26 Juliane Shot Crossbow At Father
In 1119, French noblewoman Juliane de Fontevrault, an illegitimate daughter of King Henry I, tried to kill her father after he permitted her two daughters, then held as hostages, to be blinded and have the tips of their noses cut off. The punishment was retaliation after Juliane’s husband, Eustace of Breteuil, blinded another hostage. During a parley at the besieged castle of Breteuil, Juliane fired a crossbow at Henry but missed. Henry captured the castle and confined her, but she escaped by jumping from a tower into the freezing moat and was eventually pardoned.
27. In 1702, English king William III was thrown from his horse, Sorrel, after it stumbled into a mole’s burrow, breaking his collarbone. The 51-year-old king later died from pneumonia at Kensington Palace. Jacobites loyal to the deposed James II celebrated by toasting the mole as “the little gentleman in the black velvet waistcoat.”
28. By 1819, British king George III was completely blind, increasingly deaf, living with dementia, and suffering from rheumatic pain. He had spent years secluded at Windsor Castle while his eldest son governed as Prince Regent. That Christmas, George spoke nonsense continuously for 58 hours. He soon became unable to walk and died from pneumonia a month later, at age 81.
29. In 1540, King Henry VIII approved a law intended to produce larger and stronger English horses. Stallions below 15 hands, mares below 13 hands, and two-year-old colts below 11.2 hands were restricted from common grazing and breeding grounds. Officials conducted annual roundups and destroyed undersized horses, while nobles and wealthy families had to eliminate private stock that failed the standards. Wild Welsh ponies survived by evading the roundups across their rugged native terrain.
30. After English King James II converted to Catholicism, he was deposed during the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and fled England. Parliament transferred the crowns to his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband William, while the Bill of Rights 1689 and Act of Settlement 1701 excluded James’s descendants and Catholics from succession. Today there is an art historian in Germany named Franz who would have been King of England (instead of King Charles III) if James had stayed in the Church of England. Franz has never claimed the British throne and calls his supposed inheritance a “charming historical curiosity.”
31 Thomas Blood Nearly Stole Regalia
In 1671, an Irish adventurer named Thomas Blood and his accomplices attempted to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. They attacked their keeper, flattened St. Edward’s Crown, stuffed the Sovereign’s Orb into Blood’s breeches, and tried to saw the royal scepter in half before being caught. Blood demanded to speak directly to King Charles II, who found him so amusing that not only did he pardon him, but also grant him Irish lands producing GBP500 annually, after which the would-be thief became a familiar figure at court.
32. Before Richard III’s remains were discovered beneath a Leicester parking lot in 2012, historians debated whether portrayals of him as a hunchback, particularly in Shakespeare’s play, contained any truth. CT scans and a three-dimensional reconstruction revealed severe adolescent-onset scoliosis, producing a sideways spinal curve of between 70 and 90 degrees. The condition probably made Richard’s right shoulder slightly higher and his torso shorter, but he could hold his head and neck straight and showed no evidence of a limp. He did not have kyphosis, the forward spinal curvature associated with a hunchback.
33. By 1903, Serbian king Alexander I and Queen Draga were deeply unpopular following their controversial marriage and Alexander’s repeated manipulation of the constitution. During the night of June 10-11, army officers stormed the royal palace in Belgrade and searched for the couple. They eventually discovered Alexander and Draga partially dressed inside a hidden space, then shot, stabbed, and mutilated them. Their bodies were tossed from a second-floor window onto piles of manure, ending the Obrenovic dynasty.
34. When Germany invaded Belgium in 1914, King Albert I remained with the Belgian Army and personally exercised command throughout World War I. His resistance and wartime leadership earned him the popular titles “Knight King” and “Soldier King.” In 1918, Albert commanded Army Group Flanders during the final offensive that liberated occupied Belgium. Queen Elisabeth worked with nurses, helped organize front-line ambulances and field hospitals, and sponsored a wartime nursing unit.
35. Charles II of Navarre, later nicknamed “the Bad,” repeatedly changed sides during the Hundred Years’ War while pursuing his claims in France. According to the best-known account of his death, illness left him unable to use his limbs, so a physician ordered attendants to wrap him in brandy-soaked linen, a common practice at the time. While sewing the covering around him, a female attendant used a candle to burn off the remaining thread and accidentally ignited the fabric, and he burned alive in 1387.
