Recognition. Poisoner Yang - the most cruel people in the history of mankind

The short reign of the Roman emperor Caligula (37-41 years) was saturated with poison from beginning to end. Avenging for his father, Caligula poisoned his predecessor, Emperor Tiberius.

The emperor was generally a connoisseur of poisons. He was well versed in their properties, made various mixtures and tested them on slaves. However, it was not only the slaves who got it. Caligula poisoned the drivers who dared to overtake him in horse races. He put poison into the wounds of the victorious but not imperially favored gladiator Columbus. Caligula, greedy for other people's goods, forced rich Romans to write off part of their inheritance to him and, not wanting to wait long for their natural death, simply sent them poisoned goodies, speeding up the process.

After the murder of Caligula, a huge chest of poisons was found: each poison was personally signed by the emperor and named after the one who was poisoned by him. The chest was thrown into the sea, which is similar to the wreck of an oil tanker: for a long time, shoals of poisoned fish were thrown onto the surrounding shores.

Nero

Nero put the process of poisoning unwanted people on the conveyor and even started a manual Gallic poisoner Locusta. During the entire reign of Nero (54-68 years), this sweet woman prepared poisons for his enemies.

The first victim was Nero's predecessor, Emperor Claudius. The poison, prepared from opium and aconite, was served in mushrooms, which Claudius loved so much. But the emperor soaked in wine did not die. He already realized that he was poisoned, and tried to get rid of the poison with a vomit pen. It was not there: Nero made sure that the pen was also smeared with poison.

Having become emperor, Nero began to eliminate rivals. One of the first to suffer was Britannicus, son of Claudius, half-brother of Nero. A cunning plan was devised. At first, the young man was deliberately served too hot food. The servant who tasted the food of Britannic asked to cool it, which was done with the help of poisoned water that no one had tested. Britannic began to die in agony right in front of the guests, but Nero calmly assured everyone that the young man was simply in poor health and was about to come to his senses. Did not come.

Then Nero began to poison everyone. The Emperor's lover Narcissus was poisoned because he no longer liked him. Approximate Pallius - because he became too rich. Doryphorus - because he recklessly objected to the next marriage of the emperor.

Burr suffered for no one knows why, but it is known how: Nero ordered to rub his palate with poison. The teacher of Nero, the famous philosopher Seneca, implicated in a conspiracy against his former student, was forced to swallow the poison of the Athenian hemlock and, for reliability, also open his veins.

Alexander Borgia

Pope Alexander VI Borgia (1492-1503) is perhaps the most famous vicegerent of the throne of St. Peter, but by no means because of their Christian virtues. He went down in history with his phenomenal, even for unbridled secular rulers, debauchery and poisoning.

The Pope's favorite poison was cantarella. Only Borgia himself knew the recipe for this poison. After the missionaries brought poisonous plants there from the newly discovered New World, the papal alchemists began to prepare poisons so powerful that one drop of them could kill an elephant. For such chemical experiments, Alexander VI was awarded the nickname "Satan's pharmacist."

As much as the pope was indefatigable in debauchery, so he was inventive in the methods of poisoning. The poison was added to the prosphora before the consecration ceremonies. The fruit was cut with a knife rubbed with poison on one side only. The victim, seeing that the second half of the fruit was consumed by the pope without any harm, joyfully ate the treat and died without understanding anything. Sometimes a key was used, ending in an inconspicuous point, which was rubbed with poison; the unfortunate one who opened the door with this key, slightly pierced his hand with the tip and died from poisoning.

The festive table of the hospitable pope often abounded with poisoned dishes placed in front of those destined for liquidation. The guests invited to dinner sat down at the table only after having first made a will.

Ironically, Alexander VI died from the poison he prepared for his next victim.

Catherine de Medici

The French Queen Catherine de Medici (1547-1559) came from a famous family of Florentine poisoners. The queen turned out to be worthy of her ancestors: in endless court intrigues, poison was her main weapon. At the service of Catherine de Medici was a whole staff of poisoners, dubious "perfumers" who made poisoned cosmetics, perfumes, as well as poisons that were applied to gloves, fans and women's jewelry.

