THG Podcast: Mad Monarchs

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On today’s episode, The History Guy talks about two Mad Monarchs. The first is Charles VI of France, whose mental illness changed the fortunes of France and who was nearly set aflame in the Ball of the Burning Men. The second is Bavarian “Mad” King Ludwig II, whose obsession with fairy tale and opera led him to build one of the most iconic castles in history.

This is original content based on research by The History Guy. Images in the Public Domain are carefully selected and provide illustration. As very few images of the actual event are available in the Public Domain, images of similar objects and events are used for illustration.

All events are portrayed in historical context and for educational purposes. No images or content are primarily intended to shock and disgust. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Non censuram.

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Welcome to the history guy podcast a podcast dedicated to stories of lesser known historical events told by Lance skyer also known as the history guy on YouTube I’m Josh your host a writer for the channel and eldest son of the history guy we tell all kinds of stories

About history from the modern era to the ancient past so you never know what we’re going to talk about next one thing you can be sure of it is history that deserves to be remembered on today’s episode the history guy talks about two mad monarchs

The first is Charles I 6 of France whose mental illness changed the fortunes of France and who was nearly set a flame in the ball of the burning men the second is Bavarian Mad King ludvig II whose obsession with fairy tale and Opera led him to build one of the most iconic

Castles in history without further Ado let me introduce the history Guy it was January 28th 1393 and the queen of France Isabel Bavaria was holding a ball to celebrate the marriage of one of her ladies in Waiting her husband Charles I 6 of France attended with five of his friends High wking Knights of the realm in costume dressed

As wild men they ran around they howled like wolves they dared guess to try to guess who they were through their flax covered masks but what started as a Rowdy and ostentatious display for nobility quickly turned to tragedy what was an integral event in the chaotic period the middle stage of the Hundred

Years War the dance called the ball of the burning men and the state of the French Court in which it occurred is history that deserves to be remembered when 11-year-old Charles II became king of France in 1380 during the Hundred Years War France was ascended at the beginning of his father’s reign in

1364 England had controlled the entire Southwestern section of France but Charles I had fought so successfully that when his son took the throne England controlled only three small areas on the coast because of his youth Charles’s four uncles ruled as Regents especially Philip the Bold Duke of

Burgundy though 14 was the age of accountability and therefore adulthood at the time Charles would not throw off the Regency until he was 21 the Dukes squandered much of the country’s money for their own gain while fighting amongst each other and sometimes even against the interest of the crown they

Reinstated taxes Charles’s father had repealed and brutally put down revolts the problems of the realm were widely attributed to maladministration by the king’s Regents in 1385 Philip arranged Charles’s marriage to isabo of Bavaria Charles ended the Duke’s Regency in 1388 but Philip would retain considerable power in the years to

Come Charles brought in the reliable help of a trusted set of advisers called the marma sets which was a group of unified advisers many of whom had helped to advise his father the term itself the maret meant the monkeys and it was meant as a term of derision and insult by

Charles’s uncles and their allies but they ruled well and Charles was popular with the populace he became known as leam Charles the Beloved in 1392 the leader of the marats Oliver Deon was way layed in a narrow Street in Paris by a personal enemy who had been banished

From Paris the PRI year clone’s servants fled at the attack but Oliver’s chain mail protected him long enough to draw his own sword Clon was knocked from his horse and knocked unconscious and the Assassin believing the deed done fled Clon had an old enemy in the Duke

Of Britany believing him to have been behind the assassination attempt Charles was Furious and impatient to lead a military Expedition against him though he was sick for several weeks he left with the Army on Horseback in July of 1392 during the journey a man of ferocious aspect bareheaded and

Bare-legged dragged the king’s horse and shouted ride no further further Noble King turn back you are betrayed the man was chased off but Charles was shaken later that day a paig dozed and dropped his Lance which hit another’s helmet with a loud clang the King was seized by

A fit of madness he attacked his own retainers shouting forward against the traitors they wish to deliver me to the enemy he even charged his brother the Duke of Orleans and only after a struggle was the king seized shortly after he fell into a coma he had killed several of his own men

The campaign ended and the Dukes quickly blamed and overthrew the marats Charles was brought to the renowned 92-year-old doctor Gom dearani who nursed him to Health on a slow Journey back to Paris contemporaries thought the king had been struck by sorcery or Divine anger but modern historians like Robert NE

Speculate that he may have been experiencing early symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia Dr Heeney refused to stay in Paris but advised that the king not be worried with Affairs of state and that pledge pleasure and forgetfulness will be better for him than anything else the king’s illness would remain a

Burden for the rest of his life he would run down the halls of his Palace howling like a wolf so often that they walled off entrances to the Palace to keep him from getting loose he had bouts where he could not know that he was the king and

Could not recognize his wife and children and one chronicler said that he was far out of the way no medicine could help him he sometimes believed he was made of glass and would try to keep himself from breaking though still known as the Beloved people also began to call him the

Mad Queen isabo took seriously her job to entertain the king and perhaps enjoyed the trappings of wealth herself the court threw elaborate amusements to keep King busy and the Queen and her sister were decked in jewelry and were cone-shaped hats called henin so large that doorways were said to be widened to

Accommodate them control of the Kingdom rested in an unofficial sort of Regency controlled mostly by his uncles the Duke of burgundy and the Duke of Barry and his his wife who was influenced heavily by the Duke of burgundy the French people were uncomfortable with the displays of excess but were happy to

Blame it on the foreign Queen and not on the sick King in July of 1393 one of the Queen’s ladies in Waiting was getting married again sources disagree on whether this was her third or her fourth marriage but it was traditional when someone remarried to throw a charari roughly

Translated as pandemonium an act of mockery and Tom Foy and rough music where a parade would be held and much noise as possible be made especially with pots and pans and symbols the goal of the shavari was to show displeasure at events that broke social norms was believed that the sacrament of marriage

Lasted beyond death and so remarrying was a sin contemporary Chronicles disagree on whether the party was thrown solely in celebration or more traditionally as a shavari or some combination of the two at the suggestion of his Nobles Charles and five of his Knights dressed as wild men for the evening

Wild men were believed to be soulless hairy men who lived far from civilization were often associated with demons and paganism the church discouraged any belief in the creatures but it was common in medieval Europe for peasants to hold wild men dances often the men would be burned in effigy as a

