Posted on 12/15/2010 2:19:47 PM PST by billorites
After nine months of tests, researchers in France have identified the head of France's King Henry IV, who was assassinated in 1610 aged 57.
The scientific tests helped identify the late monarch's embalmed head, which was shuffled between private collections ever since it disappeared during the French Revolution in 1793.
The results of the research identifying Henry IV's head were published online Wednesday in the medical journal, BMJ.
Henry IV was buried in the Basilica of Saint Denis near Paris, but during the frenzy of the French Revolution, the royal graves were dug up and revolutionaries chopped off Henry's head, which was then snatched.
"This case was considered with the same (level of severity) as if it were a recent forensic case," said Philippe Charlier, a forensic medical examiner of University Hospital R Poincare in Garches, France, who led the team.
Charlier and 19 colleagues ran a battery of forensic tests on King Henry IV's head this year.
As one of France's best-loved monarchs, Henry IV was credited with brokering peace between Catholics and Protestants, kick-starting the French economy and building Parisian landmarks including the Pont Neuf bridge and Place des Vosges square. He was the first of the Bourbon monarchs and grandfather of the Sun King Louis XIV.
In the scientists' examinations of the monarch's head, they found features often seen in the king's portraits, including a dark lesion above his right nostril. They also found a healed bone fracture above his upper left jaw, which matched a stab wound the king suffered during an assassination attempt in 1594.
Radiocarbon testing confirmed the head dated from the 17th-century. Charlier and colleagues also compared the embalmed head to an autopsy report describing the particular embalming process used for French kings, written by the king's surgeon. Perfumers on the team used their professionally trained noses to identify specific embalming substances in the mouth used to hide nasty odors.
The French researchers also created a digital facial reconstruction and ran computer tomography scans which showed the skull was consistent with all known portraits of Henry IV and the plaster mold made of his face just after his death.
Frank Ruehli, of the University of Zurich and the Swiss Mummy project said the research was credible but that it would been more persuasive if the French scientists had found DNA evidence.
"They've narrowed it down considerably and it probably is Henry IV," he said. "But without the final DNA proof it is hard to say absolutely who it is." Ruehli was not linked to the research.
Still, Ruehli said the French scientists did the next best thing, by matching evidence of Henry IV's facial lesion and healed wounds to historical documentation of those traits, which were likely unique to the monarch.
The discovery comes at the end of King Henry IV year in France, which marks 400 years since the monarch, also known as the "Green Gallant," was murdered.
Next year, France will hold a national Mass and funeral for Henry IV. His head will then be reburied alongside the rest of the country's former kings and queens, in the Basilica of Saint Denis.
Boy they must have been really torqued to have wanted to dig him up and kill him again
I could have sworn that I had that head tucked away in my workshop. Oh well, it must be somebody else’s head. I’m guessing that I’m now out of the running for Antiques Roadshow.
I'm Henry the Fourth, I am I am
(She wouldn't have a Willy or a Sam!)
Been separated from my body before,
It's buried at the church next door.
LOL!
“Perfumers on the team used their professionally trained noses to identify specific embalming substances in the mouth used to hide nasty odors.”
That seals the deal for me.
NObody expects the French Revolution!
Must've been when they weren't doing wine tasting....
It's not good to be king.
also known as the “Green Gallant,”
after this, I don’t wonder.
Especially in France.
He was worse than Henry the III.
He was worse then Henry the 2.
He was the worst, since Henry the First.
Over here!
An American state is named after a daughter of Henry IV--Maryland.
They should send it to thw White Hut as a gift!
|
· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic · subscribe · |
|||
Antiquity Journal & archive Archaeologica Archaeology Archaeology Channel BAR Bronze Age Forum Discover Dogpile Eurekalert LiveScience Mirabilis.ca Nat Geographic PhysOrg Science Daily Science News Texas AM Yahoo Excerpt, or Link only? |
|
||
|
· Science topic · science keyword · Books/Literature topic · pages keyword · |
|||
Agreed. They should send along someone who HAD a real head for leadership.
It's a wonder there were any offspring. Oh. Wait. They were, after all, a bunch of egotists...
“Boy they must have been really torqued to have wanted to dig him up and kill him again”
Ah, just a pack of rampaging leftards acting like leftards.
I wonder if Bonny Prince Charles and Camilla are a little more worried since their brush with a mob?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
