Page 17 - All About History - Issue 19-14

Kings&Queens

Mustafa I’s deeply
traumatic childhood
doomed his short-lived
reign as sultan
CHARLES VI
Joshua Norton, the
FRENCH 1368-1422
Charles had been the first and so far only
king of France for 12 emperorofthe
United States
years when he suddenly
suffered a psychotic
episode while travelling
with his army, during
which he killed several
knights and almost
murdered his brother. Norton
From then on he suffered regular periods of mental wasamong
illness, sometimes believing he was made of glass thefirsttocallfor
and taking steps to protect himself from shattering. abridgeacrossSan
The power vacuum led to civil war as his family FranciscoBay.Attempts
members fought to seize control of the throne. After tohavetheBayBridge
Charles died, his son secured the throne, despite namedafterhim
the Treaty of Troyes promising it to Charles’s infant havesofarfailed
grandson, Henry VI of England.

“A traitor is Joshua Abraham Norton
everyone who ENGLISH 1819-1880
Hemaynothaveheldanyactualrealpower,butthatdidnot
does not agree stopmigrantJoshuaNortonproclaiminghimselfNortonI,
EmperoroftheUnitedStates,afterbeingdeclaredbankrupt
with me” whilelivinginSanFrancisco.Hewashumouredbythose
around him; currency issued in his name was accepted and
The thelocalpressprintedhisdecrees.WhenNortonwas
George III writers of committed for involuntary psychiatric treatment, public
theBible may protests successfully demanded his release. He died
in poverty but 30 000 people attended his funeral.
MUSTAFA I
haveconfused
Nebuchadnezzar with
OTTOMAN 1591-1639
It was normal behaviour for Ottoman sultans to kill
their brothers to prevent them from threatening Nabonidus, a later Nebuchadnezzar II
their position of power. Young Mustafa was spared Babylonian king
this fate, but was kept a prisoner under house arrest named in the Dead Nebuchadnezzar was the Babylonian king responsible
BABYLONIAN 634-562 BCE
(a system known as the cage) for 14 years, which Sea Scrolls for the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
understandably affected his mental health. Mustafa However, the Bible records that he suffered a seven-year bout
became sultan in 1618, but his strange behaviour of insanity as a punishment from God for his excessive pride,
during which he lived like a savage in the wild and was restored
included pulling the beards of his ministers and
to power upon his recovery. If the
giving coins to fishes, so he was deposed by his description in the Bible is true, it
nephew and put back in the cage. He became sultan A famous depiction of a is possible he suffered from
a second time in 1622, but his behaviour was little deranged Nebuchadnezzar either a rare psychiatric
improved and he was deposed again in favour of a by William Blake disorder or syphilis.
different nephew, Murad IV. Under house arrest yet
again, this time permanently, he died 16 years later.
ERIC XIV
George III SWEDISH 1533-1577
Eric XIV became king in 1560, and his mental instability,
combined with a massive inferiority complex, resulted
BRITISH 1738-1820
George III’s reig
mental health. inabizarreandvolatiletimeforhissubjects.Duringhis
episodes of del rule, arbitrary decisions and constant conflict with his
he was fit to ru own subjects reigned supreme, especially during the
The Madness Of Northern Seven Years’ War, when he tried to expand
his mental ecc
as one where G Sweden into a world power. Eric tried, and failed, to
greeted a tree, wooprettymucheveryqueenandprincessinWestern
it was the King Europe, including Queen Elizabeth I. He suspected
However, it is l almost every Swedish nobleman of plotting against Scholars argue over
whether his mental
many of these him, but his paranoia boiled over when he killed several illness began early in
were exaggerat his reign or after the
or made up by members of the powerful Sture family, convinced they Sture Murders
supporters of th were committing high treason. He was arrested by his
of Wales, who w brother and eventually poisoned to death in prison.
establish hims

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