Metaphor for the rejection of the Wild and the Godless for the pentant and civilized Christian world in the case of Charles it seems mostly to be a matter of entertainment that would also celebrate and simultaneously humiliate the lady in waiting the exact social nuances of the event are difficult to

Extract with certainty today but medieval spectacle was often Complicated by symbolism and context dependent social displays Charles and his nobles were sewn into their linen costumes which were covered in pitch and toe or resin and flax to make them appear covered in hair they also wore masks to hide their

Identities and most of the audience did not know that Charles was one of the dancers they may have been chained together though some accounts say they were not and as they ran about the room howling and causing General mischief they encouraged onlookers to guess who they were the court knew that the

Costumes were flammable and had ordered that no torches or candles be brought into the chamber to prevent any accidents but unfortunately Charles’s brother the Duke of Orleans was late to the party and with some of his friends entered the party drunk and carrying torches the Chronicles disagree somewhat

As to what actually happened with one contemporary report claiming that the Orleans through the torch While others suggest it was just an accidental spark the reports agree that the nearest Wild Man quit burst into flames and that in moments the others were a flame as well the queen knowing that her husband was

Among them fainted immediately while chaos engulfed party retainers and knights tried to put off the Flames of the burning dancers and many of them sustained Burns trying to stamp the fires out one of the dancers dove into a vat of wine where he stayed until the

Flames had all gone out the King was apparently apart from the other dancers though it isn’t known why medieval Chronicle frar wrote that the king who proceeded ahead of the dancers departed from His companion and went to the ladies to show himself to them as the

Fire spread he was saved by the quick thinking of his 15-year-old Aunt The Duchess of Barry who threw her voluminous skirts train about the king to protect him one of the Nobles died at the scene while three of the others would linger for a few days before

Succumbing to their wounds the event was covered by several chronicl and histories as the death of four Nobles and so ignoble a manner was certainly of note the aftermath the disaster quickly turned against the Nobles but not against the king for aar’s chronicle wrote that Charles and isabo could do

Nothing to remedy it we must accept that it was no fault of theirs but of the Duke of Orleans the king’s brother’s reputation suffered greatly from the event combined with another where he tried to imbue his weapons with demonic magic the Theologian Jean PTI would claim years later that the Duke had been

Trying to kill the king with sorcery at the ball but had failed the people of Paris were aast they blamed Charles’s advisers his uncles for putting the king in danger and threaten to kill and expose the guilty Nobles afraid that riots might ensue the court did Penance

At the Notre Dame Cathedral after making an apologetic March through the city in which the king rode on horseback while his advisers walked the Duke of Orleans donated money for a chapel to be built as Penance the chaos brought on by Charles I 6’s incapacitation would continue to

Threaten the stability of the realm Charles would remain King until 1422 though by the turn of the century he was little more than a figurehead and often beset by Madness still KNE deep in the on again off again 100 Years War the fight over who should retain guardianship over Charles the six

Children became the focal point of French infighting Philip the Duke of burgundy and Louie Duke of orene fought over the children and Over Control the queen while Louie was more closely related he had a bad reputation as a debach and was rumored to be having an affair with the queen while popular

Opinion considered him to have burden the country with unfair taxes and hardship Philip Di died in 1404 but his son carried on the feud and in 1407 had the Duke of Orleans assassinated he did not deny the killing but instead defended it and said a theologian to Paris who argued that men

Were justified in killing tyrants and that Jon should be rewarded not punished he had the support of the Paris University in the city’s populace and he was pardoned Lou son Charles the new Duke of Orleans took up arms and France was engaged in a Civil War for the next

28 years which allowed the English to again conquer large parts of the country the disaster of the ball of The Burning Man represents a common theme in medieval Europe where religion excesses of Courts and inrig of nobles could lead to horrible ends a powerful King could arise and Conquer huge swaps of land

Only to have it all lost with a son who was too sickly or too distracted to rule France literally transitioned from Charles I the wise to his son Charles I 6 the mad every event could have religious Sur political importance could be used to justify all manner of actions

And Force of Arms and popular opinion was more important than being right well the Charles was too sick to rule the the Dukes around him tore the kingdom apart with their Petty and personal intrigues and into the chaos descended the English once again only to be finally driven out

By the actions of Jon of Arc who was instrumental in having Charles’s son Charles iith crowned King the the the fate of your Europe the fate of millions of people was tied up in the successes and the failures and the accidents of intriguing Nobles and mad

Kings now is the part of the episode where we get to chat with the history guy a little bit about what we just heard what we’re going to hear and some behind the scenes stuff you only get to hear about on the podcast so this story you know when I I

I wrote this episode and one of the reasons I’d come across it is because it is a story that just sounds so absurd that it would read as good Fiction it’s another one of those Tales where you’re like ah this is almost weirder than uh than than anything someone could write

You wouldn’t believe it if not for it literally being written in historical Chronicles yeah it’s I mean it’s just it’s hard to imagine that something could go so wrong in such a ridiculous way uh but I mean it’s and it’s but it’s tied to you know Charles I 6 is just you

Know flat out crazy I mean this guy you know you know middle of a of a ride got mad and attacked his own retainers thinking you know he he he had clear psychosis uh but the funny one is he wasn’t he wasn’t the crazy one in the you know in this this particular

Event um I mean it’s I mean it’s interesting it’s a story of decadence it’s a story but I mean just to think that this was this is how they had fun what they thought was funny and you know it could go so wrong and that they were

Like keep everybody out here with fire because we know we’ll catch fire and and you know what happened well we caught fire you know what to we caught fire it’s it’s nice to know that hold my beer doesn’t require that you be a commoner

That you can do that in no and then it goes back goes back long before beer you know was in can so yeah I guess you know in a time before uh before any pretty much any of the entertainments that we have today when you can’t just sit around on your couch

And do all kinds of stuff gosh they they found ways to entertain themselves entertain and they and you can see why it kind of might be fun you know them playing around this would be like a story of like you know the president was in the Oval Office playing with

Fireworks and burn down the White House I mean this this is literally that crazy you know like what and the King hides under his wife’s skirt his his his his aunt his 15-year-old aunt that’s who’s whose Curts he jumps under which and the queen just sees one of them go up and