36 Triboulet Mistook Francis For Queen
According to a popular incident, French court jester Triboulet once slapped King Francis I on the buttocks, prompting the furious monarch to threaten him with execution. Francis reportedly offered to forgive Triboulet if he could produce an apology even more insulting than the slap. The jester replied, “Forgive me, Your Majesty. I mistook you for the Queen.”
37. In 1835, Corsican conspirator Giuseppe Marco Fieschi attempted to assassinate French king Louis Philippe I during an annual National Guard inspection in Paris. From a third-floor apartment overlooking the procession, Fieschi fired the “Infernal Machine,” a homemade gun containing 25 rifle barrels designed to discharge simultaneously. The weapon unleashed approximately 400 projectiles, killing 18 people and injuring 22, including at least four who required amputations. Louis Philippe suffered only a graze to his forehead, while Fieschi was severely wounded by his own weapon and later guillotined.
38. In 1615, ten-year-old future Spanish king Philip IV married 13-year-old Elisabeth of France. They had ten children, but their only son, Balthasar Charles, died at age 16 in 1646, leaving Philip without a male heir. In 1649, the 44-year-old king married his 14-year-old niece, Mariana of Austria, in a political match that produced five children, although only two reached adulthood. Their surviving son became Charles II of Spain, while Philip is known to have fathered at least 30 children with mistresses.
39. During one of the drunken episodes surrounding Swedish king Charles XII and his companions, a bear was forced to drink wine until it fell through a palace window and died in the courtyard below. Charles, who was heavily intoxicated that night, vowed afterward never to drink strong alcohol again. He reportedly kept that promise, with only a few exceptions, for the rest of his life.
40. Italy remained a monarchy throughout Benito Mussolini’s rule, with Victor Emmanuel III serving as king. Although Victor Emmanuel advised against entering World War II, he relented in 1940 and granted Mussolini broad wartime powers. Following the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943, the king dismissed and arrested Mussolini, appointed Pietro Badoglio as prime minister, and joined the Allies against Germany. Victor Emmanuel abdicated and entered exile in 1946, shortly before a referendum abolished the monarchy and established the Italian Republic.
41 King Nicolas Required Gasser Revolvers
In 1910, Montenegro’s King Nicolas I ordered every male citizen to possess at least one Gasser Pattern revolver as part of his militia duties. The proclamation specifically referred to the large Austrian Gasser Model 1870, although manufacturers in Belgium and Spain soon produced cheaper alternatives. The weapons became status symbols, with wealthier men purchasing engraved, nickel-plated models fitted with ivory or bone grips.
42. Yugoslav king Alexander I refused to attend public functions on Tuesdays because three members of his family had died on that day of the week. On Tuesday, October 9, 1934, he relented as he had little choice but to appear publicly while beginning a state visit to France. As Alexander rode through Marseille, Bulgarian assassin Vlado Chernozemski stepped into the street and fatally shot him.
43. After Napoleon appointed his brother Louis Bonaparte king of Holland in 1806, Louis tried to address his new subjects in Dutch. According to a popular account, he intended to declare, “Ik ben koning van Holland,” meaning “I am King of Holland,” but his pronunciation made it sound like “Ik ben konijn van ‘Olland,” or “I am the Rabbit of Holland.” Louis nevertheless gained affection by defending Dutch interests against Napoleon’s demands, earning the nickname “Louis the Good.”
44. In the 1607 Case of Prohibitions, Chief Justice Sir Edward Coke overturned a land-dispute decision made personally by King James I. Coke ruled that common-law cases required judges with legal training and could not be decided through the king’s natural reasoning alone. James angrily called it treason to place the monarch beneath the law, but Coke replied that “the King ought not to be under any man, but under God and the law.” The ruling established that the king could not personally decide legal cases and strengthened the authority of England’s courts.
45. Sweyn Forkbeard became England’s first Viking king after his forces plundered, burned, and devastated large areas of the country. His 1013 invasion forced London and the English nobility to submit, while King Aethelred the Unready fled to Normandy. Sweyn was proclaimed king on Christmas Day but died suddenly only 40 days later. English nobles then recalled Aethelred, who returned from exile and reclaimed his throne.
