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Philippe Charlier
The dusty remains of Richard I's heart now rest in this crystal box.
By Stephanie Pappas
LiveScience
The heart of Richard the Lionheart was preserved with mercury, mint and frankincense, among other sweet-smelling plants, a new study finds.
The study is the first biochemical look at the heart of Richard I, who died in 1199. As was common practice at the time, the king's heartwas removed and mummified separately from the rest of his body. It rested in a reliquary at Notre Dame in Rouen for centuries before its rediscovery in 1838.
Now, for the first time, the chemical composition of the substances used to preserve the heart has been revealed. These substances were directly inspired by biblical texts, said study leader Philippe Charlier of University Hospital R. Poincaré.
"The aim was to approach the odor of sanctity," Charlier told LiveScience.
The life and death of Richard I
Richard I of England began his rule in 1189. He spent two years in captivity in Europe, much of that time being held for ransom by the Holy Roman Emperor. Later, the tale of Richard I's ransom would be folded into folk tales about Robin Hood, casting Richard I as a benevolent absent monarch and his brother John as a tax-happy usurper.
(Richard I came centuries before Richard III, the English monarch whose bones were discovered in a Leicester parking lot in September 2012. Richard III died in 1485.)
Musée départemental des Antiquités (c) Yohann Deslandes/CG76
The box that contained Richard the Lionheart's preserved heart. Translated, the inscription reads "Here is the heart of Richard, King of England."
On March 25, 1199, years after the kidnapping, Richard sustained a crossbow wound in Chalus, France, and died 12 days later of gangrene. His abdominal organs were removed and interred in Chalus, while his body went to rest at Fontevraud Abbey in France. His heart was embalmed and placed in its own casket and taken to Notre Dame in Rouen. [The 10 Weirdest Ways We Deal With the Dead]
This division of the body was used to symbolize and mark Richard I's territory, Charlier said. However, no ancient texts remain to record how the embalming process was done.
The heart rested in Rouen until July 1838, when a local historian discovered a lead box inscribed, "Here is the heart of Richard, King of England." The heart itself had been reduced to dust in the preceding centuries; all that the box contained was a brownish-white powder.
Spiritual and practical
It was this powder that Charlier and his colleagues tested. They found a variety of compounds, including traces of the proteins found in human heart muscle. They also observed tiny fragments of linen, suggesting that the heart was wrapped before placement in the box.
Some metal compounds, including lead and tin, likely seeped into the powder from the lead box. Others were probably used in the embalming process. In particular, the researchers detected mercury, which has been found in other medieval burials and was probably used as an embalming agent.
The analysis also turned up pollen from a variety of plants: myrtle, daisy, mint, pine, oak, poplar, plantain and bellflower. Some of these, including poplar and bellflower, would have been blooming in April when Richard the Lionheart died; their pollen may have simply settled out of the air into the casket.
Other plants were probably used to preserve the heart. Myrtle, daisy and mint would not have been in bloom at the time, the researchers found, and probably would have been part of the embalming process. Frankincense, a tree resin, would also have been useful for both its preservation and its symbolic properties.
"This symbolic substance appeared at both extremities of the Christ life," the researchers wrote online Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports. "Presented by the Biblical Magi at His birth, and used during His external embalming after the Passion."
Preserving the heart would have been important, because the journey to Rouen from Chalus was about 330 miles (530 kilometers), the researchers wrote. But Richard I's contemporaries may have also seen the process as one of "theological transformation," Charlier said.
Indeed, contemporary wisdom seems to have held that Richard I needed all the spiritual help he could get. In the 1200s, the bishop of Rochester announced that the king had only made it to heaven in 1232, having spent the intervening 33 years in purgatory, repenting his Earthly sins.
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Being a novice in such matters the first think that popped into mind was if DNA can be extracted from the remaining dust/heart material?
From my own amateur understanding, there are two possibilities:
1) [Yes] DNA has a half-life of 521 years (from a recent study about cloning dinosaurs), so it being a difference of 813 years, chances are that it is possible that the DNA material survived and sufficient to be extracted for imaging.
2) [No] The preservation technique was not perfect, in the respect that some prehistoric fossils were stored in amber and are in way better conditions. The discouraging fact that the heart has been reduced to dust makes it very difficult to even fathom the idea that DNA material is salvageable. I'm going to exclude the strong possibility of the material being contaminated with its preservatives.
[Let's not get too excited] Please do note that the DNA half-life is determined in the most ideal conditions as in deep-freeze with no frost damage or preserved in an amber. The best of our ancient methods brought us mummies; nature's best methods brought us well-preserved mammoths and "ice men".
Roll the dice!
It would be interesting to try, I think. Who knows what kind of results might be obtained (if any)?