Immediately faints I would too I’m not sure would it really was I mean they in terms of what they were doing they knew it was dangerous and yeah they would they wouldn’t allow any flames in there yeah but and this is what you don’t let your drunk brother don’t invite him to

The party that’s just the sometimes you got to be judicious I know he’s family but but you’re dressed up in kindling and you know lighter fluid so yeah I mean they knew how the I mean they look like some sort of ghilly suit or something like that and I wonder if

How flammable a ghilli suit is I mean it looks pretty flammable doesn’t it someone someone who’s SP a sniper chime in and tell us if if you have to be careful of smoking in a Ghillie suit because these these things yeah they clearly knew it was a danger and they

And they tried to protect it from that uh and it’s kind you know you have to think that the brother would understand that I mean this isn’t like a brand new thing but also this well you know just for fun let’s dress our guys up in flammable I don’t know Wild Man suits

You know Bigfoot suits and have them run around and then you know what could possibly go wrong well you know uh it’s I mean it’s such an interesting story but it is but when you tie it to that particular Monarch too who had you know verified incidents of of you know total

Insanity I mean he just had you know spots where he had lost touch with reality thought he was made of glass or couldn’t remember remember you know his own family and he clearly was having having some some serious mental episodes I mean he he killed people when in that

You know when he was attacked his own retainers he he truly was charged his own his own brother in that in that one and it’s and it’s and it altered history I mean that’s that was a big chunk you know this was during the Hundred Years

War and that was part of why France you know lost all that ground is because there was no powerful Monarch and all of the rest of them were busy battling each other so I mean you got this you got the huge you got all the politics around the

Uncles and and the Dukes and everything that were fighting for power you got the king that’s clearly you know incompetent and crazy uh and then you have this you know maybe just as kind of a symbol I mean if you talk about a dumpster fire right I mean things are going I mean

Could you have a better symbol of what’s going on there than to have you know what happened at the at the yeah at the ball part of the idea of this episode about you know mad monarchs is to say that I mean people became king for you

Know know that’s how we established the process uh and it was a horrible thing when people fought over who’s going to be the king and who’s going to have power uh and so you might have someone who’s clearly you know not a good Monarch but that’s better than you know

Trying to fight over who’d be the other one who’d be a better Monarch yeah and so I mean it’s Madness in in in monarchy is a very interesting question what do you do and you know we still I mean I don’t know every president you have now

Someone argues they should take them out on the 25th Amendment or whatever I mean I don’t think we’ve had anybody that’s actually you know having PS otic episodes or anything like that that’s a but I mean it’s it’s still a question when you have a leader uh uh uh you know

What happens if the leader you know mentally unstable and and these you know in these cases you know the worst happen right yeah these were these were and you know this was a case of someone who they all knew was unsuited um it’s interesting that you know the The

Peasants the the common folk uh resisted blaming the King and I don’t know if that’s I mean is if that’s a matter of propaganda or if that’s a matter of uh just this this belief in the divine right of King div Kings yeah and I mean

And you know obviously the you know the brother that was a you know he was a wastal and a Flander and and a drunkard and you know he’s the one that brought the torch into the into the you know the the fire pit uh but yeah it is it is

Interesting that the people stuck because at some point you kind of be saying like hey you’re ruling the place be good at it you know maybe you should keep this under control but they always just seem to come up with oh he’s just got bad advisers or and you know that’s

What ends up having with the marma sets which is an absolutely wonderful name for a group it’s that is both that is both a wonderful insult for someone you don’t like but actually you know the the best part is that they were probably the most uh effective ruling group of his of you

Know Charles I 6 entire Reign is that when he had those guys in place yeah and they end up kind of getting overthrown yeah you know just because they’re they have too much power and there’s other people who want the power so it is I mean you know when you think about it

Because you you got this crazy story of the Bal Bal ENT the Ardent right I don’t know I’m not French but I won’t try to do it as pep Lew but you got the Bal and and that is such a crazy story and you know all these no noble men you know

Burned to death in their Wild Man suits uh and you think wow that’s interesting and then you go find out the the context the political context the historical context is what’s going on at the time and it’s funny how much it represents that political and historical context

But it really it really does tell you you know that this was a state where France you know literally lost half the country to England simply because they could not get control of their own government of their own State you know that’s that’s that’s an interesting

Lesson to learn right and that’s and it was this was a part of that and in some ways a symptom of it and also a cause of it um it’s it’s it is truly I I mean it’s truly crazy to think that there are entire portions of history I mean people

You know hundreds of thousands of people have died over over things like this is that whether he was going to be and ultimately you know he didn’t die in this but gosh it would have been simple for him to be the guy who happened to be too close to the torch

And go well I mean and what but I mean what if you get another war of succession because you know because the king caught fire because they were doing a wild man ball I mean I mean that’s uh and and you know there’s some Kings have

Died in some you know bizarre ways in history too I guess but there was there was the I’m not going to remember which which it was that drown drowned in the in the lake on his way to the Barbarosa yeah yeah yeah great Fredick Redbeard he fell he

Just fell in the water in his armor and that was that right out time drowned and you know there’s so many places but I mean the possibly the best example of you know let’s leave him in place because it’ll be worse if he isn’t is is Charles II of

Spain shovel face sh didn’t mat he couldn’t chew his own food he couldn’t talk his tongue was so big and they’re like yeah well it’s better than fighting over who’s the king and it’s true because when they fought over who was King I mean it was destroyed Europe over

Who was going to replace the guy so that’s why they kept this guy who couldn’t even talk and stand on his own legs they’re like well you know I mean he was absolutely incompetent obviously incompetent and his Reign was I mean caused all kinds of problems but imag

Who’s responsible for chewing the King’s food though can you imagine being the dude who job it was to chew up his food shov shovel it into shovel Face’s mouth there oh my goodness he was wow yeah that is an interesting story and that one actually ties to it ends up tying to

The war of Jenkins are H but yeah yeah it’s uh I mean there’s there’s points where you you’d rather have an incompetent leader than find over who’s going to be the next leader and and uh you know there’s there’s other points where it’s simply someone who’s more ambitious who’s trying to destroy you

Because they they want to take the power you know again here you know what comes down to is I mean everything is going wrong in France because they have a weak leader and it’s you know a weak you think if it was a strong leader even

