This book is about the death of Queen María Luisa de Borbon y Orleans when she was 27 years of age.
Marie Louise d'Orléans (26 March 1662 – 12 February 1689) was Queen of Spain as the wife of King Charles II. She was the daughter of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans and Princess Henrietta of England. After horseback riding on 11 February 1689, she experienced abdominal pain followed by convulsions and vomiting. She died the following night. There were rumors she was poisoned.
Charles II of Spain (6 November 1661 – 1 November 1700) was King of Spain from 1665 to 1700. The last monarch from the House of Habsburg, which had ruled Spain since 1516, neither of his marriages produced children, and he died without a direct heir.
Before Maria Luisa, the King was engaged to marry Maria Antonia de Austria. Maria Antonia Josepha Benedicta Rosalia Petronella of Austria(18 January 1669 – 24 December 1692) was an Electress of Bavaria as the wife of Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria. She was the eldest daughter and only surviving child of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor and his first wife Margaret Theresa of Spain. She was the heiress to the Spanish throne after her maternal uncle Charles II of Spain from 1673 until her death.
Carlos and Maria Luisa married by proxy at the Palace of Fontainebleau. Palace of Fontainebleau, located 55 kilometers southeast of the center of Paris,is one of the largest French royal châteaux. It served as a hunting lodge and summer residence for many of the French monarchs, beginning with Louis VII. Francis I, Henry II, Louis-Philippe, Napoleon Bonaparte and Napoleon III.
Luis Armando de Borbón, Prince of Conti, was the representative of Carlos at the wedding. Louis Armand de Bourbon (30 April 1661 – 9 November 1685) was Prince of Conti from 1666 to his death. He was a son-in-law of King Louis XIV of France, who was his namesake.
The King first met Maria Luisa in Quintanapalla, Burgos, where they confirmed their marriage on 19 November 1679.
In the book Carlos asks the writer Francisco Antonio de Bances y Candamo to investigate the death of the queen. Francisco Antonio de Bances y López-Candamo (April 26, 1662 – September 8, 1704) was a playwright of the Spanish Golden Age. His theatrical career began in 1685 with the premiere of his play Por su rey y por su dama de él, and he was soon appointed he was appointed as dramaturg to the royal court by Charles II of Spain.
The court resided in the Alcazar de Madrid, which is where the first interview between Carlos II and Candamo happened. The Royal Alcázar of Madrid ( was a fortress located at the site of today's Royal Palace of Madrid. It was the residence of the Spanish royal family and home of the Court, until its destruction by fire during the reign of King Philip V (the first Bourbon king), on Christmas Eve 1734.
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The Queen's doctor, who was convinced that the Queen's death was not for natural causes, was Juan Lorenzo Francini. Other doctors Lucas Maestre Negrete and Gabino Fariñas.
An important figure in those days was Mechor Fernandez de Velasco, Duque de Frías, who was the mayordomo mayor. Íñigo Melchor Fernández de Velasco, 7th Duke of Frías (16 April 1629 – 27 September 1696), was a Spanish nobleman and Governor-General of the Spanish Netherlands.
One of the Queen's waiting ladies was Olympia Mancini, Countess of Soissons. Candamo discovered that she had been involved in a case of poisonings in France, because of which she was banished from the country. lympia Mancini, Countess of Soissons (11 July 1638 – 9 October 1708) 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 married on 24 February 1657 to Prince Eugène-Maurice of Savoy, Count of Soissons (1633–1673), by whom she had eight children,
Olympia was accused in 1679 in the Affaire des Poisons of having poisoned her husband, three servants, as well as the king's former sister-in-law Henrietta of England. She was even said to have threatened the King himself with the words, "come back to me, or you will be sorry". She was asked to leave the royal court in January 1680 and immediately left France. She moved to Spain, where she was well received and lived from 1686 to 1689, being celebrated by Spanish high society and receiving French guests in her salon. In 1690 she was suspected of having poisoned Queen Maria Luisa of Spain, the daughter of Henriette and niece of Louis XIV whose confidence she had gained after having taken up residence in Spain following her expulsion from France as a result of the Poison Affair.
The book often mentions the king's late half-brother, Juan José de Austria. Juan José de Austria (7 April 1629 – 17 September 1679) was a Spanish general and political figure. He was the only illegitimate son of Philip IV of Spain to be acknowledged by the King and trained for military command and political administration. His feuds with his father's widow, Queen Mariana of Austria, led to a 1677 palace coup through which he exiled Mariana and took control of the monarchy of his half-brother Charles II of Spain. However, he proved far from the saviour Spain had hoped he would be. He remained in power until his death in 1679.
Mariana de Austria was the mother of the King, and she seemed to have reasons to dislike her daughter-in-law. Mariana of Austria (24 December 1634 – 16 May 1696), was Queen of Spain from 1649, when she married her uncle Philip IV of Spain, until his death in 1665. She was then appointed regent for their three-year-old son Charles II, and due to his ill health remained an influential figure until she died in 1696.
One of the fictitious characters in this book, Captain Hernando de Contreras, is the son of Captain Alonso de Contreras. Alonso de Contreras (Madrid, Spain, 6 January 1582 - 1641) was a Spanish sailor (captain of a frigate), soldier (captain of infantry and then of cavalry), privateer, adventurer and writer, best known as the author of his autobiography; one of the very few autobiographies of Spanish soldiers under the Spanish Habsburgs and possibly one of the finest.
One of the men who helped Candamo is the King's Prime MInister, Manuel Joaquín Álvarez de Toledo y Portugal, Conde de Oropesa. Manuel Joaquín Álvarez de Toledo (Pamplona, 6 January 1641 – Barcelona, 23 December 1707), 9th Count of Oropesa, was a Spanish noble and politician, and Valido of King Charles II of Spain between 1685-1691 and 1698–1699.
