The mandible of Saint-Louis (1270 AD): Retrospective diagnosis and circumstances of death

P Charlier; A Augias; N Benmoussa; P Rainsard; P Froesch; P Richardin; A Froment; R Bianucci; O Appenzeller; A Perciaccante; D Lippi; L Prades

doi:10.1016/j.jormas.2019.05.007

The mandible of Saint-Louis (1270 AD): Retrospective diagnosis and circumstances of death

J Stomatol Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2020 Apr;121(2):172-174. doi: 10.1016/j.jormas.2019.05.007. Epub 2019 Jun 8.

Authors

P Charlier¹, A Augias², N Benmoussa², P Rainsard², P Froesch³, P Richardin⁴, A Froment⁵, R Bianucci⁶, O Appenzeller⁷, A Perciaccante⁸, D Lippi⁹, L Prades¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ Musée du quai Branly-Jacques-Chirac, 222, rue de l'Université, 75007 Paris, France; UVSQ (DANTE Laboratory, EA 4498), UFR of Health Sciences, 2, avenue de la Source de la Bièvre, 78180 Montigny-Le-Bretonneux, France. Electronic address: [email protected].
² UVSQ (DANTE Laboratory, EA 4498), UFR of Health Sciences, 2, avenue de la Source de la Bièvre, 78180 Montigny-Le-Bretonneux, France.
³ VisualForensic, Strasbourg, France.
⁴ Centre de restauration et de recherche des musées de France, Paris, France.
⁵ National Museum of Natural History, Paris, France.
⁶ Legal Medicine Section, Department of Public Health and Pediatric Sciences, University of Turin, Italy.
⁷ New Mexico Health Enhancement and Marathon Clinics Research Foundation, 361, Big Horn Ridge Dr. NE, Albuquerque, NM, USA; New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, 1801, Mountain Road NW, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
⁸ Department of Medicine, "San Giovanni di Dio" Hospital, Gorizia, Italy.
⁹ Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, Italy.
¹⁰ Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, Paris, France.

PMID: 31185300
DOI: 10.1016/j.jormas.2019.05.007

Abstract

Introduction: Recent paleopathological cases have shown the usefulness of interdisciplinary odontological studies in the investigation of historical figures.

Observation: A macroscopic examination of the mandible of Saint-Louis (13th c. AD), conserved in the cathedral of Notre-Dame (Paris, France) was carried out, and compared with biographical data about the life and death of the King, and contemporaneous cases of infectious/inflammatory diseases. We found post-mortem tooth loss associated with moderate signs of infectious and inflammatory diseases, which precise diagnoses are discussed facing historical chronicles and sources: main diagnosis is scurvy, potentially associated with bacterial infection.

Discussion: Our results support the identification of the relics, and improve the knowledge about the saint's circumstances of death related to metabolic deficiencies and infections.

Keywords: Dental infection; Paleopathology; Scurvy.

MeSH terms

France
Humans
Mandible*
Paleopathology*
Retrospective Studies