Tangential comment: Robin Hood movies to the contrary, there is no evidence that Richard the Lionheart ever set foot in England, even though he was the King of England. Nor is there any indication that he even spoke English. His home was in Normandy, and he spent a lot of time away fighting the Crusades, as well as being held for ransom by the Holy Roman Emperor after the Crusades. Richard tried to travel incognito across Germany to visit Henry the Lion in Brunswick, who was particularly detested by the Holy Roman Emperor. However, Richard had difficulty disguising himself because he liked expensive food and jewelry, which gave him away as more than an ordinary knight returning from the Crusades. Richard was found out and taken captive by the Holy Roman Emperor. That led Richard's brother, John Lackland, to levy the taxes made famous in the Robin Hood movies -- but it was for the purpose of paying Richard's ransom. On the other hand, Richard is said to have been a good chess player.
@Bob__109,
What you say is right. Actually, Richard did return to England when he was released from capture (to show proof he had been released and was alive). He was usually gone because he could not stand his wife (he preferred his pages). And, John was probably a better king than Richard, in the long run.
And Robin Hood was just a thief.
The Magna Carta John signed is a partial basis for our Constitution.
MMg - his wife never set foot in England, so he couldn't have been avoiding the country because of her. More likely it was that England was never a home for him. He preferred his holdings on the continent and spent his time dashing about over there.
MM, it does indeed seem that he was gay...providing yet another argument for gays in the militar (along with Alexander the Great, Frederick the Great and William of Orange).
I believe the reason Richard I was so rarely in England may have been because of his mother, the redoubtable Eleanor, who was Regent for most of his reign and also because although Eleanor had the Peerage on her side (for the mnost part), Richard, himself was (contrary to the Robin Hood movies) not very popular amongst the hoipolloi--the common folk: all those taxes to support his ceaseless war efforts in the Holy Land and Europe, ya know. That extra 100,000 marks of silver for ransom probably didn't do his rep any good, either. Also, although he was literate and numerate (quite the poet and musician--trala) he spoke Norman French and Lation (when necessary) but he never deigned to learn AngloSaxon English.
P.S.: I have heard it said by those who were in positions to know, first-hand, that the most dangerous and scariest warriors (in any age, apparently) are those who are referred to by some as "bull queers". I'm just sayin.
@OT - Richard wasn't gay, he was a pedophile since he preferred 5 year old boys to grown men.
I'd love to see a "true Robin Hood" where they show Rich for the sick pervert he really was.
Cassandra in post 3.3 wrote; "MM, it does indeed seem that he was gay...providing yet another argument for gays in the militar (along with Alexander the Great, Frederick the Great and William of Orange)."
Don't forget the three Admirals and Generals (total) from, iirc, Navy, Air Force, and Marines who came out of the closet after they had been retired a few years.
In actuality, a person's sexual orientation is of less importance than their hair color. The question (as always) is; can the person do the job".
As was when the US Armed Forces were sloughing off segregated units, the bigots were in full howl. Bigots are free to leave and be replaced by those who's focus is on the jobs at hand. They won't be missed.
A couple years ago I read an letter in the Air Force Times by a bigoted Colonel. I sent a response to the "Times" similar to the above. They asked permission to publish my letter. I gave permission but have no idea whether they printed it.
Richard inherited Aquitaine (Southwestern France) from his mother, and he preferred it to England primarily because of the climate. His wife, Berenguela (Berengaria) was the sister of Sancho, King of Navarre, who was probably Richard's lover and the marriage was probably arranged primarily as a way to give a legitimate connection between the two kings. Berengaria in her time was regarded as the most beautiful princess in Christendom, but was also very wealthy, and an appropriate wife for a king, and there have been numerous such marriages among the royalty of Europe through many centuries.
Berengaria is believed to have set foot in England only once, after Richard was dead. Militarily, Richard was regarded as one of the greatest military leaders of his time. He was also a redhead, as was Alexander the Great. The idea that gays lack military skill, courage or intelligent has been disproved throughout history. Richard, for all his faults, excelled as a strategist and a leader of fighting men.
From the Norman Conquest in 1066 until the mid-1300s, the common people spoke Anglo-Saxon while the Norman nobility spoke Norman-French. It was only after the devastation of the Black Death that the two languages were merged into something akin to our modern English. That's why we cannot read Chaucer today but can read Shakespeare, albeit with some difficulty.
It helps that the first (approved) English-language Bibles came into existence around Shakespeare's time, helping to standardize the language throughout the country and across class lines.
