The heart of Richard I was buried in the Cathedral of Rouen, France, with mint, frankincense, mercury, creosote and daisies
Richard the Lionheart ended up with a heart full of daisies, mint and frankincense, a French study of his mummified heart has discovered.
The analysis also uncovered elements like creosote, mercury and perhaps lime in the heart, which has been in the western French city of Rouen since his death in 1199.
The study’s leader, Philippe Charlier, suggests the flowers and spices were to give the king the ‘odour of sanctity’.
The study came out less than a month after a team of British archeologists uncovered the long-lost remains of 15th-century King Richard III - a relative but not a direct descendant of Richard I - under a car park in Leicester.
Unlike that crude ending, Richard the Lionheart, leader of the Third Crusade, was ceremoniously laid to rest in three places.
His entrails were interred in the central French town of Chalus, where he died in a skirmish with a rebellious baron; his body reposes at the Fontevraud Abbey, beside his father Henry II and later his mother Eleanor of Aquitaine; and his heart, wrapped in linen, pickled for posterity and placed in a lead box, was sent on to the Cathedral of Rouen.
In 1838, the heart, already turned to powder, was rediscovered, transferred to a glass box and placed in Rouen’s Departmental Museum of Antiquities.
Charlier, a forensic medical examiner, and his 11-member team used the latest biomedical techniques to decipher the composition of The Lionheart’s heart.
Philippe Charlier, a forensic medical examiner, shows the remains of King Richard I's heart, which has undergone analysis more than 810 years after he died
RICHARD THE LIONHEART
Born on 8 September 1157 in Oxford, son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard I is one of the most popular kings in England history after leading the Third Christian Crusade against Muslims who had captured Jerusalem in the 12th century.
He failed to take the city because of inner-feuds between his Crusader allies, but scored numerous victories against Saladin, his Muslim counterpart.
Despite his reputation in England, Richard spent most of his time in his lands in France, and mainly conversed in French dialects.
Richard died after a crossbow bolt pierced his shoulder during a siege of the castle of Chalus-Chabrol in the Limousin region of France.
He failed to take the city because of inner-feuds between his Crusader allies, but scored numerous victories against Saladin, his Muslim counterpart.
Despite his reputation in England, Richard spent most of his time in his lands in France, and mainly conversed in French dialects.
Richard died after a crossbow bolt pierced his shoulder during a siege of the castle of Chalus-Chabrol in the Limousin region of France.
The study was published in Scientific Reports, part of the Nature Publishing Group.
The aim of the study was to discover how hearts were embalmed in the 12th century, Charlier said.
The presence of incense in the potpourri was the most striking because, Charlier said, it had not been found in previous embalmings, even in corpses dating from the Middle Ages.
Charlier speculates that the incense, among the gifts offered to the infant Jesus by the three kings and reportedly used on the outside of his body at death, was meant to give The Lionheart a direct line to God.
Richard I is one of the most popular kings in England history after leading the Third Christian Crusade against Muslims who had captured Jerusalem in the 12th century.
He failed to take the city because of inner-feuds between his Crusader allies, but scored numerous victories against Saladin, his Muslim counterpart.
Despite his reputation in England, Richard spent most of his time in his lands in France, and mainly conversed in French dialects.
Richard died after a crossbow bolt pierced his shoulder during a siege of the castle of Chalus-Chabrol in the Limousin region of France.
HOW TO PRESERVE A ROYAL HEART
Microscopic analysis showed pollen grains from daisy, myrtle and mint. lso found were pine, oak, poplar, plantain and bellflower, likely airborne contaminants. Poplar and bellflower were blooming at the time of death, the study says.
Molecular analysis turned up frankincense, the white matter in the powder.
There were large amounts of lead - said to be contamination from the box cradling the heart - and traces of copper and mercury, or quicksilver- commonly used at the time.
There is also a suggestion that lime may have been used as a disinfectant.
How bodies were preserved back then 'is a field of much speculation and, thus, such a study provides some decent evidence,' said Frank Ruhli, a professor at the University of Zurich's Center for Evolutionary Medicine.
However, he said in an email that the study has limited impact because of its focus on a single organ and on only one, if well-known, person
Molecular analysis turned up frankincense, the white matter in the powder.
There were large amounts of lead - said to be contamination from the box cradling the heart - and traces of copper and mercury, or quicksilver- commonly used at the time.
There is also a suggestion that lime may have been used as a disinfectant.
How bodies were preserved back then 'is a field of much speculation and, thus, such a study provides some decent evidence,' said Frank Ruhli, a professor at the University of Zurich's Center for Evolutionary Medicine.
However, he said in an email that the study has limited impact because of its focus on a single organ and on only one, if well-known, person
Philippe Charlier with the box which contained the heart, wrapped in linen, which was full of daisies, as well as myrtle, mint and frankincense.
This engraving by Huyot depicts the battle where King Richard I was killed by Bertrand de Gourdon at the siege of the castle of Chalus, France
Richard I's heart was wrapped in linen, pickled, and placed in a lead box for burial at the Cathedral of Rouen.
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