1 00:00:02,480 --> 00:00:05,920 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. Recently on the show, we talked about how 2 00:00:05,960 --> 00:00:09,120 Speaker 1: one of the things that Marie and Adelaide Lenormant had 3 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:13,440 Speaker 1: studied while learning about divination and prophecy was the power 4 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:18,079 Speaker 1: of healing the king's evil. So the king's evil was scropula, 5 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:20,840 Speaker 1: and in parts of Europe from the medieval period all 6 00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:24,040 Speaker 1: the way to the eighteenth century, monarchs were believed to 7 00:00:24,160 --> 00:00:27,760 Speaker 1: be able to heal it. This episode originally came out 8 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:34,479 Speaker 1: on March thirteenth, twenty seventeen. Enjoy Welcome to Stuff You 9 00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:45,120 Speaker 1: Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartRadio. Hello, and 10 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:48,639 Speaker 1: welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy Eu Wilson and I'm 11 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:53,519 Speaker 1: Holly Crime. Today's podcast was originally supposed to be about 12 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:58,360 Speaker 1: Afra Ben and don't worry if you are one of 13 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 1: the many many people who asked for that one and 14 00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:05,880 Speaker 1: are disappointed by the words supposed to be That episode 15 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:08,720 Speaker 1: is still in the works, but very early on in 16 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:10,959 Speaker 1: researching it, a book that I was reading was sort 17 00:01:10,959 --> 00:01:13,800 Speaker 1: of setting the stage with a description of life during 18 00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:17,360 Speaker 1: the Restoration that was the return of the British monarchy 19 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:20,040 Speaker 1: in sixteen sixty in the years that followed it, and 20 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:22,880 Speaker 1: one bit of This description was that when he was 21 00:01:22,959 --> 00:01:26,319 Speaker 1: restored to the throne, Charles the second brought back a 22 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:30,679 Speaker 1: customary treatment for quote the king's evil, also known as scrofula, 23 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:33,160 Speaker 1: and that treatment was for the king to touch people. 24 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:40,480 Speaker 1: I love it. You know, medicine. Yeah, yeah, I knew. 25 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:43,840 Speaker 1: I knew that the practice of the monarch laying on 26 00:01:43,959 --> 00:01:46,520 Speaker 1: hands to cure sick people had been around during the 27 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:50,840 Speaker 1: medieval period, but I did not know it had gone 28 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:53,640 Speaker 1: all the way into the restoration. And I definitely did 29 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:57,560 Speaker 1: not know that a particular illness was so connected to 30 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:00,760 Speaker 1: it that people literally called it the king's evil. So 31 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:04,000 Speaker 1: that was compelling enough to put off Afriben until a 32 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:07,800 Speaker 1: little later, which conveniently also gives me time to get 33 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:13,200 Speaker 1: through the immensely large book. Holly saw that book last 34 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:15,160 Speaker 1: week while I was in Atlanta. It was quite big. 35 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:18,520 Speaker 1: I did. Tracy was here visiting for work, and she 36 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 1: held up the book and said, how am I ever 37 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:23,240 Speaker 1: going to get through this in time? Because it is 38 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:27,320 Speaker 1: really a serious tone it is it is, so I'm 39 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:29,519 Speaker 1: glad that you'll have more time to work on that one. 40 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:35,000 Speaker 1: Me too, because I was having that moment where like 41 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:37,720 Speaker 1: when you're in middle school, and you put off your 42 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:40,639 Speaker 1: paper to the last minute. Except I didn't put off 43 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:43,720 Speaker 1: the paper till the last minute. I just didn't realize 44 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:47,799 Speaker 1: until I got into it how colossal the research was. 45 00:02:48,320 --> 00:02:50,399 Speaker 1: I like, how you think that's a middle school thing 46 00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:55,800 Speaker 1: and not say, a in your forties working thing. It 47 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:58,400 Speaker 1: could be that to you. It is for me sometimes 48 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:02,120 Speaker 1: not on purpose. But you know, we do lots of stuff, 49 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:04,560 Speaker 1: so sometimes things fill in and I don't get as 50 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:07,200 Speaker 1: much time as I would like to write a thing. 51 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:12,639 Speaker 1: But today we know that scropula is caused by the 52 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:16,560 Speaker 1: same bacteria as tuberculosis, and tuberculosis has been around for 53 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:19,359 Speaker 1: at least nine thousand years. It is one of the oldest, 54 00:03:19,400 --> 00:03:23,519 Speaker 1: if not the oldest, infectious diseases still existing on Earth, 55 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:27,120 Speaker 1: and most people are probably familiar with tuberculosis in its 56 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:31,560 Speaker 1: pulmonary form, which has also been known as consumption or thesis. 