The Affair of the Poisons, Part 2: Scandal at Versailles

As accusations from La Voisin’s circle reached Versailles, Madame de Montespan, Louis XIV’s former favourite was drawn into claims of love powders, forbidden rituals, and poison plots. But the evidence was shaped by rumour, torture,fear, and politics, leaving one question at the centre of the scandal: what was real, and what was too dangerous for the monarchy to expose?Support the show on Patreon:
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Source Materials

Anne Somerset, The Affair of the Poisons: Murder, Infanticide, and Satanism at the Court of Louis XIV

Holly Tucker, City of Light, City of Poison: Murder, Magic, and the First Police Chief of Paris

Antonia Fraser, Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of the Sun King

Nancy Mitford, The Sun King: Louis XIV at Versailles

Benedetta Faedi Duramy, “Women and Poisons in 17th Century France,” Chicago-Kent Law Review, Vol. 87, No. 2, 2012

Erika Carroll, “Potions, Poisons and ‘Inheritance Powders’: How Chemical Discourses Entangled 17th Century France in the Brinvilliers Trial and the Poison Affair,” Voces Novae, 2012