Y'all need to be more realistic. Times are tough and money doesn't come easy. Money is money. You don't have to take up on that offer but you gotta respect the grind.
I'd say one of the worst is Charles II (the Bad) of Navarre who being extremely ill was wrapped in alcohol soaked blankets (a treatment used for his issues at the time) until one night a servant accidentally got a candle to close and he burned to death wrapped inside of a highly flammable cocoon.
It was his "maid", who had actually sawn these blankets around him. Instead to cut the remaining thread with scissors, she used candle to "cut" the thread. According to one version, the king had an ordinary cold (maybe flu), and his physician advised (prescribed) him the treatment with brandy-soaked cloth.
Charles II was one of those characters who appeared to get exactly what he deserved. He double-crossed or attempted to double-cross virtually everyone he ever made a political alliance with. During the One Hundred Years War he switched sides from England to France and back again whenever he saw fit to do so. He agreed to lead the people of Paris; who were in revolt against the nobility, but deliberately led them into an ambush by his own professional soldiers. He murdered numerous people; often by poisoning, and attempted on multiple occasions to have the King of France poisoned. He even attempted to have his own sister poisoned; or he succeeded in having her poisoned, but she survived, I forget which. In Charles view, his sister's crime was she was married to one of his rivals and was working for her husband's interests, and not his own. He was a real piece of work.
@@Kwolfx Thank you for veritable explanation. These details were unknown to me, but somehow, intuitionally, I felt that "higher" justice was served there.
Before I even finished reading all this I saw the "alcohol soaked blankets" and began laughing thinking what a dangerous idea. Only to bust out laughing then feeling bad for the poor guy that had to go out like that 😂😭
There is a little old lady out there saying she doesn't care what is taught in schools "Cleopatra was black!" Maybe we need more "Aktchually" nerds out there! Not less... not less!
Richard III died like an absolute beast, he fought his way to Henry Tudor and doing so unhorsed a jousting champion and killed his standard bearer, and was on the cusp of killing him before he was surrounded. I did read one thing wherein he was struck so hard on the head, that the helmet was driven into his skull. So he may have gotten struck on the helmet, and in pain he took it off or it impaired him in some way so he took it off.
@@Stoned_crow Not entirely so. His bones were discovered some years ago under a parking area and it was found that he suffered from extremely severe (though not debilitating) scoliosis. I can't recall if any other issues were visible in the bones but the curvature was obvious even to an untrained eye like mine.
Honourable mention to Constantine VI, Byzantine emperor from 780 to 797. When his mother, Irene of Athens, decided to take power she had Constantine blinded and imprisoned, where he died of his wounds. This led to Charlemagne's coronation as Emperor of the Romans on the 25th of December, 800AD. Pope Leo III (who tired of the Byzantines' antics) claimed that a woman couldn't be emperor and revived the title to take power away from Byzantium.
There were many kings at that time that died in horrible ways. My son remembered a past life as a very young king wo was poisoned at the age of 25, his father was murdered by three assins with daggers. As I researched , if there would be any ground to these memories, I found a king named Childeberd II, who suffered the same fate.
King John of Bohemia was an ally of the King of France at the Battle of Crecy in 1346. He was blind but still wanted to strike a blow in the battle. So he had some of his knights tied to him with rope so they could lead him into the fight. Of course he and all the knights tied to him were killed. But Edward the Black Prince was so moved by King John's courage and loyalty that he adopted John's insignia of three plumes and the motto "Ich dien" (I Serve) for himself. They are used by the Prince of Wales to this day
Medieval emperor Andronikos komnenos was killed by his hands cut off, boiled water thrown at him, hair and teeth pulled, eyes gouged and finally speared to death.
The war of the roses is the peak example to use whenever someone says they would love to be king. That was a war where nobility were literally dropping like flies. It was so brutal it served as inspiration for Game of Thrones.
@@stephenlitten1789The Anarchy (the war between Matilda and Stephen) inspired the Dance of the Dragons in the book Fire and Blood and show House of the Dragon (the war that took place 170 years before GOT).
Richard the Lionheart's death wasn't particularly brutal, but was leading a siege on a castle guarded by 12 French men in former English territory. His armor had to be repaired and figured there were only 12 men, he wouldn't need armor. So as he climbed the ladder over the wall, a young guard shot him in the chest. He survived a few more days before succumbing to the wounds, but ordered the french man brave enough to try to kill a king be spared. He was executed after Richard died.
The brutal part came from Richard's surgeon completely botching the operation and mangling him further. And the poor lad who shot him was flayed alive by the king's mercenaries... They were not happy about losing a good paying employer and the leader of that group was a dear friend of Richard. There are several names for this young fellow, but I've always known him as Pierre Basile.
Sorry, but that's not true. He was not killed while storming the castle, he was more than two hundered yards away from the castle, a distance he (and others) considered safe, when he was hit by the quarrel.
@@barbarossarotbart 200 yards is a helluva shot. From my understanding, modern crossbows have difficulty hitting targets passed 50 yards with trained users. While a bolt could definitely travel that far, actually hitting Richard seems improbable. While double-checking, I also heard a story that the English knights were standing closer and deflecting bolts with a frying pan and that's what hit Richard. Regardless of Richard's positioning, since it seems there're a number of stories and we don't know which one is true, he definitely deserves an honorable mention in Metatron's list.
One small point: It's a Tudor-propagated myth that the Wars of the Roses ended at the Battle of Bosworth. In reality the Battle of Bosworth did not bring the fighting to an end. The Battle of Stoke took place in 1487, two years after Bosworth, when the Yorkist Earl of Lincoln, with a mixed army of English, Irish and Germans, invaded England and won a victory at Tadcaster before being defeated at Stoke Field. This battle marked the real end-point of the wars.
You forgot to mention King Harold who in the earliest sources of the Battle of Hastings did not get an arrow to the eye but instead was set upon by Normans who may or may not include Duke William, and was first stabbed with a spear, beheaded, disemboweled and even castrated.
Baldwin IV's death was pretty horrendous, though not from an event as it were but from leprosy. Metatron, you should do a series of these. Maybe a set from each time period.
Interesting ones. If you're doing a second part you must talk about Phillip I "The Beautiful", husband of Juana I from Castile the tradition says that he was playing Vasca ball on a cold day. He got hot and sweaty and wanted to drink... a glass of cold water, so ha catched a cold that went so bad that he died spitting blood. Some people even thought that he was poisoned by his wife's father, king Fernando II of Aragón. Another one was Fávila, second king of Asturias who died when he was on a hunting for a bear... and the bear hunted him. Thanks for your vids pal, great work.
Local nominate : Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy. He had the genius idea of besieging my home town in winter with the shadow of an army that had already been defeated in Switzerland, while being severely outnumbered by a coalition of Swiss, Germans, Lorrainers and other paid by France, making the battle one-sided. After falling from his horse, he tried begging a soldier for mercy, saying he was the Duke of Burgundy so capturing him alive would mean a huge ransom. Lack of luck, the soldier was half deaf and thought he was cheering for the Duke of Burgundy, so he killed him with his halberd, one heavy blow to the head. Some sources mention his body was left on the battlefield to be eaten by wolves, his body only recognised with the face half-eaten.