Frank-Knottyfor: Could you please tell me what language was spoken by the NON Common person in what is now called England at the beginning of the second century. Also if the toffs spoke a different language how did they communicate. Ah!! they had Interpreters perchance. Even Now 28 Counties 28 different dialects. Some inhabitants of the South can not truly understand people from the North. Ask someone from the Isle of Wight if he understands a Jordie, or a Liverpool Scouse. Get off it mate; The article was about Richard's remains; not what language was spoken.
Gordon-Dear~ Relax...throw a shrimp on the barbie and chug a Fosters. It's a conversation, it's history (very possibly yours mate), and it's interesting to those of us who are so engaged in the subject. Don't like it? Take a guess what I'll next say....
Hi OldThang, I am not an Aussie (Sorry I was born in England) Richard was in England for a short time, but did not like it there. Robin Hood as such never existed. So the entire thing is Much ado about nothing, He was probably as big a murdering twit as John the Bastard, (as Prince John was named after his death) and I really do not give a damn what you say next. I have my opinion and you have yours, it is quite possible we both are wrong. Oh what a disaster that would be. From what I was taught as a child; Richard was probably a little fop-ish, but definitely an extremely good fighter. But that was during a time when heads of state were expected to Rule by Example. By the way what the hell is a Foster? and where I live in North Carolina; Barbie is a Doll, and BARBECUE is something you eat after you cook it on a GRILL. Ta-ta.
Hi OldThang, I am not an Aussie (Sorry I was born in England) Richard was in England for a short time, but did not like it there. Robin Hood as such never existed. So the entire thing is Much ado about nothing, He was probably as big a murdering twit as John the Bastard, (as Prince John was named after his death) and I really do not give a damn what you say next. I have my opinion and you have yours, it is quite possible we both are wrong. Oh what a disaster that would be. From what I was taught as a child; Richard was probably a little fop-ish, but definitely an extremely good fighter. But that was during a time when heads of state were expected to Rule by Example. By the way what the hell is a Foster? and where I live in North Carolina; Barbie is a Doll, and BARBECUE is something you eat after you cook it on a GRILL. Ta-ta.
Hi OldThang, I am not an Aussie (Sorry I was born in England) Richard was in England for a short time, but did not like it there. Robin Hood as such never existed. So the entire thing is Much ado about nothing, He was probably as big a murdering twit as John the Bastard, (as Prince John was named after his death) and I really do not give a damn wha you say next. I have my opinion and you have yours, it is quite possible we both are wrong. Oh what a disaster that would be. From what I was taught as a child; Richard was probably a little fop-ish, but definitely an extremely good fighter. But that was during a time when heads of state were expected to Rule by Example. By the way what the hell is a Foster? and where I live in North Carolina; Barbie is a Doll, and BARBECUE is something you eat after you cook it on a GRILL. Ta-ta.
wtf...why are we even bothering with this?
jznzfs~ If it doesn't interest you...don't bother with it.
He played chess by mail with Saladin....and beheaded thousands of Muslims in one day, just because he was pissed off. This was no spiritual man and I doubt that purgatory would be the right place, certainly not heaven, but then, Im not in charge of those outcomes.
Clearshot~ Yeah...but all that money and land the church got to pray him out of wherever...that's how so many pieces of him got spread around...every place that "got a piece" also received benisons for prayers and Masses and such.
Excuse me but don,t we have other things in life to worry about than a dead heart
Ron~ Sure we do! We're dealing with dead hearts every freekin' day...read the news much? Difference between these two is: that was then (dear Richard 1 can't hurt us) and this is now.
It's astonishing to me that so many people can be so cynical about such an interesting topic.
Very interesting thank you.
If more would read history and understand it we wouldn't keep repeating its mistakes.
I read somewhere that the chances are Richard was never called lion-heart during his lifetime. The first reference to lion-heart in writing occurs many years after his death.
I have too: I think it was post-PR for the Third (was it the 3rd?) Crusade...I believe that Richard had some of the final victories in the Holy Land...after Couer d' Lion, it was pretty much down hill wasn't it?.....Anybody?
I'm gonna jump in my time machine to take a look for you... may take a while... oh wait, I can set the clock to return me to the same time you made the comment.... wow!
My, isn't that love-ely. Suppose the enlish wouldn't have much luck preserving teeth.
"The aim was to approach the odor of sanctity,"
What?
bigobamafan. You are quite correct, if you mean English not enlish. On the whole they do have bad teeth. BUT you are living proof that someone is really good at preserving A@#Holes. Your Nome d'plume indicates such.
Junecleo; Is ODOR of Sanctity the same as the smell of rotting flesh.? or is it the heights of purity attained by those that like to bugger little boys, it seems I have read that buggery was one of Cure d'Leon's earthly pleasures. He seemingly preferred it over Sodomy. BUT I could be misinformed.
Very interesting. Richard