They Called Us Savages Part 2: The Cannibal Label Was a Legal Weapon

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They Called Us Savages — Part 2

King Charles II of England did not just consume corpse medicine. He made his own.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

  • Identify King Charles II's King's Drops and explain its composition, its use on his deathbed in 1685, and its adoption by other European monarchs including Queen Mary II, King Francis I of France, Christian IV of Denmark, and William III
  • Explain the academic sources that document European corpse medicine — including Dr. Richard Sugg's peer-reviewed work published by Routledge, coverage by Smithsonian Magazine, and the Mütter Museum — and assess what the credibility of these sources reveals about the historical record
  • State the date of the last recorded listing of human mummy for sale in a European medical catalog and explain the significance of that date
  • Analyze the legal function of the cannibal label — explaining how calling a people cannibals created the legal basis for their enslavement under European colonial law
  • Evaluate Dr. Richard Sugg's documented claim that Europeans were likely consuming more human flesh than anyone in the so-called New World — and explain what that claim means in the context of European colonial ideology
  • Assess the African perspective on European arrival — explaining how the documented behavior of Europeans on the continent and in the slave trade could be understood as cannibalism from the point of view of the people being seized, stripped, and carried across the ocean

Key Vocabulary

  • The King's Drops — A preparation of powdered human skull dissolved in alcohol, made and consumed by King Charles II of England. On his deathbed in 1685, his physicians administered forty drops of this preparation every single day in an attempt to save his life. The King's Drops were also consumed by Queen Mary II on her deathbed in 1698. [1][2][3]
  • King Charles II (1630–1685) — King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1660 until his death in 1685. Charles II not only consumed corpse medicine — he produced his own formula, the King's Drops, made from powdered human skull dissolved in alcohol. On his deathbed, his physicians administered forty drops of the King's Drops daily. [1][2][3]
  • Dr. Richard Sugg — Professor at the University of Durham and the leading academic authority on European corpse medicine. His peer-reviewed book Mummies, Cannibals and Vampires, published by Routledge, is the definitive academic study of the practice. Dr. Sugg has stated that it is entirely possible that Europeans were consuming more human flesh than anyone in the so-called New World during the colonial period. [1]
  • 1924 — The year of the last recorded listing of human mummy for sale in a European medical catalog. Not the Middle Ages. Not the Renaissance. 1924 — the same century as the invention of the automobile, the radio, and the motion picture. [1][2]
  • The Cannibal Label — The designation applied by European colonizers to African, Indigenous, and other non-European peoples, used to justify their conquest and enslavement. Under European colonial law, peoples labeled as cannibals could be lawfully enslaved — making the label not merely an insult but a legal instrument of subjugation. [1][2][4][5]
  • Legal Enslavement and the Cannibal Label — Under the legal frameworks constructed by European colonial powers, the designation of a people as cannibals provided legal justification for their enslavement. The cannibal label was a weapon — European colonizers could apply it to any people they wished to enslave, and the label itself became the legal basis for that enslavement. [4][5]
  • Smithsonian Magazine — One of the mainstream American media institutions that has covered the history of European corpse medicine. The Smithsonian's coverage demonstrates that the history is not obscure or disputed — it has been acknowledged by major cultural institutions. [2]
  • The Mütter Museum — A medical history museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that has covered and displayed material related to European corpse medicine, further demonstrating that the practice is part of the documented historical record of European medicine. [3]
  • The African Perspective — The interpretive framework through which African peoples who witnessed and experienced European colonialism and the slave trade might have understood European behavior. From the African perspective — Europeans arrived on ships, seized people, stripped them of everything, and carried their bodies across an ocean. [1][5]
  • Colonial Ideology — The system of beliefs and legal frameworks constructed by European colonizers to justify the conquest, enslavement, and exploitation of non-European peoples — while simultaneously engaging in practices including corpse medicine that contradicted those labels at every level. [1][4][5]

The Full Lesson

Part 1 — The King's Recipe

King Charles II of England did not just consume corpse medicine. He made his own. He called it the King's Drops — powdered human skull dissolved in alcohol. On his deathbed in 1685, his doctors poured forty drops of it down his throat every single day trying to save him. Queen Mary II took the same formula on her deathbed in 1698. King Francis I of France. Christian IV of Denmark. William III. All of them. Cannibals by any definition of the word. [1][2][3]

These were not desperate peasants consuming the only medicine available to them. These were the most powerful monarchs in European history — the architects of colonialism, the builders of the slave trade, the people who constructed the legal, religious, and philosophical framework that classified African people as sub-human. And they were grinding up human skulls and swallowing them with alcohol. [1][2][3]

"King Charles II made his own corpse medicine. He called it the King's Drops."