Another iportant person in court was Juan Francisco de la Cerda Enríquez de Ribera, 8ty Duke of Medinaceli. Juan Francisco de la Cerda Enríquez de Ribera (Medinaceli, 4 November 1637 – Madrid, 20 February 1691), 8th Duke of Medinaceli was a Spanish noble and politician, and chief minister of King Charles II of Spain. During his tenure as chief minister of Spain (1680-1685), de la Cerda enforced a number of economic reforms aimed at reducing the galloping inflation, avoiding the permanent deficit, and filling the coffers of Spanish Monarchy. However, his measures failed to fill the royal coffers, led to food riots, and eventually caused his downfall in 1685. Most of his policies were nevertheless continued and expanded by his successor as chief minister, the Count of Oropesa, and are credited with fostering the economic recovery of Spain.
After the death of the Queen, the KIng retired to the Palac of the Buen Ritiro. Buen Retiro Palace in Madrid was a large palace complex designed by the architect Alonso Carbonell and built on the orders of Philip IV of Spain as a secondary residence and place of recreation. It was built in what was then the eastern limits of the city of Madrid. Today, what little remains of its buildings and gardens forms the Retiro Park.
The person who is chosen to organise the music and poems for the funeral of the queen is Diego Juan de Vera TAssis y Villarroel. He was a writer and playwright of the gilded age.
Candamo uses the help of his friend writers, Antionio de Zamora and Juan de la Hoz y Mota.
Antonio de Zamora (Madrid, November 1, 1660 - Ocaña, December 7, 1727) was a Spanish playwright. In 1689, he already held a post within the Ministry for the Indies, New Spain department. He was a friend of the playwright Francisco Bances Candamo, whom he replaced as the government's official poet in 1694.
Juan Claudio de la Hoz y Mota (1630?–1710?) was a Spanish dramatist. He was born in Madrid, and became a Knight of Santiago in 1653, and soon afterwards succeeded his father as regidor of Burgos.
There are some reference to scientists who studied poisons. One is Andrés Laguna. Andrés Laguna de Segovia (1499–1559) was a Spanish humanist physician, pharmacologist, and botanist.
At the time Europe was in a complicated situation. William of Orange and Leopold of Germany allied against Louis XIV, and they wanted the Spanish King to join them. The Grand Alliance, sometimes erroneously referred to as its precursor the League of Augsburg,[b] was formed on 20 December 1689. Signed by William III on behalf of the Dutch Republic and England, and Emperor Leopold I for the Habsburg Monarchy, its primary purpose was to oppose the expansionist policies of Louis XIV of France.
Candamo asked for the help of several painters of the time. The main one was Claudio Coello. Claudio Coello (2 March 1642 – 20 April 1693) was a Spanish Baroque painter. Coello is considered the last great Spanish painter of the 17th century.He was made painter to Charles II, by whom he was employed in the Escorial.
Other painters are:
Antonio Palomino: Acislo Antonio Palomino de Castro y Velasco (1655 – 13 April 1726) was a Spanish painter of the Baroque period, and a writer on art, author of El Museo pictórico y escala óptica, which contains a large amount of important biographical material on Spanish artists.
Sebastián Muñoz (c.1654, Casarrubios del Monte - 20 March 1690, Madrid) was a Spanish Baroque painter. In 1689, he painted the Queen's funeral for the Convento del Carmen Calzado. It is said that the monks didn't recognize the Queen as portrayed, so Muñoz had to place her portrait in a medallion, supported by angels.
Antonio Castrejon (1625–1690) was a Spanish painter.
José Jiménez Donoso (c.1632, Consuegra – 14 September 1690, Madrid) was a Spanish Baroque architect and painter.
Teodoro de Ardemans or Ardmans (ca. 1661–1726) was a Spanish architect and painter.He was a disciple of the painter Claudio Coello, although he mainly practiced architecture; the municipality of Toledo named him master of the Cathedral of Toledo.
Candamo also talks to the fools in palace.
Nicola Pertusato (Alessandria, c. 1635 - Madrid, 21 de junio de 1710), was a dward at the service of the Spanish court during the reigns of Philip IV and Charles II:
Maria Bárbola, also known as Mari, Mariabárbola and Mariabárbola Asquín (died after 1700), was a Spanish courtier, foremost known from the famous painting Las Meninas. She was from Austria and from 1651 onward employed as a court dwarf in the household of the queen regent of Spain, Mariana of Austria, with the official title Enana de la Reina, and a companion to Margaret Theresa of Spain.
After the Queen's Death, the government pushed the King to marry again, and there were several candidates.
Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici (11 August 1667 – 18 February 1743) was an Italian noblewoman who was the last lineal descendant of the main branch of the House of Medici.
Mariana de Neoburgo, who finally became the Spanish Queen. Maria Anna of Neuburg[a] (28 October 1667 - 16 July 1740), was a German princess and member of the Wittelsbach family. In 1689, she became Queen consort of Spain as the second wife of Charles II of Spain, last Habsburg ruler of the Spanish Empire.
Infanta Isabel Luísa Josefa of Portugal (6 January 1669 – 21 October 1690) was the only child of Peter II of Portugal and his first wife and former sister-in-law, Maria Francisca of Savoy. She was the heiress presumptive to the throne of Portugal between 1668 and 1689, when her half-brother John was born.
Candamo finds out that the oysters that the queen ate the day before she got sick came from Inés Francisca de Zúñiga y Ayala, Countess of Monterrey.
Candamo and the King go to the 'pudridero' in the Escorial because they learnt that if someone dies of arsenic poisoning a body doesn't decompose as fast as another who has died of other causes. In the pudridero bodies need to stay for about 30 years before they can be moved to their last resting places.
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