I’m coming to you today with an interesting topic and probably not one you think about often; poison. As a writer, I have to work out a lot of plots and scenarios that I’ll probably never experience in real life. That’s just the nature of being a writer, especially a fantasy writer. So, come along with me today as I share a little bit about a macabre topic I tackled while writing my latest book.
That topic, as I said above, was the types and potencies of medieval poisons. What did these poisons look like? What did they smell like? How were they derived? If I’m being honest with you, I’ve never needed to know anything about poison (surprising, right?), so I needed a little primer.
Now, before I go any further, you might be struck by a burning question, “Uh, Emily, why exactly did you need to do research about poison??” When I was writing The Dark Ruler, my latest Camilla book, I was working through a tough section where Camilla and the rebels were plotting the assassination of their wicked ruler, Quinten Warwick.
If you’ve read even one of the Camilla books, you’ll be familiar with the character of Quinten Warwick. He first appears in The Faintly Beating Heart as a young, cocky Supreme Ruler who just came to power under some suspect means.
He’s one Camilla’s core antagonist and the reason for much of her suffering. In fact, even though she’s never met him, Camilla herself often blames Quinten for her poverty-stricken life and for the state of their country, Elmyra.
As you read through the series, it stands to reason that by the time you get to The Dark Ruler, Camilla and the rebels are ready to take out this Supreme Ruler. Now, don’t worry, if you haven’t read The Dark Ruler yet, I won’t be giving away any major spoilers. You’re gonna have to read the book if you want to find out if their assassination attempt actually works…
“My eyes fall to Fairalisa’s intricately stitched wedding gown. I don’t have a good answer for her, but Lawrence and Fairalisa must get married or I won’t have a chance to poison Quinten.”
~The Dark Ruler
Since Quinten Warwick IS the dark ruler, of course the whole book is about how the rebels are going to get rid of him. In the book, Camilla’s searching for a discrete way to murder the Supreme Ruler that doesn’t fall back on her or the rebels. So, what options does she have?
Hiring a hit man?
Starting a fire?
Nope, that’s not gonna work. It needs to appear as natural causes for reasons you’d need to read the book to fully understand.
Enter: poison, and the start of my poison research. I suppose I could blame Camilla for having to go down this road since it was her idea. As I started my googling, I came up with the typical stuff you’d expect to hear about when it comes to Medieval poisons.
You’ve got your hemlock and your wolfsbane and I even read about poisonous toads. There’s quite a bit of history and lore surrounding medieval poisons, so I recommend you check it out if the topic interests you. At the bottom of this post are a few articles I enjoyed reading.
Pretty soon I realized I had acquired enough knowledge to proceed with my writing since I knew I’d be creating a fictional poison to use in my book anyway. But through my study I stumbled across some writing gold, a way to administer poison that was so cool I knew I had to include it in The Dark Ruler.
That was the first time I’d ever heard of poison rings. These things are real! They’re typically gaudy rings with big gems that have essentially a locket on top. The locket hinges open to reveal a shallow well. In this secret spot, people (often women) would hide a small amount of poison.
Then while pouring a glass of wine or handing over a plate of food, the poisoner would discreetly flip open their ring and tilt their hand backward to deposit the poison into the target’s drink or food.
BTW, you can actually buy a poison ring (poison NOT included) off of Etsy. Check it out HERE.
Poison rings were so popular at one point that even to this day in Italy it’s considered poor taste to hold a bottle with the back of your hand pointed downward, which was the exact position someone would use to offload their poison from their ring.
When I read about poison rings, I kind of lit up. I thought it was such an intriguing part of history and something I had to include in The Dark Ruler. So, I will tell you this without giving much away. At one point in the book, Camilla is in possession of a poison ring.
How does she acquire it and does it work in killing Quinten Warwick?
Well, I’m not gonna answer those questions, but you can grab your copy of The Dark Ruler HERE if you want to give it a read.
New to the series? Did you know you can get a FREE copy of book #1 in the Camilla Crim series? It’s true! Grab your eBook HERE.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this lesson on medieval poison with me.
Emily
Links to some of the articles I read regarding medieval poison:
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