Database: Dom Poirier's List

Dom Poirier, a monk who became a member of the secular monuments commission and keeper of the national archives after the revolution, was the main eyewitness to the exhumation and desecration of the royal tombs of Franciade in 1793. He wrote several reports describing the exact events of the desecration. These lists also give the precise description of the objects contained in the sarcophagi next to each monarch. Dom Poirier attempted to keep track of what was taken and who took it. Some revolutionaries did not stop at the royal objects, not hesitating to take nails, hair, teeth or bones as fetishes or for resale. We know in particular that a man named Brulay stole many relics. He sold this "collection" at auction. The relics include the jaw of Dagobert, a piece of the skull of St. Louis, the teeth of Henry III, the hair of Philippe Auguste and a mummified leg of Catherine de Medici.* -- * "Look Ma, I brought you the finger of Louis XIV!" says the best son ever. --