La Voisin and the Poison Affair
Catherine Monvoisin, called La Voisin, a sorcerer and fortune-teller, received a death sentence on 22 February 1680 during the Poison Affair after naming clients at court.
_1680.jpg)
The Retrospectors podcast says Catherine Monvoisin, known as La Voisin, a sorcerer and fortune-teller, received her death sentence on 22 February 1680. It says she provided poisons and potions for her clientele, among them Madame de Montespan, who was the official mistress of King Louis XIV. Executed Today says she was labelled a witch as well as a poisoner during the Poison Affair, and sentenced to death.
Executed Today says that before she died she named many aristocrats who were among her customers. By its account, she said Montespan bought aphrodisiacs from her and joined her in black masses to win the king's support, and she also named the duc de Luxembourg. Executed Today says her stories had no corroborating evidence, and Wikipedia says the same of her confessions, but those she named suffered ruined reputations.
Further claims about her are disputed. Wikipedia reports that the author Eleanor Herman claims police, given reports of babies' bones, dug up 2,500 infants' remains in La Voisin's garden. Anne Somerset disputes this and says that no search of the garden for human remains is mentioned in the record.
"There was no evidence beyond her confessions, but bad reputations followed these people afterwards. 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."
- The Mistress and the Witch (22 Feb), The Retrospectors podcast
- 1680: La Voisin, poisoner to the stars, Executed Today (2008)
- La Voisin, Wikipedia