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
46 Ferdinand VII Required Special Cushion
Spanish king Ferdinand VII reportedly had an abnormally large and unusually shaped penis that made intercourse difficult. A special cushion was designed to support its narrow base and help his wife position herself safely. Ferdinand married four women, but only his final wife, Maria Christina, bore children who survived infancy, including the future Queen Isabella II.
47. During the 1203-1204 siege of Chateau Gaillard, a French soldier climbed through an unguarded toilet chute leading into the castle chapel. King John of England had specifically requested that a toilet be installed for personal use during church services. Following the French soldier, other soldiers followed, opened the central bailey to a larger force, and drove the defenders into the final fortification, which surrendered on March 6, 1204. The castle’s fall removed the main obstacle protecting the Seine Valley, allowing French king Philip II to conquer Normandy. The resulting humiliation and the cost of John’s failed attempts to recover his territories contributed to the baronial revolt that produced Magna Carta.
48. After losing his Scandinavian thrones, former Swedish king Eric of Pomerania effectively became a pirate in the Baltic Sea. Eric had ruled Denmark, Norway, and Sweden through the Kalmar Union before rebellions and disputes with the nobility led to his deposition between 1439 and 1442. He withdrew to Visborg Castle on Gotland and spent approximately ten years attacking merchant shipping before becoming Duke of Pomerania in 1449.
49. During the 17th century, French king Louis XIV and other wealthy European men wore high heels to display their elite status. As the fashion spread, aristocrats ordered increasingly tall heels to distinguish themselves from lower social classes. According to footwear historian Klaus Carl, some European authorities eventually limited heels to 1/2 inch for commoners, 1 inch for the bourgeoisie, 1 1/2 inches for knights, 2 inches for nobles, and 2 1/2 inches for princes. By the 18th century, men’s heels had become thick and practical, while women’s heels grew thinner and more decorative.
50. 17th-century French king Louis XIV could reportedly trace his ancestry to 13th-century king Louis IX, better known as Saint Louis, through 368 different genealogical paths. Repeated marriages and heavy inbreeding between related members of European royal families caused the same ancestral branches to reappear throughout Louis XIV’s family tree, a phenomenon known as pedigree collapse.
RE: Fact #24 (David II Broke Captor’s Teeth) – He spent quite a few of those as an English prisoner. At one point, Edward III had both the King of Scotland and the King of France as his captives.
RE: Fact #32 (Richard III’s Hunch Was Scoliosis) – There is a great documentary where they find a guy with the same kind of scoliosis Richard III had. They run him through tests to see how the condition would have impacted his ability to handle a sword, wear armor, ride a horse, and use a lance. Really worth watching.
In his time, he actually had a decent reputation as a soldier and strategist, just like his brothers. George’s reputation went downhill after a while, though, especially with that whole bit about betraying his family twice.
RE: Fact #11 (Richard Pardoned His Crossbow Killer) – The moment was slightly ruined because Richard died in his mother’s arms, and as the saying goes, ‘the Lion by the Ant was slain.’ According to one chronicler, Richard’s last act of chivalry didn’t matter in the end because Mercadier had the crossbowman flayed alive and hanged right after Richard passed away.
Didn’t it turn out the mercenary was actually paid by Richard’s mother because she was so devastated by his death?
Yeah, I was pretty sure I remembered this ending really badly for the guy.
RE: Fact #41 (King Nicolas Required Gasser Revolvers) – This is the first I’ve heard of a government demanding the public carry handguns instead of rifles. Maybe it’s just an early 20th-century Balkan thing, specifically for assassinating archdukes.
Actually, the archduke wasn’t killed with a Gasser, but with an FN model 1910.
Those are great little pistols. They were very popular for personal protection back then. I own an FN 1922; it’s basically the same gun, just with a slightly longer grip and barrel to meet military requirements.
RE: Fact #39 (Charles XII’s Drunken Bear Died) – Well, it didn’t really work out. After that last glass of wine, the bear definitely stopped drinking for the rest of its life too.
That sounds like the classic ‘set a man on fire and he’ll be warm for the rest of his life’ logic.
RE: Fact #29 (Henry VIII Ordered Ponies Destroyed) – It makes sense that this happened after his 1536 jousting accident. There’s a strong theory that his mental health went downhill after that.
People always bring up what a terrible king he was, but his head injury never gets enough attention. Before that, he was known for being intelligent and athletic. He was a model prince.
