by Holly Tucker
113at Lepère’s home: Both the elder Voisin and her daughter testified that Marie-Marguerite refused to take coaches after a certain point after having had “bad experiences” in the coach. Voisin was obliged to send a male courier in her daughter’s place; see La Reynie’s summary of interrogations, 12 July 1680 (6: 241). On the birth of Marie-Marguerite’s child and her choice of midwife, see Vautier interrogation, 2 November 1679 (6: 37); Romani interrogation, 25 July 1680 (6: 263–268).
113toward her mother was now gone: Voisin’s daughter’s childbirth and Lepère’s role as midwife in birth confirmed by Margo, Voisin’s servant, and Lepère, “Confrontation de la Lepère à Margo,” 3 July 1679 (6: 424–425). “Procès-Verbal de la Présentation de La Lepère à la Question,” 12 August 1679 (5: 452–453).
CHAPTER 17
“The Sneakiest and Meanest Woman in the World”
115the most luxurious of carriages: Vigoureux interrogation, 4 January 1679 (5: 162), Archives de la Bastille, ms. 10341, fol. 12.
115like the most devoted of lovers: Bosse interrogation, 5 January 1679 (5: 169).
115who claimed to be Faurye: Leroy interrogation, 4 July 1678 (5: 70) Archives de la Bastille, ms. 10341, fol. 25.
115died just a few days later: Somerset, 124–126; La Reynie to Ponchartrain, 7 March 1692 (7: 151).
116“keep your children off my property”: Sarmant and Soll, 94.
117“to enlighten him on it”: Louvois to La Reynie, February 1677 (4: 283). La Reynie details both his actions and his thoughts on the La Grange case as well as his interrogations of Bosse, Vigoureux, and Poulaillon in a letter addressed to Chancellor Pontchartrain on March 7, 1692 (7: 150–164); for his interrogation of Poncet, see 20 February 1677 (4: 277–283).
118“you also wrote them in code”: Poncet interrogation, 20 February 1677 (4: 279).
118“did you receive from them”: Ibid.
118“prisoner at Châtelet”: Ibid. (4: 281).
118“tell her secrets directly to His Majesty”: Ibid. (4: 282).
119“the sneakiest and meanest woman in the world”: La Reynie to Pontchartrain, 7 March 1677.
119La Reynie asked to see the letters: La Grange (7: 151). 23 February 1677 (4: 283–284).
119La Grange insisted: La Grange interrogation, 26 April 1677 (4: 287).
120“expense of my enemies”: Quoted in Treasure, Louis XIV 174.
120“transferred to the Bastille”: Le Tellier to La Reynie, 8 June 1677 (4: 291).
CHAPTER 18
“Burn after Reading”
122passed daily through the compound: Saint-Germain, La Reynie 12–13.
122“you will lose me forever”: 5: 180–181, n. 2.
123“it is enough to know only of the intent”: Ibid.
123“Burn after reading”: Ibid.
124uncovering its author: Colbert to La Reynie, 12 October 1677 (4: 308).
124his approval of the request: Seignelay to the First President (of the parlement) Novi, 19 November 1678 (5: 152–153).
125“begin the procedure you are proposing”: Colbert to La Reynie, 28 November 1678 (5: 155–156).
CHAPTER 19
Dinner Guests
126to perform on Poulaillon’s husband: Vigoureux interrogation, 4 January 1679 (5: 159); Archives de la Bastille, ms. 10341, fols. 10–11.
127bracelet, encrusted with precious jewels: Vigoureux interrogation, 4 January 1679 (5: 159); Archives de la Bastille, ms. 10341, fols. 10–11.
127left with a vial of poison: Colbert to La Reynie, 28 November 1679 (5: 157, n. 1).
129obscenity-laden missives directed against the wardens: From personal tour of upper levels of the dungeons, March 2014.
129apothecaries for testing: Red wax was typically used by La Reynie’s officiers for seals; see Archives de la Bastille, ms. 10347, fol. 1 and elsewhere.
130down for questioning first: all dialogue from “Interrogation of Vigoureux,” 4 January, 1679, Archives de la Bastille, ms. 10341, fols. 9–18 (5: 157–164). Though the historical record does not tell us precisely where in the tower the police chief’s initial interrogations took place, in all likelihood they happened in Charles V’s formal counsel room on the second floor with its large fireplace.
132to question Bosse: Interrogation of Marie Mariettte, Widow Bosse, 5 January 1679 (5: 167–175); Archives de la Bastille, ms. 10341, fols. 24–45. La Reynie questioned Bosse a day earlier, on January 4, but only briefly. “Interrogation of Bosse, dit Belamour,” 4 January 1679 (5: 164–167), Archives de la Bastille, ms. 10341, fols. 7–8.
