In 1825, shortly after being recognized as King of France, Charles X was the object of a fierce press campaign. The reason was none other than his desire to carry out an ancient medieval healing rite in an orphanage in Reims, the “king’s touch”, or, what is the same, the imposition of hands by the monarch in order to heal to those who suffered from various ailments and, especially, to the victims of scrofula, an infectious process that affects the lymph nodes and manifests itself in the form of buboes or skin lesions.
With this, the newly crowned monarch tried to reinforce his position on the throne by repeating a ceremony that French sovereigns had been practicing since the 11th century. According to some historians, its origin dates back to the second Capetian monarch, Robert II the Pious (972-1031), who had acquired a reputation as a saint, although it did not take shape until the accession to the throne of Philip I (1059-1108).
However, it was during the reign of Louis IX (1226-1278), elevated to the altars by Boniface VIII in 1298, when the ritual of the ceremony was established as it continued to be performed by the sovereigns of the Valois and Bourbon dynasties. The ritual was only altered in the 18th century, when enlightened rationalism wanted to impose its criteria and, in order to reduce the thaumaturgical power of the Crown, Louis XV was recommended to change the traditional formula of “The king touches you; God heals you†for the phrase “The king touches you; may God heal youâ€, which detracted from the sovereign’s merits and left the healing of the sick in the hands of providence.
But, even contemplating such a statement, the post-revolutionary France of Charles X was no longer the same as that of his royal ancestors. Hence, given the angry reaction of his people, and to the chagrin of the ultra-monarchical sectors that supported what was the last Bourbon on the throne of France, the healing rite was not celebrated again.
By then it had not been practiced in England for over a hundred years either, where the celebration of the King’s Toll had been introduced after the enthronement of the Plantagenet dynasty, possibly because of its Norman origin. The rite was practiced by various monarchs of the Tudor and Stuart dynasties until William III of Orange (1650-1702) suppressed it, calling it simple superstition.
That ceremony was nothing but the fruit of the sacralization of the figure of the monarch. It should not be ignored that, since the 11th century, both the kings of France and England were not crowned, but consecrated or anointed, that is, the monarch received his power directly from God, which granted him capacities superior to those of the kings. mere mortals.
In France, the sacré, or royal consecration, has been celebrated since the eighth century in the cathedral of Reims, at the express wish of Ludovico PÃo (778-840), son of Charlemagne, since the sacred ampulla was kept there, which, according to the tradition, an angel had delivered Clovis (5th century), the first Frankish king to convert to Christianity. The piece contained a miraculously inexhaustible ointment that was to be applied to the kings of France during their enthronement.
The sacré was a complex rite in which the religious liturgy was combined with the recognition of the earthly power of the sovereign. After the anointing with the oil from the sacred ampoule, the royal insignia were imposed: the gold spurs, the sword, the ermine mantle, the scepter and the gold ring, which symbolized the union of the king with his people. Finally, the monarch swore to protect the Church, defend the faith and make peace and justice reign.
The same was the case in England, where William the Conqueror (1028-1087) implemented a very similar consecration ritual in 1066, presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury, which is still practically identical, as can be seen on May 6 at the Coronation of Charles III in Westminster Abbey.
On both sides of the English Channel, then, it was believed that the royal will alone was capable of healing the subjects, in the same way that, according to the Gospel, it had happened with the disciples of Christ. At first the ceremony was a private act that was reduced to the intimacy of the patient and the sovereign, but, seeking the consolidation of royal power, from the 13th century it became a mass event attended by a large number of patients and of viewers.
The truth is that the public authorities used the king’s touch as an instrument to consolidate the figure of the monarch and vindicate the concept that his power came directly from God. With that intention, it ended up being practiced exclusively on scrofula patients, to the point that the disease ended up being called the “king’s diseaseâ€. The reason was very simple: against leprosy, for example, scrofula used to remit spontaneously, at least apparently; therefore it was easier to ascribe his cure to royal power.
The king’s toque used to be celebrated coinciding with a religious holiday such as Easter, Christmas or Pentecost, and, in England, with that of Saint Michael the Archangel (patron saint of Normandy). To impart it required a long and complex liturgy. Days before the appointed date, the court doctors selected those patients who could be healed, who had come from all corners of the country in search of their lost health.
The day before the ceremony, the king underwent a penitential fast and withdrew from all court activities. Finally, on the designated date, a massive mass was celebrated attended, in addition to the royal family and the court in full, the sick. At the end of the Eucharist, the scrofulous paraded one by one before the king, who imposed his hands on them and made the sign of the cross over the injuries.
Next, various paragraphs of the Gospel related to the miraculous healing of the sick by Jesus Christ or his disciples were read and alms was given to those affected, who, in the following days, had to make a pilgrimage to Corbeny, some thirty kilometers from Reims, to visit the tomb of San Marculfo, patron saint of the scrofulous.
In England, the rite was very similar until the 15th century, when Edward IV (1442-1483) modified it by minting a gold coin depicting Saint Michael the Archangel slaying the devil. The “angel”, as the piece was called, was given to the sick with the indication that they should always carry it with them as protection. For this, it was drilled in order to introduce a ribbon that allowed patients to wear it hanging from their necks.
As has been seen, the passing of the centuries, the desacralization of monarchies and the rule of reason promoted during the Age of Enlightenment forced the celebration of the king’s toque to be spaced out more and more until its complete disappearance.