One who enjoyed fun if it was a strong leader would he have been in the room full of you know kindling or you know was this you know typical of his sort of poor decision making or or his frivolous nature when you know they needed him to be king yeah

But it is it’s just it’s a crazy story I mean you hate to laugh about it I these guys that’ be a horrible way to die right being strapped into your flame suit and we we even uh the some of the descriptions of of their burning are actually very graphic some we couldn’t

Include yeah because YouTube would have wouldn’t wouldn’t let us demonetize that sort of horrible thing so I mean you look back and say like look at these crazy Nobles they went in there and they you know they were you know they were kindling and they got all burned out but

I mean at the time I can imagine how horrifying that was I don’t they ever been portrayed in film uh oh I don’t know if I’ve if I’ve I’ve never seen it but I mean seen it um but that’s it’s a it was gosh it was it would have been

Very dramatic to see and I I try to think of you know I mean this is it was at night so so it was dark too you know the and I don’t know how they were lighting the uh yeah if you had to if you couldn’t have light in the room I

Don’t know how they were you know how how they were lighting or how careful they were lighting it and but they they I mean you know the the folks who who burned to death were and then the the few the ones who didn’t of course were looking for any protection cuz well once

One guy’s on fire he’s just running yeah he’s just running he’s in fire for you and here’s some fire for you I really doubt that he was able to you know Dodge all that well yeah once you’re on fire and you’re trying to get a suit you’re literally sewn into

And you’re trying to get that scker off I mean it and I’m sure that another secret with your with your Halloween costume always know where the zipper is yeah I got to be ready to take that off just in case there’s a reason that the Halloween costumes are flame retardant

Yes yes this that lesson was apparently learned early in France you know six what 700 years ago we we had figured out that yeah these these things could be a little dangerous especially when you uh make them out of I flammable and for them I mean they were literally like put together with

Pitch and stuff I mean it was stuff that was yeah I mean imagine all I imagine all the clothes were flamable and I don’t think we the same flame I have to do a history of flame retardant technology but uh uh we did do a history

On on asbest but that was different but uh yeah I mean these were I mean but and the thing is that they utterly recog absolutely recognized that and then you know the the brother is so entitled that he just ignores the rules and he comes strolling in there with a big but what

Was what was he carrying to though I was that was it like a torch out of like Indiana Jones or something like that I he seems to have like this big torch it’s like throwing Sparks everywhere or something I don’t know I was wondering what the exact well you know at least

One of the uh accounts suggested he threw it although based on based on what you see you know politically around the time it seems like that was likely something just to say look how evil he was yeah to attack him yeah yeah which it seems it seems more likely that he

Was actually just being a drunk and not paying I mean what a story the drunken brother of the king stumbles into the king’s costume party in flamable outfits and they you know and all these nobl men die so uh with you know with the undercurrent saying haaha

And that’s what a horrible way for someone to die who was just doing something fun that night so yeah yeah it’s Grizzly but it’s but it’s it’s bizarrely humorous and how weird that it was and and how weird that it was the king and nobility that was doing that uh

And you know yeah amazing they didn’t burn the whole place down right yeah I mean absolutely it’s many many more people could have died if that fire had spread in a particular way and it was clearly there were crowds um someone in the comments said it would hate to be

Like people who were who were getting married after that uh since that was supposed to be this party uh it’s not 100% clear if it was a party for or a party making fun of cuz she was you know this was a second or third marriage or a

Fourth marriage and so oh that’s right yeah so I mean that in itself is a weird is a weird enough oh it’s your third marriage how about we you know joke at you for being the I don’t know it’s this is definitely a great example of Truth is Stranger Than Fiction you

Could not have made this up and made it believable it’s the culture of the Middle Ages I mean we we all have a kind of an idea of what the Middle Ages are like but I think in a lot of film and fantasy that we see that we think of as

As very medieval um we do not get a a real good idea for just how weird uh it could be I mean these were these were in in many ways foreign cultures and there was a a lot of stuff that we that didn’t hang on till today that we would go back

Into the Middle Ages and be like what on Earth is this this is a I mean the wild men thing itself which had all this you know had all of this symbolism and this concept of this idea that there were real wild men and that they were uh demons or you

Know that represented chaos and stuff like that might have been what they were doing with their their insane with people that were on The Fringe of society I mean cuz we we put them out on the streets right and and yeah and so you know that might have been uh or you

Know it’s that’s that’s an interesting story in itself is because there’s so much me that’s that’s all over Europe you get this idea of wild men and what are they and were they you know were they Celts that went hid in the woods and you know there actually were people

In the woods it could actually grab your kids or something or if it was just all this representation of how close they were to Nature you know this is the spirit and the unpredictability of nature there’s all of that together so you can see why they kind of make this

Fun little romp out of that and then youve got this ability where you just kind of go and make fun of people just because you’re wearing a mask uh and it’s a way to kind of peel away you know a piece of that nobility and and and be

Able to do that in a way that was you know less threatening but I mean was really you know it’s like a gester sort of thing yeah and uh and but then all that goes wrong too I mean I there just there’s so so much depth to this story

There’s so much angle to this story uh you know which is you really a story of you know their costumes caught fire yeah you start with that and then you find out I mean that’s that’s one of the things I really like about you know studying history and one and kind of the

Way we are able to approach history is that you’re able to look at you know an event that is entertaining when you retell it and even if it you know has really some very dark some dark pieces of it uh but ultimately you know we’re able to take

This out and like this is how this is a representation of so many different things that we’re going on and how this was really a product of its time and you know that’s something you don’t you don’t necessarily get when you’re focusing just on the dates and the the

Important the names of important events and stuff I it’s you know it’s kind of hard to understand uh Charles I 6 without seeing how this represented is I mean really the nature of his rule so if you are a regular listener to the podcast or a watcher of the YouTube

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And that really helps us pay what what we’re doing next up the history guy talks about Mad King ludig the second of Bavaria let’s be honest most Americans vision of a medieval castle is based on the ones that we see in Disney Parks but to be fair those were based on real

Castles particularly noan Stein or the new swan Stone castle built on a rugged Hill in Bavaria but nanstein is anything but medieval it was commissioned in 1869 by the Bavarian King ludig II who was obsessed with fairy tales today he’s sometimes called the swan king or the

