Princes and Poisoners: Studies of the Court of Louis XIVFunck-Brentano, Frantz
History
Princes and Poisoners: Studies of the Court of Louis XIV
Funck-Brentano, Frantz
France -- Court and courtiers; France -- History -- Louis XIV, 1643-1715; Poisoners
On leaving the prisoner, Pirot betook himself to the chapel of the
Conciergerie. 'I said mass for her, and went into the jailer's room. I
found him there, and he told me that he had accompanied her to the
torture-chamber, and that after her sentence had been read, when the
executioner approached to seize her, she looked him up and down without
saying a word, and seeing a rope in his hand, she offered him her hands
already clasped. I learned after dinner from the procurator-general that
she had been agitated at the reading of her sentence, and that she got
it read a second time.'
The sentence was dated July 16, 1676:--
'The court has declared and declares the said d'Aubray de Brinvilliers
duly accused and convicted of having poisoned Maître Dreux d'Aubray her
father, and the said d'Aubray, civil lieutenant and counsellor in the
said court, her brothers, and for reparation has condemned and condemns
the said d'Aubray de Brinvilliers to do public penance before the
principal door of the church of Paris, where she will be taken in a
cart, bare-footed, a rope on her neck, holding in her hands a lighted
torch of two pounds weight, and there on her knees to say and declare
that wickedly, from revenge and to have their property, she has poisoned
her father and two brothers, and attempted the life of her late sister,
of which she repents, and asks pardon of God, the king, and justice;
this done, to be led and conducted in the said cart to the Place de
Grève of this city, to have her head cut off there on a scaffold, which
will be erected for that purpose on the said place; her body to be
burned, and her ashes thrown to the winds: the question ordinary and
extraordinary to be first applied in order to obtain revelation of her
accomplices.'
She declared in the evening that the part of the sentence which had so
startled her at the first reading that she could not hear the rest, was
the passage which stated that she was to be put in a cart. Her pride was
aroused.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account