touching for the king's evil

Touching for the king's evil was an instant medieval royal tradition. On learning that their rivals the Capetian kings of France claimed divine healing powers, the kings of England, from Henry I onwards, followed suit. Curiously it was only scrofula that could be cured. The ceremony developed into a very formal one. The Hanoverians gave it up, though in France Charles X was still stroking when removed by revolution in 1830.

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