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Edward IV paid the ultimate price of all that playing around….?

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Edward IV NPG portrait – Public Domain

So, now Edward IV died of a sexually transmitted disease, to wit – syphilis. And before you get up on your hind legs to shout that syphilis didn’t come to Europe until the time of Columbus, it has now apparently been proved that its parent infection (treponematosis) had been here since ancient times. Read here https://tinyurl.com/35czp8z9.

The conclusion is reached in the book Medieval Syphilis and Treponemal Disease by Marylynn Salmon, which you can purchase at Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/ycxrs22y. Also available in Kindle. The book was originally published 31 August 2022, so perhaps this theory isn’t new to you. However, I do rather struggle with the claim that the “damp chill to his very marrow” Edward suffered during a fishing trip was a euphemism for having sex. 

However, my ignorance or not, this book has been examined previously on this blog, see https://murreyandblue.co.uk/2023/12/11/a-strange-new-theory-on-the-death-of-edward-iv/.

by viscountessw

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3 responses to “Edward IV paid the ultimate price of all that playing around….?”

  1. gracefullydream8082aa7f2c Avatar
    gracefullydream8082aa7f2c

    This is the first I have heard of Edward IV dying of a sexually transmitted disease. I always thought he caught neumonia. Mind you, given his reputation with the ladies (and sometimes gentlemen) I shouldn’t be surprised if it was syphalis. Poor guy, and at only 40 years old.

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  2. mry4441 Avatar
    mry4441

    In Richard Collins book about the Death of Edward IV he consulted consultant colleagues and they specifically ruled out syphyllis. They said it was probably arsenic!!! Marylyn Salmon haven’t I heard that name before?

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    1. jay Avatar
      jay

      ii think this is the same author who came up with a rather bizarre theory that edward and his brother edmund were illegitimate. she seems to have misunderstood a line in a letter that they wrote to their father where they call themselves his ‘natural sons’. she took this to mean they were yorks bastards – instead of them saying they shared his ‘nature’ – supporting him and expressing their respect (the opposite of the more common expression ‘an unnatural child; – one who rebels or rejects their family) sounds like there is no end to her creativity.

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