Madame de Brinvilliers
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Marie-Madeleine d'Aubray, Marquise de Brinvilliers was a French aristocrat who was convicted of murdering her father and two of her brothers in order to inherit their estates. After her death, there w
Portrait of the Marquise on the day of her execution by Charles Le Brun, 1676
Staircase in the Brinvilliers home
Antoine Dreux d'Aubray, poisoned by his daughter, the Marquise de Brinvilliers. Engraving by Claude Mellan
The Conciergerie, the prison where the Marquise was housed before her execution
Amende honorable
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Amende honorable was originally a mode of punishment in France which required the offender, barefoot and stripped to his shirt, and led into a church or auditory with a torch in his hand and a rope ro
Madame de Brinvilliers
…slip, a customary outfit for the condemned at execution. On the way to her execution, they stopped at Notre Dame so that the Marquise could perform the amende honorable inside the packed Cathedral. When they finally reached the Place de Grève the Marquise was unloaded from the cart and brought up to a platform. The…
Alphonse Legros, Une amende honorable, Musée d'Orsay