From a pair of such gloves, Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre, who was a supporter of the Huguenots, died, which the Catholic Catherine strongly disliked. The son of the poisoned woman, Henry IV, fearing for his life, during his stay in the Louvre ate only eggs cooked with his own hands and drank water that he had collected from the Seine.

Catherine twice tried to poison the influential Huguenot Admiral Coligny. But as a result of poisoning, both brothers of the admiral died, and he himself escaped with colic.

Deciding that poisoning the Huguenots one at a time is too tiring, Catherine de Medici invites all the Huguenots to Paris at once for ...

cixi

Starting her career as an ordinary concubine, Cixi eventually became the unlimited ruler of everything (1861-1908). Poisons contributed a lot to this professional advancement.

Cixi's first victim was the Empress Dowager. When the Xianfen Emperor was still alive, Cixi ingratiated herself with his barren wife and with the emperor. She gave birth to an heir to Xianfen, and after the death of her child's father, she simply removed the empress, which had become unnecessary: ​​she either ate poisoned cookies, or drank the poisonous broth that Cixi had prepared with her own hands.

Cixi poisoned unwanted people during court meals, and no tricks helped: neither silver plates, with which it was checked whether the food was poisoned (the plates darkened from the poison), nor the eunuchs who tried the dishes, nor prayers to the goddess Guanyin, who saved from poison. Many court and imperial concubines started entire pharmacies and personal pharmacists with a full range of antidotes.

Pu Yi, the great-nephew of Cixi, the last emperor of the Celestial Empire, later recalled that he ate only after his younger brother tasted the food.

No wonder: the penultimate Emperor Guangxu, Cixi's nephew, adopted by her, was poisoned by her. She strongly disliked Guangxu and, sensing the approach of death and not wanting him to survive it, poisoned the emperor with arsenic. She died of dysentery the next day.

The history of the appearance of various poisons is as old as the world. After all, poisons, from the point of view of poisoners, are the most effective way to send your enemies to the next world. It is possible that at the dawn of the development of mankind, in a primitive communal society, poisonous mushrooms were the very first way to kill enemies. In the future, with the development of civilization, the methods of preparing poisons became more complicated, new potent solutions and mixtures appeared.

Let us turn to the facts of world history and literature. Let's talk about the most famous poisoners and the most high-profile poisonings known to mankind.

Let's start with Ancient Rome. and remember the famous ancient Roman poisoner Locusta. The fatal abilities of this woman were widely known in the ancient world, her potent poisons killed enemies on the spot. Living in the same historical era with the emperors Caligula and Nero, she repeatedly helped these bloodthirsty rulers to kill enemies with deadly poisons. The emperor Claudius and his heir Britannicus were fatally poisoned with the potions of Locusta. The famous poisoner of one of the oldest civilizations was engaged in the sale of deadly powders and solutions. She herself drank in small quantities a mixture of her poisons, in order to make her body invulnerable to poisons. Locusta's lethal concoctions included the juices of poisonous aconite and hemlock plants. As a deadly weapon, she also actively used arsenic oxide.

During the reign of the Julio Claudian dynasty, Locusta became rich and popular. But the success of the great poisoner was short-lived. Her life changed dramatically after the death of Emperor Nero: in 68 AD, she was executed for her crimes by order of Emperor Galba.

Another well-known poisoner of world history is Queen Catherine de Medici of France. Methods of poisoning were perceived by this ruler as a real skill. Adding poison to wine or food was now considered too easy: new, more sophisticated methods of crime were invented. Poisoned books and letters appeared, handkerchiefs and women's gloves, poisonous lipstick and perfume: it was in this way that she took the lives of her sons' numerous mistresses. The victims of her crimes received poisoned lace, scented candles, and roses with poisonous thorns as gifts. The most famous victim of Catherine de Medici's poisonings was the mother of King Henry IV, Queen Jeanne d'Albret of Navarre. Jeanne of Navarre was killed by Catherine de Medici with poisoned gloves.

