The Story of Carmelite Water

Gaston Jean Baptiste, the third son of King Henry IV, who later became Le Duc d'Orleans (Duke of Orléans), was a restless and fickle noble. At different times in his life he conspired against his younger brother, King Louis XIII, and his Prime Minister Cardinal Richelieu. Gaston shared his contempt for the latter with a poor young lad from Gascony named d'Artagnan, who encountered an older man on his arrival in Paris named Comte de Rochefort, an agent of the Cardinal on a mission to pass information to his spy Lady de Winter. Rochefort insults the young d'Artagnan, who challenges the man to a duel. But Rochefort’s companions overpower the lad, and leave him beaten in the street. Later, d'Artagnan spots Rochefort in the square, but in his rush to reach the man he draws the ire of three others and they each challenge him to a duel. The brave d'Artagnan accepts and proceeds to battle them all at once. This spectacle draws the attention of Cardinal Richelieu, who sends his guards to arrest the men for fighting in public. In a twist of fate, d'Artagnan, together with the three duelists, defeat the Cardinal’s guards, which impressed King Louis XIII so much that the young man was invited to join his elite band of highly skilled, daredevil bodyguards. Our young friend, together with his new companions, Athos, Porthos and Aramis, served king and country, bonded in friendship by their creed, “All for one and one for all!” 

Wait...this sounds like the plot to Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers! Indeed, it is. However, although many adventures in the story may be fictionalized, the setting is historically accurate and many of the characters actually existed. Athos (Armand de Sillegue d'Athos d'Auteville), Aramis (Henri d'Aramitz) and Porthos (Isaac de Portau) were all members of the King's Musketeers, and the young man from Gascony, Charles de Batz-Castelmore d'Artagnan, was their captain. What’s even more interesting (and finally to the point) is that Carmelite water is also featured in the story. Remember the Duke of Orléans, who had it out for Richelieu? Knowing that Cardinal Richelieu took the tonic regularly to combat migraines, the Duke contaminated the brew with poison. Fortunately for Richelieu, his keen sense of smell warned him of danger before he could drink, and his suspicion of an assassination attempt was confirmed upon examination of the vial contents. And the red wax seal placed on vials intended for public consumption? It wasn’t done out of concern for sanitation or quality control, but to foil future attempts on Cardinal Richelieu and other members of the court.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, the original recipe was entrusted to surviving Carmelites and even to the Society of Pharmacists of Paris. In the late 1700s, several individuals formed a civil corporation that purchased the right to produce Eau des Carmes from the state. In 1829, the formula passed to Brother Paradis, who took his nephew, Antoine Royer, into confidence. But there must have been a weak link in the chain somewhere because in the same year, a recipe for Carmelite water was published in M ackenzie’s 5,000 Receipts as follows… “Eau de Mélisse de Carmes: Take of dried balm leaves, 4 oz., dried lemon-peel, 2 do.; nutmegs and coriander seeds, each, 1 oz.; cloves, cinnamon, and dried angelica roots, each, 4 dr.; spirit of wine, 2 lbs.; brandy, 2 ditto. Steep and distil in balneum mariae, re-distil, and keep for some time in a cold cellar.”