132powders and liquids found in her home: For the search-and-seizure record as well as the various documents found in her home, see Archives de la Bastille, ms. 10342, fols. 78–87.
132“put the idea in my head”: Interrogation of Marie Mariette, Widow Bosse, 5 January 1679 (5: 173–175); Archives de la Bastille, ms. 10341, fols. 32–34. Ravaisson’s transcription of the interrogation is incomplete. Moreover the transcriptions do not include La Reynie’s interrogation of Bosse on 18 January 1679, 21 January 1679 (Archives de la Bastille, ms. 10341, fols. 100–107, 144–147), or interrogations of Vigoureux on 19 January 1679, 21 January 1679, 23 January 1679, 29 January (Archives de la Bastille, ms. 10341, fols. 128–131, 134–136, 148–150, 168–171).
CHAPTER 20
The Question
134betting that Louvois would win: for rivalries between Colbert and Louvois, Claude Farrère, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, 71–93; Mongrédien, L’Affaire des poisons, 161–168.
134to enhance the glory of the king: A. Corvisier, Louvois (Paris: Fayard, 1983), 389.
135“freezes out those who come to him”: Visconti, 3.
135“war, glory, dominion, and self-worship”: The Age of Louis XIV, 17.
135time of relative peace: “Barely had the Te Deum been celebrated to honor the victorious peace of Nimègue and the Affairs [regarding poison] bubbled back up again,” Rousset, 270.
136to the parlement: Louvois to Chancellor Le Tellier, 5 February 1679 (5: 178–179).
136three years earlier: All dialogue for La Grange interrogation from Procès-verbal of the Question for La Grange and Nail [Launay], 6 February 1679 (5: 180–193). Archives de la Bastille, ms. 10341, fols. 571–600.
139as documented by the interrogation record: All dialogue for the Launay interrogation from Procès-verbal of the Question for La Grange and Nail [Launay], 6 February 1679 (5: 180–193). Archives de la Bastille, ms. 10341, fols. 571–600.
139“dying from the force of the torments”: Procès-verbal of the Question for La Grange and Nail [Launay], 6 February 1679 (5: 192).
140had let La Grange and Launay off too gently: Ibid., n. 1. See La Reynie’s sustained reflections on the La Grange interrogation and other related events in his letter to Louvois, 28 January 1681 (6: 417–419) and “Mémoire de La Reynie sur le fait touchant les abominations . . .” (6: 393–403, 417–419).
141“powders, poisons, or similar things”: Procès-verbal of the Execution, 8 February 1679 (5: 194–200).
CHAPTER 21
Monsters
142former servant, a woman named Monstreux: Perrine Monstreux interrogation, February 13 1679 (5: 202–212). The description of Poulaillon’s sentence in the Chambre Ardente (5 June 1679, 5: 386–387 and 7: 176–177) is taken from La Reynie’s observations many years later on the occasion of Madame de Poulaillon’s request for clemency (18 May 1697, 7: 176–177). La Reynie’s letter to Pontchartrain in 1697 gives the date for the Chambre as 7 June 1679, not 5 June as indicated by Ravaisson.
143“strong and ugly fat woman”: Monstreux interrogation, 13 February 1679 (5: 206).
143“It will put him to sleep”: Ibid. (5: 209).
144instructed Monstreux once again: Ibid.
144“find yourself in trouble”: Ibid.
144“put it in his wine”: Ibid.
145to evade arrest: La Chéron interrogation, 25 February 1679 (5: 223, n. 1).
145few would think to look for her: See Archiv
es de la Bastille, ms. 10342, fol. 128.
145“every one one of them will die”: La Chéron interrogation, 27 March 1679 (5: 300). See also La Chéron testimony, 25 February 1670 (5: 226).
146two apothecaries to Bosse’s home: Archives de la Bastille, ms. 1324, fols. 42–44; Nass, Les empoisonnements sous Louis XIV d’après les documents inédits de l’affaire des poisons: 1679–1682 (Paris: Carré et Naud, 1898), 145–149.
147La Reynie interrogated Bosse again at Vincennes: Interrogation of Bosse, 12 March 1679 (5: 244–248); Archives de la Bastille, ms. 10342, fols. 60–68.
147apothecaries the day before: Ravaisson reproduces a large portion of this interrogation. However, sections are missing in the transcription; for this see Archives de la Bastille, ms. 10342, especially fols. 60–62 and 65–68.
148“a clear liquid for Madame Poulaillon”: Ibid., fol. 65.
CHAPTER 22
Quanto
151Seven separate royal ordinances: 1643, 1655, 1661, 1663, 1664, 1665, 1666. Delamare, Traité de la Police 1: 459–466.
