[The death of the king Henry IV (May 14th, 1610). Analysis of the report of postmortem examination of Jacques Guillemeau].
Henri IV, King of France, was killed on Friday, May 14th, 1610 in Paris, inside his partially open coach. The autopsy was performed the following day by Jacques Guillemeau, whose report was published in 1612. The murderer's position was deduced from the direction of the lethal second wound. We suppose that Ravaillac used his left hand (he was an ambidexter) hitting Henri IV under the left arm; the King was bent on his right side after the first wound, a superficial one. Ravaillac jumped up on a post by his left foot, then on the nave of the left-back wheel with his right foot and turning, gripped something high on the coach and hit with his long knife the left side of the king's chest. The direction of the wound was 40 degrees posterior and 30 degrees ascending. The pulmonary perforation involved a haemoptysis, an inability to speak and a bilateral pulmonary inundation. The left haemothorax was very probably associated to an haemopericardium and an haemomediastinum leading to a rapid collapse with a loss of consciousness which could not last than ten or fifteen minutes before death.
Laboratoire d'anatomie, UFR de médecine Paris-Ile de France - Ouest, UVS Q, 45, rue des Saints-Pères, 75270 Paris Cedex 06.
Patrice
P
Le Floch-Prigent
Philippe
P
Bonnichon
Denis
D
Pariente
D001344:Autopsy / Q000266:history*; D002423:Cause of Death; D005197:Famous Persons; D005602:France; D049670:History, 17th Century; D006708:Homicide / Q000266:history*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male