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Don’t get us wrong – of course, not all monarchs were such. However, some funny stories you now will hear.
1. Byzantine Emperor – Justin II heard voices and bit people over the head
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Byzantium appeared when the Roman Empire was tired called the Roman Empire, while the sixth emperor after rebranding, Justin II became. This fact tells us that in anyone could become an emperor in those days, because by today’s standards Justin II was a full-fledged psychiatric patient hospitals.
In history books, Justin is described as very a lousy ruler who ceded most of Italy to the Persians, which for the Roman emperor is just shame and disgrace. However the ancient historian – John of Ephesus describes other interesting details of life. Justin such as fleeing with screams under the bed from voices in own head. In this case, it was possible to lure the emperor back, only drowning out voices with loud organ music, which in such occasions played around the palace.
As can be seen from the previous sentence, in those days There were effective treatments for mental disorders. Thus, when Justin II entered the “no tower” mode, it was unsafe to be near his chambers. Reportedly contemporaries, when trying to pacify, he resisted, letting in teeth, moreover, biting more often behind the head. In the end, the servants went to cunning, having built for the emperor an impromptu throne on wheels on which they rolled him around the palace, which Justin rejoiced like a child. As John of Ephesus writes, “… chamberlains drove the throne with the emperor throughout the palace, running back and forth is pretty for a long time, and Justin, admiring and enjoying the speed, distracted from dangerous ventures. ”
Can you imagine? You are dealing with a clearly unhealthy mentally by a person who: firstly, cannot be cured, and secondly, can throw you in jail at any moment or kill you, thirdly, not may be removed from power. His madness only keeps in check a handful of palace servants. Once even a legend arose, according to which, Justin II ate two servants. And no one could do anything about it to do.
2. King of France – Charles VI thought he was a wolf and (or) made of glass
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Charles VI “Mad” ruled France since 1380 (when he was 12 years) until his death in 1422 during the Hundred Years War England. Agree, be your country embroiled in armed the conflict baptized by the Hundred Years War would you least want see on the throne a man named “Karl the Mad”. If only under insanity does not mean insane rage in battle, but this just in this case it was not observed.
In 1392 during a forest raid in search of a fugitive who attacked on his adviser, Charles VI unexpectedly attacked his own knights, killing several of them before the others succeeded calm down the monarch and deliver him to the castle. Since similar a sign of insanity was then shown by Karl for the first time, a case attributed to a nervous strain.
In the future, Karl periodically forgot the names of people (including own) and that he is a king. He also ran around the castle posing as a wolf, and howled at people. And also worried when to someone touched him because he thought it was made of glass.
As a result, the intensity of Karl’s idiocy reached such peaks that the French the monarchy cracked, slipping into a civil war between native and cousin of the king. This feud blazed in the background external conflict, which allowed opponents, for example – England, act with impunity. Thus, towards the end of the reign of Charles VI most of France fell under the rule of other powers. Is he, maybe he would go to war with them, but there he could carelessly touch.
3. Danish King – Christian VII constantly masturbated
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Christian VII ascended the throne of Denmark in 1766, despite the fact that no one had any doubts about his abnormality. Perhaps it was due to the fact that Christian at lunch often threw food at guests, but in those days, many rich people were absurd. He ruled, in general, without excesses … until he began masturbate.
At some point Christian discovered delightful properties of his penis, and was carried away by this business in such a way that released the genital organ from his hands even during execution job duties. The court doctors were even worried possible dangerous consequences of Christian’s chronic habit, in in particular, infertility and growth retardation (now in such cases scare hair on the palms).
But at least Christian usually abstained from masturbation. in the presence of dignitaries. But he jumped over them when they bowed, and sometimes slapped people in the middle of a conversation without any reason. Yes, and we probably would have done the same the crown.
In the end, Christian’s mind is so dimmed that his personal doctor – Johann Struenze seized the whole kingdom, persuading the ruler to transfer control over the executive to him and becoming Queen’s lover. Apparently, the loss of Queen Christian I didn’t even notice, completely surrendering to self-satisfaction.
4. The Chinese Emperor – Zhengde Loved imagine
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Emperor Zhengde ruled China in the early 16th century, gaining power at the age of 14. Actually, at that age he stayed over the next decade, i.e. a good half of his board.
For example, Zhengde liked to play someone, instead of to rule a vast empire, as his position implied. He even built an entire city block on imperial lands to play the shopkeeper there to the utter confusion subordinates forced to play along with him.
Sometimes he played in the general, leading diversionary groups, who barely managed to escape capture, while his entire army for some reason she wore exclusively silk. Even more fun the invention of the alter ego – a certain Zhu Shaw, which the emperor “commanded” during sabotage raids, which again caused the irritation of the retinue, forced to pretend as if addresses another person, not the emperor in the wig. From here we can draw a thoughtful conclusion that even the king sometimes runs from reality into a fantasy world. Or maybe the life of the emperor it just turned out to be more boring than Zhengde thought.
The end of Zhengde was pretty predictable: getting drunk while fishing, he fell out of the boat and drowned.
5. King of Egypt – Farouk climbed strangers pockets
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The last king of Egypt, Farouk, was as crazy as most national leaders during World War II, that, ultimately, and was the reason for the rejection of the Egyptians from the monarchy. From the very beginning of his reign, Farouk became famous for his passion for revelry and gambling, and once received the nickname “belly with head, “because he gained over 130 kg of weight. According to the sister’s stories, he drank 30 bottles of soda per day and ate caviar directly from cans. But gluttony is expected if not required when it comes about despots. If we limit ourselves to this only, we would not include it in this list.
A much more amazing trait for humans is more than secured is unbridled kleptomania. Once Farouk stole a watch from Winston Churchill. He later claimed that simply found them, forgetting to add – “in Churchill’s pocket.”
Another time he dreamed that he was attacked by lions. For this On the occasion, Farouk decided to visit the lions at the Cairo Zoo. Moreover he visited them with a gun in his hands, shooting the kings of animals directly in cells, because this is a completely natural reaction to a bad dream, in features – if you do not have everything at home.
Finally, Farouk was the only political leader who welcomed Hitler’s attack on their own country, sending to the Führer a thank-you telegram when the Nazis prepared for invasion of Egypt. Faruku did not like the British occupation, so he decided to change it to German.
As you probably guess, Farouk did not use the mad popular among the people sympathizing with the British and sharing anti-Nazi sentiment. In 1952, Farouk was overthrown, discovering in his treasury has tons of coins, magic tricks, stamps … and the greatest collection of pornographic materials in the world.
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