Antonia Minor was the younger of two surviving daughters of Mark Antony and Octavia Minor. She was a niece of the Emperor Augustus, sister-in-law of the Emperor Tiberius, paternal grandmother of the Emperor Caligula and Empress Agrippina the Younger, mother of the Emperor Claudius, and maternal great-grandmother of the Emperor Nero. She outlived her husband Drusus, her oldest son, her daughter, and several of her grandchildren.
Catherine Monvoisin, or Montvoisin, née Deshayes, known as "La Voisin", was a French fortune teller, commissioned poisoner, and professional provider of alleged sorcery. She was the head of a network of fortune tellers in Paris providing poison, aphrodisiacs, abortion, purported magical services and the arranging of black masses, with clients among the aristocracy, and became the central figure in the famous affaire des poisons. Her purported organization of commissioned black magic and poison murder was suspected to have killed 1,000 people, but it is believed that upwards of 2,500 people might have been murdered.
Maria Theresa of Spain was Queen of France from 1660 to 1683 as the wife of King Louis XIV. She was born an Infanta of Spain and Portugal as the daughter of King Philip IV and Elisabeth of France, and was also an Archduchess of Austria as a member of the Spanish branch of the House of Habsburg.
Marie-Madeleine d'Aubray, Marquise de Brinvilliers 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 arrested, she was tortured, forced to confess, and finally executed. Her trial and death spawned the onset of the Affair of the Poisons, a major scandal during the reign of Louis XIV accusing aristocrats of practicing witchcraft and poisoning people. Components of her life have been adapted into various different media including: short stories, poems, and songs to name a few.
Maria Luisa of Parma was, by marriage to King Charles IV of Spain, Queen of Spain from 1788 to 1808 leading up to the Peninsular War. Her relationship with Manuel Godoy and influence over the King made her unpopular among the people and aristocrats. She was rivals with the Duchess of Alba and the Duchess of Osuna. The death of her daughter-in-law Princess Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily, whom she disliked, was said to be the poisoning by the Queen.
Olympia Mancini, Countess of Soissons was the second-eldest of the five celebrated Mancini sisters, who along with two of their female Martinozzi cousins, were known at the court of King Louis XIV of France as the Mazarinettes because their uncle was Louis XIV's chief minister, Cardinal Mazarin. Olympia was later to become the mother of the famous Austrian general Prince Eugene of Savoy. She also involved herself in various court intrigues including the notorious Affair of the Poisons, which led to her expulsion from France.
Maria Teresa of Savoy was Duchess consort of Parma and Piacenza by marriage to Charles II, Duke of Parma.
Giulia Tofana was an Italian professional poisoner. She sold a poison called Aqua Tofana to women who wanted to murder their husbands.
Margaret Yolande of Savoy was Princess of Savoy from birth and later Duchess consort of Parma. A proposed bride for her first cousin Louis XIV of France, she later married Ranuccio Farnese, son of the late Odoardo Farnese and Margherita de' Medici. She died in childbirth in 1663.
La dama velata is a 2015 Italian-Spanish mystery-drama television miniseries directed by Carmine Elia. It was produced by Rai Fiction, Lux Vide and Telecinco Cinema, with a budget of about 10 million euros. It is set in Trentino, in the late nineteenth century. In Italy, the series was broadcast on Rai 1 and Rai 1 HD from March 17 to April 16, 2015.
Gironima Spana was an Italian poisoner and astrologer. She was the central figure in the infamous Spana Prosecution against a net of poison merchant women in Rome, who distributed the famous poison Aqua Tofana to clients who wished to commit murder, in particular women who wished to become widows. She was executed alongside four women accomplices for having distributed poison to clients with the intent of murder. She has also been called Girolama Spara, Girolama Spala, L’ Astrologa, La Profetessa and L'Indovina, but Gironima Spana was the spelling she herself used in court documents.
The Spana Prosecution was a major criminal case which took place in Rome in the Papal States between January 1659 and March 1660.
Giovanna De Grandis was an Italian poisoner. She was one of the central figures of the infamous Spana Prosecution, one of only six to be executed among over forty people to be implicated.
Thofania d'Adamo or Teofania di Adamo, Epifania d'Adamo or La Tofania was an Italian poisoner.
Anna Maria Caterina Aldobrandini, Duchess of Cesi (1630–1703) was an Italian aristocrat. She was one of the people implicated in the infamous Spana Prosecution.
Maria Spinola was an Italian poisoner. She was one of the central figures of the infamous Spana Prosecution, one of only six to be executed among over forty people to be implicated.
Laura Crispoldi was an Italian poisoner. She was one of the central figures of the infamous Spana Prosecution, one of only six to be executed among over forty people to be implicated.
Graziosa Farina was an Italian poisoner. She was one of the central figures of the infamous Spana Prosecution, one of only six to be executed among over forty people to be implicated.
Sulpizia Vitelleschi (1635–1684) was an Italian heiress. She was one of the people implicated in the infamous Spana Prosecution.
Anna Maria Conti was an Italian painter's wife. She was one of the people implicated in the infamous Spana Prosecution.
