established and its influence began to spread, the early ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Françoise-Athénaïs, Marquise De Montespan
Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Marquise of Montespan (5 October 1640 – 27 May 1707), commonly known as Madame de Montespan (), was a French noblewoman and the most celebrated royal mistress of King Louis XIV. During their romantic relationship, which lasted from the late 1660s to the late 1670s, she was sometimes referred to by contemporaries as the "true Queen of France" due to the pervasiveness of her influence at court.Lisa Hilton, ''Athénaïs: The Life of Louis XIV's Mistress – the Real Queen of France'', Little, Brown 2002, 4. She was a great-grandmother to Louis Alexandre, Prince of Lamballe, who was the husband to Maria Luisa of Savoy, also known as the Princesse de Lamballe. Born into the House of Rochechouart, one of the oldest noble families of France, Françoise-Athénaïs married the Marquis of Montespan in 1663. She then became a maid of honour to Princess Henrietta, Duchess of Orléans, and later a lady-in-waiting to Queen Maria Theres ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
François Henri De Montmorency, Duke Of Luxembourg
François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * François Amoudruz (1926–2020), French resistance fighter * François-Marie Arouet (better known as Voltaire; 1694–1778), French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher * François Beauchemin (born 1980), Canadian ice hockey player for the Anaheim Ducks * François Blanc (1806–1877), French entrepreneur and operator of casinos * François Bonlieu (1937–1973), French alpine skier * François Cevert (1944–1973), French racing driver * François Chau (born 1959), Cambodian American actor * François Clemmons (born 1945), American singer and actor * François Corbier (1944–2018), French television presenter and songwriter * François Coty (1874–1934), French perfumer * François Coulomb the Elder (1654–1717), French naval architect * François Coulomb the Younger (1691–1751), French naval architect * François Couperin (1668� ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marie Anne Mancini
Marie Anne Mancini, Duchess of Bouillon (1649 – 20 June 1714), was an Italian-French aristocrat and cultural patron, the youngest of the five famous Mancini sisters, who along with two of their female Martinozzi cousins, were known at the court of Louis XIV, List of French monarchs, King of France as the ''Mazarinettes'', because their uncle was the king's chief minister, Cardinal Mazarin. She is known for her involvement in the famous Affair of the Poisons, and as the patron of La Fontaine. Life Marie Anne's parents were Mancini family, Lorenzo Mancini, a Roman baron, Necromancy, necromancer and Astrology, astrologer, and Girolama Mazzarini, Geronima Mazzarini, sister of Cardinal Mazarin. Her four famous sisters were: * Laura Mancini, Laure (1636–1657), the eldest, who married Louis, Duke of Vendôme, Louis de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme, grandson of King Henry IV of France, Henri IV and his mistress, Gabrielle d'Estrées, and became the mother of the famous French gene ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olympia Mancini, Countess Of Soissons
Olympia Mancini, Countess of Soissons (French: ''Olympe Mancini''; 11 July 1638 – 9 October 1708) was the second-eldest of the five celebrated Mancini sisters, who along with two of their female Martinozzi cousins, were known at the court of King Louis XIV of France as the Mazarinettes because their uncle was Louis XIV's chief minister, Cardinal Mazarin. Olympia was later to become the mother of the famous Austrian general Prince Eugene of Savoy. She also involved herself in various court intrigues including the notorious Affair of the Poisons, which led to her expulsion from France. Family and early years Olympia Mancini was born on 11 July 1638 and grew up in Rome. Her father was Baron Lorenzo Mancini, an Italian aristocrat who was also a necromancer and astrologer. After his death in 1650, her mother, Geronima Mazzarini, brought her daughters from Rome to Paris in the hope of using the influence of her brother, Cardinal Mazarin, to gain them advantageous marriages. The ot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