During the Renaissance, deadly Borgia rings filled with cantarella were widespread. So in the Borgia family they called a potent poison, which included the harmful components of copper, phosphorus and arsenic. The author of this sophisticated deadly potion was the founder of the family of poisoners, Pope Alexander VI Borgia. Later, on behalf of Alexander VI, juices of new poisonous mixtures were delivered from South America. And work began on the development of a new lethal remedy: papal alchemists prepared such a poison that one drop of this poison was enough to kill a bull on the spot.

Pope Alexander VI had a key, the tip of which was generously rubbed with poison. The victim was asked to open the door of the hall with the works of art with the key of the pope, at which time the tip of the key scratched the guest's hand, and he received a lethal dose of poison.

Alexander VI died, poisoned by his own poison. It happened as a result of a fateful event. Intending to commit a mass poisoning of the cardinals who bored him, he mixed up the glasses and drank the poisoned wine.

Another famous poisoner of the Borgia family was the son of Pope Alexander VI, Caesar Borgia. It was he who wore the poisonous ring, known from historical chronicles as the Borj ring. Lion's fangs were skillfully built into the base of the ring, Caesar generously smeared them with poison. Caesar's main method of killing was a handshake. Greeting his enemy, the poisoner shook the hand of the future victim of the crime, scratching the palm of his interlocutor with a fatal ring. This was enough for the onset of a quick and painful death. It is said that Caesar could cut a peach containing poison very carefully. He himself ate the unpoisoned half of the fruit, while the poisonous part of the fruit was given to the victim.

Another famous poisoner of the Renaissance, Mrs. Tofana: it was she who made the poison without taste and smell, Tofana's water, which made her famous. She sold her mysterious poison, which included arsenic, in small bottles with the image of St. Nicholas of Bari. The doctor of Charles VI revealed the composition of the holy water of the sophisticated killer: he studied the composition of the poisonous liquid. Tofana did not confess to the crimes she had committed and tried to hide in the monastery. But public outrage was so great that the monastery was surrounded: Tofana was captured and executed. According to historical documents, Tofana sent about 600 people to the next world.

It is noteworthy that Mozart was inclined to the version that his illness was connected with Tofana's water, since they tried to poison him. However, most researchers of the biography of the great composer believe that Mozart died of an attack of rheumatism.

In the novel by M. A. Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita", Mrs. Tofana appears as a literary character at the ball of Satan.

The most famous poison experimenter of the 20th century, Frederick Graham Young, was born in England in the mid-forties.

As a teenager, the future serial killer was fond of chemistry and the study of the composition of medicines, read satanic and fascist literature. At the age of fourteen, he committed his first crime: he fatally poisoned his own stepmother. After that, the student was sent for compulsory treatment in a psychiatric hospital. Young's chamber was adorned with fascist symbols. In the hospital, Frederick continued his chemical experiments and death experiments. Regular complaints of poor health began to be received from the staff and patients of the clinic, and soon one of the patients of the clinic suddenly died. The cause of death was determined to be cyanide poisoning.

After this incident, fearing new cases of unproven fatal poisoning, doctors recognized Frederick as recovered and discharged him from the clinic.

After being discharged from a psychiatric hospital, the killer began working as a storekeeper in one of the major British companies. At work, he treated his colleagues to tea flavored with poison. As a result of these monstrous experiments, two employees of the company were fatally poisoned. The condition of Yang's other colleagues deteriorated significantly: they began to complain of stomach upset and pain.

Doctor Ian Andersen, who was invited to examine the health of the company's employees, failed to find out the cause of the strange disease. But after talking with Yang, the doctor suspected something was wrong: as it turned out, the young man had a good knowledge of the composition of harmful chemicals. It was found that the company's employees died from thallium poisoning.

The great poisoner of the 20th century has been arrested again. This time he was sentenced to life imprisonment. At 42, he died in prison of a heart attack. After his death, information appeared in the media that Frederick Young died, mistakenly poisoned by his own poisons. However, evidence for this assumption has not been found.

February 11, 55 AD e. The son of the Roman emperor Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus was poisoned by his half-brother Nero. "Russian Planet" tells about historical figures whose death was caused by poison.

