The secrets of the teeth of a 17th century aristocrat in France

Thirty years after its discovery, the skeleton of a Protestant French aristocrat, from the time of the religious wars in that country, finally reveals the intimate secrets of that personality, and of its social environment.

The tomb of Anne d’Alègre, who died in 1619 at the age of 54, was opened during excavations at the castle of Laval (west) in 1988. Embalmed in a lead coffin, the skeleton was particularly well preserved, thus like your teeth.

The archaeologists discovered that this denture contained a prosthesis, but they did not have proper analysis tools to analyze that find.

The use of a 3D scanner has now revealed that the deceased suffered from a periodontal disease that causes tooth loss, according to a study published this week in the Journal of Archeological Science.

The prosthesis supported an incisor tooth, made of elephant ivory, supported by gold threads that at the same time held the premolars in place.

But this treatment actually “it only made the situation worse” of the patient, explained to AFP Rozenn Colleter, from the French Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research, the study’s lead author.

long suffering

In the long term that treatment, which included “multiple mandatory reinforcements caused the instability of the nearby teeth”explain the text.

The objective of such a prosthesis was not only therapeutic, but also aesthetic and, above all, social.

A noblewoman should try to preserve her healthy teeth for as long as possible. In the words of Ambroise Paré, court physician and contemporary of Anne d’Alègre, “If a patient was toothless, his word was depraved”, explains Rozenn Colleter.

And Anne d’Alègre was also a personality “controversial”twice widow and “without a good reputation”explains this archaeo-anthropologist.

She was first married to Paul de Coligny, the last Count of Laval. She was widowed at 21, with a son. France is torn at that time by clashes between Catholics and Protestants.

She is a Huguenot Protestant. She hides her son so that she does not suffer the wrath of the ultra-Catholics, but she loses her guardianship and her property by order of the king.

She remarries the governor of Normandy. Her son, Guy XX, converts to Catholicism and dies at the age of 20 on a religious crusade.

“For three years, Anne d’Alègre fought for Guy XX to be buried with his Protestant family”, explains Rozenn Colleter. She is widowed again, falls ill, and dies during the winter of 1619 at the age of 54.

The examination of his teeth reveals “a lot of stress” during those years. And Anne d’Alègre must have suffered in addition to her because she endured her poorly configured prosthesis for years.

Currently one in every person in the world suffers from what is known as bruxism (teeth grinding).

(With information from AFP)