January 9, 2025 • 10 mins
Political intrigue is always curious, whether it's ancient or more recent. Here are two adventurous tales to prove our point.
Order the official Cabinet of Curiosities book by clicking here today, and get ready to enjoy some curious reading!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of
the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all
of these amazing tales right there on display, just waiting
for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
(00:36):
To survive the court of King Louis the fourteenth you
needed one thing money. The sun King had a penchant
for excess, and a typical day in court meant wild parties,
grand feasts, high stakes gambling, and the funds to keep
all of that going. To stay in the King's favor,
some nobles were forced to extremes, and starting in the
late sixteen hundreds, the rush to keep up with the
(00:58):
royals led to a scandal of supernatural proportions. The whole
thing started with a break in. One night in Paris,
somebody was seen going into the laboratory of Captain Goudon
de Saint Croix, which wouldn't have been unusual except that
the captain had just died. The police were called in.
While they didn't find any burglars, they did soon discover
(01:19):
a curious red leather trunk. Inside were letters between the
handsome captain and his lover, the beautiful, married noble woman
Marie de braun Villiere. This was itself not very strange.
All of Versailles knew that Godon and Marie were having
an affair. It was what was in the letters that
was shocking. These weren't simple declarations of love. Many of
(01:41):
the letters instead detailed Marie and Goudon's shared passion trying
to develop the perfect poison, and, judging by the vials
of tasteless, odorless liquid inside the case, it seemed the
two had been successful. As news soon broke, Marie fled Versailles.
She moved from town to town into sky and under
assumed names, always one step ahead of King Louis's royal authorities.
(02:05):
She was finally captured, though in Belgium. After four years.
Between the crown's investigation and Marie's own confessions, a horrifying
picture emerged. While Goudon was still alive, She and the
captain laced cakes with arsenic and fed them to poor
hospital patients to test them. When they finally crafted an
undetectable poison, they moved on to family. Marie poisoned her
(02:27):
father and two brothers, so that she could inherit their wealth.
With this money, she could shine in court and pay
off Goudon's substantial debts. But Marie's execution did nothing to
calm the excitement in court. King Louis was horrified that
someone who could have killed him so easily and without
suspicion had been so close to the crown. Not only that,
(02:48):
the court began to question whether any noble person's death
in the past decade was truly due to natural causes,
or whether there had been other poisoners on the loose. Poisoning,
you see, was thought to be the work of witchcraft.
So King Louis appointed the Chief of Paris Police to
head a new task force, one that would root out
any poisoners, witches, or practitioners of black magic hiding in
(03:11):
the court. The Chief took his new assignment with enthusiasm.
He quickly rounded up scores of fortune tellers, magicians, and apothecaries.
Many of these people gave up lists of clients to
save their own skin. It was common for nobles to
buy charms and love potions from low level alchemists and
sorceresses like these, But now these purchases were cast under
(03:33):
a new suspicious light. Over the next decade, dozens of
people were arrested for poisoning or witchcraft, which had basically
become the same in the eyes of the law. In
sixteen eighty, perhaps the most startling accusations rocked Versailles. A
famous sorceress had named names of her clients, and one
of her best customers was Madame de Montespan, the king's
(03:55):
favorite royal mistress. According to the sorceress, Madame de Montespan
had used the black arts for years to get to
the top. Before she was Louis's lover. She allegedly had
a priest perform a black mass over her naked body.
The sorceress claimed that Madam had poisoned the previous royal
favorites and had fed Louis love potions made with the
body parts of murdered infants, just as Louis had feared
(04:19):
there was a witch in his court and in his bed.
Hearing these shocking revelations about his own lover, the king
began to realize that he had taken things too far.
Madame de monte Spain had seven children with the king.
