In 17th-century Europe, the groundwork for modern medicine was being laid by a number of key scientists of the day. But some ‘old ways’ continued, the consequences of a poor health services for the general public. Overcrowding in towns and cities led to bad hygiene and sanitation. One serious disease was known a ‘scrofula’, a form of tuberculosis. Linked to lack of nutrition, it was a relatively common ailment. What is remarkable, it was also called ‘The Kings Evil’ because it was believed that the monarch’s touch could cure it and was practised in the royal palaces of England and France.

In the Morley Library, we have a book called ‘De mirabili strumas sanandi vi…solis Galliae Regibus Christianissimis diuinitus concessa liber vnus. Et de strumarum natura, liber alter’.

(translation sic ‘On the miraculous healing powers granted to the most Christian Kings…’).

The author is André du Laurens (December 9, 1558 – August 6, 1609), who was a French physician to King Henry IV of France and the author of a number of medical works.

The book details the disease ‘scrofula’ – and the ‘royal touch’, which was supposed to be able heal it.

At the front of our book there is a foldaway etching of the French king and his court. The large plate shows the king surrounded by his court and kneeling monks, applying the ‘royal touch’ to the first of three men kneeling before him.

 

In England, there is a reference to the royal touch in the book Eikon Basilike (Ancient Greek: ‘Royal Portrait’). It was published on 9 February 1649, ten days after King Charles I was beheaded by Parliament in the aftermath of the English Civil War. The book details the execution and one paragraph somewhat gorily discusses what happened to the blood from the actual execution of the King. But there is the reference – “….was often found in His Royal Touch when living…” in the last line of the paragraph. This is another historic book which is held in the collections of the Morley Library.

Queen Anne was the last royal to have such a ceremony in April 1714.  In France, it continued up until the 1820s.