Famous case of poisoning and bewitchment which, during the reign of Louis XIV, led to the constitution of a fiery chamber, finally closed by the king because it involved people too close to him.
Poison, like sorcery, was very fashionable during the reign of Louis XIV. We talk about it, we talk about it as soon as a death appears suspicious, or even unexpected. Some do not hesitate to use it. Various trials caused a stir at the start of the king's personal reign, in particular that of the Marquise de Brinvilliers who, arrested in March 1675 by La Reynie, was beheaded in July. The investigators, who continue their work after the execution of the marquise, discover a whole world of card-pullers, magicians, witches, abortionists, poisoners, to which are added suspicious sorcerers and defrocked priests. Everyone traffics and sells potions and poisons to buyers from all classes of society, from the court nobility to the common people.
A card drawer, Marie Bosse, who is imprudently boasted of making a fortune by carrying out poisonings, falls into a trap set by the police, who arrest her. Followed by Lady Vigouroux, who engaged in the same traffic, then the Monvoisin woman, the famous Voisin, and dozens of other magicians, poisoners or priests. Faced with the magnitude of this affair, the king decided in 1679 to create a special commission, a fiery chamber which met in January 1680 at the Arsenal, under the chairmanship of police lieutenant La Reynie. 367 people must be presented to him. Their interrogations quickly lead to the questioning of personalities who were increasingly close to the king and to Madame de Montespan*, in particular two attendants of the latter, Mesdemoiselles des Œillets and Cato. The sorcerer Lesage accuses La Voisin of having gone to the court of Saint-Germain to give them drugs and petitions. La Voisin, the main accused, is suspected of poisoning, abortions, participation in black masses. She provided children for Abbé Guibourg, a sinister celebrant of black masses. Subjected to the ordinary question, she admits everything, but refuses to speak of Madame de Montespan. On February 22, 1680, the poisoner was burned in Place de Grève.
The interrogations continued. In August, La Voisin's daughter denounced in La Reynie the participation of Madame de Montespan in a black mass celebrated by Abbé Guibourg. The latter admits having pronounced the name of the king and that of the favorite during the consecration of one of these masses. Madame de Montespan demanded the friendship of the king and the dauphin, the dismissal of Mademoiselle de La Vallière*, the sterility and repudiation of the queen, which would allow her to marry the king. To attract the love of the latter, the Montespan had procured a potion made with the blood of the child sacrificed during the black mass, and various products as unhealthy as supposedly magical, which she would have had the king without his knowledge, which perhaps explains Louis XIV's discomfort. These wishes, dating back to a few years before the trial, were partly granted, the king broke away from Mademoiselle de La Vallière, and began to have children for his new favorite. La Voisin's daughter finally accuses Madame de Montespan of having wanted to poison one of her rivals, Madame de Fontanges*, and the king himself.
What credence can we give to these accusations? Another poisoner, who had also accused Madame de Montespan, retracts when going up to the stake. It is certain that, to escape death, by stopping the proceedings, the defendants had every interest in implicating very high personalities:the Duchess of Bouillon, the Countess of Soissons, both nieces of Mazarin, the Marshal of Luxembourg , the viscountess of Polignac, Racine and, of course, the king's mistress. The latter, however, observes La Reynie, was involved in 1668 in a trial brought against two future defendants in the Poisons affair, the Abbé Mariette and the sorcerer Lesage. Already, we had talked about powders. The police lieutenant and the king are therefore inclined to believe in the partial guilt of Madame de Montespan. On September 30, Louis XIV orders the interruption of the investigation. La Reynie is very disappointed:while the ardent chamber pronounced 36 capital sentences, of which 34 were carried out, 147 people are still detained in the Bastille or in Vincennes. Two of them, taken at random, and among the companions, are burned. The main defendants are transferred to various fortresses where, by order of Louvois, they will be attached to an iron chain, sealed to the wall. The chained, at the rate of six per dungeon, will await death in this position, some will thus live forty years.
As for the guilt of Madame de Montespan, the accusations of poisoning are not based on any truly formal proof. On the other hand, it is probable that she had black masses celebrated and certain that she was in touch with La Voisin, who provided her with potions known as "powders for
love".
Originally a light cavalry corps created in 1458 by Mathias Corvin to fight the Turks, the hussars are of Hungarian origin. They appeared in 1637 in the French army but did not form a distinct weapon in the cavalry until 1776. The 6 regiments of hussars of 1789 (Bercheny, Esterhazy, Lauzun, Saxe, Co