King's Evil (Noun)
Meaning
A form of tuberculosis characterized by swellings of the lymphatic glands.
Classification
Nouns denoting natural processes.
Examples
- Historically, scrofula was also known as the king's evil, as it was believed that monarchs had the power to heal the disease through the laying on of hands.
- The king's evil typically affected the neck and was often disfiguring, leading to significant social stigma for those afflicted.
- Until the late eighteenth century, people with the king's evil would often make pilgrimages to places like Canterbury Cathedral in search of a cure.
- In England during the eighteenth century, people believed that touching an afflicted area would result in infection of the king's evil, hence monarchs had a duty to regularly touch and supposedly heal those afflicted with the disease.
- During the Middle Ages and beyond, monarchs were believed to possess the power to cure the king's evil through the ritualistic laying on of hands, a practice that endured in England until the early eighteenth century.