She was his close friend and confidant and one of
the most powerful women in court, and it would be
foolish to admit that the King of France could be
(04:39):
influenced by such a simple love potion. The Affair of
the Poisons, as it became known, finally came to an
end in sixteen eighty two. By the time King Louis
pulled the plug, over four hundred people had been charged
with witchcraft and thirty six had been executed. More were jailed, exiled,
or died from torture in prison. The French court was
(05:01):
a fraught place where politics and gossip could make or
break a career. Normally, you would expect the deadliest weapons
in such a place to be words, but for a
brief stretch under Louis the fourteenth, if a rival wanted
to poison the opinion against you, they might just take
things a bit too literally. It's good to be king,
(05:35):
or at least that's what mel Brooks says in his
nineteen eighty one film History of the World, Part One,
And while that may sound true to us peasants, history
would actually suggest otherwise. Many kings throughout history met with
grisly deaths, and that was especially true during the Roman Empire.
In fact, their kings or emperors were murdered more often
than not, frequently by their own people. This led to
(05:58):
a complicated political structure that was constantly changing. Emperors made
alliances and broke them practically every year. How bad did
it gets? Well? By two eighty six a d. There
were actually two Roman emperors and more would be successors
waiting in the wings, and this included a man named Karazius,
who first gained renown not as an emperor, but as
(06:18):
a pirate. Karazius was a member of a tribe that
was an offshoot of the Celts who had settled in
modern day northern France. His people were conquered centuries before
by none other than Julius Caesar, and so while Karazius
was born into the Roman Empire, he was also part
of a separate, distinct culture, and this perhaps led to
(06:38):
mixed loyalties. But by the third century AD, the Romans
couldn't be too picky about who they picked as their soldiers.
They were fighting rebellions throughout the Empire. Karazias fought in
the Roman Navy, helping to secure Gaul modern day France
for the Empire. One of the two emperors at the time,
Maximian promoted Karazius to commander of his entire non northern fleet.
(07:01):
But this was a bit of a miscalculation. You see,
Karazias had been happy to fight against other tribes in Gaul. However,
now that he had power, why would he not try
to rule over the land that was first settled centuries
before by his own ancestors. Karazis, you see, was supposed
to use his fleet to stop pirates, but instead he
captured the pirates and then hired them with their own
(07:23):
confiscated plunder, and he used this practice to grow his
fleet until finally Maximian ordered his execution. But Karazias moved
fast on the sea, and so he took his fleet
north and quickly conquered modern day Britain. He once again
showed his aptitude for making unusual alliances when he joined
forces with the so called Barbarians of the North who
(07:45):
lived beyond Hadrian's Wall, a massive fortification that divided modern
day England straight across the middle. And because of this,
Karazias was protected in the north, and he had his
pirates fortify the coast to the south Maximian couldn't touch
by about two ninety a d. Maximian and his co
emperor Diocletian had no choice but to recognize Karazius as
(08:07):
the third Emperor of Rome, ruling over both Britain and
Northern France. But as I said, Roman emperors were not
known for keeping their alliances once they had put down
rebellions in other parts of the empire. Maximian and Diocletian
developed a plan to get rid of Karazias. In two
ninety three AD. They appointed two new caesars, which were
(08:28):
basically emperors in waiting. I did say that Roman politics
were complicated, didn't I. Well, one of these caesars was
sent to kill Karazias, who was back in northern France
and out from behind his barricades in Britain. Sadly, Karazius
wouldn't get the chance to prove himself against this new upstart.