57 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:36,000 Speaker 1: The huge list of historical figures who were either known 58 00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:40,320 Speaker 1: or believed to have had pulmonary tuberculosis is huge. It 59 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:44,280 Speaker 1: includes people like John Keats, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Emily Bronte, 60 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:48,160 Speaker 1: and many, many, many others. It's come up a lot 61 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:51,080 Speaker 1: in episodes of our show that Holly and I have 62 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:53,600 Speaker 1: worked on, including the history of the Grove Park in 63 00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:58,640 Speaker 1: t Arh, the New England vampire panic, Alan L. Hart 64 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:02,240 Speaker 1: and then of course Selman Waksman and the development of streptomycin, 65 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:06,840 Speaker 1: which was the first drug successfully used to cure it. Scropula, 66 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:10,280 Speaker 1: which comes from the Latin term for brood sow, is 67 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:14,040 Speaker 1: extra pulmonary tuberculosis, so it affects the body outside of 68 00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:17,720 Speaker 1: the lungs. Specifically, it's an infection of the lymph nodes 69 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:21,440 Speaker 1: that's caused by tuberculosis, although lymph nodes all over the 70 00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:24,960 Speaker 1: body can be affected. In general, Scrofula has been used 71 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:28,400 Speaker 1: to describe an infection in the neck, and when untreated, 72 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:33,360 Speaker 1: it causes swellings, sores, and sometimes abscesses, in particular around 73 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:35,240 Speaker 1: the lymph nodes at the top of the neck and 74 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:39,520 Speaker 1: under the jaw. There's a little bit of debate about 75 00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:42,080 Speaker 1: why a word for sow came to be used to 76 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:46,320 Speaker 1: describe scrofula. In some accounts, it's because pigs were prone 77 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:49,640 Speaker 1: to having tumors in their throats. In others, it's because 78 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:52,320 Speaker 1: scrofula makes your neck look thick and swollen like a 79 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:55,440 Speaker 1: pig's cassius Felix, who was writing in the year four 80 00:04:55,560 --> 00:04:58,360 Speaker 1: forty seven, said it looked quote, just like the swollen 81 00:04:58,440 --> 00:05:02,800 Speaker 1: neck of a sow, and some thought that maybe it 82 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:05,680 Speaker 1: was that the swellings and the sores brought on by 83 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:11,520 Speaker 1: scropula looked like pigs themselves. That one seems like the 84 00:05:12,080 --> 00:05:15,800 Speaker 1: most unlikely to me, but it weirdly, I read a 85 00:05:15,839 --> 00:05:21,520 Speaker 1: lot of old medical documents of people theorizing about why 86 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:26,080 Speaker 1: it was called that from like the seventeen hundreds. You 87 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:30,360 Speaker 1: know it's worth examination. But today we have diagnostic tests 88 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:33,919 Speaker 1: to confirm a tuberculosis infection, and thankfully we have the 89 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:37,520 Speaker 1: drugs to treat it, especially in places with reliable access 90 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:41,480 Speaker 1: to modern medicine. It's really rare for scrofula to become 91 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:45,240 Speaker 1: a serious problem, with the exception of patients whose immune 92 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:49,640 Speaker 1: systems are compromised or occasionally in a drug resistant strain 93 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:52,680 Speaker 1: of the disease, and when treated quickly, the symptoms are 94 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:57,080 Speaker 1: usually limited to painless swelling in the lymph nodes. But 95 00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:02,080 Speaker 1: before the development of antibiotics, scraffia could become incredibly painful 96 00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:06,880 Speaker 1: and disfiguring. It was also often mistaken for other conditions 97 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:09,960 Speaker 1: that also caused swelling or sores in the throat or neck, 98 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:14,919 Speaker 1: or those conditions were mistaken for scropula, and these included mumps, 99 00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 1: glandular disorders, various skin conditions, and cancer. Prior to the 100 00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:24,680 Speaker 1: germ theory of disease, physicians had all kinds of other 101 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:29,120 Speaker 1: ideas about what caused scrofula. Under the ancient Greek idea 102 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:32,719 Speaker 1: of the body being regulated by four humors, scrofula was 103 00:06:32,760 --> 00:06:36,599 Speaker 1: caused by an excess of phlegm. Charles the seconds Royal 104 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:40,240 Speaker 1: Surgeon wrote that scrofula came from the glands filling up 105 00:06:40,279 --> 00:06:44,839 Speaker 1: with humor. Some physicians in history believed it was inherited 106 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:49,080 Speaker 1: and not communicable. In eighteen thirteen, William Turon described it 107 00:06:49,120 --> 00:06:54,000 Speaker 1: as quote a genuine idiopathic hereditary disease, and in eighteen 108 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:57,839 Speaker 1: thirty three John Kent called it quote an hereditary taint. 109 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:02,039 Speaker 1: Kent went on to say, quote the other causes of 110 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:07,080 Speaker 1: this disease are bad and unwholesome diet, insufficient clothing, neglect 111 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:11,240 Speaker 1: of exercise, and want of proper cleanliness. I may also 112 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:14,480 Speaker 1: observe that it frequently makes its first appearance after an 113 00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:19,880 Speaker 1: attack of measles, smallpox, rheumatic fever or other debilitating affections, 114 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:25,680 Speaker 1: and it is often excited into obvious existence by blows, sprains, bruises, 115 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:29,720 Speaker 1: or other accidents. According to Thomas Spern, who wrote a 116 00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:33,120 Speaker 1: treatise on scrapula in seventeen oh nine, it was quote 117 00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:37,920 Speaker 1: a preternatural malignant tumor or humor produced by a particular 118 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:41,280 Speaker 1: acidity of the serum of the blood, either in gland, 119 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:46,360 Speaker 1: muscle or membrane, which it both coagulates and indurates, or 120 00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:50,320 Speaker 1: in the marrow, which it always dissolves and also putrefies 121 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:54,760 Speaker 1: the bone. Hmm, I hope nobody's eating