Louis XIV’s Cause of Death Revealed by DNA from His Mummified Heart 310 Years After He Was Buried in Paris

YOU NEED TO KNOW

• A team of scientists studied the mummified heart of Louis XIV over three decades after it was buried in Paris

• Researchers believe they have discovered the real cause of death for the King of France, who died in 1715, every The Times and The Paris

• The cause of the king’s death was previously recorded as gangrene

Scientists believe they have discovered the real cause of death for Louis XIV, the King of France who died in 1715.

Louis XIV, also known as the Sun King, died on September 1, just four days before his 77th birthday. He was the longest reigning monarch in European history having reigned from 1643 to 1715, two years longer than Queen Elizabeth’s 70 year reign.

While the cause of the king’s death was recorded as gangrene, scientists studied his mummified heart and concluded that he died of something else, according to the UK newspaper. The Times and local media The Paris.

Gangrene is the “death of body tissue due to lack of blood flow or serious bacterial infection,” according to the Mayo Clinic.

The Duke of Saint-Simon wrote that the king had dealt with the condition “without complaint” and “resolutely watched this spectacle of his own ruin” every The Times.

According to the outlet, the team of researchers believe that the death of the royal began with a chronic skin disease called chromoblastomycosis, which is an infection under the skin caused by fungi, according to the World Health Organization.

Skin infection was unheard of at the time, according to the outlet, which also reported that the king was in agony for two weeks before his death.

The researchers made their conclusion after discovering fungal material rather than bacterial agents in the gangrene in a piece of Louis XIV’s heart, which is stored in the Basilica of Saint-Denis in Paris.

The analysis was conducted by pathologist Philippe Charlier after he and his team were given approval by Louis XIV’s descendants Jean d’Orléans and Louis-Alphonse de Bourbon, according to the outlet.

“By analyzing the blood residues that were still present around the heart, we realized that they were not bacteria at all, but rather fungi,” said Charlier. The Timesand added that the fungal disease could have led to septicemia, also known as blood poisoning, for the king.

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“The exact medical cause of his death is an additional element to understand the last moments of the sovereign, to be able to imagine if he suffered or was able to die peacefully,” said de Bourbon, who is known as the Duke of Anjou. The Parisper the Times.

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