While it’s not what I’d do, legend has it that when King Louis XVI was beheaded in 1793, onlookers in Paris rushed to the scene to dip their handkerchiefs in the dead king’s blood. Years later, one of these gruesome souvenirs made headlines when an Italian family sent it off for genetic testing to see if the relic was the real deal.
A hollowed-out gourd had been in the family for over a century inscribed with the following phrase: “On January 21, Maximilien Bourdaloue dipped his handkerchief in the blood of Louis XVI after his decapitation.” Decorated with etched portraits of heroes from the French Revolution , it appeared to have been stuffed with one of the blood-soaked handkerchiefs.
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In 2009 the family hired Carles Lalueza-Fox, a world-renowned paleogenomicist known for decoding ancient DNA and author of Genes, Kings and Imposters , to try to figure out if the artifact was a fake. While it sounds pretty straightforward, it’s anything but. In fact, finding a DNA sample from the House of Bourbon with which to compare the supposedly-royal blood is no easy feat and resulting studies led to heated academic debate.
Read more: Ancient Origins
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