15th century facial injuries and ensuing scars

[samgrass]

This is for a story that I may never finish, so I'm not sure if it's even worth the hassle of pursuing, but here goes.

Comments

[syntinen_laulu]

I don't know what his facial scars would have been like, but that they were noticeable ands disfiguring I think is proved by his portrait (if I give a link my post will be disallowed, but the image appears on his wiki entry). I don't know of a single other panel portrait of that period done in profile, and the inference certainly is that the other half of his face was judged unfit to be immortalised in paint.

[samgrass]

This possibility is so interesting to me! It's definitely something to consider, both as far as physical logistics and in its social implications -- I'm not sure what would have been considered disfiguring in this era or relative to Henry's social status -- it varies from account to account what Henry IV looked like by the time of his death, including some that link disfigurement with moral failings/divine punishment, but I can imagine his son wanting to sidestep any hint of that, even with something due to miraculously-survived injury and not unexplained illness.

[syntinen_laulu]

In the Middle Ages a certain degree of facial injury must have been so usual among the nobility and fighting men generally as to be unremarkable. (The friend of a friend of mine, a medieval arms and armour specialist at the Royal Armouries, points out that, since every able-bodied nobleman of the time had been practising tilting with the lance daily since boyhood, and since the main target in the tilt was one's opponent's helmet, a very significant proportion of the male nobility must have been missing their front teeth, if no worse.) A minor scar or two might be positively desirable to show one's warlike credentials (cf. modern German duelling scars). That leads me to think that the other side of Henry's face must have been quite strikingly messed up if he preferred not to have it painted.

[lilacsigil]

John Bradmore's account involves carefully making the wound bigger and bigger until he could get his special tool to grip the arrowhead, which would certainly not aid smooth healing! You have a lot of leeway possible with this kind of wound, anything from a wide pucker to a big gnarly scar. It's very likely that facial nerves were involved too, so you could have drooping if you wanted, too.

[samgrass]

I hadn't considered the possibility of nerve damage -- that makes a lot of sense! The removal process was definitely not pretty -- it sounds like it was definitely less fatal than the alternative but widening the wound for access couldn't have had too tidy of consequences. Thank you!