In 1649, a verdict was passed by which English King Charles I Stuart was sentenced to death for high treason. When the ruler was publicly executed on January 30, more people came from the crowd to soak their handkerchiefs into the blood of his dead body. Some immediately applied "medicinal" cure to wounds, ulcers and painful places on the body, at the place of execution, feeling immediate relief.
According to one story, a few days earlier, a man who has scrofula (tuberculosis of the lymph glandes in his neck) hurried to the captive king, asking him for help. Charles I couldn't approach the patient and touch him because the guards didn't allow him to do so. All he had to do was to bless him and pray for his health. When the man returned home, the swelling from his neck began to disappear and he eventually fully recovered. At least that's what the story says to this day.
And as incredible as it sounds, it is reflection of a time when sick people, in desperate search for cures against the most serious diseases, placed their last hope in "royal touch". Those who believed that the king was appointed by God himself as an envoy on earth, expected nothing less from him that to have healing powers of God. That is why the murder of Charles I was an incomprehensible act for ordinary people. A pamphlet was circulating as a sign of mourning and the chronicler of this event wondered how many more unfortunates and sick people would have been saved if monarch had still had the opportunity to bless them with his own hand.
For centuries, "royal touch" has been used in England and France as the most sublime form of treatment, especially scrofula. Historical sources do not agree on which ruler was the first to use this special powers. Several of them state that in England it was Edward the Confessor (around 1004-1066). There was a case when he was rubbed the sick woman's neck and made a sign of the cross above him. Then, miraculously, a miracle happened: in contact with ruler's hand, the festering wounds on her neck were cleaned and the woman was healed.
Some French historians point out that practice existed with them even earlier, but regardless of the exact date and ruler, the treatment of "royal touch" over time began to spread and from individual cases grew into events attended by so big crowd, from the highest to the lowest social levels. Henry VII (1457-1509), the first ruler of the Tudor dynasty, paid special attention to the laws and rules, so he described four steps for healing by "royal touch".
The king first touched the neck and face of the sick person, where there were visible signs of illness. He than placed a gold coin with the image of an angel around her neck. Carefully selected passages from the Gospels were read as confirmation that the monarch was resistant to infectious diseases. The event with prayers to Christ, The Mother of Christ and the saints. It was usually held during the colder month when the risk of transmitting the infection was lower, but care was also taken to choose a more important religious holiday.
In the beginning, only those with scrofula were treated, but than people came with all kind of problems: fever, rheumatism, cramps, blindness, goiter. Among them was a large number of poor people without normal living conditions and treatment for any disease. The procedure changed to a lesser extend with the arrival of new kings. James I Stuart (1566-1625) did not like to touch sores and swellings at all, so he would only make a few hand movement near patient's skin, never really touching them. However, the patients believed even that was enough for a miraculous cure to happen.
By the late Middle Ages, the "royal touch" became widespread in France. The coronation of kings meant that the new ruler became the healer of the people by ascending the throne. Some of them were believed to retain the same powers even after death. Those who wanted to prove that they claimed the right to the throne in turbulent political circumstances used the "royal touch" as the main tool, claiming that they could drive away any disease.
In the 13th century, travelers came from other parts of Europe, mostly from today's Italy and Spain, to meet the French kings - healers. Patients up to the 17th century were largely treated in this way. Thus it is written that Louis XIV (1638-1715), also known as King of the Sun, touched about 1.600 people on Easter in 1680. year.
There were and learned people who , at least for a while, were convinced that this way of healing was possible. The French philosopher and writer Voltaire (1694-1778) allegedly stopped believing in the "royal touch" only when he was disappointed to find out Louis XIV failed to save his mistress, even though he "touched her so well".
Lead image: Queen_Mary_performing_the_Royal_Touch._Oil_painting, Wikimedia Commons;
Literature: Politica's Entertainer, rubric: Maybe you didn't know, number 3590
Feeling amazed to read this one.