Is it true King Francis I of France's body exploded in his coffin?

Question

I heard that somewhere, it sounds crazy!

Answer 1

If the body was out in the air and was starting to bloat after several days of decompensation, then yes, that can be true.  Imagine gasses trapped in his body, and the pressure building up.  Then it explodes.

Answer 2

No but William the Conquerer's corpse did

The funeral was disrupted by the outbreak of a fire. After extinguishing it, the pallbearers tried to cram the king's bloated corpse into a too-small sarcophagus. The body exploded, creating a horrible smell that sent mourners running for the exits. Over the ensuing centuries William's tomb was twice desecrated by French rebels -- an ignoble end for one of history's greatest conquerors.

Answer 3

William the Conqueror's body exploded.

William died at the age of 60, at the Convent of St Gervais, near Rouen, France, on 9 September, 1087. He died from injuries to his abdomen after he fell off a horse at the Siege of Mantes and was buried in St. Peter's Church in Caen, Normandy, but only after his fat body exploded as a number of bishops tried to prod it into the stone tomb that had been prepared of him. This created a foul smell and made the mourners leave.

Answer 4

Henry VIII's did as well, I believe. The prophesy about Ahab's blood being licked by dogs was supposedly used in a sermon when Henry was trying to secure his divorce from Katherine, and when the cadaver burst, there was blood on the floor, and the ever present dogs were l*****g it up.

Answer 5

I wonder if you are thinking of William I of England. The coffin was too small.