Over his thirty-six-year reign, he was blamed for around 57, 000 executions. He was constantly changing the rules on what was considered orthodox. In comparison, Mary and Elizabeth only executed a few hundred each.
RE: Fact #19 (Astrologer Frightened Louis Into Mercy) – This reminds me of a jester who insulted a powerful family and got sentenced to death. Since the king liked him, he asked the jester how he wanted to go, and the guy replied that he wanted to die of old age. The king thought it was so funny that he just banished him instead.
Imagine a serial killer actually managing to talk their way out of a death sentence.
RE: Fact #17 (William’s Servants Looted His Corpse) – The barons who were with him at the end absolutely despised him. They took everything of value and just left him there to rot until the local bishop had some lackeys cram him into a chest that was way too small. His body ended up bursting with foul fluids on the way to Caen. To make it worse, a local knight kicked the casket during the procession because the land where he was going to be buried had been stolen.
His death triggered a mad dash for the treasury, where the first person to arrive essentially crowned themselves king of England. It is wild how much he was hated by his own subjects and those closest to him.
RE: Fact #8 (Louis III Died Chasing Girl) – DM: ‘You can’t ride your horse inside buildings.’ Cavalier: ‘I said I charge with my lance into the tavern.’ DM: ‘Fine. You hit the door. Now make a new character who is wiser. Or at least smaller.’
This is exactly why you always play a halfling cavalier riding an armored potbelly pig. 5D French chess right there.
RE: Fact #13 (Ferdinand Suffered Seizures During Sex) – His parents were double first cousins, which explains a lot. When the revolts against him started, he famously asked, ‘Can they actually do that?’ He eventually handed the throne over to his nephew, who managed to hold onto it until World War I without being hated too much.
RE: Fact #46 (Ferdinand VII Required Special Cushion) – > It was of such an unusual shape that he had to have a special cushion made to help him impregnate his queen. This cushion supported the rather narrow base of the penis, leaving only the bulbous tip for his poor wife to deal with.
Incest is truly something else.
I can only imagine the royal engineers trying to figure out the mechanics of how to help him get the job done.
RE: Fact #4 (Potsdam Giants Never Entered Combat) – The details about their uniforms, the kidnappings, and the King’s strange obsession with breeding tall soldiers are wild. It’s especially disturbing that he tried to physically stretch them on a rack. It’s fascinating that Darwin specifically noted this case as an example of humans being selectively bred.
RE: Fact #22 (Richard Imprisoned Isaac In Silver) – He must have been absolutely furious, because that kind of wordplay doesn’t translate well in Greek.
RE: Fact #44 (Edward Coke Defied King James) – If you play Civ 6, that’s the actual quote from James I when you discover the Divine Right civic: ‘I conclude then this point touching upon the power of kings with this axiom of divinity, That as to dispute what God may do is blasphemy … so it is sedition to dispute what a king may do.’
RE: Fact #15 (Ivan VI Spent Life Imprisoned) – Saying he was killed in an attempted rescue makes it sound accidental, but it was anything but. When Catherine II took over, she left orders that the ‘nameless one’ was to be killed if anyone tried to set him free, he was not to be taken alive under any circumstances. When Mirovich tried to break him out, the guards followed their secret instructions and murdered him immediately.
His guards were essentially prisoners themselves, stuck at their posts for years without seeing their families and with almost no one to talk to. They grew to hate Ivan because he was repulsive, and he was basically their life sentence. They had every reason to kill him the moment an escape seemed likely, and they were handsomely rewarded for their ‘discretion.’ What a wild story.
RE: Fact #34 (Albert I Personally Commanded Belgium) – Technically, he wasn’t the King of Belgium but the King of the Belgians. It means he wasn’t just ruling over a piece of land, but was the leader of the people.
RE: Fact #39 (Charles XII’s Drunken Bear Died) – I have a few more bits of trivia about this that didn’t make it onto the wiki page. He promised his grandmother he’d quit drinking after she scolded him. The only times he actually broke that rule were for things like surgery, which is how he earned the reputation among other royals as ‘the king who drinks watered-down beer.’ Also, he used to hunt bears with muskets but decided it was cheating, so he tried bows and arrows, but eventually switched to a pitchfork. He would bait the bear to stand on its hind legs and then stab it.