152stolen winnings: nouvelles à la main, 1671 (4: 50–51).
152devastating losses was stunning: Clément, Montespan, 107; Lettres inédites de Feuquières, 4: 277.
153Carmelite convent: Clément, Montespan, 86.
153wrote to her priest: Ibid., 89.
153disappointed and bitter: Lemoine, 49.
153“very good heart”: Choisy, Mémoires, 174; Orléans, Correspondence complète, 390.
154could access through a shared staircase: Visconti, Mémoires, 208–209.
154gift from the king: Bush, Memoirs of the Queens of France, 2: 178.
154trademark curls: The hairstyle remained popular at court for more than ten years, long after Fontanges’s favor diminished at court, until Louis tired of it and instructed women at court to wear their hair straight and unadorned. “I can’t describe to you the stir this caused at Versailles,” Madame de Sévigné wrote. See Bussy-Rabutin, Correspondence, 6: 485–486, and Sévigné, 15 May 1691, 10: 24.
154“edge of a high precipice”: Lettre de Madame de Scudéry à Bussy, 18 January 1679, cited in Clément, Montespan, 110.
155formal separation of the couple’s assets: L. Delavaud, La cour de Louis XIV en 1671: Madame De Montespan, Colbert & Louvois. (Paris: Levé, 1912), 4.
156with profanity: Bussy-Rabutin, 18 May 1680.
156“without Monsieur Colbert”: Madame de Montmorency to Bussy-Rabutin, 18 June 1679; see also Bussy, 18 May 1680; Sévigné, 25 May 1680.
156“marry a prince!”: Visconti, 289.
157“very knowledgeable in it”: Rousset, 2: 561.
157“striking them in secret”: François-Timoléon de Choisy, Mémoires de l’abbé de Choisy, 66–67.
CHAPTER 23
Search and Seizure
158the Châtelet commissioner on duty: Jacques Camuset should not be confused with the commissioner responsible for inventorying Sainte-Croix’s home, whose full name was Sébastien Camuset Picard but is referred to most often in the record as Picard.
158that she would be arrested: La Reynie suspected that Voisin had burned the most incriminating papers before her arrest, including those relating to Madame Leféron and Madame Dreux, Procès-verbal of Voisin’s Question, 19 February 1680 (6: 156).
159desired effect: Camuset’s report on the seizure and inventory of Voisin’s home can be found in Archives de la Bastille, ms. 10342, fols. 48–50. It is reproduced only in part in Ravaisson; original documents found at Voisin’s home constitute the bulk of Archives de la Bastille, ms. 10357.
159from her cell for questioning: Dialogue from Voisin interrogation, 17 March, 1679 (5: 257–267), Archives de la Bastille, ms. 10342, fols. 69–79.
160a flood swept the bridge: See Voisin interrogation, 17 March 1679 (5: 267). Ravaisson notes that, in a 1664 complaint against his wife, Marie-Marguerite’s father is named as a “bonnetier” who had established a shop on the Pont Marie. The original Pont-Marie was swept away in a flood in 1658, which was around the time that Marie-Marguerite was born. While a temporary bridge restored the link across the river in 1660, work did not begin in earnest until 1667. The bridge was not finished until 1670—at which time Marie-Marguerite would have been twelve. Interrogation records suggest that the husband was still unemployed at this time.
160“chiromancy” skills: Voisin claimed that she learned her skills at the age of nine, Bosse interrogation, 27 March 1679 (5: 297).
161at Montmartre: Ibid. (5: 259).
161paid a handsome price: Ibid. (5: 269).
161“we found at your house?”: This portion of the interrogation is not included in Ravaisson’s transcription; see Archives de la Bastille, ms. 10342, fols. 76–77.
162to the interrogation room together: Confrontation of Bosse and Voisin, 28 March 1679 (5: 303–310).
163Leféron did not listen, she said: Leroux admitted during the Question that she gave Voisin a vial of poison for Madame Leféron, Procès-verbal of Question of La Leroux,” 5 April 1680 (6: 199–203).
163it was evidence enough: Included on the list, which La Reynie sent to the king the same day: Mesdames Lepère, Saint Martin, Bergerot, Monaco, Duval, Rollet, Catau, Simon, and Philbert, among others, Archives de la Bastille, ms. 10342, fol. 77; see also interrogations of 15 and 28 March 1679.
163to ensure the security of the prison: In May 1679 Desgrez received a second bonus—as did the notary Sagot, Louvois to La Reynie, 20 May 1679 (5: 374).
CHAPTER 24
A Noble Pair
164poisoned her husband: March 21, see Louvois’s letter to La Reynie, 22 March 1679 (5: 284–285).