breakfast while they 122 00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:58,360 Speaker 1: listen to this. There are several parts of this episode 123 00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:02,200 Speaker 1: where if this were an episode of saw Bones, it 124 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:05,480 Speaker 1: would be the part where where Justin is going, hmmm, 125 00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:08,600 Speaker 1: we can move on, Like you can tell he just 126 00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:11,480 Speaker 1: wants Sydney to stop saying the gross part, Yeah, I don't, 127 00:08:11,480 --> 00:08:13,320 Speaker 1: I don't want you. And just occurs to me that 128 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:16,760 Speaker 1: if somebody is a little bit delicate of tummy to 129 00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:20,320 Speaker 1: these types of things, this maybe pause until you're done 130 00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:24,720 Speaker 1: with your meal. But in Fern's treatise, children whose parents 131 00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:28,120 Speaker 1: had scrofula, especially if their mother did while nursing were 132 00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:32,240 Speaker 1: more likely to develop it themselves. And quote here I 133 00:08:32,280 --> 00:08:36,640 Speaker 1: cannot emit one observation by the bye that children also 134 00:08:36,840 --> 00:08:39,920 Speaker 1: who are begotten at improper times of the moon have 135 00:08:40,040 --> 00:08:43,560 Speaker 1: been often subject to be afflicted with this evil and 136 00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:47,280 Speaker 1: to the last degree too of virulency. Let this be 137 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:51,320 Speaker 1: a warning to married people. The let this be a 138 00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:56,880 Speaker 1: warning to married people made me laugh a lot. It 139 00:08:56,920 --> 00:09:00,080 Speaker 1: makes the first time a lot. I just love the 140 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:05,320 Speaker 1: idea that depending on what time of the lunar cycle 141 00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:08,640 Speaker 1: a baby is made might make it more you know, 142 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:12,480 Speaker 1: likely to contract this. Yeah. Fern went on to list 143 00:09:12,679 --> 00:09:16,319 Speaker 1: others who were more prone to scrofula, including people whose 144 00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:20,600 Speaker 1: blood was naturally too acidic, children who had rickets, people 145 00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:24,439 Speaker 1: who were generally weak, people whose bodies didn't have enough 146 00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:28,960 Speaker 1: quote heat for good digestion, living in places with air 147 00:09:29,120 --> 00:09:31,880 Speaker 1: that was too thin or too thick or was bad, 148 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:37,240 Speaker 1: and also quote salt, sour, slimy meats or drinks. Not 149 00:09:37,280 --> 00:09:40,280 Speaker 1: getting enough exercise, according to him, was yet another way 150 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:44,959 Speaker 1: you could develop scrofula. Okay, putrefying bone is not a problem, 151 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:48,240 Speaker 1: but slimy meats is like we're creeping up to the 152 00:09:48,360 --> 00:09:53,600 Speaker 1: edge of my like cupability. Here, some physicians did conclude 153 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:57,440 Speaker 1: that scrofula and tuberculosis were related, even if all their 154 00:09:57,480 --> 00:10:01,320 Speaker 1: other ideas about it were completely off base. John Kent, 155 00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:05,560 Speaker 1: for example, who had named its cause quote an hereditary taint, 156 00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:09,480 Speaker 1: also wrote that consumption was quote neither more nor less 157 00:10:09,480 --> 00:10:12,480 Speaker 1: than scrofula of the lungs in an eighteen thirty three 158 00:10:12,640 --> 00:10:16,000 Speaker 1: edition of a text on scrofula and cancer. But it 159 00:10:16,040 --> 00:10:19,680 Speaker 1: wasn't until eighteen eighty two that medical science pinpointed the 160 00:10:19,679 --> 00:10:24,120 Speaker 1: bacterial cause of tuberculosis and confirmed that scrofula was caused 161 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:27,800 Speaker 1: by the same thing. Even then, there were naysayers who 162 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:33,760 Speaker 1: argued that scrofula was unrelated and not transmissible. Over the centuries, 163 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:37,480 Speaker 1: a wide range of treatments were used to relieve scrofula, 164 00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:41,840 Speaker 1: or try to. Because the glands in question were usually 165 00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:45,600 Speaker 1: in the neck, surgeries could be particularly dangerous, although some 166 00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:49,960 Speaker 1: doctors did attempt them while still in the world of 167 00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:53,680 Speaker 1: four humor theory. Treatments were often meant to balance the 168 00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:59,439 Speaker 1: humors or drain excess through purgatives, diuretics and bleeding compresses. 169 00:10:59,520 --> 00:11:03,559 Speaker 1: Poultices and topical bombs were applied to the swellings as well. 170 00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:06,440 Speaker 1: And for those who thought that too much salt or 171 00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:09,079 Speaker 1: too thin air are those sorts of things were the problems. 172 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:11,920 Speaker 1: The treatment would include a change of diet or a 173 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:15,400 Speaker 1: change of scenery. And we're going to talk about how 174 00:11:15,400 --> 00:11:18,080 Speaker 1: scrophula came to be known as the king's evil that 175 00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:21,440 Speaker 1: could be cured if the king touched it, But first 176 00:11:21,440 --> 00:11:29,480 Speaker 1: we're going to pause for a little sponsor break. In 177 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:33,760 Speaker 1: medieval England, the name the King's evil eventually came to 178 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:38,040 Speaker 1: be directly connected to scrophula, but the basic idea goes 179 00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:41,280 Speaker 1: back earlier than that and also connects to other diseases. 180 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:45,840 Speaker 1: In ancient Rome, the Latin morbus regius, or royal disease 181 00:11:46,120 --> 00:11:49,079 Speaker 1: was used to describe a number of different diseases, including 182 00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:53,000 Speaker 1: jaundice and leprosy, which today is known as Hanson's disease. 