Catherine Monvoisin, or Montvoisin, née Deshayes, known as "La Voisin" (c. 1640 – 22 February 1680), was a French fortune teller, commissioned poisoner, accused of witchcraft. She was the head of a network of fortune tellers in Paris providing poison, aphrodisiacs, abortion, with clients among the aristocracy and became the central figure in the famous affaire des poisons. Her purported organization of commissioned black magic and poison murder was suspected to have killed 1,000 people, but it is believed that upwards of 2,500 people might have been murdered.

Life

Little is known of Catherine Deshayes' early life. She learned fortune telling as a child and later married Antoine Monvoisin, who was active as a jeweller and silk merchant with a shop at Pont-Marie in Paris.

When her husband's trade business led to bankruptcy, La Voisin supported the family by practising chiromancy and face-reading. In addition to being a fortune teller, she was also active as a midwife, which developed into providing abortions. Whether the baby in question was actually killed on this occasion, or whether the baby was already dead by natural causes, such as being stillborn, could vary.

She had several associates working for her arranging and participating in her professional magic services, notably Adam Lesage, who performed alleged magical tasks; and the priest Étienne Guibourg and abbé Mariotte, who officiated at the black masses. La Voisin also provided Montespan with an aphrodisiac, with which Montespan drugged the king. During the king's affair with Madame de Soubise, Montespan used an aphrodisiac provided by La Voisin's colleague Françoise Filastre and made by Louis Galet in Normandy.

In 1677, Montespan made it clearthat if the king should abandon her, she would have him killed. When the king entered into a relationship with Angélique de Fontanges in 1679, Montespan called for La Voisin and asked her to have both the king and Fontanges killed.

Trial and execution

On 17 February 1680, La Voisin was put on trial, convicted of witchcraft, and sentenced to execution by burning two days later. In the days following her verdict, until her execution, it was said that she was formally interrogated under torture, with the official document stating she was tortured enough to beg for mercy.

  • Anémone portrayed La Voisin in the 1997 film Marquise.
  • La Voisin was the basis for the character portrayed by Suzanne Clément in the 2017 TV series Versailles.

Literature

  • W. Branch Johnson: "'The Age Of Arsenic'. Being an account of the life, trial and execution of Catherine Montvoison, known as La Voison, and of her vile associates and credulous Clients of both high and low Degree: together with the Relation of their various Transactions in Poison, Abortion, and Black or Satanic Masses, with other Details concerning sundry Manners and Habits of the Times and with but little Moralising thereon: the Whole comprising a curious and momentous Episode in the Reign of King Louis XIV of France" (1932).
  • She is also mentioned in Anne Rice's novel "The Vampire Lestat."
  • The Hypnotist by Brad Steiger (1979)
  • Judith Merkle Riley: The Oracle Glass (1994)
  • Anne en Serge Golon: Angélique en de koning
  • Shelby Mahurin: Serpent & Dove
  • Danielle L. Jensen: Hidden Huntress
  • Addie Thorley: An Affair of Poisons
  • Lana Popovic:Poison Priestess
  • Bram Stoker, 1910. "Famous Imposters", Chapter V. Witchcraft and Clairvoyance, Section C. La Voisin, Sidgwick & Jackson, Ltd: Adelphi, USA.Pg. 164 - 174

Manga

ボアザン (Boazan), by Takatoo Rui, is a manga partially based on La Voisin.

Music

Belgian black metal band Enthroned use La Voisin as the basis for the song "Graced by Evil Blood" on their 2002 album Carnage in Worlds Beyond.

See also

  • Giulia Tofana, another female poisoner, in Italy, only a decade before La Voisin
  • Gironima Spana, another female manager of a net of female poisoners who were the central figure of another poison affair, the Spana Prosecution.
  • Marie-Anne de La Ville; in October 1702, this person was arrested for having created a new organisation similar to the one of la Voisin, but because of Affair of the Poisons, she and her colleagues were never brought to trial, but imprisoned without trial on a lettre du cachet.
  • Marie-Josephte Corriveau, a Canadian woman convicted of murder in 1763, later acquiring a legend and comparison to La Voisin.
  • List of French serial killers

References

Sources

  • Anne Somerset – The Affair of the Poisons: Murder, Infanticide, and Satanism at the Court of Louis XIV (St. Martin's Press (2003) )
  • Excerpts from Bastille trial records of Guibourg and LaVoisin (French and English translation)
  • Frantz Funck-Brentano: Princes and Poisoners Or Studies of the Court of Louis XIV
  • H Noel Williams: Madame de Montespan and Louis XIV
  • Duramy, Benedetta Faedi. "Women and Poisons in 17th Century France," Chicago-Kent Law Review vol. 87, no. 2 (2012)
  • Mollenauer, Lynn Wood. "Strange Revelations: Magic, Poison, and Sacrilege in Louis XIV’s France." (Penn State University Press. (2007) )