Morin and the Beheading of Henri d’Effiat

In Morin’s Astrologia Gallica he loves to talk about beheadings and other gruesome deaths.  In Book 21, Part II, Chapter II, Morin mentions the decapitation of the young man Henri d’Effiat (1620-1642) and makes reference to his natal chart.  Unfortunately, I have been unable to locate a date of birth for d’Effait, so I have tried to reconstruct a horoscope based on the clues in Morin’s text.

The Beheading of Henri d’Effiat and his co-conspirator.

Henri was the son of Marshal Antoine Coiffier-Ruzé, marquis d’Effiat, a close friend of the scheming Cardinal Richelieu, who took the handsome lad under his protection on his father’s death in 1632.  The good Cardinal knew that King Louis XIII had a penchant for love affairs with good looking young men, so Richelieu introduced Henri to the king as part of a scheme to have more influence in the royal court.  The king took the bait.  Louis XIII quickly fell for the young and handsome Henri, and the two became lovers.

According to Louis Crompton in his 2006 book Homosexuality & Civilization, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press: “Louis [XIII] was also captivated by Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis of Cinq-Mars, who was later executed for conspiring with the Spanish enemy in time of war. Tallemant described how on a royal journey, the King sent M. le Grand [de Cinq-Mars] to undress, who returned, adorned like a bride. ‘To bed, to bed’ he said to him impatiently… and the mignon was not in before the king was already kissing his hands.” (p.338)

At some point Henri d’Effiat became disillusioned with Cardinal Richelieu and badmouthed him to the king.  Henri also became involved in a plot against Richelieu, which was discovered by the Cardinal’s spies and led to Henri being condemned to death by beheading (a Mars activity).  Henri died on the scaffold on 12 September 1642 (at age 22).  The king was apparently only in the relationship with Henri for the sex (Henri must have been well endowed with a dignified phallic Mars conjunct expansive Jupiter in assertive Aries in the 8th house of the organs of reproduction.  With the regal Sun conjunct his 8th house cusp, Henri’s stellar organ was truly fit for a king.).   King Louis XIII is quoted as saying of d’Effait on the day of his execution, “Je voudrais bien voir la grimace qu’il fait à cette heure sur cet échafaud” (I’d like to see the face he is making now on that scaffold).

Morin apparently was consulted by Richelieu and had access to the charts of the important people in Richelieu’s circle.  Morin explains Henri’s beheading by the presence of the Sun, Jupiter and Mars, all in Aries in the 8th house of death in his chart.  He cites this chart as an exception to his general rule that a malefic in good celestial state in a bad house (here, Mars in Aries in the 8th) will rescue the native from the evil of the house or temper that evil.  By this rule, Henri should have escaped the beheading.  What went wrong?

Morin blames the bad outcome on Saturn in the 10th house in Gemini squaring Mercury (ruler of the ASC and MC) in Pisces.  Although Saturn is sextile the planets in Aries in the 8th (Sun, Mars, Jupiter), this sextile is of no help because Saturn is unfriendly to the 8th house planets.  (By the way, the Baldwin translation of this section is incorrect when compared with the original Latin text.  Morin omits punctuation marks and is fairly abstruse in this section, so Baldwin misunderstood what he was trying to say.  Baldwin is generally excellent, however, in his translation of Book 21.)

Based on the information provided by Jose in the comments section, I updated the chart of d’Effiat as follows:

I rectified this birth time on the basis of the Regiomontanus primary directions at the time of his beheading (with and without latitude, using the Naibod measure of time). The above chart probably differs slightly from the one that Morinus used.  (See Addendum.)

The primary directions used for rectification included:

Sun Square Saturn on 25 August 1642.  (The Sun conjoins the 8th cusp of death and also rules the 8th cusp by its exaltation in Aries.)

Sun Square MC on 12 September 1642.

In this chart, we have:

1) Sun, Mars, and Jupiter in Aries in the 8th of death.  Planets within 5 degrees of the cusp of a house are considered to act in that house.

2) Sun rules the 12th of secret enemies (Richelieu’s spies) which led to his death.

3) Jupiter rules the 7th of open enemies (Richelieu) and the 4th of conditions at the end of life.  Jupiter conjunct Mars in the 8th = beheading.

4) Mars rules the 8th cusp (death) and the 3rd cusp of communication.  I’m not sure how the 3rd house relates to his death.  Perhaps Henri’s negative comments and gossip about Richelieu to the king and his conspiring against the Cardinal fit the 3rd house symbolism.

