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Friday, June 28, 2013
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Top 10 Truly Insane Rulers
History is rife with tales of monarchs and royalty who suffered from insanity. Although it may be more appropriate to say that their people suffered from their insanity. In some cases it is difficult to tell if these leaders’ actions were truly the result of insanity, or if events were sensationalized. It also seems that accusations of insanity were often used to overthrow royalty. Nonetheless, there are cases in which a member of a royal family has been irrefutably insane. The following men represent very different examples of insanity. Some were cruel and vicious, while others were frightened shut ins. The matter of their insanity really depends on how you define insanity. Why so many royal men of old went insane is anybody’s guess. It could have been the pressure of being forced into being a king. Maybe it was incest or poor medical care. Whatever the cause of their insanity, it is certain that a number of nations have been ruled by madmen.
10
Empress Anna of Russia
Anna, who ruled as Empress of Russia from 1730 – 1740, was not born to the throne – she was made Empress by the Supreme Privy Council of Russia. The council had hoped that she would feel indebted to them for her position and act as a puppet ruler – but, little did they know, Anna had other plans in mind. One of her first acts was to restore the secret police, to do her bidding. Finding favor with the Royal Guards, her power became uncontrollable, and she began a ten year reign tormenting the aristocrats who made her ruler. In the most famous example of her insanity, Anna hooked up one of the old princes with her maid, because she had discovered that his, now dead, wife had been Catholic. This seems rather innocuous, but what happened next is not: Anna organized the wedding and had a special palace made of ice for the occasion. She made the wedding party dress as clowns and spend the night in the ice-palace… in the middle of one of the harshest winters Russia had seen in years. Fortunately for Russia, her reign was cut short by her death at the age of 47.
9
King George III of England
George III of England is probably the second most well known insane ruler in history (second to item 1 on this list), largely due to the famous movie, “The Madness of King George.” King George III sat on the throne of England from 1760-1820, and it was on his watch that the American colonies were lost – perhaps his greatest legacy. He most likely suffered from the hereditary disease of porphyria, which also afflicted Mary, Queen of Scots. The monarch’s illness presented England with a difficult problem: What do you do when a ruler becomes irrational? When the king became ill in 1788, his prime minister, William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806), and the queen ran the government on his behalf – and, later, his son ruled as regent. In his later years, as his insanity grew, he spent his time in isolation, and was often kept in straight jackets and behind bars in his private apartments at Windsor Castle. In recent times there has been some speculation that King George was driven insane by the treatments he received for his alleged insanity.
8
King Charles VI of France
King Charles VI was crowned King of France in 1380, when he was only eleven years old. Apparently, he was a good king before insanity took over, because he was originally known as Charles the Well-Loved. It later became evident that he was insane, so his moniker was changed to Charles the Mad.
Accounts of the king’s first fit of madness state that King Charles VI became agitated at the sound of a dropped spear, while traveling with his men. He then murdered one of his own knights and, reportedly, a few other men, though accounts vary. After this incident the king fell into a coma.
The symptoms of the king’s insanity progressed in later years and were much varied. There were times when King Charles VI did not know who he was, and could not recognize his wife and children. Several months of his life were marked by his refusal to bathe. He even spent some time under the impression that he was made of glass. King Charles VI of France died, a madman, in 1422.
7
Emperor Justin II
Justin II was Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Emperor from 565 to 578. His reign included war with Persia and the loss of large parts of Italy. After two disastrous campaigns, in which the Persians overran Syria and captured the strategically important fortress of Dara (Mesopotamia), Justin reportedly lost his mind. The temporary fits of insanity into which he fell warned him to name a successor – Tiberius II Constantine. According to John of Ephesus, as Justin II slipped into the unbridled madness of his final days, he was pulled through the palace on a wheeled throne, biting attendants as he passed. He reportedly ordered organ music to be played constantly throughout the palace in an attempt to soothe his frenzied mind, and it was rumored that his taste for attendants extended as far as eating a number of them during his reign.
6
King Ludwig II of Bavaria
Ludwig II became king of Bavaria, in 1864. During his reign, Ludwig II spent all of his personal funds on the construction of fairy tale castles. He was painfully shy, and ill-equipped for his duties as king. He spent hardly any time governing his people, and had a strong aversion to public appearances.
In 1866, Ludwig was accused of being insane. Whether his eccentric behaviors were caused by insanity is unknown. The man who declared him insane had never examined him. He was deposed on the grounds of insanity at the request of his uncle, who may have wanted control of the government. The day after the king’s deposition, he was found dead in a pond, along with the very doctor who had declared him insane.
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