Trial and Retribution
Marie Madeleine and Sainte Croix became estranged after the death of her brothers. Then, quite suddenly, in 1672, Sainte Croix died. In debt and without heirs, his possessions were impounded pending a review by magistrates and his creditors. Discovered amongst them was a small red leather casket. When the box was opened, inside was a note requesting the case and the contents be returned to “Madame the Marquise de Brinvilliers …… as all that it contains concerns her alone.” These contents included incriminating letters from Marie to Sainte Croix. They were accompanied by poison.
The evidence implicated Marie Madeleine in the poisoning of her family. La Chausse was arrested, and a warrant issued for the apprehension of the Marquise. By the time officials came to serve it, it was too late. Marie Madeleine and her maidservant were in London. However, the thought of such a highly placed poisoner alarmed Louis XIV. The Marquise’s relationship with the court chemist, Glaser (who had also disappeared) had by now been established. What implications did this have for his court? Louis was therefore anxious the Marquise should be found- and questioned. However, by the time he had negotiated her extradition with Charles II, Marie Madeleine had fled again.
The Marquise found her final refuge at a convent in Liege, Belgium and there she may have safely stayed. However, in 1676, a policeman named Desgrez, disguised as a priest, managed to lure her out. The marquise was taken back to France under heavy guard, along with “a little casket of papers and letters of which she has the key, and which has not yet been examined.” The Marquise had claimed that the box contained her confession and “begged” for it to be returned to her. It was read instead and found to contain a full admission of her crimes.
Realising she was doomed, Marie Madeleine tried to kill herself several times. In between these acts of desperation, she dropped heavy hints that she could implicate half the nobility of France in her poisoning scandal. “But I will say nothing” was the only other thing she would say. It was these enigmatic ‘others’ that Louis XIV was particularly interested in. The Marquise was condemned for the deaths of her family from the moment the evidence came to light. However, the King wanted the names of her associates before she paid the price for her crimes.
So, while Marie Madeleine ostensibly waited for the verdict, she was assigned the Abbe Pirot as her confessor. Pirot was also tasked with collecting other names; information he only agreed to pass on after the marquise dead. However, while the Marquise finally admitted her guilt, she protected her associates. “Half the people of quality are involved in this sort of thing, and I could ruin them if I were to talk,” was all she would say. As a result, the court ordered her torture before her execution. Again, she did not break. The secrets of the Marquise de Brinvillier burnt with her decapitated corpse. However, her crimes had opened a Pandora’s box. The inquiry into the misdeeds of France’s nobility had only just begun.
Where Do We get this stuff? Here are our sources:
Madame de Brinvilliers and her times 1630-1676, Hugh Stokes, John Lane Company, 2015
Affair of the Poisons, Encyclopædia Britannica, December 17, 2010