There are two interesting scientific and historical discoveries this week. Researchers have identified remains from both French King Louis XVI and Henry IV. The discoveries began with a handkerchief found in a gourd found in Italy . . .
It was well documented that citizens collected the blood of both King Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette) after they were decapitated by guillotine. Scientists were intrigued by a gourd with intricate carvings of figures from the French Revolution. Inside as a stained handkerchief. After taking a sample for a known relative of King Louis XVI, the scientists matched the DNA of the handkerchief as late of the monarch. It also served to confirm that the mummified head was that of King Henry IV, a relative of King Louis XVI.
King Henry IV king in 1589 after his predecessor, Henry III, was assassinated by a monk. Henry IV converted to Catholicism and took Paris in a siege. He was quite popular but he was also assassinated by a Catholic fanatic in 1610. Someone then cut off his head which was held privately until 2010.
By comparing the Y chromosome in both samples, the forensic team found that the two men were 250 times more likely to be genetically related than unrelated.
It is a bit chilling to think of someone first dabbing up the blood of Louis XVI and then putting it into a gourd honoring the leaders of the French Revolution.
Source: LIvescienci
A little dedication to King Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette, by the most appropriate band I could find:
French Azilum was established in northcentral PA for French royalists fleeing the guillotine, especially Marie Antoinette. She didn’t make it ,but others did.
itchin, “cranienne rectale d’inversion.”
I think that the gourd was up someone’s arse. How does one say BS in French?
Kraaken,
Axel von Fersen, a swedish nobleman who tried to rescue them. may have well done it.
Suggest reading my post above.
After reading more in Wiki, it seems that the king was demoted to a commoner, and given the name Capet. Marie, who was later tried, was addressed as “Widow Capet”.
Perhaps von Fersen the Swedish aristocrat, and her favorite had gone back to Sweden before she was guillotined, although as my post makes clear he kept contact with the French and joined their expeditionary force supporting the colonies in our revolt against Britain..
My guess someone did some careful research in the document leavings from that time.
Possibly the Von Fersen family could have made his notes and correspondence available, but wanting to keep a low profile, have been kept clear of the notoriety/celebrity splashings.
They own his castle today, and are not on welfare. (Irony?)
Oops. should have been Christ’s blood.
The keeping of remains and blood isn’t such an oddity. There are more vials of Chris’s blood than you can shake a stick at. There’s the Shroud of Turin, if one chooses to believe in it. There are at least 2 heads of John the Baptist venerated. People have historically kept this sort of thing. What I find interesting about this is that they were able to even FIND Louis and Antionette’s remains. It was my understanding that the victims of Madam Guillotine were burried in mass graves. Since one of the ideals of the revolution was ‘Equality (indeed, that’s one of the reasons the guillotine was used…so that all would be equal even in the manner of their death), one would have to assume that the king and queen were treated no differentaly than anyone else, hence tossed into a mass grave. Since the number of victims was around 35,000, that’s a heck of a lot of bones to sort through. I’ve seen the tomb in St. Denis and always wondered how they knew that Louis and Antionette’s remains were actually there.
“It is a bit chilling to think of someone first dabbing up the blood of Louis XVI and then putting it into a gourd honoring the leaders of the French Revolution” (JT)
Perhaps, but perhaps some of us are a bit more angry than other. at the way the current aristocracy is dancing on the grave of the middle class. JT has previously decried the apparent blood lust to “eat the rich”.which pops up here frequently. I don’t know in what universe one can watch the middle class being driven into the ground and not have complete understanding of the feeling that the PTB deserve to be vanquished, whatever the modern day parallel.
Oro Lee 1, January 3, 2013 at 9:44 am
Dredd: “Politicians lose their heads often.”
Gene H.: “Some might say not nearly often enough, Dredd.”
Which is why some folks are against gun control.
========================================
The guns are in control and they have lost their minds.
Frankly, It’s almost always the middle class that lead a revolution. The biggest exception being the Chinese Communist. Peasants are too busy just trying to survive to be able to revolt. One must have a little money in their pocket and a little fat on their bones to have the energy.
Dredd: “Politicians lose their heads often.”
Gene H.: “Some might say not nearly often enough, Dredd.”
Which is why some folks are against gun control.
Axel von Fersten.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axel_von_Fersen_the_Younger
Followed a French regiment to the American Revolution in support of the colonists. Translated between Washington and the French commander.
Distinguised himself at the battle at Yorktown.
He was an original member at the grounding of the Society of Cincinnati.
Family still among Swedish nobles who are politically powerless now (?).
Quite possibly relevant info from Sweden.
A lover to Marie Antoinette and friend of both she and Louis XVI was a Swedish nobleman. He arranged their last attempt to flee following in the cortege. It was he who followed them to the gallows I believe and saved at best some blood on a handkerchief and his head.
How they found these relics must be an interesting story.
Upon returning from Paris, he was alleged to have been guilty of an attempt on the Crown Prince’s life and was killed by a mob of pöbeln in Stockholm,
I’ll get back with his name when I remember it. The family is highly regarded today here and own his country palace.
Here’s one for you:
http://news.yahoo.com/idaho-woman-sues-blue-cross-204617031.html
And where did this get them.
Some might say not nearly often enough, Dredd.
Politicians lose their heads often.
After the peasants rise up here in America will we keep such souvenirs? Its hard to imagine but then I never thought I’d see the day that such a large percentage of voters so willingly elect people who think that when the peasants have no bread they should simply eat cake.
I have no problem with cutting off the heads of monarchs, but keeping their heads and blood is a bit much to say the least. In fact, my ancestors came to America, after the Restoration fleeing to keep their heads and other body parts that were under dire threat of being detached from them.