Britannic, an orphan

Britannicus was born to Emperor Claudius by his third wife, Valeria Messalina, in 41 AD. e. After seven years, she became too involved in the struggle for power, and she was executed. Claudius married Agrippina and adopted her offspring Nero, who was older than Britannicus and thus received the first right of heir to the throne. This created a conflict between half-brothers. Agrippina announced that her stepson was being harmed by educators, who were immediately dealt with in the usual ways for that time. In their place came the people of Agrippina, who kept Britannic almost under house arrest and did not allow him to see his father. The long absence of the imperial son in public gave rise to rumors that he was suffering from epilepsy, or had died altogether.

In 54 a.d. e. one of the freedmen warned the young man that Agrippina was planning to kill Claudius, and urged him to take revenge on his father's enemies. By that time, the emperor himself had begun to become disillusioned with Nero as an heir and was preparing to announce the coming of age of his own son. Agrippina did not want to cede power, and on October 13, Claudius died of mushroom poisoning, and Nero became emperor.

But then the relationship between mother and son deteriorated, and the widow began defiantly supporting Britannicus. During the Saturnalia, the orphaned young man sang a song about mourning for the lost inheritance, which greatly moved everyone present. Such disgrace could no longer be tolerated, and four months after being proclaimed emperor, Nero poisoned his half-brother during a feast as a warning to enemies.

Borgia, Satan's Apothecary

Rodrigo Borgia, a native of the Spanish noble family of Borja, was the nephew of Pope Calixtus III. There are suggestions that the pontiff, who in the world bore the name Alfonso, was in connection with his sister, and could be the father of her son who was born to her.

Be that as it may, Rodrigo, under the patronage of Calixtus III, became a cardinal at the age of 25. To achieve his goals, Borgia actively used money, making deals with Jews and Moors. In 1492 he was crowned papacy under the name of Alexander VI.

The plans of the Pope included the unification of Italy and its adjacent lands. Their implementation required even more money than the Borgia clan had, so Alexander IV needed to look for new sources of income. The pontiff invited nobles to feasts, poisoned them, and then confiscated property in favor of the church. For his extensive knowledge in the field of preparing poisons, Alexander VI received the nickname "Satan's pharmacist."

Other members of the Borgia family also frequently resorted to poisonous substances. Thus, the illegitimate daughter of Pope Lucretius used cantarella, a poison made from compounds of arsenic, copper and phosphorus. Her brother Cesare invented a ring with spikes that, if necessary, filled with poison and killed a person with a handshake. Arsenic was the basis for most poisons, since its solution with water is colorless and odorless, and in small doses, the symptoms of poisoning resemble many diseases. Also, seafarers brought plants with potent poisons from South America to the pontiff.

There is a strong possibility that Alexander VI was the victim of his own negligence and mistakenly drank the poisoned wine that his son prepared for Cardinal Adriano. This assumption arose when studying the rate of decomposition of the corpse. According to the official version, the pontiff went out one evening to get some fresh air, fell ill with a fever and died.

Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre

During the wars between the Catholics and the Huguenots in France, the mother of King Charles IX, Catherine de Medici, decided to reconcile the parties to make the Valois and Bourbon dynasties related. In 1571, she offered the hand of her daughter Marguerite de Valois to the son of the Queen of Navarre, Jeanne d'Albret, Heinrich.

When the Bourbon family arrived in Paris, the Medici began courting d'Albret, giving her clothes, perfume and gloves. After a ball at the Paris City Hall on June 4, 1572, Jeanne d'Albret felt unwell, and doctors diagnosed her with pneumonia. Five days later, the Queen of Navarre died.

Her death is attributed to the work of Catherine de Medici, who often poisoned her ill-wishers and used the services of perfumer Rene for this. On a fatal evening for the Queen of Navarre, she was wearing gloves that her future matchmaker gave her. They, like the high collar of her dress, were scented with Rene's poisonous preparations. Since the lungs are primarily affected when the poison is inhaled, the resulting symptoms of poisoning can be mistaken for inflammation.

Georgy Markov, Bulgarian dissident

The Bulgarian writer Georgy Markov was forced to leave his homeland to escape political persecution in 1969. He settled in London and got a job at the BBC. In September 1978, Markov was walking along Waterloo Bridge when an unknown passer-by poked him in the leg with the tip of an umbrella. In the evening, the writer had a fever, then nausea began, and he was taken to the hospital. Four days later, he died of heart failure, having managed to tell about the episode with the umbrella before his death. An autopsy revealed that Markov had a 1.5-millimeter ball in his leg that contained the poison ricin, which is obtained from castor bean seeds. The holes in the ball were sealed with wax, which melted inside the body and released poison into the blood.

