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The Missing Head

PostPosted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 2:16 am
by Rhah
Henry IV head found, errr identified. Assassinated in 1610 by François Ravaillac. The head was lost after the the Basilica of St Denis was ransacked in 1793. Since then the head has been circulating through the hands of private collectors.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11996981

Re: The Missing Head

PostPosted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 12:49 pm
by Caliban
He bears a resemblance to Stephen Fry.

Re: The Missing Head

PostPosted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 8:27 pm
by Kurt
Caliban wrote:He bears a resemblance to Stephen Fry.


That is actually part of the "Habsburg Jaw" that was deposited in the Spanish Habsburg gene pool and then inbred to create the outrageous characteratures of the rich, snobby person with a prominent lower jaw (since the Spanish Habsburgs gave their ugly chins to toffs around the world).

Since Henry was not nearly as inbred as the Habsbugs, he just looked like Stephen Fry...not bad considering the loaded genetic cannon he had.

Re: The Missing Head

PostPosted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 8:34 pm
by Penta
Stephen Fry is a Hapsburg? Surely not.

I thought it was a pity they don't give a profile picture so we could see if Henri IV's humongous pointed nose (in the portrait) is demonstrated in the embalmed head.

Re: The Missing Head

PostPosted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 9:52 pm
by Kurt
Penta wrote:Stephen Fry is a Hapsburg? Surely not.

I thought it was a pity they don't give a profile picture so we could see if Henri IV's humongous pointed nose (in the portrait) is demonstrated in the embalmed head.


No, not a Hapsburg (Spanish) but he might have some in him from a while back. Or perhaps the "Chin" part of the Habsburgs came from the area of France that Henry IV is from and perhaps that area produced an ancestor of Stephen Fry. It should not be surprising if that is the case since the lesser Nobility of France and England were interchangeable for a few hundred years.

Personally, I am curious as to how Stephen Fry got his nose broken.

--edit--
I just looked it up (google is a marvel) and he broke it on a playground.

Re: The Missing Head

PostPosted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 10:55 pm
by Penta
I suppose it's possible that the Hapsburgs were partly Jewish, but as Holy Roman Emperors and so on it seems unlikely. And the Bourbons were also Catholic, though apparently Henri IV was brought up a Huguenot (I looked him up). So nice theory, but improbable, I'd say.

Re: The Missing Head

PostPosted: Sat Dec 25, 2010 8:12 am
by Kurt
Penta wrote:I suppose it's possible that the Hapsburgs were partly Jewish, but as Holy Roman Emperors and so on it seems unlikely. And the Bourbons were also Catholic, though apparently Henri IV was brought up a Huguenot (I looked him up). So nice theory, but improbable, I'd say.


Could be. But all of us are more closely related than we think.

Most likely Habsburgs were not mixed with jews or families with Jews in their blood. In fact if you look at the family tree of the Spanish Habsburgs you got uncles marrying neices and cousins all over the place. When you are as inbred as they were it was unlikely a Jew would have been in the woodpile at any point.

Re: The Missing Head

PostPosted: Sun Dec 26, 2010 11:02 pm
by Caliban
Stephen Fry's origins are Hungarian Jewish. So just a coincidence then. (What have I statrted ??!)

Re: The Missing Head

PostPosted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 1:18 am
by Bronco
What is it with people wanting to keep other people's heads? Supposedly the Skull & Bones "social club" at Yale has Geronimo's head hidden away somewhere. Henry IV's head has been passed around for centuries...what gives?

Re: The Missing Head

PostPosted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 2:56 pm
by Kurt
In the West part of head collecting had to do with defiance of traditional Roman religion. the pagan Romans believed that a body that was not buried was tormented forever not being able to cross over to the other side and of course not being able to join the living either. So Saints were collected and their bones dispersed to Churches and Christian communities as a way of being an antithesis to Roman tradition so they could say "See, our dead are in heaven with god in spite of not being contained in one tomb while you pagans are worried about corpses being in one place for your souls sake we do not have to worry"

Later I think head collecting just became a status symbol. The Skull & Bones Society is so powerful they can rob graves and no one will ever bust into their clubhouse. Think about that for a bit...If we formed a private BFC club with a building, and all of that but with just us as members and there were rumors we collected skulls by grave robbing or trafficking in body parts our doors would be smashed down so quickly by enthusiastic policemen and it would make news.

Skull & Bones will never be touched. They will just give back the more troublesome heads like Geronimo's.

Re: The Missing Head

PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 2:23 am
by Texas Carnie Roadshow
This happened to my Great(x14)grandfather.
Luckily, it got back to Cambridge in '60.