183 00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:57,840 Speaker 1: It's not entirely clear where either of these associations came from. 184 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:02,040 Speaker 1: One is that royal was reference to gold, so jaundice 185 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:04,640 Speaker 1: being called the royal disease is because the color of 186 00:12:04,640 --> 00:12:09,040 Speaker 1: the patient's skin. Another theory is that particular royal or 187 00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:13,360 Speaker 1: noble families were prone to certain diseases long after the 188 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:15,920 Speaker 1: time we're talking about today, and in other parts of 189 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:19,680 Speaker 1: the world, epilepsy and hemophilia have been described as royal 190 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:23,960 Speaker 1: diseases because of their connections to royal families. There's some 191 00:12:24,280 --> 00:12:27,800 Speaker 1: suggestion that people thought Hansen's disease could be cured through 192 00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:31,360 Speaker 1: a royal touch, but there's the very little evidence of 193 00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:34,280 Speaker 1: a king actually trying that, although of course there are 194 00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:38,960 Speaker 1: biblical and other religious references that are not about a monarch. 195 00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:43,360 Speaker 1: There are a few very spotty references to monarchs in 196 00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:46,640 Speaker 1: England and France curing people through touch prior to the 197 00:12:46,679 --> 00:12:50,439 Speaker 1: tenth and eleventh centuries. The first was Clovis, King of 198 00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:53,680 Speaker 1: the Franks, who ranged from four eighty one to five eleven, 199 00:12:53,880 --> 00:12:57,079 Speaker 1: although the record on that one is very sparse. There 200 00:12:57,080 --> 00:12:59,840 Speaker 1: are also reports of miraculous cures at the hands of 201 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:02,640 Speaker 1: Robert the Second of France, also known as Robert the 202 00:13:02,679 --> 00:13:05,960 Speaker 1: Pious or Robert the Pious, who was co ruler of 203 00:13:05,960 --> 00:13:08,280 Speaker 1: the Franks with his father from nine eighty seven to 204 00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:10,880 Speaker 1: nine ninety six, and then he was the soul monarch 205 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:14,880 Speaker 1: until his death in ten thirty one. But the first 206 00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:18,480 Speaker 1: widely chronicled event of the royal touch was under Edward 207 00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:22,120 Speaker 1: the Confessor, who lived from one thousand and three to 208 00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:25,439 Speaker 1: ten sixty six, and he ruled England from ten forty 209 00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:29,040 Speaker 1: two until his death. He's called the Confessor because of 210 00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:32,760 Speaker 1: his reputation for being a deeply pious man, and he's 211 00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:36,040 Speaker 1: the only king of England ever to have been canonized. 212 00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:41,320 Speaker 1: Edward the Confessor reportedly cured a woman of scrofula. The 213 00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:44,640 Speaker 1: woman had an infection under her jaw that was causing swelling, 214 00:13:45,080 --> 00:13:48,640 Speaker 1: a bad smell, and multiple sores. She had a dream 215 00:13:48,760 --> 00:13:50,960 Speaker 1: that if the king washed her with water, she would 216 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:53,800 Speaker 1: be cured, so she went to the court and asked 217 00:13:53,840 --> 00:13:57,079 Speaker 1: to be given an audience. This might sound odd to 218 00:13:57,080 --> 00:13:59,920 Speaker 1: today's ears, but asking for an audience with the king 219 00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:02,360 Speaker 1: for something like this at the time was definitely not 220 00:14:02,559 --> 00:14:07,000 Speaker 1: unheard of. Edward the Confessor, along with other monarchs, distributed 221 00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:10,360 Speaker 1: alms and offered comfort to the poor and the sick, 222 00:14:10,679 --> 00:14:14,120 Speaker 1: particularly on religious holidays, and in this case, when the 223 00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:16,920 Speaker 1: woman was brought before the king, he asked for a 224 00:14:16,960 --> 00:14:21,760 Speaker 1: bowl of water. There's some variation in exactly what happened 225 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:25,200 Speaker 1: next as described in later accounts, but in general it 226 00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:27,560 Speaker 1: was more than just a laying on of hands or 227 00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:31,440 Speaker 1: an anointing with water, combining the miraculous with the medical. 228 00:14:32,240 --> 00:14:34,840 Speaker 1: Edward dipped his fingers in the water and touched the 229 00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:38,720 Speaker 1: woman's abscesses, which opened up and drained, with some of 230 00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:42,200 Speaker 1: the descriptions of what came out being far grosser than others. 231 00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:46,400 Speaker 1: He kept dipping his fingers and washing and pressing until 232 00:14:46,520 --> 00:14:49,280 Speaker 1: all of the putrescence was gone, and then he ordered 233 00:14:49,280 --> 00:14:51,840 Speaker 1: the woman to be fed and cared for out of 234 00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:55,720 Speaker 1: the royal purse until she recovered. I will repeat that 235 00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:58,760 Speaker 1: if you go read up about this on the internet. 236 00:15:00,160 --> 00:15:08,560 Speaker 1: Some of the descriptions are incredibly graphic. I originally had 237 00:15:08,560 --> 00:15:10,360 Speaker 1: more graphic stuff in here, and then I was like, 238 00:15:10,400 --> 00:15:12,280 Speaker 1: you know what, we're gonna read this at ten o'clock 239 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:15,240 Speaker 1: in the morning, when we're both a little you know, 240 00:15:15,880 --> 00:15:18,440 Speaker 1: still getting used to the day. Maybe this is a 241 00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:23,400 Speaker 1: little too intense. I'm okay with the absess draining. I'm 242 00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:29,400 Speaker 1: still back on slimy meat and the oh no. So 243 00:15:29,520 --> 00:15:35,200 Speaker 1: there's some debate about whether this woman's symptoms were really 244 00:15:35,200 --> 00:15:39,120 Speaker 1: scrofula or whether it was some other condition, but regardless, 245 00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:43,280 Speaker 1: this one event solidified the connection between the King's evil 246 00:15:43,400 --> 00:15:47,080 Speaker 1: and Scrofula, and soon the royal ability to cure through 247 00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:52,080 Speaker 1: touch was connected pretty much only to scrofula. Thomas Fern, 248 00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:55,280 