Debate on French Royal Head

Further on from my post "Henri IV of France Identified" back in 16th December 2010 and the post from Live Science of 14th December 2010 (Mummy Head (and Brain) Identified as Long-Lost French King), comes this series of articles now doubting the identification of the royal skull.

PhysOrg: French King Henri IV's Head Stars In Forensic Dispute:

Doubt - and a reportedly royal severed head - haunts a murky corner of forensic science these days, as researchers squabble over an unearthed packet of mummified remains thought to have belonged to King Henry IV of France.

At the heart of the macabre drama is an embalmed head with several vertebrae still attached. The remains were found in 1919 in the Royal Basilica of St. Denis outside Paris and reportedly secreted away by a civil servant. Reappearing almost a century later, the specimen still had its soft tissue and organs intact, right down to the open mouth and partially closed eyes.

From the South China Morning Post: Forensic scientists in debate over head of King Henry IV of France:

Obtaining a sample of the mummified tissue, they conducted a genetic analysis and compared it with DNA samples given by three male descendants. Analysing the Y chromosome of the three descendants, and genes that reveal matrilineal descent, they found similarities among the three descendants. But none matched the disembodied head.

The team further compared the Y chromosome taken from the mysterious head with that taken from a blood-soaked handkerchief said to contain the genetic material of Louis XVI. The two samples did not match.

From Newser: Does This Head Belong To France's Henri IV?

Forensic researchers have a royal dispute on their hands: They can't agree on whether a mummified head belongs to France's Henry IV, explains the Los Angeles Times. The question seemed settled in 2010 when a team of researchers used facial-reconstruction techniques to conclude that it was indeed "Good King Henry," who was assassinated in 1610. But now a second team of scientists says it isn't so because DNA tests don't match Henry's living relatives.

From Fox News - Live Science: Lost Kings: DNA Fails To Solve History Mysteries:

The tale of the head and the gourd, however, is not quite so straightforward. In 2010, a forensic analysis suggested the head belonged to French King Henry IV. DNA later linked the head to the blood in the gourd, leading researchers to identify the blood's owner as Henry's descendant, French King Louis XVI. Now, however, a second DNA analysis has thrown those findings into disarray, suggesting perhaps the head and the blood belong not to royalty, but to nobodies.

From The Independent: Academics Scratch Heads Over Mystery of French King's Skull:

Four academics – including two who contributed to a report in the British Medical Journal which claimed a skull found in 1919 was the head of Henri IV – have now challenged the research after new DNA tests cast doubt on the authenticity of the remains.

The original report, published in the BMJ in December 2010, saw France’s pre-eminent forensic examiner, Dr Phillipe Charlier, and his team identify the partly preserved severed head as that of the monarch, who was assassinated in 1610 and is famous for ending the country’s religious wars.

From UPI: Forensic Researchers Debate Whether Head Belongs To Henry IV:

Forensic researchers have a royal dilemma on their hands: They can't reach consensus on whether a mummified head belongs to Henry IV of France.

In 2010, a team of researchers used facial-reconstruction techniques to conclude that it was indeed "Good King Henry," who was assassinated in 1610.

The case seemed closed.

Now, a second team of scientists says it can't be the royal head, since DNA tests do not match Henry's living descendants.

More on the Poison Ring

Bonnie Petrunova

More news about the poison ring from Bulgaria.

From Fox News: Ring found in Bulgaria thought to be a medieval murder weapon

Drilled into side of the ring is a small cavity, archaeologists say was used to hide poison probably used to murder friends of the aristocrats in the Dobrudja area.  Expertly and exquisitely crafted, the ring is thought to have been imported from Italy or Spain according to dig leader Bonnie Petrunova, deputy director of Bulgaria's National Archaeology Museum.

From Huffington Post: Medieval Poison Ring Discovered In Bulgaria

According to Katherine Lester's 2012 book Accessories of Dress: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, poison rings date back to Roman times but were used up through the 16th and 17th centuries. The rings were originally used as a method of suicide for victims anticipating a violent or painful death, according to Lester. But they were later used as a covert murder weapon.  The lethal piece of jewelry unearthed in Bulgaria was most likely used for the latter purpose during a bitter conflict between a medieval ruler named Dobrotitsa and his son Ivanko Terter, Petrunova said.

From the French Tribune: Speculations over Medieval Ring found in Bulgaria

This ring is 600 years old and is made of bronze ring. It was found during excavations at the ruins of Cape Kailakra. This is a place where aristocrats of the Dobrudja region resided during 14th century.  Local officials said, "This explains many of the unexplained deaths among nobles and aristocrats close to Dobrotitsa".

