Poison of Khaibar refers to the poisoned leg of mutton of which Mahomet partook while in the citadel
of Khaibar. It was poisoned by Zainab, a Jewess, and Mahomet felt the effects of the poison to the end
of his life.
Poisoners (Secret).
(1) Locusta, a woman of ancient Rome, who was employed by the Empress Agrippina
to poison her husband Claudius. Nero employed the same woman to poison Britannicus and others.
(2)
The Borgias (Pope Alexander VI. and his children, Caesar and Lucrezia) were noted poisoners.
(3) Hieronyma
Spara and Toffania, of Italy. (See Aqua Tofana.)
(4) Marquise de Brinvilliers, a young profligate French
woman, taught the art by an officer named Sainte Croix, who learnt it in Italy. (See World of Wonders,
part vii. p. 203.)
(5) Lavoisin and Lavigoreux, French midwives and fortune-tellers.
(6) Anna Maria Zweinziger,
sentenced to death in 1811.
In English history we have a few instances: e.g. Sir Thomas Overbury was
so murdered by the Countess of Somerset. King James, it has been said, was a victim to similar poisoning,
by Villiers, Duke of Buckingham.