Charlton Anne
The University of Manchester, England, UK.
J Med Biogr. 2017 May;25(2):72-80. doi: 10.1177/0967772017694571.
Henry VIII (1491-1547) became King of England in 1509. He started out as a good monarch, sensible, reasonable and pleasant, but later his behaviour changed drastically. He became irascible, intolerant, violent and tyrannical. In January 1536, Henry had a serious jousting accident and was unconscious for 2 h. It is generally believed that this accident played a major role in his personality change. Letters of that time, however, indicate that the change began insidiously in 1534 and became most drastic in 1535, a year before the accident. Henry had suffered from leg ulcers before and after the accident and had been constantly treated for them for many years. Sloane MS1047, now in the British Library in London, contains the prescriptions for the medications used to treat these ulcers. Many of the medications contain a high proportion of lead in various forms. Lead can be absorbed through skin, especially damaged skin. Absorbed lead can affect the brain, causing psychiatric problems, especially those associated with violence. The author presents a hypothesis that absorbed lead from his medications might have been a major factor in King Henry's personality change.
亨利八世（1491 - 1547）于1509年成为英格兰国王。他起初是一位贤明的君主，明智、理性且和蔼，但后来他的行为发生了巨大变化。他变得易怒、偏执、暴力且专制。1536年1月，亨利遭遇了一场严重的马上比武事故，昏迷了两个小时。人们普遍认为这场事故在他的性格转变中起了主要作用。然而，当时的信件表明，这种变化在1534年就已悄然开始，并在1535年，也就是事故发生的前一年变得最为剧烈。事故前后亨利都患有腿部溃疡，多年来一直在持续接受治疗。现藏于伦敦大英图书馆的斯隆手稿1047包含了用于治疗这些溃疡的药物处方。许多药物含有高比例的各种形式的铅。铅可以通过皮肤吸收，尤其是受损皮肤。吸收的铅会影响大脑，导致精神问题，尤其是与暴力相关的问题。作者提出了一个假说，即他所服用药物中吸收的铅可能是导致亨利国王性格转变的主要因素。
