Catherine Trianon
Catherine Trianon, née Boule, called La Trianon (1627 - 6 May 1681), was a French fortune teller and poisoner, one of the accused in the famous Poison Affair. She was actively involved in the attempted assassination of king Louis XIV of France in 1679.
Catherine Trianon was a widow and fortune teller. She was one of the most important associates, as well as a personal friend and confidante, of La Voisin. She managed her business with her partner, La Doddée, who was also her lover in a homosexual relationship. Trianon was described by her colleagues as very well educated. Her reception room contained a human skeleton, officially said to be there as a pious reminder of mortality. In 1679 Madame de Montespan commissioned La Voisin to murder king Louis XIV of France.[1] It was at the home of Trianon that La Voisin conspired with the help of her lovers, Bertrand and Romani. Trianon tried to convince La Voisin to abandon the plan, even making up a horoscope to warn her that it would be a mistake, but did not succeed. The group decided that the king should be poisoned by a petition. La Voisin's failed first attempt failed on the 5th of March; she planned to meet with Trianon on the 12th of March to plan the next attempt, but she was arrested. Voisin's arrest was followed by that of Trianon in May.
Upon her arrest, authorities found 25 "manuscript volumes on the occult sciences" in her house.[2]
In August 1680, after the execution of La Voisin in February, the connection between La Voisin, Montespan, and the plan to assassinate the king was revealed by her daughter, Marguerite Monvoisin, who on October 9th also confirmed the statements made by Adam Lesage in August of child sacrifice at the black masses. After her statements about Montespan and child sacrifice were confirmed by Francoise Filastre on October 1st and Etienne Guibourg on October 10th, Trianon, who had been personally involved in the attempt, also confirmed the statement. Catherine Trianon committed suicide in Château de Vincennes.
In fiction
Catherine Trianon is given a fairly large portrayal in a novel by Judith Merkle Riley: The Oracle Glass (1994)
References
- ^ Madame de Montespan and Louis XIV by H Noel Williams
- ^ Grimoires: A History of Magic Books by Owen Davies (Oxford University Press, 2010)
- Princes and Poisoners Or Studies of the Court of Louis XIV by Frantz Funck-Brentano
- The Affair of the Poisons: Murder, Infanticide, and Satanism at the Court of Louis XIV by Anne Somerset (St. Martin's Press, 2003) ISBN 0-312-33017-0
- 1679-1682, l'affaire des poisons by Arlette Lebigre