Celebrated Crimes series

There are dreadful—perhaps scurrilous—rumors about the Borgias of renaissance Italy, and here Dumas, in his Celebrated Crimes series, dishes up the dirt in all its ugly glory. This book was not written for children. Dumas has minced no words in describing the violent scenes of a violent time. In some instances facts appear distorted out of their true perspective, and in others the author makes unwarranted charges. The careful, mature reader—for whom the books are intended—will recognize and allow for this fact. From 1839 to 1841, Dumas, with the assistance of several friends, compiled Celebrated Crimes, collection of essays on famous criminals and crimes from European history.

Regal and dazzlingly beautiful, Mary was often misunderstood yet revered for the mystery of her life. Succumbing to the irresistible impulses of passion, she gambled away her throne for love. Unbelievable acts of abduction, rape and even murder were performed at her behest; she stopped at nothing. Ultimately, the deadly game of power she played and lost against her envious cousin, Elizabeth I, cost her not only her kingdom, but also her life. Betrayed by those she trusted most, pampered and adored even as she was led to her own beheading, she remained an enigma. Four centuries after her death, the legendary life of Mary Stuart Queen of Scots, as retold by Alexandre Dumas, still mesmerizes the listener with its drama and intrigue.

It was first published as part of his series Celebrated Crimes and recounts the famous witchcraft trial of a catholic priest called Urbain Grandier in seventeenth century France. Known to have broken his vow of celibacy, Grandier was accused of numerous possessions at a convent in Loudun. A masterful retelling of this famous trial, Urbain Grandier is highly recommended for fans of the true-crime genre.

Karl Ludwig Sand was a German university student and member of a liberal Burschenschaft (student association). He was executed in 1820 for the murder of the conservative dramatist August von Kotzebue the previous year in Mannheim. As a result of his execution, Sand became a martyr in the eyes of many German nationalists seeking the creation of a united German national state.

This book contains a fascinating reflective essay on the themes, facts, and fiction in Alexandre Dumas’s historical novel The Man in the Iron Mask. An interesting and accessible exploration of the famous story, this essay is highly recommended for those who have read and enjoyed the final episode in the d’Artagnan Romances, and will be of special utility to students. In the concluding installment of Alexandre Dumas’s celebrated cycle of the Three Musketeers, D’Artagnan remains in the service of the corrupt King Louis XIV after the Three Musketeers have retired and gone their separate ways. Unbeknownst to D’Artagnan, Aramis and Porthos plot to remove the inept king and place the king’s twin brother on the throne of France. Meanwhile, a twenty-three-year-old prisoner known only as “Philipe” wastes away deep inside the Bastille. Forced to wear an iron mask, Philipe has been imprisoned for eight years, has no knowledge of his true identity, and has not been told what crime he’s committed. When the destinies of the king and Philipe converge, the Three Musketeers and D’Artagnan find themselves caught between conflicting loyalties.

First published in 1839, it recounts the semi-fictionalised story of Marie Leroux and her accomplice Claude. A history of the retribution which overtook these dastardly criminals, this tale of low morals and deep corruption in seventeenth century France will appeal to lovers of true crime literature.

It is the story of crimes against the royalty. The vast split between the masses and the elite, the frustration and aggravation in the masses, heedlessness of the authorities and the consequences thereof are depicted. It is a powerful story that highlights the antagonism between the two classes. This life of Joan of Naples, the 14th century European monarch whose reign and romances were both famously tumultuous, was one of the most popular volumes of the series.

If our readers, tempted by the Italian proverb about seeing Naples and then dying, were to ask us what the most favourable moment is for visiting the enchanted city, we should advise them to land at the mole, or at Mergellina, on a fine summer day and at the hour when some solemn procession is moving out of the cathedral. Nothing can give an idea of the profound and simple-hearted emotion of this populace, which has enough poetry in its soul to believe in its own happiness. The whole town adorns herself and attires herself like a bride for her wedding; the dark facades of marble and granite disappear beneath hangings of silk and festoons of flowers; the wealthy display their dazzling luxury, the poor drape themselves proudly in their rags. Everything is light, harmony, and perfume; the sound is like the hum of an immense hive, interrupted by a thousandfold outcry of joy impossible to describe...

Martin Guerre was a French peasant that, during a long absence, was famously impersonated in the 16th century. Although the real Martin Guerre is suspected of no serious crimes, his imposter, Arnaud du Tilh, engaged in fraud and adultery while pursuing false claims to the Guerre inheritance. Dumas later incorporates this celebrated crime into his novel “The Two Dianas.”

One September afternoon in 1751, towards half-past five, about a score of small boys, chattering, pushing, and tumbling over one another like a covey of partridges, issued from one of the religious schools of Chartres. The joy of the little troop just escaped from a long and wearisome captivity was doubly great: a slight accident to one of the teachers had caused the class to be dismissed half an hour earlier than usual, and in consequence of the extra work thrown on the teaching staff the brother whose duty it was to see all the scholars safe home was compelled to omit that part of his daily task. Therefore not only thirty or forty minutes were stolen from work, but there was also unexpected, uncontrolled liberty, free from the surveillance of that black-cassocked overseer who kept order in their ranks. Thirty minutes! at that age it is a century, of laughter and prospective games! Each had promised solemnly, under pain of severe punishment, to return straight to his paternal nest without delay, but the air was so fresh and pure, the country smiled all around! The school, or preferably the cage, which had just opened, lay at the extreme edge of one of the suburbs, and it only required a few steps to slip under a cluster of trees by a sparkling brook beyond which rose undulating ground, breaking the monotony of a vast and fertile plain.

In this book, Dumas tells the tale of the brutal excesses of Ali Pacha. Few men have understood themselves better or been on better terms with the orbit of their existence than Ali Pacha, and as the personality of an individual is all the more striking, in proportion as it reflects the manners and ideas of the time and country in which he has lived, so the figure of Ali Pacha stands out, if not one of the most brilliant, at least one of the most singular in contemporary history.

Amidst the political winds from Napoleon’s downfall, this tale turns our attention to the flight of a former French marshal and King of Naples, Joachim Murat. Murat, unhappy with the deal he made to obtain pardon from the Austrian Emperor, takes a life-ending resolution to retake his crown rather than live in peaceful obscurity.

This story details the crimes and trial surrounding the unexpected pregnancy and subsequent childbirth of the Countess de Saint-Géran in 1640s France. Familial jealousies harboured by her sister-in-law, the Marchioness de Bouillé, intertwine with the greedy schemes of a fugitive relative, the Marquis de Saint-Maixent, to produce a scandalous series of events.

The crimes of the Marquise of Brinvilliers, a French aristocrat during the reign of Louis XIV, included some of the most famous murders, scandals (Affair of the Poisons) and mysteries (The Man in the Iron Mask) in French history. This story recounts her major crimes, torture, conviction and execution.

The assassination of Diane de Joannis de Chateaublanc (the Marquise de Ganges) is a fitting tale to conclude Dumas’ celebrated crimes series. This event was as gruesome as it was brazening and, before the final dagger strokes, both the assassins and the assassinated had become embroiled in high-profile intrigues. As a result, it sent reverberations through common and court societies across Europe for decades.

The story of Vaninka, generally regarded as the most fictionalized of Dumas’ Celebrated Crimes series, occurs during the short and eccentric rule of Emperor Paul I of Russia. Vaninka is a general’s daughter whose love for one of her father’s officers leads to tragic death, savage crimes and perversions of justice.