He was assassinated by one of his own subordinates that
very same year, and that subordinate then fled back to Britain,
(08:51):
only to declare himself as yet another new emperor. The
rest was a bit of a blur. The Romans chased
down this new upstart, beat nim in battle, and reunited
the empire. Maximian would later be hounded by another new
emperor and ultimately took his own life. In the end,
Diocletian became the only Roman emperor to ever retire peacefully,
(09:12):
marking one of the few moments in Roman history when
it truly was good to be king. Still, I wouldn't
recommend it. Sure the pay is good, but the turnover
is atrocious. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of
the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts,
(09:33):
or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast
dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Mankey
in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award
winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series,
and television show, and you can learn all about it
over at Theworldolore dot com. And until next time, stay
(09:56):
curious y
Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of
the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all
of these amazing tales right there on display, just waiting
for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
(00:36):
To survive the court of King Louis the fourteenth you
needed one thing money. The sun King had a penchant
for excess, and a typical day in court meant wild parties,
grand feasts, high stakes gambling, and the funds to keep
all of that going. To stay in the King's favor,
some nobles were forced to extremes, and starting in the
late sixteen hundreds, the rush to keep up with the
(00:58):
royals led to a scandal of supernatural proportions. The whole
thing started with a break in. One night in Paris,
somebody was seen going into the laboratory of Captain Goudon
de Saint Croix, which wouldn't have been unusual except that
the captain had just died. The police were called in.
While they didn't find any burglars, they did soon discover
(01:19):
a curious red leather trunk. Inside were letters between the
handsome captain and his lover, the beautiful, married noble woman
Marie de braun Villiere. This was itself not very strange.
All of Versailles knew that Godon and Marie were having
an affair. It was what was in the letters that
was shocking. These weren't simple declarations of love. Many of
(01:41):
the letters instead detailed Marie and Goudon's shared passion trying
to develop the perfect poison, and, judging by the vials
of tasteless, odorless liquid inside the case, it seemed the
two had been successful. As news soon broke, Marie fled Versailles.
She moved from town to town into sky and under
assumed names, always one step ahead of King Louis's royal authorities.
(02:05):
She was finally captured, though in Belgium. After four years.
Between the crown's investigation and Marie's own confessions, a horrifying
picture emerged. While Goudon was still alive, She and the
captain laced cakes with arsenic and fed them to poor
hospital patients to test them. When they finally crafted an
undetectable poison, they moved on to family. Marie poisoned her
(02:27):
father and two brothers, so that she could inherit their wealth.
With this money, she could shine in court and pay
off Goudon's substantial debts. But Marie's execution did nothing to
calm the excitement in court. King Louis was horrified that
someone who could have killed him so easily and without
suspicion had been so close to the crown. Not only that,
(02:48):
the court began to question whether any noble person's death
in the past decade was truly due to natural causes,
or whether there had been other poisoners on the loose. Poisoning,
you see, was thought to be the work of witchcraft.
So King Louis appointed the Chief of Paris Police to
head a new task force, one that would root out
any poisoners, witches, or practitioners of black magic hiding in
(03:11):
the court. The Chief took his new assignment with enthusiasm.
He quickly rounded up scores of fortune tellers, magicians, and apothecaries.
Many of these people gave up lists of clients to
save their own skin. It was common for nobles to
buy charms and love potions from low level alchemists and
sorceresses like these, But now these purchases were cast under
(03:33):
a new suspicious light. Over the next decade, dozens of
people were arrested for poisoning or witchcraft, which had basically
become the same in the eyes of the law. In
sixteen eighty, perhaps the most startling accusations rocked Versailles. A
famous sorceress had named names of her clients, and one
of her best customers was Madame de Montespan, the king's
(03:55):
favorite royal mistress. According to the sorceress, Madame de Montespan
had used the black arts for years to get to
the top. Before she was Louis's lover. She allegedly had
a priest perform a black mass over her naked body.
The sorceress claimed that Madam had poisoned the previous royal
favorites and had fed Louis love potions made with the
body parts of murdered infants, just as Louis had feared
(04:19):
there was a witch in his court and in his bed.
Hearing these shocking revelations about his own lover, the king
began to realize that he had taken things too far.
Madame de monte Spain had seven children with the king.