Fairy tale King but he’s mostly known as the Mad King ludig II LED a troubled life he died in mysterious circumstances and yet he left behind a legacy in music and in stone that has become almost synonymous with Bavaria it is history that deserves to be remembered on August

25th 1845 the future king was born to Maximillian crowned Prince of Bavaria and Marie of Prussia his parents intended to name him utto but his grandfather King ludig I insisted the name be changed Otto was born on the king’s own birthday probably the day before with the date changed purely for

Appearances which was also the feast day of the patron saint of Bavaria King Louis VI 9th so he was renamed ludvig the German version of Louie and his younger brother would become Otto ludvig had an odd childhood and was described by some as an odd boy when he was three

His grandfather advocated the throne in the face of forces of the German Revolutions of 1848 in a personal Scandal over an Indiscreet relationship with an Irish dancer called Lola montz Maximillian became king of Bavaria He restored stability to the regime but paid little personal attention to his son when maximillions of advisor

Suggested the king take ludvig with him on walks the king answered but what am I to say to him of his mother one Cabinet member said that Marie scarcely even knew how to treat her children as children not to be treated as an adult ludig referred to his own mother as my

Predecessor’s consort and his youth as a series of humiliating tournaments ludvig spent most of his childhood at his father’s Castle whose walls were decorated with myths and fairy tales like the Arthurian paral and loen Gren the Knight of the Swan which sparked his obsession with all things fairy tale

From a young age ludvic did not enjoy playing soldier or hunting activities his parents thought appropriate for a Crown Prince but was an imaginative boy and preferred stories and Solitude when asked if he was bored the Young Prince replied I imagine various things and keep myself quite amused his father

Scolded him while his brother was more spoiled and it affected his psyche Otto is a good boy and I will be good also he wrote to his mother his behavior was sometimes abhorent he stole a purse and argued that all that belongs to my subjects belongs to me and nearly

Strangled his brother with a rope for daring to resist his will he learned young about the divine right of kings in the superiority of his house he also showed some early Tendencies towards hallucinations perhaps a byproduct of inbreeding in the royal family when he was 12 he heard about Richard vogner’s

Opera loen grin about a mythical German hero and begged to see it his parents refused while famous Vagner was a controversial figure for his scorn of religion and politics ludig finally saw the play two years later and it changed his life he was enthralled by the music and by watching his childhood fantasies

Come to life a year later he saw another of vogner’s operas tanhauser the secretary who attended with the prince said that luig was thrown in such convulsions that I was afraid he might have an epileptic seizure ludvig’s childhood came to a halt when his father died suddenly on March 10th 1864 Harolds

Rode through Munich in a snowstorm trumpeting the news the 18-year-old Prince was now King ludig II to Bavaria at Maximillian funeral a Bavarian writer wrote glowingly of the dark-haired handsome prince he was the most beautiful youth I had ever seen the King was less enthusiastic writing it has

Been my fate to be called too young to face heavy responsibilities too heavy for young shoulders too difficult for a young brain ludig was a very solitary person but he did have a close friend and his cousin Elizabeth who was Empress of Austria by marriage they became close after his coronation

I think those that are taken to be insane are the only really intelligent people she wrote to ludvig after becoming King he contacted his greatest Obsession Richard vogner vogner struggled his whole life to pay creditors and when ludig wrote him the artist was on the run some friend must

Arise to help me vogner wrote only a miracle could help me now and that right soon or I am done for ludvig’s letter must have been a miracle too it included a ruby ring in the note as the stone Burns so do I burn with artor to Behold

The Creator the words of music of loen Gren when they met ludig was completely enthralled I have no other disciple who is so utterly my own it is scarcely believable Vagner wrote The King rented a house for the composer and pressed him to do nothing but right ludig peppered

Him with letters writing my love for you and your art grows even greater and this flame of Love shall bring you happiness and salvation his love for Vagner was not shared by the Bavarian public they thought the King was lavishing too much attention on his friend when the Prime

Minister threatened to resign if vogner didn’t leave ludig was forced to Exile the composer hoping he would be able to return someday in 1866 outside political vents intruded at the time Germany did not exist as a country but was made up of dozens of small states the most

Powerful was Prussia which hoped to unite Germany under its leadership Prussia competitor for Germany H gemany was Austria and Southern German states like Bavaria ovan bismar the Prussian Minister President forced the issue by declaring war in the summer of 66 ludig who W of the title of King but not the

Duties tried to give up his throne rather than take a position until Vagner for purely selfish reasons convinced him to keep his crown he chose to support Austria Ludi did his best to forget about the war refusing to lead the army or even to receive news from Parliament

The Austrian Ambassador wrote one begins to think that the king is demented when finally forced to visit the Army he was traumatized by the wounded the 7even weeks war was brief but a resounding defeat for Austria and Bavaria Austria was kicked out of the German Union and Bavaria was forced to acknowledge Prussian

Supremacy among the kingly duties in which ludvig had no interest was marriage the state was pushing him to find a wife and even Bogner tried to convince him of it I haven’t time to get married he said he was eventually worn down however and began to pay attention to Empress Elizabeth’s younger sister

Sophia she shared an appreciation for Vagner they were engaged but ludig acted oddly with Sophia and his obsession with Vagner shown through in letters he used the names of characters from vogner’s operas instead of Their Own he left an official engagement ball without warning to go to the theater

When together he made her play and sing music from the operas he soured on the wedding quickly he told an advisor that he’d rather drown than marry he postponed the wedding several times and when Sophia’s father demanded that he set a firm date or cancel the wedding

Ludic happily took the offered way out Sophia got rid of the gloomy picture Fades I long for freedom to awake from this terrible nightmare he wrote in his journal Sophia’s reputation suffered from rumors after the broken engagement though she was at the time In Love With Another Man in fact from ludvig’s

Personal writings it seems that he was much more attracted to men although he struggled with the urges and his religion ludvig’s Myriad disappointments drove him to find an escape how necessary it is to create for oneself such poetic places of Refuge where one can forget for a while the Dreadful

Times in which I live he decorated his room with stars and a fountain and created a winter garden indoors in Munich complete with a waterfall and an artificial moon when his grandfather died di the former King’s pension came to him giving him funds to be more ambitious he chose a beautiful location

