Joseph Boniface de La Môle

Who was Joseph Boniface de La Môle?

Joseph Boniface de La Môle was a French nobleman. He was the son of Jacques Boniface, seigneur de la Môle et de Colobrières, of Marseille.

La Môle was the Provençal lover of Marguerite de Valois, among others, during the early part of her marriage to Henry of Navarre, the future king of France.

He served François, Duke of Anjou and Alençon, Marguerite's brother and youngest son of King Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici. He represented the Duc d’Alençon during marriage negotiations with Queen Elizabeth I of England in 1572. In 1574 he was implicated in a Malcontent conspiracy against the reigning king, Charles IX, who was gravely ill, supported by the duke of Alençon. He was accused of making an attempt on the king's life when a wax figurine pricked with needles, which he had obtained from the astrologer Cosimo Ruggieri, was found in his possession. After being subjected to questioning and torture, he was condemned to death. He was quartered and beheaded at the Place de Grève in Paris with his co-conspirator, Annibal de Coconnas. It has been rumoured that Marguerite embalmed la Môle's head and kept it in a jewelled casket.