The life of HENRY V nearly came to a premature end in 1403 at the Battle of Shrewsbury thanks to one of the more horrific battlefield injuries ever endured by English royalty. Remarkably though, Henry was shot in the face and survived. Instead of ending his life, the arrow that nearly killed a Prince became lodged in his cheek below his eye. Then, thanks to an incredible historical surgery carried out by a man named John Bradmore, it was removed, the wound was kept clean and the 16 year old Henry (who was then the Prince of Wales but who was also known as Henry of Monmouth in honour of his birthplace) lived so that he could one day become King of England. This royal’s near death experience amost certainly left him permanently scarred though and this is perhaps why portraits of him show only one side of his face. You may even have seen a nod to this injury in the 2019 movie The King, starring Timothée Chalamet. In this video from History Calling, we travel back to the early 15th century to look at Bradmore’s first-hand account of how he treated the future King’s terrible injury and see a drawing of the medieval medical instrument he invented to help him pull the arrowhead out of Henry’s skull, where it was imbedded at the remarkable depth of six inches. You’ll also hear how he used honey and wine as antiseptics and find out what happened to the man who saved the future King’s life in the years afterwards.
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