The "half deaf soldier" part is totally false ! Charles was betrayed by René of Lorraine, cutting Low Countries from Burgundy. Now Lorraine deserve to be a small region, with a good French puppet name "Grand Est". Glory to Burgundy ❌
I just heard that if you were captured by the Swiss, be you a Peasant, Farmer, Noble or King, you'd be treated the same, because titles hold no value there.
A famous saying, handed down through generations - notes the losses of Charles the Bold: “In Grandson he lost his goods - in Murten he lost his courage and in Nancy he lost his blood.”
Edmund Ironside, or Edmund II is most often depicted as having died in 1016 from being stabbed on the privy by Eadric Streona. It was most likely was a dramaticized version of events, he could have easily have just succumbed to the wounds he sustained during the Battle of Assandun just a month prior. However, the legend of his death has seeped into modern day media, most notably the death of Tywin in Game of Thrones. Edmund was only 26 years old and it was a tragedy he couldn't see England flourish under both his and Cnuts rule.
You know Metatron, as a Spanish I thought you'll explore deaths from other countries, but the British almost monopolize the video XD As an example of a death in battle, I think the death of Peter II of Aragon is the most epic. It was at the Battle of Muret in 1213. The king wanted to prove his courage so he interchanged his royal armor with one of his knights. On the other hand, his enemy Simon of Monfort wanted him dead so he commanded a group of knights for killing him specifically. They succeded ignoring that the king wasn't their victim, but when they were celebrating Peter II abandoned his ranks and wore off his helmet shouting "Here is the King!". According to sources he was then sorrounded and killed after fighting bravery and even killed some of Monfort's knights.
@@neoaliphant maybe I did not explain myself xD I was trying to say that I'm Spanish, not him. I know Raffaello is Italian xD Sorry for my terrible grammar.
Yeah I thought the same thing as a French. We had Louis III, Philippe 1.5, Charles VIII, and half of the Merovingian kings who died in terrible ways. But the only French king he talks about is not evn from the Middle Ages. Also, I know no king died during the vent, but the Erfurt latrine disaster may have been a "fun" story to tell
Having at least one of those Scottish Kings was needed. Losing the king is significant, and it happens that the King of Scots died in battle on more than one occasion. James II and James IV are very noteworthy examples of kings dying in battle.
King Magnus Barelegs, grandson of Harald Hardrada (yes the 1066 Harald), was much like his grandfather. He spent the majority of his life expanding Norwegian rule in the borderlands of Sweden, and conquering the Irish sea. While attempting to conquer Ireland, he was ambushed by Ulstermen who betrayed him, during the brutal and desperatr fighting a javelin pierced his thighs, which he proceded to break in two to move his legs again. A bit later an irish axeman ran up and struck Magnus in the throat, brutally ending the ambitious Kings life. He would also remain the last Norwegian king to die on the field of battle.
"The last Norwegian king to die on the field of battle". You must mean outside Norway. Because the 12th century was pretty much non-stop civil war in Norway. Lots of kings and pretenders died in battle. Inge I Haraldsson, Haakon II Herdebrei, Magnus V Erlingsson etc. Being king of Norway then was the most certain way to die young. Haakon II was killed in a sea battle very close to where I write this. He was 15 years old if I remember correctly. I don't think Magnus Barelegs tried to conquer Ireland for himself. Maybe a small part of it. He was allied with Muircheartach, who agreed to marry his daughter to Magnus' son Sigurd. His goal was probably mostly to keep the Orkneys, the Hebrides and Isle of Man under Norwegian rule, so he built a castle that still stands on the Isle of Man and used it as his base. For that goal, he needed allies: Muircheartach in Ireland and Gruffudd ap Cynan (who he helped become king of Gwynedd) in Wales. Snorri Sturluson explained his nickname in Heimskringla (written in the1220s) : Magnus and his men were dressed in the Irish fashion at the time. This is mostly seen as the first literary reference to kilts.
One of the worst lives of any noble was the one of bohemian duke Jaromír. First he was castrated by Boleslavs (his older brother) men and then spent several years in hiding because his older brother exiled him. Boleslav eventually neded up in jail so Jaromír returned to Bohemia, but then Boleslav got out and Jaromír went to exile again. After some time Boleslav was dethroned and Jaromír returned as a duke of Bohemia. He ruled several years but then his jounger brother Oldřich decided to take the throne for himself. When Jaromír tried to escape to Germany, he was captured and held in polish prison for more than two decades. Then Oldřich was dethroned and Jaromír returned to Bohemia (you propably started seeing a pattern here). When he finally became the duke of Bohemia again Oldřich suddently returned and ordered his men to blind Jaromír. But that wasnt enough. He also sent an assasin to take him out. One night when Jaromír was taking a dump, the assasin sneaked under the latrine and ended Jaromírs life for good.
Life of one the early Bohemian dukes was really interesting. Jaromír had 2 brothers, who were really into becoming leaders of the country, so they blinded Jaromír and even cut off his balls. He eventually became a duke, but died of one of the the worst deaths imaginable. One of his brother tried to exterminate another house, but was not fully successful. The house hired an assassin, who waited in Jaromir's latrine and stabbed him with a spear...penetrated Jaromír from the bottom.
The Swedish king St. Eric IX was beheaded and then hacked to pieces at the gate of the Oldest Uppsala church on May 18, 1160. And he was not even given time to defend himself when he left the church after the mass, because Eric's worst rival, Magnus II, was waiting at the door and killed him with one blow. It was a very sudden surprise death according to the Eric Chronicle, the Legend of St. Eric and his earthly remains.
In a similar light: King Henry VIII had an elder brother, Arthur, who died young paving the way for Henry to go from spare to heir. He had something called sweating sickness and while his wife Catherine recovered he died from it 5 months after their marriage. Henry later married his brother's widow. England nearly had a legit king Arthur on the throne. Too many custards? That's what killed a king of Sweden after having 14 of em. Though they were more like pastries, but still. Death by dessert.
King Charles III's given names are Charles Philip Arthur George. He could have chosen to rule as King Arthur if he'd thought anybody would take him seriously. (There was actually speculation before he became king that he'd take the name George VII, Charles not being a very auspicious name for a king, but he took the sensible option in the end.)
I watch tons of videos and I can conclusively say that Metatrons delivery, style , call it what you will is superb. I just love listening to him. His historical insights are fantastic.
It wasn't a king, only a count, but our count Jaromir was neutered at first, then blinded ten years later and then pierced through his arse in the lavatory another ten years later. Very hard life.
As a Suffolk man, I propose the death of King Edmund. He was captured by Vikings, tied to a post and shot to death with arrows before being decapitated. His head and body thrown into the river. According to legend a Wolf stood guard over his still crowned head until his followers could recover his remains. When King Canute (Knut) ascended the throne he elevated King Edmunds (now st Edmund, patron saint of England) sanctuary and built a splendid Abbey to house his remains. The town was renamed at some point to St Edmundsbury or Bury st Edmunds. The Abbey became one of the most important in Europe with the local Bishops becoming subservient to the Abbot who answered to the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Abbey is the location where the Magna Carta was drawn up. The remains of the King are still not clear as they went missing during the reformation. It is currently believed he may be located under the Tennis Courts in the Abbey Gardens. An extensive archaeological dig is underway to find him. The town still sports the image of st Edmund everywhere. It is common to see a Wolf standing over a severed head on signs. The roundabouts in the town centre have a depiction of st Edmund being shot to death with arrows with another the wolf guarding his head.