Watered-down beer wasn’t really seen as ‘alcohol’ back then. It was the standard drink across Europe because the water downstream from any village was filthy and had to be boiled or brewed to be safe. It wasn’t strong enough to get anyone drunk; even children drank it.
Everyone drank watered-down beer back then because regular water wasn’t safe to consume. He might have stuck to that, though looking into it now, some sources claim the whole story is just a myth.
RE: Fact #12 (Prussia Secretly Trained Massive Reserve) – Also, either Weimar Germany or early Nazi Germany practiced tank maneuvers using ‘tractors.’ Very suspiciously powerful tractors.
RE: Fact #38 (Philip Married His Fourteen-Year-Old Niece) – Also, it’s not mentioned here that his only surviving son with his niece was both mentally and physically incapable of ruling, yet lived for 38 years. A succession war kicked off immediately after he died. The Habsburgs tried so hard to keep their land within the family that they ended up losing it.
RE: Fact #48 (Eric Of Pomerania Became Pirate) – His full title was King of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, the Wends and the Goths, and Duke of Pomerania. So it was way more than just Sweden, and piracy was basically just his retirement hobby.
RE: Fact #40 (Victor Emmanuel III Dismissed Mussolini) – It is pretty ironic that he got ousted despite having loose ties to Mussolini, while Hirohito stayed in power for 45 years even though he was the one actually driving things in Japan.
RE: Fact #40 (Victor Emmanuel III Dismissed Mussolini) – He wasn’t an absolute monarch, right? Having a Prime Minister suggests a parliamentary system.
RE: Fact #6 (Frederick Augustus Denied Porter Duties) – The guy’s name is actually Friedrich August Johann Ludwig Karl Gustav Gregor Philipp.
RE: Fact #20 (Radbod Chose Hell With Ancestors) – The story goes that he had basically agreed to convert and brought all his men to be baptized. Just before the ceremony, he asked if his ancestors would be saved as well. When the bishop told him no, he called the whole thing off at the very last second.
RE: Fact #35 (Brandy-Soaked Linen Burned Charles Alive) – Can you imagine if it really was an accident, and the person who started the fire spent their whole life terrified they’d be executed for killing the king? Then they grow old only to find out everyone hated the guy anyway and just told jokes about how he was “accidentally” set on fire.
RE: Fact #37 (Infernal Machine Killed Eighteen Bystanders) – French artillery officers who inspected the machine thought that if Fieschi had known more about weapons design, he would have succeeded in killing the King and his staff. If he’d set it up so the fire crossed rather than converging, it could have killed hundreds more people. Crazy stuff.
RE: Fact #37 (Infernal Machine Killed Eighteen Bystanders) – Just one more barrel, I promise. One more barrel and everything will be fixed. Come on, just give me one more barrel.
RE: Fact #16 (William Adopted Alcohol-Only Weight-Loss Diet) – Fans of A Song of Ice and Fire will definitely recognize Lord Too-Fat-to-Sit-a-Horse here.
RE: Fact #49 (Louis XIV Popularized Male Heels) – All shoes need regulations or else things get out of hand!
RE: Fact #27 (William’s Horse Stumbled Into Molehill) – He dragged Britain into so many costly wars that Parliament eventually had to step in and limit the monarch’s power to do that.
It took a civil war and multiple overthrows of the monarchy to get to that point, not just his actions alone.
RE: Fact #13 (Ferdinand Suffered Seizures During Sex) – How did they even track that he had five seizures during that attempt? Did his wife just wait for him to stop, then try again, and stop only after the fifth one? Did they ever actually manage to consummate the marriage?
RE: Fact #9 (Pendrells Earned Charles’s Perpetual Pension) – The wildest thing about King Charles I is that he was 5’6″ when he started his reign, but he was down to 4’8″ by the time it ended.
RE: Fact #37 (Infernal Machine Killed Eighteen Bystanders) – Each barrel had 6 to 8 bullets. When that thing fired, it was basically a massive shotgun. That must have been a horrifying sight.
“Jean Le Page, Arquebusier Ordinaire to the King, showed that each barrel contained about 3.5, 4 inches of gunpowder, 6 to 8 balls, two layers of wadding, and 13 to 14 slugs.” That is absolutely wild.
