July 22, 1630 - Madame de Brinvilliers
Her crimes unfolded within the enclosed world of French aristocratic inheritance, where patience and access were the only tools required. Over a period of years, she administered poison to members of her own family to consolidate their estates, conducting what amounted to a methodical campaign behind a façade of social respectability. Unconfirmed accounts circulated after her execution that she had refined her methods on hospital patients and animals, lending her case an outsized reputation that helped ignite the broader Affaire des Poisons and a crisis of confidence in Parisian society.
From Wikipedia
Marie-Madeleine d'Aubray, Marquise de Brinvilliers (French: [bʁɛ̃vilje]; 22 July 1630 – 16 July 1676) was a French aristocrat who was convicted of murdering her father and two of her brothers in order to inherit their estates. After her death, there was speculation that she tested her poisons on upwards of 30 sick people in hospitals and street dogs, but these rumours were never confirmed. Her crimes were discovered after the death of her lover and co-conspirator, Captain Godin de Sainte-Croix, who saved letters detailing dealings of poisonings between the two. After being arrested, she was tortured, forced to confess, and finally executed. Her trial and death spawned the onset of the Affair of the Poisons, a major scandal during the reign of Louis XIV accusing aristocrats of practising witchcraft and poisoning people. Components of her life have been adapted into various media including short stories, poems, and songs to name a few.
- Last updated on .