165“over the fear [the arrests] are causing”: Saville to Coventry, April 1679 (5: 335).
165“one of their siblings gives them”: Petitfils, Affaire, 124.
165guards accompanying the police chief: Louvois to Desgrez, 22 March 1679 (6: 283).
165while frisking the suspect: Archives de la Bastille, ms. 10342, fol. 92.
165was gone now: All dialogue from Lesage interrogation, 22 March 1679 (5: 285–289). A large portion of this interrogation is not reproduced in Ravaisson; see Archives de la Bastille, ms. 10342, fols. 100–111.
166a very nasty woman: Lesage interrogation, 22 March, 1679 (5: 287); A large portion of this interrogation is not reproduced in Ravaisson.
166with bravado: Archives de la Bastille, ms. 10342, fols. 114–117.
167following her there two days later: See Louvois to La Reynie, 11 April 1679 (5:333); “Procès-verbal of Madame de Dreux’s capture,” 11 April 1679 (5: 334), Archives de la Bastille, ms. 10343, fols. 69–70. Degrez was accompanied by twelve guards when he arrested Dreux.
167one or two questions: Leféron interrogation, 13 April 1679 (5: 336); Dreux interrogation, 16 April 1679; Partial transcription of Archives de la Bastille, ms. 10343, fols. 107–109 in 5: 336–337.
168gone to her all the same: Dreux interrogation, 16 April 1670 (5: 337). On April 20 Dreux’s husband petitioned the tribunal to allow her legal counsel. His petition was ignored. Archives de la Bastille, ms. 10343, fols. 128–129.
168dispensing poisons: On March 8, 1679, Louis informed La Reynie via Louvois that he intended to appoint a special committee to try suspects who were imprisoned at Vincennes. The king named the eleven men who would sit on the committee (Boucherat, Breteuil, Bezons, Voisin [a state counselor, no relation to Madame Voisin], Fieubet, Pelletier, Pommereuil, d’Argouges, Fortin, Turot, Ormesson, and La Reynie). The king requested that La Reynie begin preparing for the eventual trials. One month later, on April 7, Louis formally announced by lettre patente his wish to create the private tribunal, see Louvois to La Reynie, 8 March 1679. (5: 237).
168the king did not yield: Mercure Galant, March 1679: 341–342. See also Mongrédien, 41.
168primary arms depot for France: Sauval, 330–332.
169detective, prosecutor, and judge: Somerset, 150.
169they had collected: In the pages that follow I refer infrequ
ently to Claude Bazin de Bezons. Bezons assisted La Reynie in the interrogations at Vincennes through August 1679, which corresponds to the moment when the tribunal began its lengthy review of evidence against suspected poisoners (Archives de la Bastille, ms. 10345, fols. 243–249, 332–354, 357–364). From 30 August 1679, La Reynie’s name alone figures in interrogation records. It is likely, then, that Bezons was reassigned to the Arsenal in order to facilitate the tribunal’s review of interrogation records and other evidence collected by La Reynie. While Bezons was present at many of the interrogations and sat as a judge at the tribunal (as did La Reynie), I concur with Mongrédien that his role was “only secondary” to that of La Reynie (168).
CHAPTER 25
The Burning Chamber
170the Question: BNF, mss. francais, 7608, fols. 20–21.
171what was said: All we have left are a few sentences indicating that Vigoureux confirmed that Lesage and his priestly companion Mariette performed sacrilegious masses for Madame Philbert and that the marquis of Luxembourg, Louvois’s nemesis, had also used their services. “Résumé du Procès-verbal de Question de La Voisin,” 9 May 1679. BNF, mss. français 7608, fols. 20–21 (5: 260).
171“from a head wound”: Ibid.
171screaming along with it: “Procès-verbal de la Chambre,” 4–6 May 1679 (5: 363); “Résumé du Procès-verbal de Question de la Bosse” (5: 360–361); “Procès-verbal de pronunciation et d’exécution de l’arrêt” 10 May 1679 (5: 362–364).
172take care of any sick prisoners: Louvois to La Reynie, 14 May 1679 (5: 367).
172no new insights: Confrontation between Voisin and Lesage, 18–19 May 1679 (5: 367–369).
172to question Madame de Poulaillon: “Procès-verbal de la Chambre,” 5 June 1679 (5:386–387); La Reynie to Pontchartrain, 18 May 1697 (7: 175–177).
172to do the job for her: La Reynie to Pontchartrain, 18 May 1697 (7: 175).
172“presence of mind”: “Procès-verbal de la Chambre,” 5 June 1679 (5: 387, n. 2).
172then beheaded: “Procès-verbal de la Chambre” (5: 386–387).
173“She was very polite”: La Reynie to Pontchartrain, 18 May 1697 (7: 175).