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Zanello M, Roux A, Gavaret M, Bartolomei F, Huberfeld G, Charlier P, Georges-Zimmermann P, Carron R, Pallud J. King Charles VIII of France's Death: From an Unsubstantiated Traumatic Brain Injury to More Realistic Hypotheses. World Neurosurg 2021; 156:60-67. [PMID: 34537407 DOI: 10.1016/j.wneu.2021.09.056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2021] [Revised: 09/09/2021] [Accepted: 09/11/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
On April 7, 1498, Charles VIII, King of France, attended a game of palm in the ditches of the Château d'Amboise. The 27-year-old King suddenly collapsed and became comatose. He laid down, almost on his own, on a straw mat that was hastily arranged, and he died 9 hours later. His contemporaries perceived his death as a perfect reminder of fatality: a king could die alone in a miserable gallery. All who looked into this curious death had dwelled on the frontal blow to head that the king had sustained right before his demise and had not considered alternative scenarios. The present study, still with limited available evidence, aimed to reexamine the historical account of his death in light of modern medical knowledge. It is virtually impossible that a minor bump with low kinetic energy could kill a 27-year-old man. Many historical accounts of Charles VIII's life and death, including Italian ambassadors' letters, led us to reconsider the commonly held version and to propose an alternative hypothesis. We have concluded that Charles VIII had experienced an acute consciousness disorder with language impairment that could have been related to an epileptic condition secondary to neurosyphilis. We have discussed whether a more accurate diagnosis for the cause of death could be obtained by a pathological analysis of the King's remains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc Zanello
- Department of Neurosurgery, GHU Paris - Psychiatrie et Neurosciences, Hôpital Sainte-Anne, Paris, France; Université de Paris, Paris, France; INSERM UMR 1266, IMA-BRAIN, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurosciences of Paris, Paris, France.
| | - Alexandre Roux
- Department of Neurosurgery, GHU Paris - Psychiatrie et Neurosciences, Hôpital Sainte-Anne, Paris, France; Université de Paris, Paris, France; INSERM UMR 1266, IMA-BRAIN, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurosciences of Paris, Paris, France
| | - Martine Gavaret
- Université de Paris, Paris, France; Neurophysiology Department, GHU Paris Psychiatrie et Neurosciences, Sainte-Anne Hospital, Paris, France
| | - Fabrice Bartolomei
- Epileptology and Cerebral Rythmology, APHM-Timone University Hospital, Marseille, France; Aix Marseille Université, INSERM, INS, Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes, Marseille, France
| | - Gilles Huberfeld
- Clinical Neurophysiology Department, Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital, Sorbonne Université, Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris, Paris, France; Neuroglial Interactions in Cerebral Physiopathology, Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology, Collège de France, CNRS UMR 7241, INSERM U1050, Labex Memolife, PSL Research University, Paris, France
| | - Philippe Charlier
- Department of Research and Higher Education, Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, Paris, France; Laboratory Anthropology, Archaeology, Biology, Paris-Saclay University, UFR of Health Sciences, Montigny-Le-Bretonneux, France
| | | | - Romain Carron
- Aix Marseille Université, INSERM, INS, Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes, Marseille, France; Department of Functional and Stereotactic Neurosurgery, APHM-Timone University Hospital, Marseille, France
| | - Johan Pallud
- Department of Neurosurgery, GHU Paris - Psychiatrie et Neurosciences, Hôpital Sainte-Anne, Paris, France; Université de Paris, Paris, France; INSERM UMR 1266, IMA-BRAIN, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurosciences of Paris, Paris, France
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