5) Saturn in the 10th (kings) rules the 5th (love affairs).  Saturn squares a debilitated Mercury (ruler of the ASC and MC), so his love affair with the king did not bode well for his vitality (ASC) or his public standing (MC).

Even though Saturn is sextile the 8th house planets, Saturn is connected with the Air and Earth triplicities whereas Mars, the Sun, and Jupiter are connected mainly with Fire but  Mars & Jupiter also with Water, so there is no friendly connection between Saturn and the 8th house planets.  In addition, Saturn rules the malefic 6th house and is by nature quite malefic.  Thus, the sextile from Saturn does little good and can actually cause harm.

6) Mercury rules the ASC and MC and is in detriment and fall in Pisces in the 7th.  Thus, Henri fares badly in close partnerships, disputes, lawsuits, contracts, treaties, and at the hands of open enemies.  He was condemned to death by a judge in a trial for treason, with charges brought  against him by Richelieu.

7)  The 9th house rules religious figures and may represent the role of Richelieu in his life.  Early on Venus in Taurus is quite beneficial and Richelieu took Henri under his wing when Henri’s father died.  Later on Pluto in Taurus in the 9th (in detriment because Pluto rules the opposite sign Scorpio) symbolizes how Richelieu screwed the young lad in the end.

8) Morin didn’t know about the modern planets, but it is striking that Mars (ruler of the 8th of death) is closely square Uranus (sudden disruptive events — beheading would qualify in this category).  Uranus also rules the unfortunate 6th house of physical afflictions (such as a severed neck in this case).  Uranus lies in the 11th house of friends, and d’Effiat was beheaded with his good friend and co-conspirator François de Thou (see image below).

In addition, in the 27 March chart, there is a T-Square involving Moon opposite Uranus squaring Mars in the 8th of death.  Uranus occupies the 11th and the Moon rules the 11th, which signifies not only friends but also the favorites of the 10th house king.  Henri was a favorite lover of the king who suddenly (Uranus) turned on him and had him beheaded (Mars in 8th) for treason.  The Moon also conjoins the cusp of the 5th house of Henri’s love life, which played a key role in his beheading.  You could say that Henri lost his head for the king.

Most telling in the 27 March chart is the very close Mercury semi-sextile Mars/Jupiter.  As ruler of the 1st house, Mercury represents Henri, his body, and his life force.  As ruler of the 8th, Mars rules Henri’s death.  As ruler of the 4th, Jupiter rules the end of Henri’s life.  I have always found the semi-sexile to be an unfortunate aspect.  In Henri’s chart, the ASC-ruler is almost exactly semi-sextile the rulers of the 8th and 4th.  With the Sun ruling the 12th of undoing on the cusp of the 8th, these are strong indicators of his unfortunate end.  As mentioned, Morin didn’t know about Uranus.  Here Uranus rules the unfortunate 6th and squares the Mars/Jupiter conjunction in the 8th, showing a sudden unfortunate death.

ADDENDUM: Having reread Morinus, I believe that the chart below is very close to the one he used for D’Effiat. It differs from my rectified chart above by about 20 minutes in birth time. Morinus notes that the natal chart has the Sun, Mars and Jupiter in the 8th. Since he does not mention Venus or Mercury being in the 8th, it must be that Venus occupies the Regiomontanus 9th and Mercury the Regiomontanus 7th.

Morin’s chart for Henri D’Effiat was close to the one depicted above. Morin states that the native had the Sun in the 8th, so that the Regiomontanus cusp of the 8th had to be at leas 7 Aries. In addition, Venus was not in the 8th, so that the Regiomontanus 9th cusp had to be 3 Taurus or less.

Here is Morin’s original text upon which the above chart is based.

My translation of the above:

“Note, however, that Henri D’effiat had the Sun, Jupiter and Mars in Aries and in the 8th house, and his death was violent because of Mars, judiciary because of Jupiter, and public because of the Sun: the reason was the following combinations, an unfortunate Mercury, lord of the Ascendant and the Midheaven, in square with Saturn in the 10th house, with an insufficient aspect [a sextile] between Saturn and the planets in the 8th, a house inimical to Saturn. Clearly in astrological judgments one must pay attention to many factors, the entirety of which would be too long a task to review here.”

I assume by ‘unfortunate Mercury’ Morin is referring to Mercury being in Pisces, the sign of its Fall, and by the 8th house being ‘inimical’ to Saturn, Morin must mean that the Aries 8th is the sign of Fall of Saturn. The sextile between Saturn in the 10th and not especially dignified to the planets in the 8th in Aries, the sign of Saturn’s fall, was insufficient to offset the promise of death of the 8th house planets.