A Tale of Two Murders

"Dazzling beauty, spousal abuse, passionate love, wanton covetousness, lust, conspiracy, poison, murder, vengeance: what an engaging surprise to discover that one of America's foremost scholars of early modern European society, James R. Farr, is also a beguiling storyteller. A riveting drama, his book is at the same time a masterful analysis of emotion and affect, rites and rituals, elite formation and reproduction, family and lineage strategies, gender construction, the discourse and practice of the law, political culture, relations of domination and subordination, the tensions between center and periphery, and the myriad ways in which power worked in seventeenth-century France."-Steven Laurence Kaplan, author of The Bakers of Paris and the Bread Question, 1700-1775 "James R. Farr has produced a terrific work of historical research, a book that offers both compelling narrative and suggestive analyses. A Tale of Two Murders addresses basic questions about how early modern society functioned, and it should interest specialists and non-specialists alike."-Jonathan Dewald, author of Aristocratic Experience and the Origins of Modern Culture: France, 1570-1715 "A Tale of Two Murders is ... riveting and readable, equally appropriate for an audience of university students or general readers." -- Brian Sandberg * Renaissance Quarterly * "Combining a gripping narrative with keen analysis, Farr uses this case to shed light on patronage and the pursuit of power among the seventeenth-century French nobility." -- Jeffrey R. Watt, * Sixteenth Century Journal * "In my experience, Farr's book is a fine teaching tool. Wrapped in taut suspense, readers are gripped by indecision; guilty, not guilty; could be, maybe not. Adopting a smart strategy, he does not take a stand for or against the Giroux verdict (1643), so students may be asked to summarize evidence on both sides-reason about it-and offer verdicts of their own. A compelling historical narrative based on careful scholarship, this book is a valuable addition to studies of early modern France." -- Sarah Hanley * American Historical Review * "The best micro-histories manage to convey the texture of a vanished culture and to define and amplify the basic issues, concerns, and imperatives that infused the society in which the highlighted events unfolded. Farr's engrossing study, A Tale of Two Murders, delivers those insights in spades." -- Jay M. Smith * Journal of Interdisciplinary History *

James R. Farr is Professor of History at Purdue University. He is the author of Artisans in Europe, 1300-1914; Authority and Sexuality in Early Modern Burgundy, 1550-1730; and Hands of Honor: Artisans and Their World in Dijon, 1550-1650.

Preface ix List of Principal Characters xiii Prologue: Looking Back 1 1. Tales of Two Murders 3 2. Passion and the Beautiful Cousin 14 3. The Trial Opens: Jean-Baptiste Lantin's Investigation, 1639-1640 28 4. A Hat, a Rapier, a Knife, and a Dagger 40 5. The House of Giroux 54 6. Prison 69 7. Poison 86 8. Jailbreak 97 9. A "Minister of Vengeance" 109 10. Rape? 122 11. Attack, Counterattack 136 12. The King of Spades 150 13. Life or Death? The Day of Reckoning Draws Near 161 Epilogue 185 Analytical Essay: The Paradoxes of Power, Law, and Justice 191 Notes 205 A Note on Sources 209 Index 219