Comic by u/PoorCynic. They make a lot of history comics, so check them out.
Edit: Here’s what they had to say on the matter:
Helmets: they’re not just for show!
There’s not a lot I could find about John Bradmore. He came to the attention of Henry IV’s royal court in the late 1390s after successfully treating an official who had stabbed himself in the belly. He would continue to serve as royal surgeon up until his death in 1412. I’ve seen some people claim that he was in prison for counterfeiting at the time of his operation on Henry. While it was true that he and his brother were accused of said crime, that was back in 1386, and both men were quickly pardoned.
Young Prince Hal was very lucky – you know, aside from being shot in the face – in that he was wounded by a bodkin arrow. Bodkins have compact tips believed to be meant for the piercing of armor. This meant the wound was comparatively small and the tip could be extracted without causing too much damage (for a given value of “too much”; Bradmore did wind up accidentally piercing into Henry’s sinuses at one point). Broadhead arrows, on the other hand, were designed to cause damage to flesh. Had Henry been hit by one of those… well, we might not have that lovely St. Crispin’s Day speech.
There is a good deal of debate today about which side of his face Prince Henry was shot. Bradmore’s account of the procedure noted that it was “beside [the] nose of the left side”. A fair number of people argue that Bradmore meant his own left, however, which would have been the prince’s right. One of their major points of evidence for this is [Henry V’s most famous portrait](https://collectionimages.npg.org.uk/std/mw03074/King-Henry-V.jpg), which shows him profiled from the left – atypical for the time. The theory goes that he was painted as such to hide the nasty scar that would have been left behind. I should note that said portrait was not painted during his lifetime. Plus, royal portraits don’t typically skew realistic until much later.
Thank you all so much for reading, and I’ll see you next time!
EmperorSadrax on
How much was 10 marks in those days?
Echidnux on
No Peerage? :C
ClassicTable104 on
imagine your salary depending on one guy not dying.
warfarin11 on
*NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL MEME 2024!*
FanraGump on
When a doctor treating a leader with a new invention goes right.
Next week, watch as doctors using a new invention go wrong and kill U.S. President James A. Garfield.
srector1224 on
>Royal Surgeon and *Metalworker*
Oh boy
ketra1504 on
From what I remember back when I first read about this is that:
1. The arrow kind of ricocheted or deflected off of the inside of the princes helmet into his cheek
2. The surgeon was in jail when they summoned him to help the prince (it was his get out of jail if you do this deal)
3. Before coming up with the tool he was doing the honey treatment for a couple of weeks to disinfect the wound and also applied maggots so that they would eat the dead tissue inside.
4. The surgeon probably made the tool himself as he was noted to also be a blacksmith
5. The whole procesure saved the Princes life but left him a nasty scar, that’s why his every portrait is from his side.
Someone please fact check me if I’m wrong, I sadly don’t have the time to go find all the sources I got this from those many months ago
8 Comments
Comic by u/PoorCynic. They make a lot of history comics, so check them out.
Edit: Here’s what they had to say on the matter:
Helmets: they’re not just for show!
There’s not a lot I could find about John Bradmore. He came to the attention of Henry IV’s royal court in the late 1390s after successfully treating an official who had stabbed himself in the belly. He would continue to serve as royal surgeon up until his death in 1412. I’ve seen some people claim that he was in prison for counterfeiting at the time of his operation on Henry. While it was true that he and his brother were accused of said crime, that was back in 1386, and both men were quickly pardoned.
Young Prince Hal was very lucky – you know, aside from being shot in the face – in that he was wounded by a bodkin arrow. Bodkins have compact tips believed to be meant for the piercing of armor. This meant the wound was comparatively small and the tip could be extracted without causing too much damage (for a given value of “too much”; Bradmore did wind up accidentally piercing into Henry’s sinuses at one point). Broadhead arrows, on the other hand, were designed to cause damage to flesh. Had Henry been hit by one of those… well, we might not have that lovely St. Crispin’s Day speech.
There is a good deal of debate today about which side of his face Prince Henry was shot. Bradmore’s account of the procedure noted that it was “beside [the] nose of the left side”. A fair number of people argue that Bradmore meant his own left, however, which would have been the prince’s right. One of their major points of evidence for this is [Henry V’s most famous portrait](https://collectionimages.npg.org.uk/std/mw03074/King-Henry-V.jpg), which shows him profiled from the left – atypical for the time. The theory goes that he was painted as such to hide the nasty scar that would have been left behind. I should note that said portrait was not painted during his lifetime. Plus, royal portraits don’t typically skew realistic until much later.
Thank you all so much for reading, and I’ll see you next time!
How much was 10 marks in those days?
No Peerage? :C
imagine your salary depending on one guy not dying.
*NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL MEME 2024!*
When a doctor treating a leader with a new invention goes right.
Next week, watch as doctors using a new invention go wrong and kill U.S. President James A. Garfield.
>Royal Surgeon and *Metalworker*
Oh boy
From what I remember back when I first read about this is that:
1. The arrow kind of ricocheted or deflected off of the inside of the princes helmet into his cheek
2. The surgeon was in jail when they summoned him to help the prince (it was his get out of jail if you do this deal)
3. Before coming up with the tool he was doing the honey treatment for a couple of weeks to disinfect the wound and also applied maggots so that they would eat the dead tissue inside.
4. The surgeon probably made the tool himself as he was noted to also be a blacksmith
5. The whole procesure saved the Princes life but left him a nasty scar, that’s why his every portrait is from his side.
Someone please fact check me if I’m wrong, I sadly don’t have the time to go find all the sources I got this from those many months ago