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What I have been reading
Yesterday I had my first belly dancing lesson. Today my body is a big NO! But it was great fun and I look forward to the next time.
Th Affair of the Poisons by Anne Somerset. In the 1670’s there was a big scandal in France when a woman called Brinvilliers was convicted for poisoning several members of her family. It was doubly shocking because she was an aristocrat and she was beautiful, something which was generally believed to be a guarantee of a good character. It was also the starting point for an investigation were a number of people, many of the member of the court, were involved. It was a very complicated investigation where people were accused of murder by poison, abortions, witchcraft and even infant sacrifice. A witch called La Voisin was believed to have murdered people by the thousands. Initially Louis XIV was very keen on finding all the guilty parties, but then more and more members of court were accused, eventually even his longtime mistress, Madame de Montespan. For example she was supposed to have been in a Black Mass in an effort to regain the King’s vaning affection. In the end a lot of people were convicted and executed, but there was also evidence which was destroyed. Madame de Monstepsan was never convicted of anything, but it ended her affair with the King and she was forced to retire to a convent. And several person who were innocent, but close to the convicted, like family member, were imprisoned and forbidden to speak again for the rest of their life.
I found this book very interesting, but also a bit of a hard read. Several chapters covers the poison scandal which started it all as well as descriptions of court and it’s members before we come to the actual Affairs of the Poison. As there were so any involved, there are a lot of mini-biographies along the way, which are both interesting and stops up the narrative a bit. I find these events fascinating and I enjoyed the book a lot, but I also read it rather slowly. I also know more about systematic torture now than I really care to.
I’m more convinced than ever that this will be the major plot point in Versailles eventually. Probably not the next season as most of it took place in the late 1670’s, but it’s far too juicy to be ignored.
Th Affair of the Poisons by Anne Somerset. In the 1670’s there was a big scandal in France when a woman called Brinvilliers was convicted for poisoning several members of her family. It was doubly shocking because she was an aristocrat and she was beautiful, something which was generally believed to be a guarantee of a good character. It was also the starting point for an investigation were a number of people, many of the member of the court, were involved. It was a very complicated investigation where people were accused of murder by poison, abortions, witchcraft and even infant sacrifice. A witch called La Voisin was believed to have murdered people by the thousands. Initially Louis XIV was very keen on finding all the guilty parties, but then more and more members of court were accused, eventually even his longtime mistress, Madame de Montespan. For example she was supposed to have been in a Black Mass in an effort to regain the King’s vaning affection. In the end a lot of people were convicted and executed, but there was also evidence which was destroyed. Madame de Monstepsan was never convicted of anything, but it ended her affair with the King and she was forced to retire to a convent. And several person who were innocent, but close to the convicted, like family member, were imprisoned and forbidden to speak again for the rest of their life.
I found this book very interesting, but also a bit of a hard read. Several chapters covers the poison scandal which started it all as well as descriptions of court and it’s members before we come to the actual Affairs of the Poison. As there were so any involved, there are a lot of mini-biographies along the way, which are both interesting and stops up the narrative a bit. I find these events fascinating and I enjoyed the book a lot, but I also read it rather slowly. I also know more about systematic torture now than I really care to.
I’m more convinced than ever that this will be the major plot point in Versailles eventually. Probably not the next season as most of it took place in the late 1670’s, but it’s far too juicy to be ignored.
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Belly Dancing has always sounded like it would be fun exercise.
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The history book sounds like a very lurid case!
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