Post by Nalkarj on Aug 13, 2017 14:00:03 GMT
One of my favorite subjects of study in history, and woefully little-known.
The affair of the poisons (1677-1682) exposed a web of murder, witchcraft, and Satanism lurking beneath the court of Louis XIV. Many of the details are difficult to read about—the blood sacrifice of a child at the black mass, for example.
Central figures:
King Louis XIV
Mme. de Montespan, then the king's maîtresse-en-titre
Cathérine Monvoisin, known as "La Voisin," from whom our contemporary depiction of a witch derives, more or less
Étienne Guibourg, the priest who officiated at the black masses
Cardinal Mazarin's nieces
Gabriel Nicolas de la Reynie, chief of the Paris police, who established the special investigating tribunal, the Burning Court
Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the king's chief minister
Marie D'Aubray, Marquise de Brinvilliers, poisoner and witch whose execution set off the witch trials
Capt. Gaudin Sainte-Croix, her lover
Anyone else interested? Have any more information? Lady Anne Somerset covered the topic in a book a few years back, but—besides that—there is very little information available in English.
The affair of the poisons (1677-1682) exposed a web of murder, witchcraft, and Satanism lurking beneath the court of Louis XIV. Many of the details are difficult to read about—the blood sacrifice of a child at the black mass, for example.
Central figures:
King Louis XIV
Mme. de Montespan, then the king's maîtresse-en-titre
Cathérine Monvoisin, known as "La Voisin," from whom our contemporary depiction of a witch derives, more or less
Étienne Guibourg, the priest who officiated at the black masses
Cardinal Mazarin's nieces
Gabriel Nicolas de la Reynie, chief of the Paris police, who established the special investigating tribunal, the Burning Court
Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the king's chief minister
Marie D'Aubray, Marquise de Brinvilliers, poisoner and witch whose execution set off the witch trials
Capt. Gaudin Sainte-Croix, her lover
Anyone else interested? Have any more information? Lady Anne Somerset covered the topic in a book a few years back, but—besides that—there is very little information available in English.