RE: Fact #20 (Radbod Chose Hell With Ancestors) – One of the reasons Christianity rose so quickly is that it was arguably the first religion to actively court slaves and the impoverished. These groups made up a huge portion of the population but were totally powerless until this faith gave them an outlet. Most other ancient religions seemed to cater strictly to the ruling classes.
RE: Fact #35 (Brandy-Soaked Linen Burned Charles Alive) – It’s easy for us to forget that for most of human history, every artificial light source was an open flame. Accidentally setting flammable stuff on fire was a real risk in just about any situation.
RE: Fact #15 (Ivan VI Spent Life Imprisoned) – It feels like there’s never been a peaceful, democratic transition of power in Russia. It’s just been coups forever.
Gorbachev was probably the closest thing to a democratic leader Russia has ever had.
RE: Fact #50 (Louis XIV Descended 368 Ways) – “I’d like you to meet my wife and my sister.” “But that is the same person.” “Uh huh.”
RE: Fact #25 (Alfonso XIII Became King Naked) – What would have happened if the king died while his wife was only a few weeks pregnant instead of four months along? Would they have just crowned someone else, only to realize a month later that there was actually an heir on the way and have to scramble to get the crown back?
If the queen was still of child-bearing age, they probably would have waited to see if she was pregnant before doing anything.
RE: Fact #24 (David II Broke Captor’s Teeth) – One of those arrows was buried so deep in his skull that they just decided to leave it there for good.
RE: Fact #46 (Ferdinand VII Required Special Cushion) – There was something waving in the air that night, the fit was so tight, Fernando.
RE: Fact #45 (Sweyn Forkbeard Ruled Forty Days) – That lasted until his son, Cnut the Great, showed up and took both the crown and Aethelred’s wife. It was an interesting period.
RE: Fact #16 (William Adopted Alcohol-Only Weight-Loss Diet) – He didn’t lose nearly enough weight. The story about his funeral is gruesome, the corpse was so huge that when they tried to force him into the tomb, he literally burst, and the smell was unbearable for everyone in the church.
RE: Fact #2 (Frederick’s Sexuality Shaped Battlefield Quip) – In 1763, when Frederick reunited with his wife after six years, his only remark was, “Madame has grown quite fat.” What a jerk.
RE: Fact #7 (Charles Redirected Vikings Toward Burgundy) – Paying tribute was pretty standard back in the day. The Huns made a fortune for years just by not attacking the East Roman Empire.
RE: Fact #18 (George Never Learned Charlotte Died) – He struggled with mental illness for years, and he had dementia for the last decade of his life. He probably didn’t have the capacity to understand who she was or realize she had died anyway, sort of like Gene Hackman.
RE: Fact #28 (George III Delivered Fifty-Eight-Hour Monologue) – At one point, he actually hallucinated that he was George Washington and that he had won the Revolution against the British.
RE: Fact #23 (Henry’s Doctors Feared Announcing Death) – an archbishop was probably the most qualified person to break that kind of news back then.
“I’m only here for the weddings and the funerals. And you’ve already had enough weddings.”
RE: Fact #26 (Juliane Shot Crossbow At Father) – For context, she and her husband tried to blackmail Henry I for a castle by threatening to join a rebellion. To keep the peace, there was a hostage swap, but then her husband had a hostage blinded. When they asked Henry for mercy, he gave them a taste of their own medicine and had his own granddaughters blinded.
RE: Fact #27 (William’s Horse Stumbled Into Molehill) – As a descendant of the House of Stuart, I should probably start making friends with moles. But since I’m also Irish, I probably shouldn’t be fond of King Billy. It’s an confusing mix of green and orange loyalties.
RE: Fact #16 (William Adopted Alcohol-Only Weight-Loss Diet) – Refusing all food and only drinking alcohol, also known as the classic college diet.
RE: Fact #5 (Warwolf Crushed Stirling After Surrender) – It’s like when I’m playing Magic: The Gathering and I set up a great board of dinosaurs, but my opponent just quits. No, please, wait ten seconds so I can actually finish the play! I worked so hard for this!
RE: Fact #1 (Casimir’s Tomb Released Toxic Fungus) – That explains why there are so many legends about curses when people crack open ancient sarcophagi.
RE: Fact #10 (Struensee Reformed Denmark Before Execution) – ‘When Struensee abolished all censorship of the press, it mostly resulted in a flood of anti-Struensee pamphlets.’ Oops.