Speaker 1: who's treat Us on Scrapula we referenced in Part one, 249 00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:59,560 Speaker 1: wrote quote, but I beg leave here to make one digression, 250 00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:02,520 Speaker 1: by the way, about our English term for the struma 251 00:16:02,640 --> 00:16:05,960 Speaker 1: or scrofula is at it is, as it is now 252 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:09,880 Speaker 1: commonly called the king's evil in everybody's mouth before I 253 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:13,200 Speaker 1: begin to define what I have hitherto only been describing 254 00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:15,840 Speaker 1: by name. And some writers think that this name was 255 00:16:15,880 --> 00:16:20,120 Speaker 1: given to any scrofulous or struma's disease long before Edward 256 00:16:20,160 --> 00:16:24,000 Speaker 1: the Confessor's time. But however, all agree at least that 257 00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:27,800 Speaker 1: from his reign was called nothing else generally, and I 258 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:31,960 Speaker 1: may say vulgarly too, but the King's evil in England. 259 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:35,720 Speaker 1: Fern also wrote that the ability to heal it through 260 00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:39,200 Speaker 1: touch was quote a particular gift to him at first, 261 00:16:39,480 --> 00:16:42,440 Speaker 1: and to no body before him, as a singular reward 262 00:16:42,560 --> 00:16:46,400 Speaker 1: of his holiness, And it was from there hereditary through 263 00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:51,800 Speaker 1: the monarchy, at least according to this guy. This event 264 00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:55,640 Speaker 1: also comes up in the work of Shakespeare, and Act 265 00:16:55,760 --> 00:16:59,960 Speaker 1: four of Macbeth. Macduff and Malcolm are standing outside Edward 266 00:17:00,160 --> 00:17:03,680 Speaker 1: the Confessor's palace, and a doctor comes through and mentions 267 00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:07,119 Speaker 1: that there's a crowd of people inside seeking the king's touch. 268 00:17:07,760 --> 00:17:11,639 Speaker 1: Malcolm then explains to McDuff what is going on. Quote 269 00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:15,040 Speaker 1: tis called the evil a most miraculous work in this 270 00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:18,400 Speaker 1: good king, which often, since my heir remain in England, 271 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:22,200 Speaker 1: I have seen him do. How he solicits heaven himself 272 00:17:22,280 --> 00:17:28,040 Speaker 1: best known knows, but strangely visited people all swollen and ulcerous, 273 00:17:28,160 --> 00:17:32,560 Speaker 1: pitiful to the eye, the mere despair of surgery he cures, 274 00:17:32,840 --> 00:17:36,080 Speaker 1: hanging a golden stamp about their necks, put on with 275 00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:40,000 Speaker 1: holy prayers, and tis spoken to the succeeding royalty. He 276 00:17:40,119 --> 00:17:44,320 Speaker 1: leaves the healing benediction with this strange virtue. He hath 277 00:17:44,359 --> 00:17:48,040 Speaker 1: a heavenly gift of prophecy, and sundry blessings hang about 278 00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:52,040 Speaker 1: his throne that speak him full of grace. Although this 279 00:17:52,119 --> 00:17:55,400 Speaker 1: scene takes place outside the palace of Edward the Confessor, 280 00:17:55,880 --> 00:17:58,720 Speaker 1: his treatment of this woman for scrofula seems to have 281 00:17:58,760 --> 00:18:02,080 Speaker 1: been a one time thing performed on one person, not 282 00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:05,760 Speaker 1: a mass ceremony with a coin involved. However, it's a 283 00:18:05,800 --> 00:18:09,199 Speaker 1: really good description of what this practice morphed into in 284 00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:13,359 Speaker 1: later centuries as monarchs in England and France started touching 285 00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:17,720 Speaker 1: large groups of subjects at special ceremonies and holidays. Yeah, 286 00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:21,040 Speaker 1: even though Shakespeare was writing about Edward the Confessor here, 287 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:23,880 Speaker 1: what he was describing was what was actually happening while 288 00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:26,280 Speaker 1: he was living, when people went to get cured of 289 00:18:26,320 --> 00:18:32,119 Speaker 1: the king's evil. Louis the sixth of France, who ruled 290 00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:35,639 Speaker 1: from eleven oh eight to eleven thirty seven, viewed this 291 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:40,480 Speaker 1: practice as quote customary, and he treated whole crowds with 292 00:18:40,600 --> 00:18:42,880 Speaker 1: laying on of hands and the sign of the cross. 293 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:46,960 Speaker 1: Edward the First of England, who ruled from twelve seventy 294 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:50,119 Speaker 1: two to thirteen oh seven, touched more than five hundred 295 00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:52,679 Speaker 1: of his subjects to cure them of scrofula in the 296 00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:55,480 Speaker 1: course of a single month. By the end of his reign, 297 00:18:55,600 --> 00:18:58,240 Speaker 1: he was touching more than one thousand people every year. 298 00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:03,119 Speaker 1: People travel great distances to the court of Philip the 299 00:19:03,280 --> 00:19:06,040 Speaker 1: Fourth of France, who ruled from twelve eighty five to 300 00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:08,840 Speaker 1: thirteen fourteen, and the people who traveled the farthest to 301 00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:12,000 Speaker 1: see him were also rewarded with large sums of alms. 302 00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:16,440 Speaker 1: Aure the fourth of France, who ruled from fifteen eighty 303 00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:20,119 Speaker 1: nine to sixteen ten, touched up to fifteen hundred people 304 00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:23,480 Speaker 1: in one single ceremony. I'm just gonna interject here that 305 00:19:23,560 --> 00:19:27,439 Speaker 1: seems like a bad public health move. That's I was 306 00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:31,679 Speaker 1: thinking about, like the germs, that how did all of 307 00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:35,359 Speaker 1: these monarchs not constantly become ill themselves. It's a great 308 00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:42,080 Speaker 1: question because they were magical clearly. Uh. It was Edward 309 00:19:42,080 --> 00:19:44,760 Speaker 1: the Third of England, who ruled from thirteen twenty seven 310 00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:48,560 Speaker 1: to thirteen seventy seven, who first started presenting those he 311 00:19:48,680 --> 00:19:51,960 Speaker 1: touched with a coin, which was described in that passage 312 00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:56,080 Speaker 1: that Tracy read from Macbeth. These coins became an ongoing 313 00:19:56,160 --> 00:19:59,960 Speaker 1: practice known as angels or touch pieces, and were sometimes 314 00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:02,879 Speaker 1: strung through with a ribbon to be worn as a talisman. 