Some time ago I asked about Richard the Lion-hearted’s tremors, and I’m back with another medical question that y’all will be happy to know is about a patient who’s been dead for the better part of, oh, 700 years or so.
Anseau de Cayeux, the grand chamberlain of the Latin Empire of Constantinople, took a spear in the throat while fighting some of Theodoros Laskaris’ soldiers. According to the chronicler Akropolites, he was almost given up for dead, but skilled Greek physicians saved his life and he recovered, but his neck was afterward immobile and his voice harsh.
Now, I’m sure we all can agree taking a fucking spear through your neck is a serious situation. I’m wondering what exactly happened there. Obviously, the spear didn’t hit the jugular, or he would’ve died almost immediately, right? And it didn’t sever his spinal cord either, as he wasn’t paralyzed. It seems like the spear damaged his vocal cords and did something that made it difficult or impossible for him to turn his neck and head. But I really don’t know much about human anatomy. Can the Doctor Dopers give me a rough idea of what happened to Anseau?
Injury to the recurrent laryngeal nerve in the neck might cause hoarseness of voice. Immobility of the neck might result from various combinations of injury to the soft tissues or bones of the neck .
Injury to the recurrent laryngeal nerve might result in hoarseness of voice . !difficulty in turning the head may result from simple soft tissue injury to of the neck.
Don’t know squat about Anseau, but I had a guy in the ER who failed to commit suicide by shooting himself in the throat. Can’t remeber the caliber or if he had vertebral injuries, but he was just off center enough (might’ve pulled his shot) that he had a through and through in between the trachea and the large vessels.