Part 2 — The Primary Sources

This is not a conspiracy. The primary source is Dr. Richard Sugg — professor at the University of Durham — peer reviewed — published by Routledge. Smithsonian Magazine covered it. The Mütter Museum covered it. This is documented, institutionally acknowledged, peer-reviewed history. [1][2][3]

The last recorded listing of human mummy for sale in a European medical catalog was 1924. Not the Middle Ages. Not the 1600s. 1924. The same decade as the invention of the radio. The same decade as the first commercial airline flights. The same decade in which African Americans were being lynched in the American South under laws that classified them as less than human. 1924. [1][2]

"The last recorded listing of human mummy for sale in a European medical catalog was 1924."

Part 3 — The Legal Weapon

And here is what they did at the exact same time. They sailed to Africa. They sailed to the Americas. And they told the people there — you are savages. You are cannibals. You need to be civilized. [1][4][5]

The cannibal label was not just an insult. It was a legal weapon. Under European colonial law, peoples labeled as cannibals could be lawfully enslaved. The label created the legal basis for seizure. The label was the law. European colonizers could apply it to any people they wished to conquer — and the application of the label itself became the justification for everything that followed. [4][5]

"Peoples labeled as cannibals could be lawfully enslaved. The label was the law."

Part 4 — What Sugg Said

Dr. Richard Sugg himself said it. It is entirely possible that Europeans were consuming more human flesh than anyone in the so-called New World. That is not a radical claim from a fringe source. That is a peer-reviewed academic conclusion from the University of Durham, published by Routledge — one of the most respected academic publishers in the world. [1]

The people calling Africans cannibals — while producing and consuming human skull medicine in their royal courts — were not making an observation. They were manufacturing a legal instrument. The cannibal label was applied to justify what they were already planning to do. [1][4][5]

"It is entirely possible that Europeans were consuming more human flesh than anyone in the so-called New World. — Dr. Richard Sugg, University of Durham"

Part 5 — The African Perspective

And from the African perspective — they were right. Europeans arrived on ships. They seized people. They stripped them of everything. They carried their bodies across an ocean. They separated families. They broke communities. They extracted labor until bodies gave out. And then they discarded what remained. [1][5]

From where Africans stood — who was the cannibal. The people being accused were the people being consumed. Their labor. Their bodies. Their land. Their ancestors' remains — literally ground into powder and sold in European pharmacies. From the African perspective, the Europeans who arrived with ships and chains were not civilizers. They were predators. [1][4][5]

"From where Africans stood — who was the cannibal."

Part 6 — The Verdict

The history is documented. The sources are credible. The institutions that have covered it are mainstream. And yet it does not appear in the curriculum of a single public school system in the United States, the United Kingdom, or Europe. The same educational systems that were built by the same civilizational tradition whose darkest practices this history documents. [1][2][3][5]

They called us savages. The record shows who the savages were. Real history. Real evidence. [1][2][3][4][5]

"They called us savages. The record shows who the savages were."

Critical Thinking Discussion Questions

  1. King Charles II produced his own corpse medicine — the King's Drops — and his physicians administered it to him on his deathbed. Queen Mary II, King Francis I, Christian IV of Denmark, and William III all consumed similar preparations. [1][2][3] What does the participation of multiple European monarchs across multiple countries reveal about how corpse medicine functioned within European elite culture — and about the relationship between power and the construction of 'civilization'?
  2. The last recorded listing of human mummy for sale in a European medical catalog was 1924. [1][2] What does this date reveal about the timeline of European corpse medicine relative to other events of the 20th century — and what does it mean that this history has been largely excluded from public knowledge despite occurring within living memory?
  3. The cannibal label was a legal weapon under European colonial law — peoples labeled as cannibals could be lawfully enslaved. [4][5] What does the legal function of this label reveal about how European colonizers used language as a tool of conquest — and about who had the power to define what counted as cannibalism?
  4. Dr. Richard Sugg stated that it is entirely possible that Europeans were consuming more human flesh than anyone in the so-called New World. [1] What is the significance of this claim coming from a peer-reviewed academic at a major British university — and what does it demand of us in terms of how we evaluate the colonial narrative of European civilization versus African savagery?
  5. The lesson argues that from the African perspective — Europeans who arrived on ships, seized people, stripped them of everything, and carried their bodies across an ocean — could reasonably be understood as cannibals. [1][5] Do you think this framing is accurate? Defend your answer using specific details from the lesson and from what you know about the transatlantic slave trade.

Quiz — They Called Us Savages — Part 2

Part A: Circle the best answer. Part B: Write in complete sentences.

