The Miraculous Medieval Surgery That Saved King Henry V’s Life

In 1403, a rebellion broke out in England that would culminate in one of the bloodiest battles to ever take place on English soil. On 21st July 1403, King Henry IV with his son, the future Henry V, went head to head with a Northern traitor - Henry Hotspur. The Battle of Shrewsbury would pit rebel against royalist. Englishman against Englishman. At stake was the crown of England.

At the battle, the future King Henry V took an arrow just below the eye. The arrow penetrated on the left side below the eye and beside the nose of the young prince. When surgeons tried to remove the arrow, the shaft broke, leaving the bodkin point embedded in his skull some five to six inches deep, narrowly missing the brain stem and surrounding arteries

In this extract from the full-length documentary, Professor Michael Livingston meets with expert James Wright, who has extensively researched what happened to Hal after the battle, to see a demonstration on how royal surgeon John Bradmore attempted to save the heir to the throne's life.

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[bespokefoxbodies]

This boy king was an absolute unit. Fighting for half an hour with an arrow in his face and surviving that surgery in that time damn!

[sttv]

ER doctor here. The wound management principles used here are all spot on, which is amazing given that the physicians and surgeons of the time did not even know how healing or infections worked. I can only imagine the social pressure involved in attempting something like this. To anyone watching, it would look like you were torturing the prince and worsening the wound every day. If he had died, people would be looking at you as the potential cause of the death. Brilliant medical work.

[mbrackeva]

When I was 16 years old I got a javelin in the face. It penetrated in the exact same spot as shown on the dummy's head. Since the javelin came from above it went through my skull and the point entered my mouth, through two pieces of solid bone. Any other spot in my face or head and I would probably have died. This was of course the 1980's and the wound was treated properly, my face put back in place since part of it had shifted, and I fully recovered leaving no more than a small scar under the eye.
As to pain: I never felt any. Maybe from shock, I don't know.
Seeing him stick the arrow in the dummy's head in the place where my scar is was unsettling, even after 40 years.

[CarlosRodriguez-ddsb]

Never underestimate the intelligence or ingenuity of those that came before us - after all, we stand upon their shoulders.

[foo]

What really blows me away with this legend of a surgeon is that not only does he figure out how to do all this, but rather than keep it a secret and building up some kind of mystery around himself like a druid or medicine man, he documents and publishes.
This man didn't want to save just the prince, he wanted to save everyone.

[zekelucente]

The fact that the prince kept fighting for half an hour shows how powerful adrenaline is.

[MrCabimero]

the way they allowed the wound to heal is called healing by secondary intention and was/is still used today for certain types of wounds. This was a great story. thank you.

[chasc]

2.30 ‘he was phenomenally lucky’. Eric Blair ( George Orwell) was told much the same when shot through the throat during the Spanish Civil War and he reportedly replied ‘no I’m not, I got shot through my throat’.

[fokkerdred]

Absolutely Amazing. The fact that this Doctor knew about infection and how to treat it, really impresses me. His surgical skills and talent as a Doctor must have been in big demand back then.

[Yora]

There's also the story of a toolsmith who got brought a rough sketch of a tool nobody had ever build before and was told he needs to make it right now or the prince might die.
It doesn't look terribly complicated, but it might have taken several prototypes to get it right, and that probably would have taken some time as well.

[zekelucente]

I survived esophageal cancer and had a feeding tube for almost a year. I told the doctor that I felt I could eat enough to get rid of the feeding tube and he said to take it out whenever I was ready. He also said it’s easy to remove, but will require surgery to put it back in so be sure. I asked “what about the hole” and I’ll never forget he told me my body wanted that foreign object out of my body and that the hole would immediately close. I’ll never forget sitting in warm tub of bath water and slowly removing the feeding tube and I was shocked at how long it was. Sure enough the hole instantly closed and 24 years later it looks like a bullet wound. The human body is amazing and I can’t even imagine what this surgery was like and all other surgeries before effective anesthesia.

[ROBERTJAUCH-ke]

One thing that is not mentioned is that the course of the arrow must have been through the maxillary sinus which is air filled and basically a hollow cavity. As an ENT surgeon we can enter this area just above the teeth. The cavity only has nerve cells on the periphery so the pain and bleeding is not as bad as if it were solid flesh. However, at the back of the sinus is a critical area containing blood vessels and nerves that can be fatal if cut. He was indeed lucky none of these critical structures was damaged. As far as infection the sinus has a normal drainage channel into the nose which certainly helped with the healing process. The method of extraction of the arrow point was extremely clever and he was fortunate to know the approximate size of the cavity in the tip.

[vikkifenlon]

As a former orthopædic nurse I found this to be very interesting. Considering that there was little known about surgery on the head at that time, let alone wound aftercare and treatment, this is an amazing example of a very intelligent doctor, who was probably learning as he went along, drawing on what experience he had with battlefield injuries and doing something quite unique, , even designing and making a special instrument to remove the arrowhead. Wow!

[creamdelacreme]

I’m in awe. How absolutely remarkable. We often talk about the “horrors” of medicine from the past but it is truly incredible how much they got right without knowing why it was right.

[chickenlover]

If you're ever feeling down, just remember you belong to the 1% of all humanity who's had access to anesthesia.

[dalestaley]

I'm a trauma provider. A 16yo is a phenomenon. They sustain and survive what older people cannot.
This surgeon was sweating.

[brooklynnchick]

History Hit is consistently one of my teaching go-to resources because of the specificity of the mini-documentaries like this. I am a science educator in the United States and I absolutely love building a multi subject curriculum based on true events that demonstrate how science has shaped the history of our world. Whether it’s the physics of the arrow striking the Prince or the chemistry behind the plants used to anesthetize him for the arrow removal, this story is an educational gem! Thank you to the brilliant team at History Hit!

[barnzYT]

How can people not find history fascinating

[tamiwatchesstuff]

I can’t imagine the pain Henry went through, or how much this wound disfigured his cheek bone area. No wonder his portraits are only painted from the side profile rather than front facing as portraits usually are painted.

[sallygough]

Not having seen anything about this before, I found it absolutely fascinating. What a feat! Thank you, both of you!