 By the Late Middle Ages , the royal touch had become an integral part of the coronation of the French monarch at Reims Cathedral . The rite included the anointing of the king 's hands , which was believed to confer on him the ability to cure . The coronation and anointing were immediately followed by a journey to <unk> , the site of the shrine of Saint Marcouf ( d . 558 ) , patron saint of scrofulous people . After the pilgrimage was completed , the newly crowned king was deemed to possess the sacred power of touch . On his deathbed , Philip IV ( r . 1285 – 1314 ) reportedly instructed his son and heir , Louis X ( r . 1314 – 1316 ) , about healing scrofula by touch . Philip VI ( r . 1328 – 1350 ) , the first Valois king , sought to demonstrate that he shared the <unk> powers of his sovereign cousins and ancestors , thus proving himself as their rightful heir . He touched 35 people between 1 January and 30 June 1337 ; some of them had come from Brittany , Brabant and <unk> . 
