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Frances Mossiker
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The affair of the poisons;: Louis XIV, Madame de Montespan, and one of history's great unsolved mysteries Hardcover – January 1, 1969

by Frances Mossiker (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 12 ratings
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The Affair of the Poisons, 1969 1st Edition, by Frances Mossiker. Louis XIV, Madame de Montespan, and one of history's great unsolved mysteries. Handsome black hardcover book with 336 pages, published by Alfred A. Knopf.
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  1. Print length
    336 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Knopf
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 1969
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0006CTVKC
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Knopf; First Edition (January 1, 1969)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.85 pounds
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 12 ratings

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Frances Mossiker

Frances Mossiker

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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
12 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Kathy Dooner
5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read of an Important Time!
Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2018
Verified Purchase
A great history of the court of Louis XIV and the biggest mystery of his reign. A book filled with interesting people who are at the heart of the mystery. Was Madame. De Montespan involved? This book gets to the heart of one of history’s greatest unsolved mysteries.
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lilibet
5.0 out of 5 stars good writing good history
Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2017
Verified Purchase
since "Versailles" came out on tv I became interested once more in this fascinating historical period. I read this book 48 years ago when it first came out and I was a history geek in high school. Loved it then and love it now.
2 people found this helpful
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Francoise Dubois
5.0 out of 5 stars The affair of the poisons
Reviewed in the United States on October 23, 2014
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I read this book before but had never purchased it. I wanted to read it again, so now its mine to enjoy.
One person found this helpful
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Halfkin
3.0 out of 5 stars Not what I expected
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2021
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My bad, I thought this was a historical fiction book, but it is non-fiction. I will probably read it eventually as I like non-fiction too. It was just a surprise
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Joan F. Cipelle
5.0 out of 5 stars Louis XIV
Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2010
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This is a must read of people interested in this era. It's amazing how so much evil could be prevalent in one time.
2 people found this helpful
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Seemoh
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2014
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Enjoyable reading - good history account.
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Matthew S. Schweitzer
5.0 out of 5 stars Love, Sex, Murder, and Satanism at the Court of Louis XIV
Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2002
"The Affair of the Poisons" by Frances Mossiker is one of the only accounts of this bizzare and forgotten episode of history. It tells the tale of Francoise Athenais, Marquise de Montespan, the witty and beautiful mistress of King Louis XIV. Madame de Montespan reigned as the King's Favorite for over a decade and bore the sovereign seven children. But she was also an arrogant and priggish aristocrat who did not take well to her royal lover's wandering eye falling upon younger and more attractive competitors for the King's affections. Madame de Montespan, once she had fallen out of favor with the libidinous King, is believed to have taken matters into her own hands to remove the obstacles to her desires, that of a triumphant return to the royal boudoir, through the use of magical love philtres and, eventually, poisons.
Mossiker details how in 1680, Paris society was thrown into an uproar as details came to light of a rash of magical potions and poisons being circulated from the Paris underground into the highest ranks of the French high society. As the police investigated further into what they thought to be outlandish rumours of satanic rituals and child sacrifice, a strange story began to take form around a number of high profile individuals, notably the jealously obssessed and now out-of-favor Marquise de Montespan, concerning a plot to assasinate the King and Queen themselves. The Marquise was said to have turned to the performance of satanic rites of the Black Mass, using the blood of child sacrifices, freshly killed by the self proclaimed abortionist and sorceress known as La Voisin. When her most desperate attempts to win the King back through black magic failed, the Marquise is said to have turned to murder, first of her competitors at court, and finally hatching a plot to poison the King and Queen. The details themselves are never truly know as the journals, testimonies, and eyewitness accounts taken down by the King's appointed investigators were locked away and later destoryed by the King himself, in a desperate attempt to avoid a potentially ruinous scandal that threatened to shake the very foundations of the monarchy.
The Affair of the Poisons is a fascinating look into the strange world of the French court and the lengths one woman went to maintain her exalted status among the glittering yet hopelessly vain and self-destructive upper eschelon of French society. Perhaps the truth of these dark events of history will never be known for certain, but whether or not the Marquise was indeed guilty of the miriad of vile crimes attributed to her, her name has come down through the centuries as synonymous with evil.
23 people found this helpful
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