With inside of his childhood Palace to build himself a castle he experienced ruins there as a child and resolved to build nanstein at top the rugged Peaks he hired a stage designer to lead the construction and decorated the walls with murals of his favorite stories ludic oversaw every detail of the

Building spared no expense the throne room which never received an actual Throne had 2 million painstakingly arranged tiles he built a castle honor of Vagner and based much of it on his stage Productions war broke out again in 1870 this time between Prussia and France lud was bound to support Prussia but again

Found himself terribly stressed by the possibility of a war prussia’s Victory cemented Prussian power and allowed bismar to bring the last German states into his German Confederation an emperor was to be named and ludig hoped it could be him a futile hope since bismar never meant to empower Bavaria vilhelm

Ludvig’s uncle and the King of Prussia was the chosen leader ludvig was so upset he refused to attend the negotiations Bavaria did gain privileged status within the German Empire and ludig reluctantly supported unification with vilhelm as Emperor the second Reich was born he do further into personal projects he loved the palace at

Versailles and the opulence of King Louis the 14th the Sun King he built linderhof Palace the only construction he lived to see completed he demanded absolute control over construction reflecting his desire to be an autocrat his room in the palace was decorated with gold and had 1,000lb crystal

Chandelier also at linderhof was his table that sets itself the king liked to dine alone and the table could be lowered into the kitchen filled with food and then raised so that he didn’t have to deal with servants one of his most ambitious constructs was the Venus

Grotto again inspired by vogner it was an enormous man-made cave made to look natural with a waterfall and a large lake included one of bavaria’s first electrical generator powered lights and a wave machine the king seemed to be growing more eccentric as he aged he gained weight and his love of sweets

Rotted out most of his teeth causing constant pain he cultivated A peculiar walk meant to imitate Louis the 14th which one Observer called a total mockery of nature he began sleeping during the day and riding his horses at night he surprised peasants in their homes after midnight and lavished them

With gifts he staged hundreds of plays and operas mostly by Vagner for himself alone he began two more palaces and planned an even greater C Castle he paid for a large theater in bayy called the festival theater for Vagner where the composer first showed his for Opera ring cycle in

1876 when Vagner died ludig ordered all of his pianos be draped with black he regularly set his table for three or four though he dined alone so he could imagine and Converse with people such as Louis the 14th and Mar Antoinette he was difficult to a servants whom he would

Berate forbid from looking at him and forced to bow to him as they backed out of the room he usually communicated in notes says he wished not to speak ludi’s projects were financed entirely from his own money but by 1884 he had put everything he had and borrowed some 8

Million marks he made plans for even more palaces despite his financial troubles but his workers halted construction because they weren’t being paid his cabinet officials were Furious he sent servants as far as pers it asked for loans and tried to get them to rob a bank as criticism grew he turned inward

Even more finally refusing to go to the capital and only communicating via letter Johan l prime minister decided to take the king down he met with the king’s uncle lold who agreed to become Regent if ludvig could be proven insane loots turned to Dr Bernard Von guden who

Listened to reports from servants many of whom were paid for their wild reports and declared that the king suffered from paranoia guden said the King was incurably insane and had to be removed from Power he never examined the king directly the cabinet appointed a commission to arrest the king at

Nanstein on June 7th 1886 they planned to confine him at Berg Castle on the shores of Lake starberg the king caught wind of the plan before the commission could arrive and barricaded himself inside the castle with help from local peasants and soldiers lold was declared Regent and ludig remained paralyzed with

Indecision talking of suicide when the Commissioners came again the king had been abandoned by his servants and was captured without a fight how can you certify me inane without seeing me he demanded of guden who insisted that the servants testimony was enough the king appeared calm the next day and collected

His cousin Elizabeth was across the lake and the water was covered in boats some of which carried peasants who supported him that afternoon he insisted on going for a walk during a rainstorm and guden accompanied him alone the doctor had a train to catch at 8:00 p.m. but when the

Hour arrived neither of the men had returned the rain had grown heavier by 10 p.m. Searchers discovered hats and coats soaked and abandoned by the lake they took a boat out and found both men dead Gooden showed signs of a fight his his face was scratched a fingernail had

Been torn off and he had a gash in his forehead the King was simply still face down in the water so ended the reign of the fairy tale King the exact circumstances of what happened that night have never become clear a letter that he wrote to his cousin Elizabeth across the lake

That night has been lost the official government explanation was that ludig had attacked Gooden and then killed himself there were armed peasants on the lake in boats so perhaps it was an attempted Escape that failed years later rumors started to arrive that ludig had been assassinated there were rumors that

The cloak they found on the shore had bullet holes in it and that the doctor that had examined ludvig’s body had been forced to lie about bullet wounds even though it’s not really clear what anyone had to gain from assassinating ludig at that point and in any case we’ll never

Know the cloak was burned in a fire and the King’s body has never been exed it’s not even clear that ludig was actually mad doctors today looking at his behavior disagree some say that his behavior really showed that he was merely an eccentric although others say there was evidence of frontal lobe

Injury and that he showed some signs of Personality Disorder just seven weeks after his death his buildings were made open to tourists and of course scents have earned Bavaria many millions more than they ever cost to build his legacy in those buildings and in the later works

Of Vagner which never would have been composed were it not for LG’s patronage far Outlast him and have come to be seen as synonymous with Bavarian itself in an irony the German magazine Focus noted in 2014 that he won the love of his subjects only posthumously but what to make of the

Fairy tale King well perhaps from that we should take his own word he once wrote I intend to remain an enigma to myself and others and so he has one of the ways I was learned about lud was that there was actually a there was

A board game the castles of Mad King lud I think is what it’s called and it’s it’s an entertaining it’s an entertaining game but then you know when you actually start looking into what it is ludc did it’s it’s a he’s got an interesting life a somewhat tragic life

Uh he lived hundreds of years after Charles of course uh but I think that there are some even though that they were very different in terms of their Madness uh if I think that with ludig you might have some question as to whether you know was this actual mental

Illness or was he just a weird was he was he truly crazy or was this I mean I mean this is you’ve got a kid that grew up in a very strange situation right and uh so was he was he just eccentric as eccentric as you would expect from

