Affair Of The Poisons: The Court Of King Louis XIV

The court of King Louis XIV is often romanticized, but in reality there were many dark secrets within the walls of the palace, most of which were somehow connected to magical spells and potions designed to destroy rivals. In Strange Revelations, Lynn Wood Mollenauer looks into the events surrounding the “Affair of the Poisons” (L 'affaire des Poisons) as it relates to the members of high society. Mollenauer argues, throughout her intense study of scandal within Louis XIV’s court, that the events and testimonies provided can illustrate the social and cultural dynamics of France in the late 1600s, and analyzes how the use of magic affected all members of society. While she successfully illustrated both the connection between magic and religion and the importance of science when creating spells, I felt that she lost some support through her discussion of the people who were able to perform magic and the influence women had over such rituals.
Throughout the book, Mollenauer references the connections …show more content…
Women within the court used whatever tools they had access to in order to defeat rivals and achieve a higher status than the other women of the court. Madame de Montespan is a prime example of this kind of woman, who used both poison and magic to keep the king romantically interested in her. Magical women did not appear to be as interested in the rise to political power, but were content in their small fortunes and mystical power. The exception to this is clearly the Marquise de Brinvillers, who murdered her father and both of her brothers (and attempted to murder her husband and daughter) in order to become more wealthy, and thus more powerful. It is incredibly clear from Mollenauer’s inclusion of so many women in her study that she believes they were the most influential with regards to magic during this