The Trial of Jeanne Catherine: Infanticide in Early Modern Geneva

In 1686 in Geneva, a single mother named Jeanne Catherine Thomasset was charged with poisoning two young children: her own illegitimate daughter and the son of a rural wet nurse. This began a protracted criminal trial during which authorities interrogated Jeanne Catherine several times, sometimes with torture, in order to determine the truth. The stakes were high since women proven to have committed infanticide were usually hanged in the seventeenth century.

The Trial of Jeanne Catherine is a suspenseful historical mystery that offers students the opportunity to learn about motherhood, child rearing, gender, religion, local politics, and the practice of criminal justice in early modern Europe. This edition provides the complete trial transcript as well as the deliberations of the Genevan authorities and relevant correspondence. Students are encouraged to read, interpret, and draw their own conclusions about the reasons for infanticide prosecutions as well as their impact on the experience of single mothers and their children.