Illustration of the death bed of Henry II of France. On July 1, 1559, during a match to celebrate the Peace Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis with his longtime enemies, the Habsburgs of Austria and to celebrate the marriage of his daughter Elizabeth of Valois to King Philip II of Spain, King Henry's eye was pierced by a sliver that penetrated the brain, from the shattered lance of Gabriel Montgomery, captain of the King's Scottish Guard. The woodcut shows Henry II comatose in a large canopy bed surrounded by family (including a weeping Catherine of Medici) and retainers. At the foot of the bed, royal doctors, including the surgeon Ambroise Paré, are shown working over a table on which sit medicine and other implements of treatment. Through an open window is a view of the continuing joust.
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