The royal touch: the divine thaumaturgic gift granted to French and English monarchs

Summary:

For several centuries, the kings of France and England cured many sick people by touching them. This healing was particularly effective in the case of a disease known in Latin as scrofula, called "écrouelles" in French. Today, doctors believe that this term referred to what is known as tuberculous adenitis, although it is likely that the medieval word was more flexible and encompassed other diseases with similar symptoms. Although this disease is not necessarily fatal, it does cause serious disfigurement.

The particularity of the miracle of the royal touch is that it is directly tied to the royal function, in France and in England, regardless of the degree of personal sanctity of its holder. We shall see that this miracle is impressive for its longevity, the diversity of the sources that attest to it, and the number of people involved.

A long-lasting miracle. The first evidence of this miracle can be found in the Treatise on Relics by Guibert de Nogent (1053 - 1124), one of the most famous French scholars of his time. Nogent explicitly mentions the fact that Louis VI, who reigned from 1108 to 1137, healed the sick by touch. But this was nothing new, as he points out that his father, Philip I, who reigned from 1060 to 1108, was already doing this. For England, the first evidence comes from a private letter written by a French-born cleric, Pierre de Blois, who lived at the court of King Henry II, who reigned from 1154 to 1189. In France, the last royal touching took place after the coronation of Charles X in May 1825, while in England, kings stopped touching the sick after the dynastic change in 1714. This miraculous phenomenon therefore lasted eight centuries in France and six centuries in England.

By the Late Middle Ages, the royal touch had become an integral part of the coronation of the French monarch at Reims Cathedral. The rite included the anointing of the king's hands, which was believed to confer on him the ability to cure. The coronation and anointing were immediately followed by a journey to Corbeny, the site of the shrine of Saint Marcouf (d. 558), patron saint of scrofulous people. After the pilgrimage was completed, the newly crowned king was deemed to possess the sacred power of touch.

A variety of sources. During the first two centuries, ecclesiastical literature was relatively silent. This can be explained by the fact that Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085) was very cautious about miracles performed by lay people. However, around 1300, the situation changed and recognition of this miracle increased. For example, Brother Guillaume, a Norman Dominican, mentioned this miraculous phenomenon at the beginning of one of his sermons: "The King of France deserves the name of son of David; why? It is because David means 'valiant hand'; and the royal hand is valiant in healing the sick: every prince inheriting the kingdom of France, as soon as he is anointed and crowned, receives from God this special grace and this particular virtue of healing the sick by the touch of his hand: so we see the sick from the royal disease coming to the king from many different places and lands." Under Charles VII (1422-1461) and Louis XI (1461-1483), this gift was mentioned in diplomatic relations with the Papacy. Finally, Pope Paul III (1534-1549) explicitly recognised it in the bull founding the University of Reims.

In the meantime, this miraculous phenomenon had already found its way into medical treatises. It can be found, for example, in Magna Chirurgia ("Great Surgery " ), written by Gui de Chauliac in 1363, which was one of the most popular treatises among medical practitioners right up to modern times. Although these references were initially made in France and England, they spread internationally from the 16th century onwards. Examples include the treatise De morbis puerorum, written by the Italian Girolamo Mercuriale and published in 1583, and the treatise Pentateuchus, published in 1592 by the Italian Girolamo Fabrici d'Acquapendente, a pioneering anatomist and surgeon.

In the 15th century, these royal cures became the subject of artistic depictions. The oldest known evidence of this can be found at Mont-Saint-Michel. Unfortunately, the image was destroyed by the prison administration.

Finally, we also have private letters from later periods. For example, Lord Poulett thanked a Secretary of State, Lord Dorchester, for allowing his sick daughter to be touched, and presumably cured: "The return of a sick child who was so completely relieved revives a sick father... It was a great joy to me that His Majesty deigned to touch my poor child with his blessed hands; by this, God's blessing helping, he gave me back a child I had so little hope of keeping that I had given instructions to have her corpse brought back...; she has returned safe and sound; her health is improving day by day."

The institution of a ceremony or ritual around this practice also enabled official records to be kept of the number of healed people. Unfortunately, in the case of France, a terrible fire in 1737 destroyed many documents in the warehouse of the Chambre des Comptes in the Palais de la Cité. However, we still have enough sources to give us an idea of the number of people involved.

The number of cures. In England, we know that King Edward I, who reigned from 1272 to 1307, touched several hundred people each year - up to 1,736 in the eighteenth year of his reign. We have equivalent figures for Louis XII (1498-1515), while Francis I (1515-1547) touched between 1,000 and 2,000 people a year. For the 16th century, however, the known record belongs to Charles IX (1560-1574), who touched 2,092 people in 1569. Gradually, the ritual was institutionalised and reserved for certain special days, announced in advance by means of posters. This was particularly common after the coronation of kings. For Louis XV, for example, we have just one figure. On October 29, 1722, the day after his coronation, 2,000 sick people came to him in the Parc Saint-Rémi in Reims to be touched.

Although this miracle mainly concerned the subjects of the kings of France and England, very early on the sources show us that their reputation for healing had spread beyond the borders and that foreigners would sometimes travel hundreds of kilometres to receive a healing.

What is particularly important is that this recognition came not only from sympathisers or allies or neutral people, but also from enemies. For example, in the midst of the war with Spain, Spaniards went to the King of France for healing. Even more spectacularly, when the King of France, Francis I, was taken prisoner at the Battle of Pavia (1525) and taken to Spain, Spaniards took advantage of his presence to come to him and be touched, which Francis I agreed to do. Finally, it should be pointed out that we also have the testimony of a Turkish ambassador, and therefore a Muslim, who in 1618 asked King James I (1603-1625) to touch his sick son.

Going further:

The Royal Touch: Monarchy and Miracles in France and England by Marc Bloch, Dorset Pr (January 1, 1990)

More information:

• Poem by Robert Herrick's To the King, to cure the Evill (Hesperides, 1648)