From the Las Vegas Guardian Express: Discovery of Medieval Ring Reveals Deadly Purpose

The bronze ring has a small cavity drilled into the side that, according to archaeologists, was used to hide poison. When the host offered his “enemy” a drink, he would tilt his pinky finger of his right hand so that the poison would end up in the glass.

From the Inquisitr: Medieval Poison Ring Found In Bulgaria, Could Solve Ancient Murders

It is believed the bronze ring was once owned by Dobrotitsa, a noble who ruled the Dobrudja region during the second half of the 14th century, reports NBC News. There were several unexplained deaths among the nobles and aristocrats close to Dobrotitsa, according to local officials. The bronze ring was exquisitely crafted and was deliberately hollowed out, with a small hole that could have allowed its owner to sneak poison into a dinner party.  Bonnie Petrunova, deputy director of the National Archaeology Institute and Museum, believes that the ring played a part in the bitter conflict between Dobrotitsa and his son, Ivanko Terter. She explained that their feud wasn’t known by many, but that Ivanko was one of few who dared stand up to the leader. It is unclear if the poison ring has been swabbed to see if any of the lethal liquid still remains.

More about: Bonnie Petrunova at National Institute of Archaeology with Museum - Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

Medieval Murder Ring

From Discovery News:

Bulgarian archaeologists have unearthed a medieval bronze ring that might have been used for political murders some 700 years ago, local authorities have announced.

Found at the site of a former medieval fortress in Cape Kaliakra, not far from the Black Sea coastal town of Kavarna in northeast Bulgaria, the finely crafted ring was probably worn by a male on the little finger of the right hand.

Intriguingly, it features a round, hollow cartridge decorated with granulation and an artificial hole.

India: Nalini Moved From Vellore

From the Times of India:

A fortnight after stepping into her 20th year of incarceration, Nalini Sriharan, serving life sentence in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, was shifted from Vellore to the Central Prison for Women at Puzhal in Chennai. She thanked Tamil Nadu CM M Karunanidhi and additional director-general of prisons Shyam Sundar for the gesture.

"I was not transferred out when I was facing troubles in Vellore. Now, I've been shifted when I neither needed it nor expected it. Anyway, I thank the CM and the ADGP for their kind gesture. I hope they will show similar indulgence in the matter of my premature release," she was quoted as saying by her advocate P Pugalenthi, who called on her after she was lodged in Puzhal prison on Monday. Recently, Nalini had complained that the Vellore prison authorities were mistreating her.

Note: Nalini Sriharan, serving a life term for her role in the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. Nalini was sentenced to death by a special court for her involvement in Gandhi's assassination at Sriperumbudur near Chennai May 21, 1991. The sentence was commuted to life imprisonment after Sonia Gandhi petitioned for clemency for the sake of Nalini's daughter.

UN: Bhutto Assassination Preventable

From CNN:

Pakistan's military-led former government failed to protect former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto before her 2007 assassination and intelligence agencies hindered the subsequent investigation, a U.N. commission concluded in a report released Thursday.

The three-member investigative panel issued a scathing report Thursday afternoon, concluding that the suicide bombing that killed Bhutto "could have been prevented" and that police deliberately failed to pursue an effective investigation into the killings.

Bhutto had returned from a self-imposed, eight-year exile to run in the country's general elections two months before her assassination and already had escaped one attempt on her life. She was killed in December 2007 by a 15-year-old suicide bomber while campaigning in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi, the seat of the country's military.

"No one believes that this boy acted alone," the report states. "A range of government officials failed profoundly in their efforts first to protect Ms. Bhutto, and second to investigate with vigor all those responsible for her murder, not only in the execution of the attack, but also in its conception, planning and financing."

A spokesman for then-President Pervez Musharraf said Friday the government offered adequate protection for Bhutto.

"I believe the government at the time did whatever they thought was reasonable," said Muhammad Ali Saif, a spokesman and adviser to the former president.

Sara Jane Moore

From the Telegraph:

Sara Jane Moore, the woman who attempted to assassinate President Gerald Ford in 1975, has said that she believed the US would change only through a violent revolution.

Moore, who spent 32 years in prison for firing a shot that missed the president's head by several feet, admitted in an interview that she now realises that her actions were "wrong ... a serious error".

At the time, the 45-year-old divorced mother had become immersed in leftist groups in California that fed her feeling of alienation.

t was during the long years in jail, six of which were spent in solitary confinement, that she "gradually ... began to realise that I had let myself be used. ... I definitely think that it was wrong. I think I was misled. I think I was mistaken. I think I made a serious error."