© Mario Martín, 2017

The Affair of the Poisons

(Satanism, witchcraft and black magic in the Court of the Sun King)

Émile Bayard - La Danse du Sabbat (1870)

The Affair of the Poisons was one of the most famous and scandalous events in France during
the second half of the 17th century, coinciding with the reign of one of its most powerful
sovereigns, Louis XIV (1643-1715).

The first news of this scandal were known in 1679, when the Paris Metropolitan Police chief,
Gabriel Nicolas de la Reynie (considered the founder of the first modern police force), revealed
after a thorough investigation, that a significant number of nobles and members of the
bourgeoisie, besides the king's brother, Philip of Orleans, were involved. Both had used the
services of fortune-tellers and healers with the aim of eliminating their potential adversaries
using various poisons, potions and spells.
Among the most important personalities, besides the king´s brother, were Madame de
Montespan, mistress of Louis XIV. She would end up being condemned for having used potions
and spells to keep the favor of the sovereign, besides taking an active role in the celebration of
black masses and trying to kill her most relevant antagonist, Mademoiselle de Fontages.
In 1675, after the trial of the Marquise de Brinvilliers, accused of poisoning her family with the
aid of her lover, Godin de Sainte-Croix, the first evidences of a greater scandal were known and
they all would shape the Affair of the Poisons. The marquise was executed, an act that caused a
notorious upset among the French society and unchained a state of paranoia in the nobility,
afraid of the possibility of being poisoned. The king himself took measures to avoid plots to end
his life.

The investigations took a surprising turn with the arrest of a fortune-teller named Magdalene de
la Grange. Despite being part of the lower class, she had important connections in the court, like
the Marquis de Louvois. She asked him for help, but the marquis refused to intercede in her
favor. The interrogation, conducted by Reynie himself, allowed to arrest an important number
of soothsayers, healers and sorcerers that had taken part in the Affair. De la Grange was hanged.
© Mario Martín, 2017

Among the detainees was Catherine Deshayes Monvoisin, better known as La Voisin, which
revealed the identity of her most prominent clients as the Countess of Soissons, the Duchess of
Bouillon, the Duke of Luxembourg and Madame de Montespan.

La Voisin was accused of witchery and sentenced to burn. Before her death, she confessed that
Madame de Montespan contacted her to make love potions to keep the attention of the king,
besides taking part in black masses where Montespan assassinated young children and babies.
According to La Voisin, Madame de Montespan had made a pact with the Devil, offering her
body as altar in the rituals. The abbott Ettiene Guilbourg was also accused of taking part in the
black masses.

Madame de Montespan

Due to the ruin of her husband´s business, Parisian jeweler Antoine Monvoisin, Catherine began
to offer her services as fortune-teller and healer to help alleviate her family´s economy. She used
different tricks to impress her clients and spent important amounts of money to configure her den.
Between 1665 and 1666, some monks of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul accused her of
witchcraft, but nothing was found. Some years later, La Voisin started to sell poisons and
participate in black masses and rituals with a magician and occultist named Adam Lesage and a
poisoner named Catherine Trianon. The abbotts Guilbourg and Mariotte also took an active role
in such rituals.

Madame de Montespan taking part in a black mass

© Mario Martín, 2017

In 1667, Madame de Montespan asked La Voisin to prepare a black mass to invoke the Devil
with the aim to maintain her position in the court as royal mistress. The ritual took place in the
Parisian Tannerie street with the assistance of Lesage and Mariotte. According to the
interrogations, it seems the ritual was successful but by 1673, Madame de Montespan lost her
privileges in the court, so once again she ordered La Voisin to celebrate several black masses,
this time conducted by Guilbourg.

Guilbourg was considered an obscure and sinister being due to his alchemical knowledge. He
also presented himself as the illegitimate son of the Duke of Montmorency. Despite his position
as Catholic priest, he was involved in a relationship with a woman named Jeanne Chanfrain,
who gave birth to an undetermined number of children. Guilbourg was arrested and condemned
to life imprisonment, dying in 1686.

Although Madame de Montespan´s involvement in these events, nothing could be demonstrated,

but the king himself had doubts about it. Anyway, his closest advisors recommended him to
avoid Madame de Montespan. She was incarcerated in the Convent of Saint-Joseph in Paris,
where she died in 1707.

442 persons were accused, but only 36 were executed, mostly fortune-tellers and the like. The
nobles who took part in the Affair were exculpated in order to avoid a scandal who could
significantly erode the prestige and power of the French monarchy. According to Reynie, the
police found the remains of several children who were used as offerings to the Devil in those
black masses and rituals, who were acquired by La Voisin among the Parisian prostitutes.

Bibliography

 Lebrige, A. (2001) L'Affaire des poisons, 1679-1682, Bruxelles, Complexe.

 Mollenauer, L.W. (2007) Strange Revelations: Magic, Poison, and Sacrilege in Louis
XIV's France. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.
 Quétel, C. (2015) L'Affaire des Poisons : Crime, sorcellerie et scandale sous le règne
de Louis XIV, Paris, Tallandier.
 Somerset, A. (2003) The Affair of the Poisons: Murder, Infanticide, and Satanism at the
Court of Louis XIV ; St. Martin's Press.
 The Masses of the Abbé Guilbourg and His Associates :
http://www.angelfire.com/az3/synagogasatanae/zacharias.htm