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A common skin disease in the Middle Ages, ‘Queen’s Evil’, also known as ‘King’s Evil’, affected the lymph nodes of the neck. What was unique about the common treatment for this condition?

Answer: In France and England it was widely believed to respond to a cure by the monarch’s touch. This touch was commonly applied by the laying on of hands or blessing by the monarch on those afflicted by the disease. Thus evidencing, perhaps, the view that monarchs were, if not quasi-deities, likely sanctioned by god.

Source: The Routledge Companion to the Tudor Age

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1908 – King Carlos I of Portugal and his heir, Prince Luis Filipe are assassinated by Republican sympathizers in Lisbon.

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