Georgy Markov. Photo: Press Association / AP, archive

The UK announced that Markov's murder was political and was the work of the Bulgarian authorities. In 2005, information appeared about the alleged killer of the dissident - a Dane with Italian roots, Francesco Giullino, who was a secret agent in Bulgaria and disappeared immediately after the murder. The investigation was resumed in 2008, but the involvement of the Bulgarian special services has not yet been proven, and the killer has not been found.

Napoleon, controversial version

The version that the French Emperor Napoleon was poisoned appeared after the historians Ben Vader and Rene Maury conducted a study of hair cut from the head of Napoleon on the island of St. Helena, and found a small concentration of arsenic in them.

Then, the letters of General Charles Montonol to his wife Albina fell into the hands of scientists, and the version of the poisoning took shape completely: the general killed Napoleon out of jealousy. Albina was the mistress of the emperor and bore him a daughter, but in 1819 Napoleon expelled them from the island, not allowing the general to follow the family. Mori suggested that Montonol began to add a small amount of arsenic to the emperor's food so as not to arouse suspicion by his too quick death.

According to Weider, Napoleon was given arsenic for five years before his death in 1821, not for the purpose of killing, but for weakening his health. Very small doses could not cause death, but only cause pain in the stomach. She was treated with mercuric chloride, which becomes a poison when combined with hydrocyanic acid contained in almonds. In March 1821, almonds were added to the patient's syrup.

Further studies, including hair cut from Napoleon's head before 1816, showed that some proportion of arsenic was always present in the body of the conqueror. In this case, it could only be a consequence of taking medications containing this substance.

Famous poisoners and not so famous

From the narrative sources of the early Middle Ages, as well as their later compilations, we know several notable figures of poison queens. Moreover, they used this weapon according to circumstances, without neglecting others. They allegedly possessed the art of preparing deadly drinks and dishes. It is impossible to say whether this ability of theirs actually existed or only in the imagination of male writers. In barbaric truths venefici and venefiae(poisoners and poisoners) appeared on an equal footing, that is, the law did not attribute this crime exclusively to women. Be that as it may, it was believed that every queen certainly knows the art of preparing poisons. In 440-442 years. in such an atrocity they suspected the wife of the son of the king of the Vandals, who allegedly attempted on her husband. As punishment, the woman was crippled and sent to her father, the king of the Visigoths.

The history of the Celtic kingdoms was brought to us by Anglo-Norman authors who lived many centuries later than the events described. They told stories, of course. Gottfried of Monmouth has a story about the poisoning around 450 of King Vortemir, who became the victim of his stepmother Ronwen. This woman was well versed in the properties of herbs, knew about the deadly effect of the wolf root. Ronwen possessed the “science of poisons”, but besides them, she also possessed the subtle secrets of nature, the penetration into which was attributed to women due to their physiology, subject to natural rhythm.

The Frankish princess Gundeberga, the wife of the Lombard king Haroald, who ruled from 626, allegedly had the same knowledge. According to Fredegar, the rejected admirer accused the queen of wanting to poison her husband in order to marry the Duke of Tasso and elevate him to the throne. Gundeberga was expelled, but she demanded God's judgment. A duel took place in which the slanderer was defeated and died. Thus, the honor of the Franks, unjustly offended in the person of one of their representatives, was saved.

Poisoning was often accompanied by the spirit of adultery, since both are associated with deceit. The story of Gundeberga, moreover, shows how strongly in the ideas of the era the use of poison was associated with a woman. The case of the Lombard princess Romilda dates back to about 610, testifying to the same. The widow of Duke Gizulf surrendered the city to the Avars, but their leader suspected that she was capable of killing someone "by poison or treachery." This was the later tradition, but what is important here is the fact that the woman, whose natural function is childbearing and feeding, showed a tendency to poisoning. Paul the Deacon, who told this story, presented Romilda as a shameless traitor who paid for her crimes with death.