Boris the Second of Bulgaria had a really sad way to go, he was captured by the Romans and when he managed to escape and return to Bulgaria (the Empire was under control of very strong figures, however he was the rightful Emperor) a Bulgarian guard saw the Roman clothes and shot him, thinking him to be one.
Hi! Spanish here, specifically from the northern region of Galicia. I just wanted to say that round here lampreys have been eaten for a long time, being considered a delicacy nowadays. I tried it twice and I gotta say that the thing is ugly as a wart but is really tasty. About lamprey being poisonous, all I could find is a variety from the Caspian Sea that needs to be prepared correctly in order to be safe to eat. The river lampreys we got on these parts are perfectly fine and so seems to be the ones found in England, so the food poisoning of Henry I is likely to be... a food poisoning, for the lamprey he ate being in a bad state, not for the lamprey itself. Like, really, if the lampreys we got here were poisonous half the galicians would be dead by now, and despite search it for a looooong while due to the paranoia this video generated on me I couldn't find a single mention of having to prepare the river lamprey in a certain way, in fact, when I ate it, It was homemade, not in a specialized place or something.
Not only was Richard III killed in a gruesome way, his body afterwards was mutilated and displayed in a tavern, and buried in a place that 300+ years later would become a parking lot.
Richard the third is THE king, he died like a bad ass. He was apparently a well appreciated king (not hard considering his brother was a middle tier one. He's truly immortal because Shakespeare's play, which is technically a '' bad'' to represent him is still being played in theaters. Plus why having a good reputation when you can have the title of being considered as one if not the worst (in badness and evilness) king of England.
There's this line in The Tudors where Francis I tells young Anne Boleyn that, could he choose again, he would never choose to have been born a king because 'it is far more difficult to have everything, than it is to have nothing'. Always thought this was the best summary of the entire show.
There's also an entire list of kings who died from horseback riding accidents alone on Wikipedia ("List of horse accidents") as well as UnofficialRoyalty ("Royal Deaths from Horse Accidents"). My 13-year-old friend died in a horseback riding accident when I was 15. It's a quick, but gruesome way to go.
There was a French king that died when he hit his head on the lintel of a door after chasing a girl while on horseback. Also, some 600 years later, another French king (Charles VIII) died a similar way.
@@CiroMastino Yeah, my friend passed away in a freak accident as well. She was riding an OTTB (Off the Track Thoroughbred) gelding that she had rescued and retrained, but which she had been having trouble with since summer. I had asked her if she needed help with her horse, but she insisted that he was fine, and "just being stubborn". It turned out the horse had a back injury that had been either undisclosed, or never caught. Next March, we were at a riding clinic, and it was muddy. The horse, having severe back pain, reared up, slipped in the mud, fell and crushed her - not once, but twice. The force of the horse's weight was so much that her helmet shattered into pieces. She initially survived, but died due to severe brain hemorrhage and bleeding. She was airlifted to a hospital, pronounced brain dead, and taken off life support within 24-48 hours. The horse was then permanently retired, and sent to a ranch out West to live as a pasture pet, as he was no longer suitable to ride due to a spinal cord injury.
I recall that in South India it was custom that the king has to kill himself by cutting piece by piece or that anybody could claim the throne during a ritual when a lot of contestants had to fight each other and the royal guard and kill the king. Also, in Nubia (the southern neighbour of Egypt), as far as I know, it was for some time custom that the king was executed
@@danieleyre8913 Defiance of Richard Lionheart is treason. However, I am American, so treason toward English kings is sacrament. Slander freely, peasant.
@@danieleyre8913 If you're using Thomas More and Shakespeare as primary historic sources you may have some trouble backing that up. List the "murders" and let's see how they measure up.
@@danieleyre8913 At this point no one has conclusive evidence to hold that as fact or not as fact. King Charles may be willing to allow another examination of the bones in the Abbey. Carbon dating and DNA will likely be able to establish their identity and at least answer some important questions.
William II was considered wicked by the church as it was likely he was homosexual; 44 year old King of England who for some reason never married or even had any children, legitimate or otherwise. His younger brother happened to be in Winchester and collected the crown of England, rushed to London and got crowned before the Archbishop of Canterbury could arrive.
Friedrich Barbarossa came to my mind: he took part in the Third Crusade, tried to cross the river Selef in Anatolia on horseback, somehow got himself unhorsed, and drowned. Must have been quite the humbling last experience for someone who had been "larger than life" in his day.
I think the worst death was of king Aila of Northumbria(i'm not really sure how to spell his name) that supposily was executed by vikings, that performed a blood eagle on him. I'm not entirely sure if that was confirned by historians but I found a few sources that say that it actually happened.
I wonder if Henry I ‘s death via lamprey wasn’t an easy way out for him, considering at this point most of the hard work to secure his reign & succession was (literally) dashed on the rocks with his son.
I would say one of the most brutal deaths of a king or equivalent would have to be al-Musta'sim caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate. man got rolled up in a rug then got trampled to death by mongols after the siege of Baghdad. Reason why the Mongols didn't just behead him or kill him with something sharp and pointy is because they believed that spilling royal blood is a taboo
Not a death, but in my opinion an even worse fate. The name of this king was Magnus IV Sigurdsson, king of Norway from 1130-1135. He lost a civil war against his uncle (Harald Gille), who almost definitely wasn’t his uncle. But anyway when he was captured, he was castrated, blinded and mutilated and somehow didn’t die. He was then shipped off to a monastery to live out his days, however he was embroiled into another civil war, were he finaly died in a battle.
Harald Hardrada, his ancestor, blinded and castrated the Emperor of Byzantium (forgot his name) after he was improsoned by said Emperor then freed by rebeling Varangians & civilians.. and then was sent to a monestary.
This week i just learned about Charles II of Navarre who died after his doctor prescribed him to be wrapped in gauze soaked in brandy as a treatment, and one of his servants accidentally (or not) set him on fire
my favorites are Hungarian house of Arpad, where the king let blinded all his concurrents. Sometimes it happened that even after that the poor kid guy became the king like Bela the blind. Jaromir of Czech house of Premysel, at first castrated, then blinden and even after that murdered.
Magnus IV "The Blind" is a fun example from Norway. Blinded, castrated, amputated and put in a monastery! Impressively he survived, returned and tried to reclaim his throne. He was later impaled to death.
Well, King Coloman of Hungary (yeah the book-learned one, ect.) had a frightful death as his brain matter was pulled out of his head by the skilled doctor(s) he employed to cure him. Died in bed, but, oh well, not that peacefully. He postulated rater early on that witches and spirits and vampyres dont't exist, yet "modern" medicine killed him in a rather brutal manner.
I’d rather be middle class or poor now than a king in the Middle Ages or Renaissance for the following reasons: modern medicine and vaccines, less chance of starving to death, modern instant entertainment like books on Kindle or Comixology/video games/television/movies, air conditioning or evaporative coolers, air travel, and finally muuuuuch better/more food choices.
Well at least Metatron's not losing his mind over misinformation this time. Also, could you do a video on historical leaders that were rather benevolent for their time and whose actions would hold up to modern standards if they actually could?
