"Michael Livingston, Associate Professor at The Citadel, explains what happened in one of the most remarkable cases of battlefield surgery from the Middle Ages – the arrow wound suffered by the future Henry V at the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403.
Prince Henry was only 16 years old when he marched with his father's forces to Shrewsbury in western England to fight against the rebel army led by Henry "Harry Hotspur" Percy. With English longbowmen on both sides of the battle, arrows caused many of the dead and wounded, including Henry Percy, who was killed when he lifted up his visor and was struck down by a shot.
According to one chronicler's report, Prince Henry was also "hurt in the face by an arrow." A much more detailed account survives in the Philomena, a medical tract written by John Bradmore. The account was originally in Latin, and a Middle English translation of it survives as well.
Bradmore had been in the service of the crown since at least 1399. He notes in his work that before he arrived, others had tried to pull the arrow out of the prince, but while the shaft did come free the arrowhead remained buried six inches deep. Various medical experts had tried to remove the arrowhead with potions and other cures, but had no success. Finally, he caem on the scene, and examined the wound. Bradmore writes that Prince Henry:
was struck by an arrow next to his nose on the left side during the battle of Shrewsbury. The which arrow entered at an angle (ex traverso), and after the arrow shaft was extracted, the head of the aforesaid arrow remained in the furthermost part of the bone of the skull for the depth of six inches…"
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