10. Nabonidus
When did you live – 6th century BC
where reigned – Babylon
Nabonidus took the powerful civilization of Babylon, which had its peak between the 18th and 6th centuries BC, to the bottom of the well. Strange, he lived hidden in an oasis in Arabia while his son administered the kingdom. To his subjects’ horror, he despised the worship of Marduk, the most popular god. Instead, he built a temple for himself, where ceremonies were held led by two priestesses: his mother and his sister – Freud explains…!
biggest madness – Excerpts from the Dead Sea Scrolls – found in Israel from 1947 – report that Nabonidus thought he was a goat and sometimes walked around on all fours eating grass!
9. Frederick I
When did you live – 1657-1713
where reigned – Prussia
Frederick I was downright obsessive. He once resolved to detail how civil servants should behave. Result: he wrote a tome with 35 chapters and 297 paragraphs! There ended up being strict rules even for his son. Since he was 6 years old, the poor thing was woken up at 6 am to the sound of cannons! Just to get used to the war!
biggest madness – Frederick loved his imperial guard, made up only of guys over 1.80 m. France nearly declared war on Prussia after Frederick had some tall Frenchmen kidnapped…
+ What was Prussia?
8. Vlad 3rd
When did you live – 1431-1476
where reigned – Wallachia (in present-day Romania)
Vlad 3rd lived in a hard time. Revolting nobles blinded his older brother’s eyes with a hot iron (ahhh!) and then buried him alive! So, when he rose to power, the first thing Vlad did was take revenge for what had happened to his family. He ordered to impale – that is, to cross with a stake – a good part of the nobles, including the children!
biggest madness – When, in 1462, the Ottomans decided to invade Vlad’s kingdom, they were faced with a “welcome card”: 20,000 soldiers impaled along the way! The Ottoman conqueror Mehmet II almost threw up and decided to turn around.
+ Spoken portrait: Vlad 3rd, the inspiration of “Dracula”
7. Mustafa 1st
When did you live – 1592-1639
where reigned – Ottoman Empire
To avoid a dispute over the throne while his brother ruled, Mustafa was imprisoned for 14 years in a windowless wing of the royal palace. He could only be mad… When his brother died, Mustafa took power and soon appointed two servants as governors! They arrested the guy again… Conspiracy goes, conspiracy comes, they decided to release Mustafa again. Six months later, no one could stand the madman anymore. Mustafa was locked up for the last time and died 16 years later.
biggest madness – Mustafa was amused by throwing the royal treasure out of the window. He loved to see people killing themselves to get things…
+ What was the Ottoman Empire?
6. Nadir Shah
When did you live – 1688-1747
where reigned – Persia (in present-day Iran)
Victorious general, the shah (or shah) Nadir deposed the king to assume power. After getting away with an assassination attempt, he flipped out. Suspecting his son, he blinded the guy in front of the nobility. By the way, on second thought, he decided to blind the nobles who saw the scene as well! He ended up killed by the men themselves, before he was left to them…
biggest madness – Wherever he went, Nadir tortured and killed to discover some conspiracy. And he even played «Lego», making towers with the severed heads!
+ Who are the Persians?
+ What is the difference between sultan, emir, sheikh and shah?
5. Ivan the Terrible
When did you live – 1530-1584
where reigned – Russia
Since he was a little boy, Ivan already showed his “docile” nature, throwing dogs and cats from the Kremlin walls… When his wife died, Ivan thought she had been poisoned and started killing Russian nobles. Treasurer of it was cooked in a cauldron! After the cruelties, Ivan would hit his head on the ground in penance…
biggest madness – One day, Ivan beat up his daughter-in-law because he didn’t like her clothes. His only living child argued with the psychopath. Bad idea! The crazy old man hit the poor guy on the head with an iron scepter and killed him!
4. George 3rd
When did you live – 1738-1820
where reigned – England
At age 50, George III began experiencing violent delusions. Agitated, he was sweating profusely and taking off his clothes wherever he was. After going to an asylum, he even recovered, reigning for another 20 years before falling ill again. In the last moments of his life, he talked to himself for 58 hours until he fell into a final coma!
biggest madness – One day, George approached a tree and gave it a vigorous “handshake”. When asked if he was okay, he said, “Don’t interrupt me! I am talking to the King of Prussia”…
+ What happens at a coronation ceremony?
3. Gian de Medici
When did you live – 1671-1737
where reigned – Florence, Italy
Since he was little Gian was depressed. He stayed in bed for months. His father made things worse by getting him a painfully ugly wife. He was accused of being impotent by his wife, but the problem was the stimulus… When the marriage ended, Gian returned to his beloved bed, where he began to take little boys. Over time, his mental health deteriorated. In the end, it was in his big bed that he did everything: even defecating and vomiting…
biggest madness – Gian had almost 400 people in a “sex stable”, mostly young boys.
2. Charles VI the Madman
When did you live – 1368-1422
where reigned – France
With the nickname of Fool, Carlos maintained the family tradition, as he had ancestors like Clovis 2nd, the Useless, and Childeric 3rd, the Idiot… He had fits of rage and terrible headaches. At age 24, he killed four servants during a crisis. To cure him, doctors drilled holes in Carlos’ skull to «relieve the pressure» – which only aroused in him a manic rage against doctors…
biggest madness – In 1405, Carlos stopped taking a bath and still peed and “mud” on his clothes… If someone came close, he would shout that it was made of glass and that it was going to break!
+ Who was the Man in the Iron Mask?
1. Ibrahim, the madman
When did you live – 1616-1648
where reigned – Ottoman Empire
Ibrahim led a life of luxuries and orgies. Once, curious about the sexual organ of a cow, he made a mold of the “parts” of the animal. With it in hand, he went around the kingdom until he found a lover with “identical” parts. He found Sechir Para, who weighed 150 kilos! After plunging the kingdom into debt, he was deposed and caged.
biggest madness – Once, Sechir Para told that one of the 280 concubines of the king had jumped the fence, but he did not say who she was. Ibrahim had the 280 women put in sacks full of stones and drowned in the sea!