E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
British Medical Journal via Reuters
This composite image shows the mummified skull attributed to French King Henri IV. A team of scientists say they have positively identified the embalmed head, presumed lost in the chaos of the French Revolution, as that of King Henri IV of France who was assassinated at the age of 57 in 1610. The head was apparently lost after revolutionaries desecrated the graves of French kings in the royal basilica of Saint-Denis near Paris in 1793.
British Medical Journal via Reuters
Digital reconstruction shows a model of the complete and the left side of the face of French King Henri IV. The redndering was created using data from the rediscovered mummified head of French King Henri IV.
Jacky Naegelen / Reuters
King Henri IV of France is depicted in a statue created in 1818, which resides on the Pont Neuf bridge in Paris on Wednesday, Dec. 15.
REUTERS-- A team of experts using advanced scientific techniques say they have conclusively identified the head, passed down over the centuries by private collectors, as that of the monarch.
The multi-disciplinary team, led by forensic pathologist Philippe Charlier, announced the discovery in the British Medical Journal.
Charlier said features consistent with those of the king's face were found including "a dark mushroom-like lesion" near the right nostril, a healed facial stab wound and a pierced right earlobe.
Read the full story HERE.
Leave a Comment:
here's hoping my head will be passed down for centuries...
Henri IV "The Good" was a kindly man who dealt fairly with the Huguenot (Protestant) French during the time of religious hatred. See Edict of Nantes. It was revoked by his grandson Louis XIV which led to the murder of thousands and the forced emigration of many from their home country so their properties could be seized. This injustice was not rectified until early in the French Revolution.