Describing the poisoners, misogynist clerics followed certain stereotypes. For example, they brought together the concepts Regina and Venefica. The life of Saint Samson, dedicated to the deeds of the one who lived in the VI century. Bishop of Dolsky and Breton, written two centuries after his death. The author reported an attempt to poison a holy man by the wife of King Judual of the Britons, with whom the prelate dined. The bishop signed the goblet with the sign of the cross, and it instantly crumbled, and the spilled poison was so strong that it burned the hand of the one who held the vessel to the bone. The hagiographer claimed that the criminal queen acted under the influence of demonic forces, and this corresponded to the genre of hagiography. However, in all other respects the author used the same narrative models of the Frankish texts that are found in the stories of the atrocities of Brunhilde and Fredegonda directed against the leaders of the Church.

Famous queens from the Merovingian dynasty, who went down in history as two bloody monsters, also used poison out of necessity. It should not be assumed that in doing so they sought to avoid violence - in other cases, the villains did not hesitate to shed blood, regardless of the rank of the victims. The story of Fredegonda is very eloquent. As soon as she became the mistress of King Chilperic of Neustria, the young girl began to sow death everywhere and by all means. By organizing the assassination of Bishop Pretextatus of Rouen (a crime branded by Gregory of Tours), she incurred the wrath of Bishop Coutances and decided to take revenge on him. Out of caution, the prelate refused to share a meal with Fredegonda, after which she sent him a deadly drink of wine and honey. According to the stories of Gregory of Tours, the queen showed incredible cruelty towards the servants of the Church. She used consecrated objects against victims lacking the miraculous powers of saints. It is possible that it was Fredegonda who poisoned Childeber II of Austrasia in 595.

Fredegonda's hated rival, the Visigothic princess Brunnhilde did not remain in debt. Her long list of crimes included the heinous poisoning of Theodoric II of Austrasia. This grandson of the queen died in 613 after drinking a goblet served to him after bathing. It was believed that the poison was prepared on the orders of Brunnhilde, whom he threatened in response to her slander. Theodoric's death was explained in different ways, but the poisoning hypothesis put forward by the Book of the History of the Franks (beginning of the 8th century) became traditional. In the XIII century. it was repeated in the Great Chronicles of France. They said that the fate of the unfortunate king was "bad death", that is, sudden, caused by a fast-acting poison. It is this circumstance that has now become important, since the Church preached the need for spiritual preparation for death through confession. The story of Theodoric II's death played a big role in shaping the black image of Brunnhilde, the poisoner of her descendants.

Thanks to her atrocities, another Lombard princess, Rosamund, remained in the memory of the descendants. In the XIV century. Boccaccio mentioned her in the treatise "On the misadventures of famous people" (De casibus virorum illustrium). The Tuscan poet did not emphasize too much that Rosamund was precisely the poisoner. Telling, for example, about Medea's attempts to poison Theseus, he did not liken her to the Lombard princess. Nevertheless, Boccaccio, in accordance with the tradition of the early Middle Ages, reported that Rosamund first killed her husband Alboin, and then her lover Helmigis. According to Gregory of Tours, in 573 she poisoned her husband, giving him poison instead of medicine, after which she herself was killed along with her lover. Paul the Deacon, two centuries later, offered a different version, which was picked up by Boccaccio. He claimed that the queen's accomplice Helmigis also died from the poison given by Rosamund. In his dramatic narration, the queen offered Helmigis, who had just taken a bath, a bowl of poison, offering to drink a tonic drink. Having discovered the deceit, the dying man drew his sword and forced the killer to drink the deadly drink. An hour later, both were lifeless. With Paul the Deacon, the murder of monarchs was often carried out in the bathroom: undressing made the kings defenseless, bathing relaxed and dulled the reactions. And, besides, the heat of the bath caused thirst, so that the victims then drank the exciting "elixir of youth" with pleasure.

16. Two famous boats of the "ancient" Egyptian pharaoh Cheops (Khufu) are made of boards. Consequently, they are of very late origin, iron or steel saws must have been used in their manufacture. The fact described in this section was drawn to our attention by