Wait until he finds out Kings never existed. And if they did, well...white supremacy tells lies, and every King of Europe (if they did exist) was black........so there. KLM !!!😂🤣😂
Regardless of manner of death, I think any king from that time would marvel at how most of us live today. Modern medicine, refrigeration, climate control, military advancement, all of it would surpass what they had.
Materially yes, but modern life is work, staring at screens and vacations. Medieval kings built Cathedrals that stood centuries, patronized artists and lead men into battle.
@@НилИванов-ж1ц yes, there are things that are objectively better about past generations but by any metric a larger percentage of people live above the poverty line than ever before.
People don't realize there's always a replacement nipping at the leaders heels. Kings weren't just given power. They had to have a large network of nobles to keep the peace
No joke Moldova had 4 guys that ruled them three times and 3 guys twice,a hungarian for 2 months and a gypsie(and son from a gypsie slave in wallachia) for an afternoon.
I will not talk about the shit show that was Wallachia,2 branches(Drăculeștii and Dăneștii) from the Basarab dynasty fighting with eachother the whole history tobsee who will rule
Some medieval kings deaths were horrible for the brutality, others for the humiliation. I wonder which of those deaths would be the worst case of brutality and unluckiness.
The truth is that being royalty/a ruler only REALLY got good by the modern era. And by then, people were already realizing they didn't need to put up with nobility anymore. And then being a noble gor ahitty again...
Please make this a series. HRE Emperors: Otto II died young from diarrhea. Henry VI killed his rival the would-be-king Jordan, by nailing a glowing-hot crown on his head - Henry died from Malaria (or poison) shortly thereafter. Konradin was beheaded by the Papal party. Adolf of Nassau was impeached, deposed and died in battle against his successor Albrecht I who was himself murdered ten years later. The murderers' were eradicated and their castles struck down, though. Jumping ahead a lot, there was Vaclav I, rightful heir and eventually crowned emperor, but he was not doing anything so the electors just deposed him on charges of "idleness, negligence and futility". He lived in rebellion against his succesors for the rest of his evil life. Hm, quite many of the HRE emperors might have died from poison, but mostly unproven.
Food poisoning is no joke. I caught salmonella from some bad fish I ate abroad. The sickness consisted of fever, severe joint pains, chills and the worst kind of diarrhea imaginable. Graphic detail: I passed BLOOD in my stool for three weeks and had severe stomach pains throughout on top of the other symptoms. And I could only eat food consisting of blueberry soup and hard bread and little else. Normal foods made me feel sick almost immediately and my apetite was pretty much absent. At least I had access to antibiotics, but it was not a "quick" cure.
Crazy enough, lampreys aren't actual eels, nor are they closely related to them. Despite being commonly known as the lamprey eel lmao Great video as always though!
@@ultimateshipper8997 Not really. Sharks, rays and eels had the same last common ancestor with the lamprey, which means they are equally unrelated to lampreys. Sharks are more closely related to eels (or humans, for that matter) than they are to lampreys.
Also John I, king of Bohemia, who fought and died at the battle of Crecy. He was blind and absolutely wanted to fight. He was on his horse, that was guided by some of his knights...
Try and beat this one! Andronikos I Komnenos. Tortured to death over a period of a three days after being handed over to the enraged mob in Constantinople. Remaining for that period tied to a post and beaten. His right hand was cut off, his teeth and hair were pulled out, one of his eyes was gouged out, and, among many other sufferings, boiling water was thrown in his face. Finally after three days of this torment, which he enduring quite stoically, he was hung up by his feet and two soldiers thrust their swords upwards into his innards. A very bad three days indeed.
Should do one on the riches people in history. Like the swedish Gabriel de la Gardie, during the 1600. He was so rich that he could go anywhere in Sweden, point to a random castle and say "I live there!" Until the king decided to reduce the wealth of the nobels and poor poor Gabriel could only keep 1/3 of his castle.... He even sent letters to the king begging to have some more returned to him because he could not live so very very poor.... Breaks your heart right?
Charles IV., Holy Roman emperor, had a hunched back due to a tournament wound that he suffered in his youth. We almost lost one of our greatest kings to that.
Montezuma had potato fields and he was a medieval king in a way. He was killed when a stone was flung at him by angry peasants while he was addressing the crowd doing the bidding of his Spaniard captors. The stone struck his head and he died of brain hemorrhage shortly after.
8:50 - Trebuchets had a terrible habit of blowing themselves apart every so often. So James II could have gotten impaled by a log from a trebuchet and not taken nearly as many castles…
Speaking of opulent palaces, I recently learned about Andrea Palladio. Sure, he's renaissance, not medieval, but holy smokes are his palaces insanely amazing!! You could do a whole video just showcasing his work!
Even more when you know Richard the Lionheart was killed by a crossbow during a siege. He was so eager to go to the frontline that he didn't bother wearing his armour.
@@Duke_of_Lorraine more then likely the armor would have still went threw his armor considering how powerful crossbows were compared to mail armor for example
@@The_Dodge_Meister this was around 1200, crossbow had just begun being used in warfare around 1000 so it may still have been a relatively light one, maybe lever-loaded instead of with a crank. Still, any armour gives better chance than no armour, and I expect a king (England was a backwater but Richard controlled much of France) to have the best armour money could buy. A few years later at Bouvines, his rival Philippe Auguste would survive a head-on charge on a spear wall thank to an early plate armour.
Richard III?? I mean, he was killed of course, but it was most likely sharp-force head trauma in his case. Not that that would be necessarily fun, but it was at least probably fairly quick. It definitely could've been A LOT worse for sure! I mean... at least he wasn't sentenced to the "Blood Eagle", or anything like that! I'd say that Louis XVI likely had the most painless death of all (guillotine). Ironically, it was probably less painful than death by lethal injection as we practice it today! Now, as far as the absolute worst way to go: that unfortunate prize must surely go to poor Richard II, who was locked away in a cell to slowly starve and dehydrate to death!☠️ His killers wanted to avoid spilling royal blood, so they simply allowed his blood to get thicker, and thicker in his veins as he died an agonizing death of thirst. To him, by the end, I'm sure a Blood Eagle sentence would've seemed merciful by comparison! Edit: Ok, I should've watched first!😂 Glad you covered Richard II! And Rafaello, where is your old Elgur-made arming sword? I remember your saying that your move to the United States required you to leave it behind, but that doesn't make any sense! How does leaving a land (Europe) where weapons are relatively NOT tolerated, and coming to a land (the United States) where all sorts of weapons ARE tolerated, cause you to have to leave your sword behind??? That was a nice sword, and I miss it!
Dear Metatron, I am Portuguese, lamprey rice is a traditional dish in northern Portugal and let tell you, it is freaking delicious…!! And another thing, sometime in the past year we had a judge challenging a chief of shock police squadron for an MMA match on account of some weird ruling… You are welcome… 😅😅
"People imagining being a king: I'm so incredibly rich"-- well allow me to introduce half the Hungarian kings who were almost always bankrupt or financed by their questionably loyal barons :D "Can you imagine a modern politician fighting in an MMA and winning?" I mean, on a whim, former California senator Arnold Schwarzengger comes to mind... :D
I really wouldn't mind if Metatron continued this series, with funny deaths from all sorts of people, like that guy who opened his helmet with a pistol and blew his own brains out by accident.
Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord And may perpetual light shine upon him May his soul Through Your mercy Rest in peace forever In the name of Jesus Christ Amen
My day is always instantly improved when I see a post of a new video from you! Better than that, the rest of my life is improved by the knowledge in it. Thanks!
There is also King Peter of Castile, called the Cruel by his enemies, and Just by his supporters, who was murdered by his bastard brother during a wrestling match. Oh, and his brother became the new king, but he was known ever hence as the Fratricide, the brother killer.
I can imagine the one artillery guy who managed to survive the explosion of the gun going "aw shit, methinks we might've blown up the king by accident"
You missed Edward 2 (of England) whose death was - according to the accepted version - literally a pain in the a..... Incidentally, I don’t think Medieval English peasants grew potatoes. Otherwise, gruesome but weirdly interesting.
Fleetcenturion, I agree with both you and Robin Steedon. Strangulation or suffocation are both easier and don’t cause external bleeding. Also the aftermath suggests that no murder had actually taken place. That’s why I’m pleased it wasn’t mentioned even though it’s a popular story. It seems to do wonders for tourism at Berkeley Castle, however.
Hero wars: you probably won't be able to find another player with the same team. Me who has never heard of hero wars: you probably won't be able to find another player.
Saint Edmund one of the first English Kings, before any united kingdom of England, during the start if the viking invasions was tied to a tree and slowly shot to death with arrows for hours till they eventually cut his head off finally killing him, his is a very interesting story for anyone interested he was also the first Saint of England Edit: Also surprised no mention of Ethelread the unready who was famously stabbed from inside the toilet by a viking Edit: 2 It was actually Ethelred the Unreasys son Edmund Ironside who died how I described thankyou for the correction Mr Mathew
@@oddglorfindel1106 Sorry to have to ask for clarification, but who was the father, who was the son, and which was tied to the tree and which was stabbed in a toilet? (I must be a little dim since I can't work it out even with corrections)
@@SheyD78 Saint Edmund was tied to the tree and Edmund Ironside the son of Ethelread the Unready was stabbed from the toilet, sorry to cause the confusion
"Can you imagine a modern politician fighting in an MMA cage?" No, but I can imagine one fighting in a boxing ring. It's how Canadian PM Justin Trudeau effectively announced his candidacy.
Install Hero Wars for FREE here ✅ clcr.me/Metatron_Apr23
and get a super chest with a secret hero! 🔥 Available for the next 30 days only!
Oh god no, plz no.....Nooooooooooooo!
I would rather you have Raid SL sponsorships, honestly.
Why would you accept the sponsorship of a company that partakes in blatant false advertisement?
potatos didnt exist in medieval europe
@@killerkraut9179 It was a joke, my liege. I said potatoes didn’t exist in the video response to Food Theory
Y'all need to be more realistic. Times are tough and money doesn't come easy. Money is money. You don't have to take up on that offer but you gotta respect the grind.
I'd say one of the worst is Charles II (the Bad) of Navarre who being extremely ill was wrapped in alcohol soaked blankets (a treatment used for his issues at the time) until one night a servant accidentally got a candle to close and he burned to death wrapped inside of a highly flammable cocoon.
Damn, that's some loony toons shit.
It was his "maid", who had actually sawn these blankets around him. Instead to cut the remaining thread with scissors, she used candle to "cut" the thread. According to one version, the king had an ordinary cold (maybe flu), and his physician advised (prescribed) him the treatment with brandy-soaked cloth.
Charles II was one of those characters who appeared to get exactly what he deserved. He double-crossed or attempted to double-cross virtually everyone he ever made a political alliance with. During the One Hundred Years War he switched sides from England to France and back again whenever he saw fit to do so. He agreed to lead the people of Paris; who were in revolt against the nobility, but deliberately led them into an ambush by his own professional soldiers. He murdered numerous people; often by poisoning, and attempted on multiple occasions to have the King of France poisoned. He even attempted to have his own sister poisoned; or he succeeded in having her poisoned, but she survived, I forget which. In Charles view, his sister's crime was she was married to one of his rivals and was working for her husband's interests, and not his own. He was a real piece of work.
@@Kwolfx Thank you for veritable explanation. These details were unknown to me, but somehow, intuitionally, I felt that "higher" justice was served there.
Before I even finished reading all this I saw the "alcohol soaked blankets" and began laughing thinking what a dangerous idea. Only to bust out laughing then feeling bad for the poor guy that had to go out like that 😂😭
Metatron actually hit us with the "ackhtuallyy" lmao
I mentally screamed no!!!
Lol!
There is a little old lady out there saying she doesn't care what is taught in schools "Cleopatra was black!"
Maybe we need more "Aktchually" nerds out there! Not less... not less!
That highlights the worst aspects of “history” nerds
Grisly and informative, just what I needed after woke. 👌✌️
Cracked gonna sue 😂
Richard III died like an absolute beast, he fought his way to Henry Tudor and doing so unhorsed a jousting champion and killed his standard bearer, and was on the cusp of killing him before he was surrounded. I did read one thing wherein he was struck so hard on the head, that the helmet was driven into his skull. So he may have gotten struck on the helmet, and in pain he took it off or it impaired him in some way so he took it off.
Pretty good fighter for a deformed man it seems.
Very brave man and could of won
@@DieLuftwaffelLancaster propaganda
There is a knick that was found on the chin bone of Richard III that suggests the leather chin strap was roughly cut to remove the helmet.
@@Stoned_crow Not entirely so. His bones were discovered some years ago under a parking area and it was found that he suffered from extremely severe (though not debilitating) scoliosis. I can't recall if any other issues were visible in the bones but the curvature was obvious even to an untrained eye like mine.
Honourable mention to Constantine VI, Byzantine emperor from 780 to 797. When his mother, Irene of Athens, decided to take power she had Constantine blinded and imprisoned, where he died of his wounds. This led to Charlemagne's coronation as Emperor of the Romans on the 25th of December, 800AD. Pope Leo III (who tired of the Byzantines' antics) claimed that a woman couldn't be emperor and revived the title to take power away from Byzantium.
leo was an idiot
Yeah, it was mostly the emotional aspect. Especially the fact he was blinded in the same place he was born.
There were many kings at that time that died in horrible ways. My son remembered a past life as a very young king wo was poisoned at the age of 25, his father was murdered by three assins with daggers. As I researched , if there would be any ground to these memories, I found a king named Childeberd II, who suffered the same fate.
Based Pope Leo III
@@DantesDarkside is it possible your son read this information before you did, and just recited that to you?..
King John of Bohemia was an ally of the King of France at the Battle of Crecy in 1346. He was blind but still wanted to strike a blow in the battle. So he had some of his knights tied to him with rope so they could lead him into the fight. Of course he and all the knights tied to him were killed. But Edward the Black Prince was so moved by King John's courage and loyalty that he adopted John's insignia of three plumes and the motto "Ich dien" (I Serve) for himself. They are used by the Prince of Wales to this day
Medieval emperor Andronikos komnenos was killed by his hands cut off, boiled water thrown at him, hair and teeth pulled, eyes gouged and finally speared to death.
The war of the roses is the peak example to use whenever someone says they would love to be king. That was a war where nobility were literally dropping like flies. It was so brutal it served as inspiration for Game of Thrones.
