Women and Poisons in 17th Century France

This article examines the involvement of the Marquise de Brinvilliers, Catherine La Voisin, and the Marquise de Montespan, in the scandal Affair of the Poisons, during the seventeenth century in France. Through such investigation, this article interrogates the discourse surrounding gender and crime in history, deepening the understanding of women\u27s motivation to commit murder and the strategies they adopted. Moreover, the article examines how the legal system addressed women\u27s crime, differentiated responses based on their class and social rank, and held women accountable for poisoning the country, thus failing to acknowledge the actual shortcomings of the French monarchy, the decline of Catholicism as well as women\u27s constraints in the patriarchal society