Ep. 11 Mad Kings: How Insanity Has Plagued World Leaders Throughout History
- Author
- Shea LaFountaine
- Published
- Sun 21 May 2023
- Episode Link
- None
Kings, and queens, monarchs and emperors often rise to the throne by birthright alone. There’s no campaigning, no election, no popular vote, no competition whatsoever. They are simply born with the right to rule. They just happened to be the first son of a first son of a first son in a family that was once deemed “royal” for whatever reason and it stuck. Does this make them the best candidate to rule an entire country? An empire? Well, no. Many of them were crowned as mere children, babies even. But did you know, some of them were so unfit to rule, even as adults, they’ve inspired an entire literary archetype? Let’s fix that.
Sources:
- History Channel "10 Allegedly Mad Monarchs"
- Historylists.org "Top 10 Mad Kings and Queens"
- Earlychurchhistory.org "Nebuchadnezzar's Madness"
- Virginia Museum of Fine Arts "Who Is Caligula?"
- History Channel "Caligula"
- National Library of Medicine "Caligula: a neuropsychiatric explanation of his madness"
- arstecnica.com "Did lead poisoning cause downfall of Roman empire?"
- History Channel "The delusion that made nobles think their bodies were made of glass"
- Ancient Origins "Mad Monarchs and Outrageous Emperors"
- unofficialroyalty.com "Philip of Austria"
- History Channel "George III"
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