315 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:06,679 Speaker 1: Edward the Third's father, Edward the Second, also started the 316 00:20:06,680 --> 00:20:10,240 Speaker 1: practice of the monarch donating gold or silver on Good Friday, 317 00:20:10,760 --> 00:20:13,439 Speaker 1: which would be made into cramp rings said to have 318 00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:17,800 Speaker 1: healing powers. For the most part, the first few generations 319 00:20:17,840 --> 00:20:21,000 Speaker 1: of this royal touch were viewed as an outward expression 320 00:20:21,119 --> 00:20:25,399 Speaker 1: of the monarch's personal sanctity, and if the monarch didn't 321 00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:28,720 Speaker 1: have a lot of personal sanctity, the gift would go away. 322 00:20:28,760 --> 00:20:31,520 Speaker 1: For example, Philip the First was King of the Franks 323 00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:35,360 Speaker 1: from ten sixty to eleven oh eight, and he reportedly 324 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:38,840 Speaker 1: did practice the royal touch at first, until he became 325 00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:41,520 Speaker 1: too sinful for it to work for him. He wound 326 00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:47,360 Speaker 1: up having the nickname Philip the Amorus. But that connection 327 00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:51,400 Speaker 1: to personal piety shifted a little bit after the Protestant Reformation, 328 00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:53,600 Speaker 1: and we're going to talk about that after we paused 329 00:20:53,600 --> 00:21:01,439 Speaker 1: one more time for a sponsor break. Over the years, 330 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:04,840 Speaker 1: some circular logic grew up around the king's evil and 331 00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:08,160 Speaker 1: the royal touch. Scrapula was the king's evil because kings 332 00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:12,720 Speaker 1: could cure it, and kings could cure scrapula because it 333 00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:17,320 Speaker 1: was the king's evil. Following this same pattern, the monarch's 334 00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:20,480 Speaker 1: practice of the royal touch started to be used as 335 00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:25,040 Speaker 1: evidence of the monarch's legitimacy as the monarch. If the 336 00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:28,520 Speaker 1: monarch did this thing, clearly they were legitimately the monarch. 337 00:21:28,800 --> 00:21:30,560 Speaker 1: It sounds a lot like the Lord of the Rings 338 00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:33,200 Speaker 1: legend from Gondor about the hands of the king or 339 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:35,399 Speaker 1: the hands of a healer, and so shall the rightful 340 00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:40,200 Speaker 1: king be known. This shows up especially in the post 341 00:21:40,240 --> 00:21:43,840 Speaker 1: Reformation reign of Queen Elizabeth I, who was queen from 342 00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:47,800 Speaker 1: fifteen fifty eight until her death in sixteen oh three. 343 00:21:47,840 --> 00:21:51,960 Speaker 1: Her first attempts at the king's touch seemed reluctant. However, 344 00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:55,680 Speaker 1: after Pope Pious the fifth excommunicated her and declared her 345 00:21:55,720 --> 00:22:00,480 Speaker 1: a pretended queen and a heretic, she revived the practice 346 00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:03,639 Speaker 1: in part because her detractors claimed that God had taken 347 00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:07,080 Speaker 1: the gift away from her for her heresy, and in 348 00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:09,919 Speaker 1: one account, a Catholic woman came to her and begged 349 00:22:09,920 --> 00:22:13,639 Speaker 1: to be cured, and when Elizabeth's touch was successful, the 350 00:22:13,680 --> 00:22:17,080 Speaker 1: woman announced that the papal bull was clearly null because 351 00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:21,119 Speaker 1: God was still working through the queen. Today's episode of 352 00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:25,159 Speaker 1: the podcast was inspired by this description of Charles the 353 00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:29,679 Speaker 1: Second's revival of the practice during the Restoration. Under the 354 00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:32,960 Speaker 1: reign of Charles the Second's father, Charles the First, a 355 00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:36,320 Speaker 1: form for healing at the hands of the king had 356 00:22:36,359 --> 00:22:39,760 Speaker 1: become a part of the Book of Common Prayer. Charles 357 00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:42,520 Speaker 1: the First had also had touch piece coins meanted that 358 00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:46,439 Speaker 1: were inscribed in Latin, translated to quote the love of 359 00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:50,720 Speaker 1: the people is the King's protection. He got executed so 360 00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:57,040 Speaker 1: apparently love was not enough protection for him. Charles the 361 00:22:57,080 --> 00:22:59,920 Speaker 1: First was king until he was executed for high treason 362 00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:04,520 Speaker 1: and the monarchy was abolished. Oliver Cromwell then became Lord 363 00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:08,480 Speaker 1: Protector of England, Ireland and Scotland. Cromwell was not a 364 00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:11,840 Speaker 1: king and did not practice the royal touch, but Charles 365 00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:15,359 Speaker 1: the Second, while in exile, continued the practice, in part 366 00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:18,720 Speaker 1: as evidence of his place on the throne. When the 367 00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:22,440 Speaker 1: monarchy was restored, Charles the Second's touch pieces were inscribed 368 00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:27,080 Speaker 1: with the Latin for glory to God alone. John Evelyn 369 00:23:27,119 --> 00:23:30,520 Speaker 1: wrote about Charles the Second's reinstatement of the practice of 370 00:23:30,560 --> 00:23:33,919 Speaker 1: the royal touch after the restoration of the monarchy in 371 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:38,000 Speaker 1: his diary for July sixth, sixteen sixty. Here's what it said. 372 00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:42,040 Speaker 1: His Majesty began first to touch for the evil according 373 00:23:42,040 --> 00:23:46,080 Speaker 1: to custom. Thus his Majesty, sitting under his state in 374 00:23:46,119 --> 00:23:49,320 Speaker 1: the banqueting house, the surgeons caused the sick to be 375 00:23:49,359 --> 00:23:52,880 Speaker 1: brought or led up to the throne, where they kneeling. 