Kings were glorified mafia bosses then.
Wasn't even the first English Civil War. That was between Stephen and Matilda and got so nasty one of the Louis of France was invited to be king
@@stephenlitten1789The Anarchy (the war between Matilda and Stephen) inspired the Dance of the Dragons in the book Fire and Blood and show House of the Dragon (the war that took place 170 years before GOT).
@@jawo8754 Ta for that. The English have had a few civil wars, it's kind of hard to keep track
Richard the Lionheart's death wasn't particularly brutal, but was leading a siege on a castle guarded by 12 French men in former English territory. His armor had to be repaired and figured there were only 12 men, he wouldn't need armor. So as he climbed the ladder over the wall, a young guard shot him in the chest. He survived a few more days before succumbing to the wounds, but ordered the french man brave enough to try to kill a king be spared. He was executed after Richard died.
The brutal part came from Richard's surgeon completely botching the operation and mangling him further. And the poor lad who shot him was flayed alive by the king's mercenaries... They were not happy about losing a good paying employer and the leader of that group was a dear friend of Richard.
There are several names for this young fellow, but I've always known him as Pierre Basile.
I forgot about that part
The person who shot him wasn't even really a guard, he was a teenage son of one of the garrison that had already been killed.
Sorry, but that's not true. He was not killed while storming the castle, he was more than two hundered yards away from the castle, a distance he (and others) considered safe, when he was hit by the quarrel.
@@barbarossarotbart 200 yards is a helluva shot. From my understanding, modern crossbows have difficulty hitting targets passed 50 yards with trained users. While a bolt could definitely travel that far, actually hitting Richard seems improbable. While double-checking, I also heard a story that the English knights were standing closer and deflecting bolts with a frying pan and that's what hit Richard.
Regardless of Richard's positioning, since it seems there're a number of stories and we don't know which one is true, he definitely deserves an honorable mention in Metatron's list.
I have to say, great production value on this video Metatron, I really appreciate extra effort you made here. Loved the video!
Much appreciated and thanks for the donation!
One small point: It's a Tudor-propagated myth that the Wars of the Roses ended at the Battle of Bosworth. In reality the Battle of Bosworth did not bring the fighting to an end. The Battle of Stoke took place in 1487, two years after Bosworth, when the Yorkist Earl of Lincoln, with a mixed army of English, Irish and Germans, invaded England and won a victory at Tadcaster before being defeated at Stoke Field. This battle marked the real end-point of the wars.
Actually it was Richard IV who became King after Bosworth Field, and reigned for thirteen glorious years. Rowan Atkinson made a documentary about it.
You forgot to mention King Harold who in the earliest sources of the Battle of Hastings did not get an arrow to the eye but instead was set upon by Normans who may or may not include Duke William, and was first stabbed with a spear, beheaded, disemboweled and even castrated.
In the midst of battle? I think those sources overly dramatized it.
The king who one time too often said:"You want a piece of me?"
Probably
That what the British did to my ancestor, Crotty the robber in 1748
hopefully in that order!
@@willfakaroni5808 can only imagine why
Baldwin IV's death was pretty horrendous, though not from an event as it were but from leprosy. Metatron, you should do a series of these. Maybe a set from each time period.
I haven't studied much about Richard lll but he is indeed a king who fights his own battles.
“Let us now pell mell
If not to heaven, then hand in hand to hell”
Even Shakespeare wrote Richard III as a badass
Interesting ones. If you're doing a second part you must talk about Phillip I "The Beautiful", husband of Juana I from Castile the tradition says that he was playing Vasca ball on a cold day. He got hot and sweaty and wanted to drink... a glass of cold water, so ha catched a cold that went so bad that he died spitting blood. Some people even thought that he was poisoned by his wife's father, king Fernando II of Aragón. Another one was Fávila, second king of Asturias who died when he was on a hunting for a bear... and the bear hunted him. Thanks for your vids pal, great work.
@Bryan Villafuerte maybe... Fernando was the King who inspired Maquiavelo
Local nominate : Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy. He had the genius idea of besieging my home town in winter with the shadow of an army that had already been defeated in Switzerland, while being severely outnumbered by a coalition of Swiss, Germans, Lorrainers and other paid by France, making the battle one-sided. After falling from his horse, he tried begging a soldier for mercy, saying he was the Duke of Burgundy so capturing him alive would mean a huge ransom. Lack of luck, the soldier was half deaf and thought he was cheering for the Duke of Burgundy, so he killed him with his halberd, one heavy blow to the head.
Some sources mention his body was left on the battlefield to be eaten by wolves, his body only recognised with the face half-eaten.
The "half deaf soldier" part is totally false ! Charles was betrayed by René of Lorraine, cutting Low Countries from Burgundy. Now Lorraine deserve to be a small region, with a good French puppet name "Grand Est". Glory to Burgundy ❌
I just heard that if you were captured by the Swiss, be you a Peasant, Farmer, Noble or King, you'd be treated the same, because titles hold no value there.
A famous saying, handed down through generations - notes the losses of Charles the Bold: “In Grandson he lost his goods - in Murten he lost his courage and in Nancy he lost his blood.”
@@oof5020 the swiss were based, treating everyone equally regardless of social status
@@oof5020 Swiss were not innocents, they declared war first, stealing Vaud lands from their true owners
Edmund Ironside, or Edmund II is most often depicted as having died in 1016 from being stabbed on the privy by Eadric Streona. It was most likely was a dramaticized version of events, he could have easily have just succumbed to the wounds he sustained during the Battle of Assandun just a month prior. However, the legend of his death has seeped into modern day media, most notably the death of Tywin in Game of Thrones. Edmund was only 26 years old and it was a tragedy he couldn't see England flourish under both his and Cnuts rule.
I like to imagine that some poor bloke was hiding underneath the shite-hole and stuck Edmund up the arse with a spear or something
You know Metatron, as a Spanish I thought you'll explore deaths from other countries, but the British almost monopolize the video XD As an example of a death in battle, I think the death of Peter II of Aragon is the most epic. It was at the Battle of Muret in 1213. The king wanted to prove his courage so he interchanged his royal armor with one of his knights. On the other hand, his enemy Simon of Monfort wanted him dead so he commanded a group of knights for killing him specifically. They succeded ignoring that the king wasn't their victim, but when they were celebrating Peter II abandoned his ranks and wore off his helmet shouting "Here is the King!". According to sources he was then sorrounded and killed after fighting bravery and even killed some of Monfort's knights.
Whos, spanish, not metatron , hes sicillian....
@@neoaliphant maybe I did not explain myself xD I was trying to say that I'm Spanish, not him. I know Raffaello is Italian xD Sorry for my terrible grammar.
Yeah I thought the same thing as a French. We had Louis III, Philippe 1.5, Charles VIII, and half of the Merovingian kings who died in terrible ways. But the only French king he talks about is not evn from the Middle Ages.
Also, I know no king died during the vent, but the Erfurt latrine disaster may have been a "fun" story to tell
Having at least one of those Scottish Kings was needed. Losing the king is significant, and it happens that the King of Scots died in battle on more than one occasion. James II and James IV are very noteworthy examples of kings dying in battle.