Someone who was he was not allowed companions he was not allowed to play as a child his mother didn’t even know how to hold him as a child uh and I mean that’s that you know the burden of the crown weighs heavily and I think it

Weighed heavily on him uh and also quite likely it appears that he was gay and that was just is something that was not you know acceptable among the monarchy and so he was never able to live the life he quite wanted to live uh and you know imagine chafing under their you

Know any Wich way you know chafing under the system where they’re going to tell you you know who you got to marry in order to make the kingdom and that was important of course you know making a making an heir and yeah you know it’s the it’s not as

Easy to be king as people might think and he I mean he talked about his childhood as a a series of humiliating torments and his mother as my predecessor consort I mean he clearly had some problems with uh with his parents and he I mean what you really see with him is

That he didn’t like uh the expectations what they wanted of him he and he escaped he didn’t he just he did not have a temperament of a king you know he did not like to lead troops in battle he didn’t like that whole idea of war and

You know they you know when they wanted a war leader he wasn’t able to do it or he was you know it’s interesting cuz I was just that at nanstein and and FL hango I’m going to pronounce it all wrong so forgive me but anyway so uh

Like uh it was very common for wealthy children to like to have they would have a thing that make it look like you saw stars on your roof and you know I think I had when when I was a kid little glow dark stars I stuck up on my roof but he

Had that installed as an adult and that really kind of showed how he just kind of he never he had a few things that comforted him in childhood he never quite grew out of that uh but I mean and you know if you we know we know adults

Like that these days but I mean are they are they King you know usually they’re not in a position that you know it’s going to threaten the the wealth of the realm or the it was and Bavaria is an interesting place because they were they were wealthy they were wealthy because

Of the salt trade they were wealthy for a number of reasons and and they they generally didn’t have to do a lot of fighting in the wars and they and they as long as the royal family was keeping it good for the merchants they did pretty well uh and so there wasn’t

Always a lot of you know it wasn’t like you always had a guy on a horse that was going and protecting the kingdom but I mean he also you know I mean there’s you know there’s legitimate questions I mean he he he liked to dress up in medieval

Armor hundreds of years in the 19th century dressing up in medieval Army armor and he’s going around riding around the countryside because he wants to I mean um you know is that kind of dress up you know something that you think’s appropriate for someone who’s who’s the ruling Monarch and he clearly

Was living I mean he was living these fantasies of of I mean of of clearly of these fairy tales of lohen grin and uh which he continued to try live I mean he he Tommy if you go if you go to schl hwanga uh uh first of all it looks like

It’s really close but you got to walk up a bunch of really steep stairs you’re like oh I’m almost there and then you’re like holy cow this is like a ladder but uh uh you know a castle is I always a castle is really

Just a big box of stairs and it’s an eer staircase they’re endless stairs they don’t you keep going and you never get to the top of anything but uh uh there I mean there just the paintings of the walls like in the dining room you know the paintings of the walls are you

Know and all the you know all the these you know fairy tales and and and great epic stories of of Bavarian stuff like that so you can you can understand why especially in this house where there were I mean this kid grew up with no love whatsoever that all you’re going to

Do is sit in those rooms and and you know build fantasies around these you know your whole the walls in your bedroom are painted with you know all the heroes of the real and he just didn’t you know what they wanted him to do was go hunting or or be interested in

The Army and all he wanted to do was read books and and imagine it just wasn’t I mean so it it just comes off like he was really just temperamentally not not the king but he also grew up in this idea where you you know I mean he was truly spoiled you

Know he didn’t no one ever said no to him on on any of the stuff that he wanted to do and and he and he knew especially after he got his grandfather’s inheritance right that he could just kind of do whatever he wanted to do so I mean I think there’s a

General perspective that he was just crazy so much candy his teeth R of his head and he was like running around laughing mad he wasn’t I mean but uh but he also wasn’t always in the business-like way what they would expect from a from a king uh and they

Complained about his personal spending and I understand that because if you I mean you can see schl hwanga from schl nanstein and again forgive me on any of that that but I mean you can like see one from the other so why do we need and they’re not really castles they’re

Palaces right I mean these are these are folies they’re not well past the you know the arrow where you you’re using them as fortifications so why do we need a second one that you can like he literally got a telescope so it could see his new Castle from his old castle I

Mean it seems like you know that that’s that’s that’s a little extravagant he had even had even bigger bigger dreams and what his his his Idol is the the Lou the Louis the 14th the the the Sun King the the one who had just such ridiculous French palaces that’s you know that’s

Who he’s trying he wanted to build even more ridiculous uh things after and after he had no money but he never finished I mean the interesting thing about nwan Stein is only like 10% of the castle was actually finished so you you go there and you visit and you find that

There’s very little the cast and the part you can go through is absolutely stunning it’s spectacular but the thing is if they are arguing about that I mean shoot they were selling tickets to that sucker from the moment he fell in in the lake right and if they are still selling

Lots of tickets today I mean that’s that is that is still I mean that’s that’s that’s got to be like the number one Money Maker for Bavaria is beer and newstein and and and so I mean that’s that guy has made more money for Bavaria than any other king of Bavaria for

Having who had any idea that that was going to be that that was what it was going to take was for him to just be I mean he was he was a weirdo he clearly was he you know he when he did have the the his almost wife that he ends up you

Know not marrying it’s he wants her to only play songs from the from the operas or he he he wants to refer to her his characters from the play that was clearly the only way he was going to be able to like manage that a relationship

He he had to had to literally create a fantasy out of it because he didn’t want to have a normal relationship with her maybe that’s because he was gay uh maybe not I mean maybe it was just he was just someone who was not you know not

Sexually oriented I mean if you never grew up with normal relationships and you grew up with a mother who didn’t love you at all maybe maybe you just never make you know natural attachment not interested but things you got you know in in the same way that you can eat

All the candies you want to eat I mean as a king you also have to you know marry the right person and you know watch out for the realm and he didn’t seem to like any of that he certainly didn’t like the Warfare or any of that

Sort of thing but he also he really he just didn’t like you know managing Estates or doing you know doing really anything and so you know his uncle was a was a grasping indiv who you know had his has his nephew arrested and he lived

