Strange Revelations: Magic, Poison, and Sacrilege in Louis XIV's France

Magic in History

by Lynn Wood Mollenauer

The Affair of the Poisons was the greatest court scandal of the seventeenth century. From 1679 to 1682 the French crown investigated more than 400 people―including Louis XIV’s official mistress and members of the highest-ranking circles at court―for sensational crimes. In Strange Revelations , Lynn Mollenauer brings this bizarre story to life, exposing a criminal magical underworld thriving in the heart of the Sun King’s capital. The macabre details of the Affair of the Poisons read like a gothic novel. In the fall of 1678, Nicolas de la Reynie, head of the Paris police, uncovered a plot to poison Louis XIV. La Reynie’s subsequent investigation unveiled a loosely knit community of sorceresses, magicians, and renegade priests who offered for sale an array of services and products ranging from abortions to love magic to poisons known as “inheritance powders.” It was the inheritance powders (usually made from powdered toads steeped in arsenic) that lent the Affair of the Poisons its name. The purchasers of the powders gave the affair its notoriety, for the scandal extended into the most exalted ranks of the French court. Mollenauer adroitly uses the Affair of the Poisons to uncover the hidden forms of power that men and women of all social classes invoked to achieve their goals. While the exercise of state power during the ancien régime was quintessentially visible―ritually displayed through public ceremonies―the affair exposes the simultaneous presence of other imagined and real sources of power available to the Sun King’s magic, poison, and the manipulation of sexual passions. Highly entertaining yet deeply researched, Strange Revelations will appeal to anyone interested in the history of court society, gender, magic, or crime in early modern Europe.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Crime, Magic, France

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mollenauer's study on the Affair of the Poisons, an infamous criminal case that revealed the criminal magical underworld of Louis XIV's otherwise pristine court life, is a well-written and accessible work of history. Any reader interested in the histories of magic, women, court culture, or french history more generally will enjoy this book.
The most refreshing and compelling argument the author presents unfurls wonderfully in the fifth chapter, "The Magic of Mistresses at the Court of Louis XIV" where she discusses the invisible but very real power of noblewomen at court. She analyses the hidden power structure of the king's court and its relation to the physical proximity to the king's body, a privilege obtained only by those who successfully captured the Sun King's heart. Here enters mysterious love ceremonies, aphrodisiacs, and luck charms to aid the influential Madame de Montespan, Louis's official mistress, to stay in his favour.
The book is a wonderful work of microhistory, incorporating the principles of Alltagsgeschichte (everyday history) to provide a cultural, social, religious, and gendered analysis of the often overlooked magical underworld of Paris.
An engaging and well-researched work, Mollenauer's book should interest both interested public and scholars of all levels alike.

[Rae · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really informational book and if you can find a copy of it, you should definitely read it. You have French history colliding with witchcraft that is based in Catholic teachings. This is a really good read you can tell Mollenauer knows how to write a story. Highly recommend for anyone who enjoys these intersections of religion, witchcraft, and royalty for their history reading.