She was his close friend and confidant and one of
the most powerful women in court, and it would be
foolish to admit that the King of France could be
(04:39):
influenced by such a simple love potion. The Affair of
the Poisons, as it became known, finally came to an
end in sixteen eighty two. By the time King Louis
pulled the plug, over four hundred people had been charged
with witchcraft and thirty six had been executed. More were jailed, exiled,
or died from torture in prison. The French court was
(05:01):
a fraught place where politics and gossip could make or
break a career. Normally, you would expect the deadliest weapons
in such a place to be words, but for a
brief stretch under Louis the fourteenth, if a rival wanted
to poison the opinion against you, they might just take
things a bit too literally. It's good to be king,
(05:35):
or at least that's what mel Brooks says in his
nineteen eighty one film History of the World, Part One,
And while that may sound true to us peasants, history
would actually suggest otherwise. Many kings throughout history met with
grisly deaths, and that was especially true during the Roman Empire.
In fact, their kings or emperors were murdered more often
than not, frequently by their own people. This led to
(05:58):
a complicated political structure that was constantly changing. Emperors made
alliances and broke them practically every year. How bad did
it gets? Well? By two eighty six a d. There
were actually two Roman emperors and more would be successors
waiting in the wings, and this included a man named Karazius,
who first gained renown not as an emperor, but as
(06:18):
a pirate. Karazius was a member of a tribe that
was an offshoot of the Celts who had settled in
modern day northern France. His people were conquered centuries before
by none other than Julius Caesar, and so while Karazius
was born into the Roman Empire, he was also part
of a separate, distinct culture, and this perhaps led to
(06:38):
mixed loyalties. But by the third century AD, the Romans
couldn't be too picky about who they picked as their soldiers.
They were fighting rebellions throughout the Empire. Karazias fought in
the Roman Navy, helping to secure Gaul modern day France
for the Empire. One of the two emperors at the time,
Maximian promoted Karazius to commander of his entire non northern fleet.
(07:01):
But this was a bit of a miscalculation. You see,
Karazias had been happy to fight against other tribes in Gaul. However,
now that he had power, why would he not try
to rule over the land that was first settled centuries
before by his own ancestors. Karazis, you see, was supposed
to use his fleet to stop pirates, but instead he
captured the pirates and then hired them with their own
(07:23):
confiscated plunder, and he used this practice to grow his
fleet until finally Maximian ordered his execution. But Karazias moved
fast on the sea, and so he took his fleet
north and quickly conquered modern day Britain. He once again
showed his aptitude for making unusual alliances when he joined
forces with the so called Barbarians of the North who
(07:45):
lived beyond Hadrian's Wall, a massive fortification that divided modern
day England straight across the middle. And because of this,
Karazias was protected in the north, and he had his
pirates fortify the coast to the south Maximian couldn't touch
by about two ninety a d. Maximian and his co
emperor Diocletian had no choice but to recognize Karazius as
(08:07):
the third Emperor of Rome, ruling over both Britain and
Northern France. But as I said, Roman emperors were not
known for keeping their alliances once they had put down
rebellions in other parts of the empire. Maximian and Diocletian
developed a plan to get rid of Karazias. In two
ninety three AD. They appointed two new caesars, which were
(08:28):
basically emperors in waiting. I did say that Roman politics
were complicated, didn't I. Well, one of these caesars was
sent to kill Karazias, who was back in northern France
and out from behind his barricades in Britain. Sadly, Karazius
wouldn't get the chance to prove himself against this new upstart.
He was assassinated by one of his own subordinates that
very same year, and that subordinate then fled back to Britain,
(08:51):
only to declare himself as yet another new emperor. The
rest was a bit of a blur. The Romans chased
down this new upstart, beat nim in battle, and reunited
the empire. Maximian would later be hounded by another new
emperor and ultimately took his own life. In the end,
Diocletian became the only Roman emperor to ever retire peacefully,
(09:12):
marking one of the few moments in Roman history when
it truly was good to be king. Still, I wouldn't
recommend it. Sure the pay is good, but the turnover
is atrocious. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of
the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts,
(09:33):
or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast
dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Mankey
in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award
winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series,
and television show, and you can learn all about it
over at Theworldolore dot com. And until next time, stay
(09:56):
curious y
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Host
Aaron Mahnke
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