Till he was like 99 he lived out in SCH hwanga and installed one of the first elevators there so he could get up and down his wheelchair but he he was temperamentally you know a ruler you know he was temper temperamentally someone who could be the CEO of the

Company uh and uh and understand you know that that that he had responsibilities that came along with his with his rights but but I mean you know ludig thought that you know when they when they formed the the Confederation and they chose a king that they were that they might choose him

Which was I mean it you know so much of that doesn’t make sense cuz first of all I mean he was clearly he clearly would have been a bad choice I I don’t think anyone in the any anyone in the you know the whole group would have thought that

He was the right choice I don’t know because willhelm II was his cousin too and I it’s hard to imagine doing too much worse but I mean well but his his I willam’s dad will the first you know his his cousin was I mean obviously the the

King of Prussia was going to be the king of the new state I mean that’s Prussia is the one that you know defeated Austria I wonder why he even would have wanted it I everything else you see is that he didn’t even seem to want to be king but

He’s like oh well maybe they’ll make me Emperor I was like why would you want to I I have I have no idea so so in some ways it’s really just a tragedy because it seems like this is maybe just like a person with an artist soul that was born

Into a military family uh and and and then it comes down I mean if you’re there they keep just saying the mystery of his death well I mean I don’t think it’s particularly a mystery and that it seems Rel relatively obvious that he was murdered right I mean you can’t I mean

He knew how to swim quite well right and even if you want to even if you’re upset because I he had a fight with the doctor something the story they tried to tell I mean you it’s really hard to drown yourself when you know how to swim you

Know I was I was thinking that too because they’re like oh we found him face down the only part of it that seems you know is that the doctor died too but the thing is this is a story that we’re being sold by uh absolutely by people

Who had every reason to count I mean it might be the doctor was defending him from whoever around him but uh but it certainly it I mean suicide seems very dubious and they’ll say they won’t say Ian it’s funny because I mean all the castles they they don’t say he was

Murdered uh they just say that he died under such mysterious circumstances that they seem to be implying throughout that he was murdered because because it doesn’t make sense the story that they were told all it really is is we don’t we don’t have a specific you know we

Don’t have a specific account of what happens there uh but I I I mean it sure immediate medely after he’s he’s arrested I mean he’s he’s in there for almost no time at all before they before he dies and you really see it I mean what what makes the most sense is that

He could represent a problem because he has a claim to the throne uh absolutely and he did I mean the people he had not necessarily lost all of the people and and of course that always there’s always thre because then if the uncle uh you know who who’s actually wasn’t the king

He was OT became King right and the uncle just became the caretaker but uh but uh if you know if the people start getting you know frustrated with the new ruler then there it’s too easy to go back to the the old ruler but I mean seems if you’re going to suicide if

You’re going to use suicide as a verb and say you’re going to Suicide someone I mean when they check him off at nanstein and say jum yeah they certainly had they certainly had opportunities to do that and it was easy enough to I mean he had talked about suicide before and

Stuff there was ways to sell it but the particular way he died is mysterious because it doesn’t make sense it just doesn’t yeah it just doesn’t make sense at all yeah how does a person who knows how to swim drown in a cal yeah yeah uh it just seems unlikely you

Know that it was an accident seems unlikely that he tripped and fell in there and just you know I don’t know face first and drown but oops but that’s that’s what happened to Frederick Barbarosa right so true so and just saying that you know to some extent you

Can say you know there wasn’t a lot to gain by killing him um but there was there was something to lose by leaving him alive I think by leaving him alive yeah it was was the danger and I you know ludvig clearly I’ll go on record saying I think that the evidence would

Suggest that it was his uncle who done him in uh I mean I I think that that probably makes the most s too soon no I would I mean I don’t I wouldn’t have challenged him at the time because I might have ended up in the lake but uh

But I you know I think that certainly there’s just so much to imply that I mean his uncle had everything to gain for it but I mean it’s it’s a mystery like you know the princes in the tower you know yeah who whose Uncle also had

Reason to do him in and they argue yeah seems Seems rather likely that that’s exactly that how it went down is exactly how you think it went down and they just you know left enough uh plausible deniability still it’s still an unsolved it’s still an unsolved mystery you can

Go on but you know his his life ends up being a tragedy but like you said I don’t know that anyone has uh anyone in possibly history has done more to you know like kind of influence this the impression and uh kind of character of Bavaria oh yeah yeah absolutely I mean I

Think they know him more than and I I don’t know this is s bab actually love Bavarian I love the people there but I mean the only thing that you really know about Bavaria from a distance is is Ludwig and nanstein and Nazis right yeah right if you want to choose between the

Two you know Mad King Ludwig is a much better story you know than than the Third Reich right and it is interesting you know that he was he’s popularly been called the mad but also you know the fairy tale King which I think is a much nicer sounding name yeah it’s probably a

Fair and it’s probably a fair description of of who he was and he he clearly had his own I mean he had his own problems and he was selfish and uh self-interested uh but he also I mean he wasn’t can you blame him growing up that way oh yeah

Right and all he wanted was was to live out his fantasies and he had an incredible amount of money with which to do so and still managed to spend through it all well shoot if I came into a huge amount of money I can’t guarantee I

Wouldn’t use it to build a castle I I mean and his and his Castle’s beautiful I mean it’s an absolutely stunning oh my go it is I mean it’s a world landmark and and it is and it you know encompasses the whole style of of the re

And you know he had love for history yeah so I mean and he was he was trying to you know romanticized version of it a Vagner ised version of it but I mean but I mean an absolutely extraordinary creation and you know some of those people that make extraordinary Creations

Are they look mad in their time because it’s it’s it’s not Beyond so you just you can uh well first of all you can’t imagine what’s the unfinished part look like because they don’t take you on that part in the tour but but you but you

Have to wonder a size of that castle cuz only like 10% of it was finished you know what you know what would this would look like if he had realized his dream and uh it would be a better tour than it is today and it’s a great tour today it

Really is it’s interesting to have a throne room that never got a throne one of the things that was really interesting is that the servants quarters upstairs were quite nice I mean that he really did take care of the servants there yeah that was it’s actually you’re surprised when you see

Him uh because they you know it’s clear that they were you know that they were taken care of and that was a good place thank you for listening to this episode of the history guy podcast we hope you enjoyed this episode of for gotten history and if you did you can

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