376 00:23:53,119 --> 00:23:55,879 Speaker 1: The King strokes their faces or cheeks with both his 377 00:23:55,960 --> 00:23:59,480 Speaker 1: hands at once, at which instant a chaplain in his 378 00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:03,680 Speaker 1: formality says quote, he has he put his hands upon them, 379 00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:07,399 Speaker 1: and he healed them. This is said to everyone in particular. 380 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:09,800 Speaker 1: When they have all been touched, they come up again 381 00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:12,720 Speaker 1: in the same order, and the other chaplain, kneeling and 382 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:16,640 Speaker 1: having an angel gold strung on white ribbon on his arm, 383 00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:20,240 Speaker 1: delivers them one by one. So is Majesty, who puts 384 00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:22,560 Speaker 1: them about the necks of the touched as they pass, 385 00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:26,680 Speaker 1: while the first chaplain repeats quote, this is the true 386 00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:29,879 Speaker 1: light who came into the world. Then follows an epistle, 387 00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:33,800 Speaker 1: at first a gospel with the liturgy, prayers for the 388 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:38,359 Speaker 1: sick with some alteration, lastly the blessing. Then the Lord 389 00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:41,280 Speaker 1: Chamberlain and the comptroller of the household bring a basin 390 00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:46,920 Speaker 1: your towel for his Majesty to wash. Samuel Peeps wrote 391 00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:50,080 Speaker 1: about it as well on April thirteenth of sixteen sixty one, 392 00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:53,359 Speaker 1: writing quote, I went to the banquet house, and there 393 00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:55,840 Speaker 1: saw the King heel the first time that I ever 394 00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:58,600 Speaker 1: saw him do it, which he did with great gravity, 395 00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:01,280 Speaker 1: and it seemed to me to be an ugly office 396 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:05,240 Speaker 1: and a simple one. Apparently, Charles the Second also had 397 00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:07,240 Speaker 1: to set up a system to keep people from coming 398 00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:13,399 Speaker 1: back for seconds. Basically, Charles the Second used the King's 399 00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:17,080 Speaker 1: touch on ninety thousand subjects between sixteen sixty and sixteen 400 00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:19,640 Speaker 1: eighty two. He and his court also tried to put 401 00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:22,560 Speaker 1: a stop to anyone else treating scrapula through the laying 402 00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:26,200 Speaker 1: on of hands. Charles the First had taken similar steps 403 00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:29,560 Speaker 1: in his reign, and they had both also taken steps 404 00:25:29,560 --> 00:25:34,040 Speaker 1: to keep people from coming back repeatedly. In sixteen thirty seven, 405 00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:37,840 Speaker 1: a father and his seventh son were investigated for their 406 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:41,600 Speaker 1: use of the son's purported healing powers. A neighbor had 407 00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:45,080 Speaker 1: had scrofula and the child's grandmother had held the baby's 408 00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:47,840 Speaker 1: hand up to the neighbor's neck, who had then reportedly 409 00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:51,280 Speaker 1: been cured. Father and son went on to treat many 410 00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:55,199 Speaker 1: more people, but were told to stop it. They were, however, 411 00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:59,480 Speaker 1: spared for their punishment because folks were basically afraid that 412 00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:06,000 Speaker 1: their followers would be angered if they were treated too harshly. Similarly, 413 00:26:06,560 --> 00:26:10,520 Speaker 1: Valentine Great Rakes, also known as the Stroker, had been 414 00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:13,560 Speaker 1: a lieutenant in Oliver Cromwell's army, but went on to 415 00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:17,160 Speaker 1: become something of a faith healer. In sixteen sixty two, 416 00:26:17,320 --> 00:26:19,960 Speaker 1: he was suddenly struck by the knowledge that he had 417 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:23,439 Speaker 1: the power to heal the king's evil. He started healing 418 00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:26,760 Speaker 1: people with prayers and laying on of hands, and eventually 419 00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:29,600 Speaker 1: his fame spread far enough that he was summoned before 420 00:26:29,640 --> 00:26:33,600 Speaker 1: the court and ordered to stop. After repeated orders from 421 00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:36,920 Speaker 1: increasingly more powerful figures within the church failed to get 422 00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:40,199 Speaker 1: him to stop, the ecclesiastical Court decided that they were 423 00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:43,280 Speaker 1: risking the ire of his followers, and they gave up. 424 00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:46,679 Speaker 1: He finally wound up being summoned to Whitehall to appear 425 00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:49,720 Speaker 1: before Charles the Second, the results of which did not 426 00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:53,639 Speaker 1: make it into the historical record. It's there are so 427 00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:56,879 Speaker 1: many different ways that conversation could have gone, because he 428 00:26:56,960 --> 00:26:59,239 Speaker 1: and Charles the Second were both touching a whole lot 429 00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:02,120 Speaker 1: of people to try to here there's cropula. So it's 430 00:27:02,560 --> 00:27:05,760 Speaker 1: not one hundred percent clear whether Charles the Second was like, dude, 431 00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:08,560 Speaker 1: you gotta lay off, this is my territory, or whether 432 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:11,240 Speaker 1: it was more like a meeting of the faith healers, 433 00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:15,160 Speaker 1: or maybe they touched each other an event horizon opened 434 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:24,479 Speaker 1: up and things got really crazy. No, so, the idea 435 00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:29,000 Speaker 1: of the royal touch as being evidence for who was 436 00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:33,200 Speaker 1: the legitimate ruler appeared once again during the Glorious Revolution 437 00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:36,520 Speaker 1: and the Jacobite attempts to return the Stewarts to the throne. 