One of many reasons to
bookmark Cotton Boll Conspiracy:
Nine hundred years ago today, Henry I, the only English monarch to die from “a surfeit of lampreys,” was crowed king in Westminster Abbey.
Henry, the fourth son of William the Conquerer, had ruled for more than 35 years by the time he traveled to Normandy to see his young grandsons. While in Normandy, he began bickering with his daughter,Matilda, and son-in-law, Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou, which led Henry to remain overseas far longer than originally planned.
According to legend, Henry died Dec. 1, 1135, while in Normandy of food poisoning from eating an abundance of lampreys, of which he was said to be quite fond.
Given that lampreys are parasitic creatures best-known in the US for latching on to lake trout with their toothed, funnel-like sucking mouth and boring into their flesh to suck their blood, they seem an unlikely delicacy.
However, lampreys were eaten by ancient Romans and enjoyed by the upper classes during the Middle Ages throughout Europe. Even today, they’re still highly prized in Portugal, Spain and France, and are also eaten in Sweden, Finland, Russia and South Korea.
While it’s not clear exactly how many lampreys it took to make up the “surfeit” that did in Henry, given the gastronomical indulgences of Medieval European royalty, one surmises that it was likely a boatload.
For further reference see Sellar & Yeatman's
1066 And All That, which deals with a number of monarchical deaths by surfeit.
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