Mystery of Henri IV's missing head divides France

Book

claiming mummified skull discovered in the attic of a tax collector for retirement is good king Henri IV causes an intense debate

Richard III may have been a place of rest in an ignominious parking Leicester, but spare a thought for Henry IV. Firstly, the French king was discovered in the royal tomb of the revolutionaries and thrown into a common grave. Then his head was cut off and - apparently -. Featured in the attic of a tax inspector retired

Worse, while British experts have confirmed that the skeleton is deformed in Leicester is "almost certain" that Richard, with signs of fatal injuries at the Battle of Bosworth, the French scientists continue struggle for the dispute remains Henri, who was assassinated in 1610 by a Catholic fundamentalist.

Unlike Richard III, who was reviled during his life, "Good King Henry" was credited with kindness and considered a powerful symbol of unity and national reconciliation. Baptized Catholic but raised a Calvinist, ended bitter wars of religion in France and worked to alleviate the daily challenges of their poorest subjects. "If God gives me life, I will ensure that no worker in my kingdom who does not have the means to have a chicken in every pot on Sunday!" They say he committed.

In death, however, the beloved monarch has caused disagreement and division. Friday, disagreements have for the holidays historians decades, scientists, researchers and descendants of the ruling families of pre-revolutionary France - Bourbon Orleans - were prized open again for a new book

Henri IV: The Mystery of a headless king

, authors Philippe Charlier Stephane Gabet and claim to have solved the riddle of what Permanent happened with the remains of King - specifically, his head. They insist that the mummified head found five years ago in a box in the attic of a tax collector retirement, Jacques Bellanger, is that of Henry.

hair, a large mole, a broken nose, a cut lip knife over an assassination attempt, it seems his skull. "Rubbish", critics cry, who insist that the book is more fiction than reality and highlight the lack of scientific evidence that the brain - but reduces the size of a walnut - was still present at was abducted by royal embalmers.

Meanwhile, the head of the man who may or may not have been the king - and that may or may not have said in the conversion to Catholicism of his coronation: "Paris is well worth Mass "- is found in a bank vault near the Bastille, where, symbolically, the mystery is rooted.

After his death, May 14, 1610, Henry was buried with the kings in the ancient basilica of Saint-Denis in Paris. In 1793, the French revolutionaries have unearthed the remains and unceremoniously thrown into a common grave.

Nobody knows exactly when Henry's head was separated from the rest of your body, but when the public tomb was opened in 1817, has disappeared. They say it is his head appeared in 1919, when Joseph Emile Bourdais, a photographer, he purchased at auction for three francs.

• Bourdais has spent much of his life in vain tried to confirm its authenticity and offered it to the Louvre before his death in 1946, an offer that was rejected. Then, in 2008, a head was found in the attic of a house in Angers, western France owned Bellanger, who said he bought in 1953.

"In the attic, in an old cupboard was a box," said Gabet. "Inside, there was something wrapped in an old towel. Jacques Bellanger side sponge removal , then the other. Chief testified mummified and preserved great. It was a magical moment. "

The author says that experts later. "There were some long hair mustache still visible and other broken at the root of the nose was broken and bent to the left ... head was of a brownish color, with mouth open ... Almost all soft tissues maintained. "

Although the head was not cut to remove or embalmed brain - as might be expected -. Facial reconstruction of the skull of paired portraits of King

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