BRINVILLIERS, MARIE MADELEINE MARGUERITE D’AUBRAY,
Marquise de (c. 1630–1676), French poisoner, daughter of
Dreux d’Aubray, civil lieutenant of Paris, was born in Paris
about 1630. In 1651 she married the marquis de Brinvilliers,
then serving in the regiment of Normandy.
Contemporary evidence describes the marquise at this time
as a pretty and much-courted little woman, with a fascinating
air of childlike innocence.
In 1659 her husband introduced her to his friend Godin de
Sainte-Croix, a handsome young cavalry officer of extravagant
tastes and bad reputation, whose mistress she became.
Their relations soon created a public scandal, and as the marquis
de Brinvilliers, who had left France to avoid his creditors, made no
effort to terminate them, M. d’Aubray secured the arrest of Sainte-
Croix on a lettre de cachet.
For a year Sainte-Croix remained a prisoner in the Bastille, where
he is popularly supposed to have acquired a knowledge of poisons
from his fellow-prisoner, the Italian poisoner Exili.
When he left the Bastille, he plotted with his willing mistress his
revenge upon her father.
She cheerfully undertook to experiment with the poisons which
Sainte-Croix, possibly with the help of a chemist, Christopher
Glaser, prepared, and found subjects ready to hand in the poor who
sought her charity, and the sick whom she visited in the hospitals.
Meanwhile Sainte-Croix, completely ruined financially, enlarged his
original idea, and determined that not only M. Dreux d’Aubray but
also the latter’s two sons and other daughter should be poisoned,
so that the marquise de Brinvilliers and himself might come into
possession of the large family fortune. In February 1666, satisfied
with the efficiency of Sainte-Croix’s preparations and with the ease
with which they could be administered without detection, the marquise
poisoned her father, and in 1670, with the connivance of their valet
La Chaussée, her two brothers. A post-mortem examination suggested
the real cause of death, but no suspicion was directed to the murderers.
Before any attempt could be made on the life of Mlle Théresè d’Aubray,
Sainte-Croix suddenly died. As he left no heirs the police were called in,
and discovered among his belongings documents seriously incriminating
the marquise and La Chaussée.
The latter was arrested, tortured into a complete confession, and broken
alive on the wheel (1673), but the marquise escaped, taking refuge first
probably in England, then in Germany, and finally in a convent at Liége,
whence she was decoyed by a police emissary disguised as a priest.
A full account of her life and crimes was found among her papers.
Her attempt to commit suicide was frustrated, and she was taken to Paris,
where she was beheaded and her body burned on the 16th of July, 1676.
L'Aiguille Creuse
LE COUP DE FEU
Doucement elle se leva. Sa fenêtre était entrouverte, elle en écarta les battants.
La clarté de la lune reposait sur un calme paysage de pelouses et de bosquets où
les ruines éparses de l’ancienne abbaye se découpaient en silhouettes tragiques,
colonnes tronquées, ogives incomplètes, ébauches de portiques et lambeaux
d’arcs-boutants. Un peu d’air flottait à la surface des choses, glissant à travers
les rameaux nus et immobiles des arbres, mais agitant les petites feuilles naissantes
des massifs.
越王勾踐破呉歸 義士還家盡錦衣 宮女如花滿春殿 只今惟有鷓鴣飛.
越中懐古 李白
越王勾踐破呉歸 義士還家盡錦衣 宮女如花滿春殿，只今惟有鷓鴣飛
