Henry V arrowhead removal | WillieWillieHarrySte | YouTube | Published on September 13, 2010
Posted on 04/19/2019 12:30:29 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
The future King Henry V was hit by an arrow to the face at the Battle of Shrewsbury -- how did he survive? This was the topic of a paper given by Michael Livingston at the 48th International Congress on Medieval Studies.
Livingston, an Associate Professor at The Citadel, explains what happened in one of the most remarkable cases of battlefield surgery from the Middle Ages -- the arrow wound suffered by the future Henry V at the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403.
Prince Henry was only 16 years old when he marched with his father's forces to Shrewsbury in western England to fight against the rebel army led by Henry "Harry Hotspur" Percy. With English longbowmen on both sides of the battle, arrows caused many of the dead and wounded, including Henry Percy, who was killed when he lifted up his visor and was struck down by a shot.
According to one chronicler's report, Prince Henry was also "hurt in the face by an arrow." A much more detailed account survives in the Philomena, a medical tract written by John Bradmore. The account was originally in Latin, and a Middle English translation of it survives as well.
Bradmore had been in the service of the crown since at least 1399. He notes in his work that before he arrived, others had tried to pull the arrow out of the prince, but while the shaft did come free the arrowhead remained buried six inches deep. Various medical experts had tried to remove the arrowhead with potions and other cures, but had no success.
(Excerpt) Read more at medievalists.net ...
Henry V arrowhead removal | WillieWillieHarrySte | YouTube | Published on September 13, 2010
From the description it’s a wonder he survived the treatment. But it was a brilliant bit of healing for the time. I have to wonder if he was unconscious or made unconscious for the process of removal. Not to mention the following 20 days of treatments.
The description of the procedure to extract the arrow is quite brutal, but no doubt not unique for the times.
Simply amazing medical work in 1403.
Life was hell during those days...
life was hell through out the Dark Ages in Europe. The rest of the world no so much. Old Kingdom Egypt had better medical than the Europeans 4500 years later in the Dark Ages ...
They had crude but working battery cells in egypt.
I once took an arrow to the knee
Those images which look like light bulbs are actually something else to do with a representation of a plant connected to a ‘god’ - I don’t recall which of what as lack adequate AM coffee.
Those ‘battery cells’ may also actually be something else since modern Egyptology is in existential turmoil at present. Nothing long claimed as true is correct, since most everything is based on “dynasty dating” (with some carbon dating thrown in - but modern bio-thermoluminescence dating is forbidden for all practical purposes).
The “dynasty dating” is based on a 19-20th century known forgery called the Kings List. The List says King X lived before King Y, but King Y at times used the same name as King X; and no one knows who all the kings are or even who the first kings were.
However, Old Kingdom Egypt (OKE) had excellent surgeons using technics not rediscovered until the 19-20th Centuries AD.
Bump for after work...
My only regret is that you beat me to the pop cultural reference.
CC
Were you an Adventurer before that?
Stunning...
And he lived.
An amazing story! His doctor removed the arrow using honey as a disinfectant. That is why the one contemporary painting of Prince Hal shows him in profile.
It's interesting that a couple if centuries before antiseptics were not used treating Civil War wounds in the US, the doctor treating Prince Hal seemed to be aware of the necessity of cleanliness.
It is suggestive. But it could also be the difference between treating a single VIP casualty and 5,000 in a single day. Imagine how much white wine the Army of the Potomac would have had to carry to cleanup after another debacle against Lee & Jackson?
True, but effective antiseptics were somewhat known at the time of the Civil War. I happened to visit the history tour at Mayo clinic a couple of years ago. Dr. Mayo got his start as a Civil War surgeon. When it was over, he started his clinic in a small sleepy village in the middle of nowhere, Minnesota. However, he happened to use both antiseptics and antiesthetic during his surgeries. He quickly gained a nationwide reputation that not only did his treatments not hurt, they also didn't kill you. It seems quite interesting that it took 250 years, or more, for antiseptics to be put into common practice.
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.
