Louis XVI

(Newser) - The administrator of a historic chapel in France noticed the walls were looking odd in places, and he called in an archaeologist to take a professional look. The reason for the anomalies is a dark one, dating back to the French Revolution: It appears that up to 500 victims of...

(Newser) - A famous gourd was believed to contain the blood of Louis XVI after he was beheaded: It said as much in an inscription, and some research has appeared to confirm it. Now, however, experts have sequenced the blood's genome, and they're saying the opposite, the BBC reports. Their...

(Newser) - That may be Richard III's skeleton found under a British parking lot—but what about Henri IV's long-lost skull? A new book about the French monarch argues that his skull turned up in the attic of a retired tax collector, the Guardian reports. Critics groan that Henri IV:...

(Newser) - When King Louis XVI was beheaded after the French Revolution in 1793, many were said to have dipped handkerchiefs and other garments in his blood—and now scientists have determined that one such relic still exists. Maximilien Bourdaloue placed his bloodstained handkerchief inside a calabash, and though the cloth decomposed...