Mystery and Murder in Paris: The Infamous Madame de Brinvilliers
Mystery and Murder in Paris: The Infamous Madame de Brinvilliers French aristocrat Marie-Madeleine d'Aubray poisoned her father and two of her brothers by 1670, in order to inherit their estates. After her arrest, she was forced to drink sixteen pints of water (a form of torture known as the 'water cure'), then beheaded and her body burned. This portrait was sketched on the day of her execution. Marie-Madeleine d'Aubray, Marquise de Brinvilliers (22 July 1630 – 16 July 1676) was a French aristocrat who was accused and convicted of murdering her father and two of her brothers in order to inherit their estates. After her death, there was speculation that she poisoned upwards of 30 sick people in hospitals to test out her poisons, but these rumors were never confirmed. Her alleged crimes were discovered after the death of her lover and co-conspirator, Captain Godin de Sainte-Croix, who saved letters detailing dealings of poisonings between the two. After being a...