438 00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:39,800 Speaker 1: William the Third, also known as William of Orange, and 439 00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:42,800 Speaker 1: his wife Mary became joint monarchs in sixteen eighty nine. 440 00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:49,040 Speaker 1: William only performed the royal touch once, saying afterward quote, 441 00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:53,919 Speaker 1: God give you better health and more sense. Meanwhile, the 442 00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:58,080 Speaker 1: exiled Stuarts, including Bonnie Prince Charlie, kept up the habit, 443 00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:01,000 Speaker 1: and Queen Anne, last monarch of the House of Stuart, 444 00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:05,680 Speaker 1: touched hundreds of subjects. One was writer Samuel Johnson, who 445 00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:08,919 Speaker 1: she touched when he was just two years old. In 446 00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:12,600 Speaker 1: the words of John Kent's eighteen thirty three treatise on Scrofula, 447 00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:16,040 Speaker 1: which we read from earlier in the show, quote, it 448 00:28:16,080 --> 00:28:19,760 Speaker 1: appears that Queen Anne was the last sovereign who practiced 449 00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:25,639 Speaker 1: such a ridiculous and superstitious imposition, and successor George the 450 00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:28,680 Speaker 1: First put an end to the practice in England after 451 00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:31,199 Speaker 1: becoming king in seventeen fourteen because he thought it was 452 00:28:31,240 --> 00:28:35,600 Speaker 1: just a superstition. In France, the French Revolution put an 453 00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:38,800 Speaker 1: end to the practice by overthrowing the monarchy in seventeen 454 00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:42,960 Speaker 1: eighty nine. See what you did. Now we can't have 455 00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:47,959 Speaker 1: the King's touch. There is, of course, lots of debate 456 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:50,520 Speaker 1: about what was really going on here, from both a 457 00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:54,040 Speaker 1: medical and a religious sense. There were doctors and clergy 458 00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:56,680 Speaker 1: alike who viewed the practice with a lot of skepticism. 459 00:28:56,760 --> 00:29:00,000 Speaker 1: It wasn't like everybody believed that this was a legitimate 460 00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:04,120 Speaker 1: healing practice, in spite of the fact that speaking out 461 00:29:04,120 --> 00:29:07,000 Speaker 1: against the royal touch got at least one person convicted 462 00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:11,000 Speaker 1: for treason. Much like all of the other people who 463 00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:16,000 Speaker 1: were told to stop being faith healers with scropula, this 464 00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:18,840 Speaker 1: guy was ultimately pardoned because they were afraid of angering 465 00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:24,600 Speaker 1: his followers. One common cause of scrofula in medieval and 466 00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:28,760 Speaker 1: early modern Europe was contracting a bovine form of tuberculosis 467 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:31,600 Speaker 1: through drinking contaminated milk, and this comes up a whole 468 00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:35,680 Speaker 1: lot in modern treatments of this whole phenomenon. This form 469 00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:39,960 Speaker 1: of the condition didn't typically lead to other symptoms of tuberculosis, 470 00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:44,160 Speaker 1: and it often resolved itself later, giving the patient a 471 00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:47,480 Speaker 1: heightened immunity to pulmonary tuberculosis as well. So there are 472 00:29:47,480 --> 00:29:50,080 Speaker 1: a lot of people who were like, maybe because so 473 00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:53,240 Speaker 1: many people were getting this bovine form of tuberculosis through 474 00:29:53,280 --> 00:29:57,800 Speaker 1: contaminated milk, and then it was resolving coincidentally after the 475 00:29:57,840 --> 00:30:01,800 Speaker 1: monarch touched them. Maybe that explained at all, But that's 476 00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:07,680 Speaker 1: really not uh really not quite an adequate explanation for 477 00:30:07,800 --> 00:30:12,840 Speaker 1: something that went on for that many centuries. It's a 478 00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:17,960 Speaker 1: very long time and thousands of people. Yeah, I wonder 479 00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:23,480 Speaker 1: if there's much on the record about the timeline of 480 00:30:23,560 --> 00:30:26,920 Speaker 1: the healing, right, like, other than the one where there's 481 00:30:27,080 --> 00:30:32,000 Speaker 1: discussion of the pressing of the abscesses and draining them. 482 00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:36,120 Speaker 1: You know, it's Is it as though people magically walked 483 00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:40,680 Speaker 1: away with unswollen necks and were instantly healed according to 484 00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:42,720 Speaker 1: the record, or is it a case where it probably 485 00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:45,640 Speaker 1: was just it running its course and they're like, the 486 00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:47,880 Speaker 1: king touched me three weeks ago, and I feel much 487 00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:52,520 Speaker 1: better now, yeah, Or a people selectively remembering the people 488 00:30:52,560 --> 00:30:57,240 Speaker 1: who got better, right, and not remembering the folks who didn't. 489 00:30:58,520 --> 00:30:59,840 Speaker 1: Like I said at the top of the show, I 490 00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:04,760 Speaker 1: knew that this was a thing among medieval monarchs. I 491 00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:07,560 Speaker 1: had no idea that it continued on and on and 492 00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:10,240 Speaker 1: on all the way to the French Revolution. That's just 493 00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:18,640 Speaker 1: threw me for a little bit of a loop. Thanks 494 00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:21,360 Speaker 1: so much for joining us on this Saturday. 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