Head of State

Eureka! They've found it...

...the head of the Good King Henri!

Henri de Navarre is famous for bringing a period of great prosperity and peace to France.  Originally a Protestant, he famously said, "Paris vaut bien une messe!" (Paris is worth a mass) when he converted to take the thrown.  His Edict of Nantes granted religious freedom and saved the country from self-destruction.  He also is famous for promising his people they would have the means to have a chicken in their pots each Sunday.

Dr. Philippe Charlier and twenty of his scientist buddies have verified that the skull belongs to him because of the following characteristics:

• A small dark spot under his right nostril
• Evidence that his right ear was pierced, which was the fashion in the Valois court
• A lesion indicated a slash above his lip that he sustained in an assassination attempt

How, you may ask, did the head part company with the body?  Well, Henri IV was buried with the other kings of France after he was assassinated by a religious fanatic in 1610.  Then the French Revolution hit; things got crazy.  Some people who were rather less than happy with the system of monarchy broke into all the tombs of the king of France, dragged out their moldering remains and burned them in the Commune.  Henri's head got cut off and kept while his body got tossed.  So since, 1793(ish) the head's just been bopping around, passing from one antique collection to the next.

Isn't that deliciously bizarre, gruesomely awesome?  Where can I buy a skull?!

"Alas, poor [Henri]! I knew him, Horratio"
Maria

P.S. Here is the article about the discovery in Le Monde, if you want to practice your Franch.