@@albertwayne2323 don't apologise for your grammar. Your English is great. Far superior to my Spanish...😁
King Magnus Barelegs, grandson of Harald Hardrada (yes the 1066 Harald), was much like his grandfather. He spent the majority of his life expanding Norwegian rule in the borderlands of Sweden, and conquering the Irish sea.
While attempting to conquer Ireland, he was ambushed by Ulstermen who betrayed him, during the brutal and desperatr fighting a javelin pierced his thighs, which he proceded to break in two to move his legs again.
A bit later an irish axeman ran up and struck Magnus in the throat, brutally ending the ambitious Kings life. He would also remain the last Norwegian king to die on the field of battle.
"The last Norwegian king to die on the field of battle". You must mean outside Norway. Because the 12th century was pretty much non-stop civil war in Norway. Lots of kings and pretenders died in battle. Inge I Haraldsson, Haakon II Herdebrei, Magnus V Erlingsson etc. Being king of Norway then was the most certain way to die young. Haakon II was killed in a sea battle very close to where I write this. He was 15 years old if I remember correctly.
I don't think Magnus Barelegs tried to conquer Ireland for himself. Maybe a small part of it. He was allied with Muircheartach, who agreed to marry his daughter to Magnus' son Sigurd. His goal was probably mostly to keep the Orkneys, the Hebrides and Isle of Man under Norwegian rule, so he built a castle that still stands on the Isle of Man and used it as his base. For that goal, he needed allies: Muircheartach in Ireland and Gruffudd ap Cynan (who he helped become king of Gwynedd) in Wales.
Snorri Sturluson explained his nickname in Heimskringla (written in the1220s) : Magnus and his men were dressed in the Irish fashion at the time. This is mostly seen as the first literary reference to kilts.
One of the worst lives of any noble was the one of bohemian duke Jaromír. First he was castrated by Boleslavs (his older brother) men and then spent several years in hiding because his older brother exiled him. Boleslav eventually neded up in jail so Jaromír returned to Bohemia, but then Boleslav got out and Jaromír went to exile again.
After some time Boleslav was dethroned and Jaromír returned as a duke of Bohemia. He ruled several years but then his jounger brother Oldřich decided to take the throne for himself. When Jaromír tried to escape to Germany, he was captured and held in polish prison for more than two decades.
Then Oldřich was dethroned and Jaromír returned to Bohemia (you propably started seeing a pattern here). When he finally became the duke of Bohemia again Oldřich suddently returned and ordered his men to blind Jaromír. But that wasnt enough. He also sent an assasin to take him out. One night when Jaromír was taking a dump, the assasin sneaked under the latrine and ended Jaromírs life for good.
Jaromir bol defintivne najvacsi smoliar stredoveku, co sa tyka slachty
@@dafyduck79 To nepochybně
@Bryan Villafuerte Yeah, and they killed him from under the latrine
Life of one the early Bohemian dukes was really interesting. Jaromír had 2 brothers, who were really into becoming leaders of the country, so they blinded Jaromír and even cut off his balls. He eventually became a duke, but died of one of the the worst deaths imaginable. One of his brother tried to exterminate another house, but was not fully successful. The house hired an assassin, who waited in Jaromir's latrine and stabbed him with a spear...penetrated Jaromír from the bottom.
The Swedish king St. Eric IX was beheaded and then hacked to pieces at the gate of the Oldest Uppsala church on May 18, 1160. And he was not even given time to defend himself when he left the church after the mass, because Eric's worst rival, Magnus II, was waiting at the door and killed him with one blow. It was a very sudden surprise death according to the Eric Chronicle, the Legend of St. Eric and his earthly remains.
In a similar light: King Henry VIII had an elder brother, Arthur, who died young paving the way for Henry to go from spare to heir.
He had something called sweating sickness and while his wife Catherine recovered he died from it 5 months after their marriage. Henry later married his brother's widow.
England nearly had a legit king Arthur on the throne.
Too many custards? That's what killed a king of Sweden after having 14 of em. Though they were more like pastries, but still. Death by dessert.
The short-lived son of Henry VIII Queen Catharine of Aragon was also named Arthur.
Death my dessert? Better than death by being hung, drawn and quartered etc. Go out happy.
King Charles III's given names are Charles Philip Arthur George. He could have chosen to rule as King Arthur if he'd thought anybody would take him seriously. (There was actually speculation before he became king that he'd take the name George VII, Charles not being a very auspicious name for a king, but he took the sensible option in the end.)
Before watching : one Byzantine emperor died from internal blood loss after his testicles burst during a polo match. I wonder if he'll make the list.
Really?? 😂😂
@@berilsevvalbekret772 most likely not, he was just a decadent prick. His name is Alexander
What was his name? I've found a few deaths from polo to kings but nothing on that exactly.
I watch tons of videos and I can conclusively say that Metatrons delivery, style , call it what you will is superb. I just love listening to him. His historical insights are fantastic.
It wasn't a king, only a count, but our count Jaromir was neutered at first, then blinded ten years later and then pierced through his arse in the lavatory another ten years later. Very hard life.
stejná myšlenka o tragickém osudu knížete Jaromíra...
A series of unfortunate events indeed...
As a Suffolk man, I propose the death of King Edmund. He was captured by Vikings, tied to a post and shot to death with arrows before being decapitated. His head and body thrown into the river. According to legend a Wolf stood guard over his still crowned head until his followers could recover his remains. When King Canute (Knut) ascended the throne he elevated King Edmunds (now st Edmund, patron saint of England) sanctuary and built a splendid Abbey to house his remains. The town was renamed at some point to St Edmundsbury or Bury st Edmunds. The Abbey became one of the most important in Europe with the local Bishops becoming subservient to the Abbot who answered to the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Abbey is the location where the Magna Carta was drawn up.
The remains of the King are still not clear as they went missing during the reformation. It is currently believed he may be located under the Tennis Courts in the Abbey Gardens. An extensive archaeological dig is underway to find him.
The town still sports the image of st Edmund everywhere. It is common to see a Wolf standing over a severed head on signs. The roundabouts in the town centre have a depiction of st Edmund being shot to death with arrows with another the wolf guarding his head.
Boris the Second of Bulgaria had a really sad way to go, he was captured by the Romans and when he managed to escape and return to Bulgaria (the Empire was under control of very strong figures, however he was the rightful Emperor) a Bulgarian guard saw the Roman clothes and shot him, thinking him to be one.
Hi! Spanish here, specifically from the northern region of Galicia. I just wanted to say that round here lampreys have been eaten for a long time, being considered a delicacy nowadays. I tried it twice and I gotta say that the thing is ugly as a wart but is really tasty. About lamprey being poisonous, all I could find is a variety from the Caspian Sea that needs to be prepared correctly in order to be safe to eat. The river lampreys we got on these parts are perfectly fine and so seems to be the ones found in England, so the food poisoning of Henry I is likely to be... a food poisoning, for the lamprey he ate being in a bad state, not for the lamprey itself. Like, really, if the lampreys we got here were poisonous half the galicians would be dead by now, and despite search it for a looooong while due to the paranoia this video generated on me I couldn't find a single mention of having to prepare the river lamprey in a certain way, in fact, when I ate it, It was homemade, not in a specialized place or something.
Not only was Richard III killed in a gruesome way, his body afterwards was mutilated and displayed in a tavern, and buried in a place that 300+ years later would become a parking lot.
