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Leonora Dori

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Name
  
Leonora Dori


Died
  
1617, Paris, France

Portrait of Leonora Dori

Leonora Dori Galigaï (1571 – 8 July 1617) was a French courtier, an influential favourite of the French regent Marie de' Medici, mother of King Louis XIII of France. Galigaï was married to Concino Concini, the later marquis and then marshal d'Ancre, during Marie's reign as Queen Mother and Regent of France.

Contents

Portrait of Léonora Dori by François Quesnel, Rennes museum

Life

Anna Göldi was the last person to be executed for witchcraft in Europe

Galigaï suffered from debilitating depressions and paralyzing spasms, which may have been symptoms of epilepsy, which the queen and her courtiers believed to be due to demonic possession, but which were resistant to exorcism. She was treated by the Portuguese-born, Italian-Jewish court physician of Marie and Louis XIII: Filotheo Eliau Montalto (died 1616).

Leonora Dori arrested by the soldiers

In an age when people believed in witchcraft, sorcery, magic and demonic possession, Galigaï was hired by the queen to perform exorcisms and white magic to counter black magic and curses. She earned huge sums of money by these tasks, as well as from bribes for giving people access to the queen. Galigaï amassed an enormous fortune, which she invested in banks and in real estate in France and Italy.

Execution of Leonora Galigai

In 1610 King Henri IV, the husband of Marie de Médicis, was assassinated, and his widow became the Queen Mother of Louis XIII and the Regent of France. After Concini was murdered by his political enemies in 1617, his wife was arrested, imprisoned in Blois and charged with lèse majesté through practicing black magic, witchcraft and "Judaizing". Galigaï was judged guilty of having bewitched the regent. She was decapitated and her body subsequently burned at the stake at the Place de Grève in Paris.

Legacy

On the left is the execution of Anna Göldi while on the right is the portrait of Leonora Dori

Galigaï's life is the subject of Alfred de Vigny's 1831 tragedy La Maréchale d'Ancre.


Lise Delamare as Leonora Dori in 1946 movie, Le Capitan

References

Leonora Dori Wikipedia


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