Part A — Multiple Choice

  1. What was the King's Drops?
    A) A ceremonial wine consumed at English royal coronations
    B) Powdered human skull dissolved in alcohol, produced and consumed by King Charles II of England
    C) A herbal remedy imported from Africa by the English royal court
    D) A preparation of gold dissolved in vinegar used to treat fever
  2. How did King Charles II's physicians use the King's Drops on his deathbed in 1685?
    A) They applied it to his skin as an ointment
    B) They burned it as incense in his chamber
    C) They administered forty drops of it down his throat every single day
    D) They dissolved it in his bath water
  3. Which of the following European monarchs also consumed corpse medicine according to the lesson?
    A) Queen Elizabeth I, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Peter the Great
    B) Queen Mary II, King Francis I of France, Christian IV of Denmark, and William III
    C) King Henry VIII, Catherine the Great, and Louis XIV
    D) Queen Victoria, Frederick the Great, and Philip II of Spain
  4. What was the last recorded date of human mummy listed for sale in a European medical catalog?
    A) 1492
    B) 1666
    C) 1815
    D) 1924
  5. What was the legal significance of the cannibal label under European colonial law?
    A) It required European missionaries to educate the labeled people
    B) It exempted labeled peoples from paying colonial taxes
    C) Peoples labeled as cannibals could be lawfully enslaved
    D) It designated labeled peoples as protected under Church law
  6. What did Dr. Richard Sugg state about European consumption of human flesh compared to peoples in the so-called New World?
    A) That Europeans never actually consumed human flesh — the records are fabricated
    B) That European consumption was minimal compared to Indigenous practices
    C) That it is entirely possible Europeans were consuming more human flesh than anyone in the so-called New World
    D) That European corpse medicine was borrowed directly from African traditions
  7. What is the lesson's argument about the African perspective on European arrival?
    A) That Africans welcomed Europeans as trading partners
    B) That Africans did not understand what was happening to them
    C) That from where Africans stood — Europeans who seized, stripped, and carried their bodies across an ocean could reasonably be understood as cannibals
    D) That Africans used the same cannibal label against Europeans

Part B — Short Answer

  1. The lesson documents that King Charles II, Queen Mary II, King Francis I of France, Christian IV of Denmark, and William III all consumed corpse medicine — while simultaneously presiding over colonial empires that labeled African and Indigenous peoples as cannibals. Using at least two specific details from the lesson, explain what the participation of these specific monarchs reveals about the relationship between European colonial power and the construction of the cannibal label.
  2. The cannibal label was a legal weapon — under European colonial law, peoples labeled as cannibals could be lawfully enslaved. Using at least two specific details from the lesson, explain how this legal function of the cannibal label changes our understanding of European colonial ideology and its relationship to documented European corpse medicine.
  3. Dr. Richard Sugg stated that it is entirely possible that Europeans were consuming more human flesh than anyone in the so-called New World — and the lesson argues that from the African perspective, Europeans who arrived on ships and carried African bodies across an ocean were themselves acting as cannibals. Using at least two specific details from the lesson, explain what these two arguments together reveal about who had the power to define cannibalism during the colonial period — and how that power shaped the historical record we inherit today.

Extension Activity

Trace the Origin: Research the legal doctrine of terra nullius — the colonial legal principle that declared land occupied by peoples deemed 'uncivilized' or 'savage' to be legally empty and therefore available for European seizure. Describe: (1) what terra nullius meant in practice, (2) which colonial powers used it and where, (3) how the designation of peoples as savage or cannibal related to the application of terra nullius. Then write two to three sentences explaining how terra nullius and the cannibal label together functioned as a legal system for the seizure of people and land — and how that system was constructed and enforced by the same European elites documented in this lesson as consumers of corpse medicine.

Sources & Footnotes

  1. [1] Sugg, Richard. Mummies, Cannibals and Vampires: The History of Corpse Medicine from the Renaissance to the Victorians. London: Routledge, 2011.
  2. [2] Frazier, Kendrick. "Mummies, Cannibals and Vampires." Smithsonian Magazine.
  3. [3] The Mutter Museum, College of Physicians of Philadelphia.
  4. [4] Lestringant, Frank. Cannibals: The Discovery and Representation of the Cannibal from Columbus to Jules Verne. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.
  5. [5] Mills, Charles W. The Racial Contract. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1997.
  6. [6] Gordon-Grube, Karen. "Anthropophagy in Post-Renaissance Europe: The Tradition of Medicinal Cannibalism." American Anthropologist, 90(2), 1988.
  7. [7] Noble, Louise. Medicinal Cannibalism in Early Modern English Literature and Culture. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.
  8. [8] Hulme, Peter. Colonial Encounters: Europe and the Native Caribbean, 1492-1797. London: Methuen, 1986.

Real history. Real evidence.

Hotep Creations | hotepcreations.com — Real history. Real evidence.