Benedetta Faedi Duramy

Catherine La Voisin: Poisons and Magic at the Royal Court of Louis XIV

Abstract Between the late 1660s and the early 1670s, influential members of the French nobility were mysteriously poisoned to death. Fearing for his own safety and that of the royal family, Louis XIV appointed Nicolas de La Reynie, the Lieutenant General of the Paris Police, to prompt an investigation, which unveiled the diffuse practice of poisoning and led to the “Affair of the Poisons” scandal. This chapter examines, in particular, the life and involvement in the scandal of the sorceress Catherine La Voisin, who, after being prosecuted, was burned alive for providing members of the royal court, including the Marquise de Montespan, one of the favorite mistresses of Louis XIV, with magic powders and venomous potions.