By Paul Carrier
Louis XIV may well have been France’s most famous king (except for that other guy who lost his head — literally — in 1793). Known as le Roi Soleil (the Sun King), Louis ruled France for more than 72 years, from 1643 until 1715. He believed in the divine right of kings, promoted the centralization of government power, reined in the nobility, expanded France’s borders and was a patron of the arts.
But the highlights of Louis’ reign are not the subject of City of Light, City of Poison. Instead, Holly Tucker zeroes in on something that is both more obscure and more fascinating. By the 1660s, a plague had struck the very heart of Louis’ realm, attacking the city of Paris itself. The capital of France had become known as the crime capital of the world. And the king had decided to do something about it.
In 1667, Louis appointed Gabriel Nicholas de La Reynie as Paris’ first lieutenant general (or chief) of police, and none too soon. La Reynie, who was granted very broad powers, tackled the easiest problems first, by cleaning the city’s filthy streets and ordering that they be lit, thus transforming Paris into the City of Light and making it the first major European city to illuminate its streets at night.
But La Reynie also faced more intractable challenges, as Tucker makes clear in the subtitle of her book: Murder, Magic, and the First Police Chief of Paris.
Zealous and tireless, La Reynie uncovered a clandestine ring of notorious poisoners, witches and satanic priests who used dark arts, spells, potions and powders (some made from the body parts of children) in macabre moneymaking schemes. Customers turned to this clandestine marketplace for aphrodisiacs, or to buy poisons to kill their spouses, other family members, or rivals.
That would have been bad enough under normal circumstances, but La Reynie learned that the poisoners’ clients included members of the nobility, and that the king himself might be in jeopardy. The resulting scandal, which rocked the city for years and left a lasting impression on its residents, became known as the Affair of the Poisons.
Poison “was everywhere, even in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, where poisoners often met their clients and made sales,” Tucker said in an interview with BookPage.
City of Light, City of Poison reads like fiction, thanks to the suspense Tucker builds as she introduces readers to the poison makers, occultists and charlatans who helped unscrupulous aristocrats dispose of their foes. We visit criminals’ haunts in seedy neighborhoods, royal palaces, a secret court and government torture chambers, as La Reynie and the king’s senior ministers race to expose the more notorious practices of the Paris underworld.
Tucker spent years researching City of Light, City of Poison, which includes an extensive bibliography and 30 pages of notes. Still, despite the author’s best efforts, the Affair of the Poisons remains clouded in mystery.
For one thing, some of the testimony from witnesses and participants may be questionable, because of the shady people involved in the scandal. More importantly, the king destroyed many records after La Reynie died. Scholars “have not always agreed on the events, characters, and motivations behind what was arguably the greatest social and political scandal in early French history,” Tucker writes in an epilogue.
Fortunately for history, though, La Reynie’s 800-plus pages of notes and related documents did not end up in the king’s hands, and have survived to this day. So while some aspects of the scandal have been lost or obscured, the statistics Tucker compiled show that the Affair of the Poisons was quite real, and did not involve isolated incidents.
From 1679 to 1682, the special court created to deal with the crisis met 210 times, questioned 442 people, imprisoned 218 of them, executed 34, and sentenced 28 to life in prison or aboard galleys. There may be gaps in the record, but Tucker has mined the available documents with great attention to detail, creating a gripping account of an era that was no longer medieval but not quite modern either.
But the highlights of Louis’ reign are not the subject of City of Light, City of Poison. Instead, Holly Tucker zeroes in on something that is both more obscure and more fascinating. By the 1660s, a plague had struck the very heart of Louis’ realm, attacking the city of Paris itself. The capital of France had become known as the crime capital of the world. And the king had decided to do something about it.
In 1667, Louis appointed Gabriel Nicholas de La Reynie as Paris’ first lieutenant general (or chief) of police, and none too soon. La Reynie, who was granted very broad powers, tackled the easiest problems first, by cleaning the city’s filthy streets and ordering that they be lit, thus transforming Paris into the City of Light and making it the first major European city to illuminate its streets at night.
But La Reynie also faced more intractable challenges, as Tucker makes clear in the subtitle of her book: Murder, Magic, and the First Police Chief of Paris.
Zealous and tireless, La Reynie uncovered a clandestine ring of notorious poisoners, witches and satanic priests who used dark arts, spells, potions and powders (some made from the body parts of children) in macabre moneymaking schemes. Customers turned to this clandestine marketplace for aphrodisiacs, or to buy poisons to kill their spouses, other family members, or rivals.
That would have been bad enough under normal circumstances, but La Reynie learned that the poisoners’ clients included members of the nobility, and that the king himself might be in jeopardy. The resulting scandal, which rocked the city for years and left a lasting impression on its residents, became known as the Affair of the Poisons.
Poison “was everywhere, even in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, where poisoners often met their clients and made sales,” Tucker said in an interview with BookPage.
City of Light, City of Poison reads like fiction, thanks to the suspense Tucker builds as she introduces readers to the poison makers, occultists and charlatans who helped unscrupulous aristocrats dispose of their foes. We visit criminals’ haunts in seedy neighborhoods, royal palaces, a secret court and government torture chambers, as La Reynie and the king’s senior ministers race to expose the more notorious practices of the Paris underworld.
Tucker spent years researching City of Light, City of Poison, which includes an extensive bibliography and 30 pages of notes. Still, despite the author’s best efforts, the Affair of the Poisons remains clouded in mystery.
For one thing, some of the testimony from witnesses and participants may be questionable, because of the shady people involved in the scandal. More importantly, the king destroyed many records after La Reynie died. Scholars “have not always agreed on the events, characters, and motivations behind what was arguably the greatest social and political scandal in early French history,” Tucker writes in an epilogue.
Fortunately for history, though, La Reynie’s 800-plus pages of notes and related documents did not end up in the king’s hands, and have survived to this day. So while some aspects of the scandal have been lost or obscured, the statistics Tucker compiled show that the Affair of the Poisons was quite real, and did not involve isolated incidents.
From 1679 to 1682, the special court created to deal with the crisis met 210 times, questioned 442 people, imprisoned 218 of them, executed 34, and sentenced 28 to life in prison or aboard galleys. There may be gaps in the record, but Tucker has mined the available documents with great attention to detail, creating a gripping account of an era that was no longer medieval but not quite modern either.
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