Richard the third is THE king, he died like a bad ass. He was apparently a well appreciated king (not hard considering his brother was a middle tier one. He's truly immortal because Shakespeare's play, which is technically a '' bad'' to represent him is still being played in theaters. Plus why having a good reputation when you can have the title of being considered as one if not the worst (in badness and evilness) king of England.
There's this line in The Tudors where Francis I tells young Anne Boleyn that, could he choose again, he would never choose to have been born a king because 'it is far more difficult to have everything, than it is to have nothing'. Always thought this was the best summary of the entire show.
There's also an entire list of kings who died from horseback riding accidents alone on Wikipedia ("List of horse accidents") as well as UnofficialRoyalty ("Royal Deaths from Horse Accidents"). My 13-year-old friend died in a horseback riding accident when I was 15. It's a quick, but gruesome way to go.
Happens a lot, even to experienced rider's often just freak accidents
There was a French king that died when he hit his head on the lintel of a door after chasing a girl while on horseback. Also, some 600 years later, another French king (Charles VIII) died a similar way.
@@CiroMastino Yeah, my friend passed away in a freak accident as well. She was riding an OTTB (Off the Track Thoroughbred) gelding that she had rescued and retrained, but which she had been having trouble with since summer. I had asked her if she needed help with her horse, but she insisted that he was fine, and "just being stubborn". It turned out the horse had a back injury that had been either undisclosed, or never caught. Next March, we were at a riding clinic, and it was muddy. The horse, having severe back pain, reared up, slipped in the mud, fell and crushed her - not once, but twice. The force of the horse's weight was so much that her helmet shattered into pieces. She initially survived, but died due to severe brain hemorrhage and bleeding. She was airlifted to a hospital, pronounced brain dead, and taken off life support within 24-48 hours. The horse was then permanently retired, and sent to a ranch out West to live as a pasture pet, as he was no longer suitable to ride due to a spinal cord injury.
@@SamLemont Theodoric, a late antique king was thrown from his horse and impaled
@@EyreAffair that is uh that is incredibly dark. Not sure whether to like that
I recall that in South India it was custom that the king has to kill himself by cutting piece by piece or that anybody could claim the throne during a ritual when a lot of contestants had to fight each other and the royal guard and kill the king. Also, in Nubia (the southern neighbour of Egypt), as far as I know, it was for some time custom that the king was executed
R.I.P to King Richard Plantagenet: a true warrior king who has been unjustly maligned by history.
Hmm not really. He still murdered his way to the throne.
@@danieleyre8913 Defiance of Richard Lionheart is treason. However, I am American, so treason toward English kings is sacrament. Slander freely, peasant.
@@danieleyre8913 If you're using Thomas More and Shakespeare as primary historic sources you may have some trouble backing that up. List the "murders" and let's see how they measure up.
@@lefantomer I’m not using either you named as a source.
He had his nephews murdered so he could ascend the throne. That is a fact.
@@danieleyre8913 At this point no one has conclusive evidence to hold that as fact or not as fact. King Charles may be willing to allow another examination of the bones in the Abbey. Carbon dating and DNA will likely be able to establish their identity and at least answer some important questions.
Friedrich Barbarossa also got a good one.
William II was considered wicked by the church as it was likely he was homosexual; 44 year old King of England who for some reason never married or even had any children, legitimate or otherwise. His younger brother happened to be in Winchester and collected the crown of England, rushed to London and got crowned before the Archbishop of Canterbury could arrive.
Friedrich Barbarossa came to my mind: he took part in the Third Crusade, tried to cross the river Selef in Anatolia on horseback, somehow got himself unhorsed, and drowned. Must have been quite the humbling last experience for someone who had been "larger than life" in his day.
Love this video! I'm pretty sure you could have enough material for a whole series of this.
It reminded me of Horrible Histories' Stupid Deaths!
I think the worst death was of king Aila of Northumbria(i'm not really sure how to spell his name) that supposily was executed by vikings, that performed a blood eagle on him. I'm not entirely sure if that was confirned by historians but I found a few sources that say that it actually happened.
His name was Ælle.
Me: "I wish I were a king..."
Metatron: "ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THAT?!"
I wonder if Henry I ‘s death via lamprey wasn’t an easy way out for him, considering at this point most of the hard work to secure his reign & succession was (literally) dashed on the rocks with his son.
I would say one of the most brutal deaths of a king or equivalent would have to be al-Musta'sim caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate. man got rolled up in a rug then got trampled to death by mongols after the siege of Baghdad. Reason why the Mongols didn't just behead him or kill him with something sharp and pointy is because they believed that spilling royal blood is a taboo
Not a death, but in my opinion an even worse fate. The name of this king was Magnus IV Sigurdsson, king of Norway from 1130-1135. He lost a civil war against his uncle (Harald Gille), who almost definitely wasn’t his uncle. But anyway when he was captured, he was castrated, blinded and mutilated and somehow didn’t die. He was then shipped off to a monastery to live out his days, however he was embroiled into another civil war, were he finaly died in a battle.
Harald Hardrada, his ancestor, blinded and castrated the Emperor of Byzantium (forgot his name) after he was improsoned by said Emperor then freed by rebeling Varangians & civilians.. and then was sent to a monestary.
This week i just learned about Charles II of Navarre who died after his doctor prescribed him to be wrapped in gauze soaked in brandy as a treatment, and one of his servants accidentally (or not) set him on fire
my favorites are Hungarian house of Arpad, where the king let blinded all his concurrents. Sometimes it happened that even after that the poor kid guy became the king like Bela the blind. Jaromir of Czech house of Premysel, at first castrated, then blinden and even after that murdered.
Magnus IV "The Blind" is a fun example from Norway. Blinded, castrated, amputated and put in a monastery! Impressively he survived, returned and tried to reclaim his throne. He was later impaled to death.
Loved this. Did a paper for college on Richard III. A much maligned and misunderstood king. Thanks for the videos you produce.
@Metatron You should look at early hungarian history. Hunting accidents (involving a boar), poisonings, assasinations, etc
Well, King Coloman of Hungary (yeah the book-learned one, ect.) had a frightful death as his brain matter was pulled out of his head by the skilled doctor(s) he employed to cure him. Died in bed, but, oh well, not that peacefully. He postulated rater early on that witches and spirits and vampyres dont't exist, yet "modern" medicine killed him in a rather brutal manner.
I’d rather be middle class or poor now than a king in the Middle Ages or Renaissance for the following reasons: modern medicine and vaccines, less chance of starving to death, modern instant entertainment like books on Kindle or Comixology/video games/television/movies, air conditioning or evaporative coolers, air travel, and finally muuuuuch better/more food choices.
Well at least Metatron's not losing his mind over misinformation this time. Also, could you do a video on historical leaders that were rather benevolent for their time and whose actions would hold up to modern standards if they actually could?
Wait until he finds out Kings never existed.
And if they did, well...white supremacy tells lies, and every King of Europe (if they did exist) was black........so there.
KLM !!!😂🤣😂
Regardless of manner of death, I think any king from that time would marvel at how most of us live today. Modern medicine, refrigeration, climate control, military advancement, all of it would surpass what they had.
Materially yes, but modern life is work, staring at screens and vacations. Medieval kings built Cathedrals that stood centuries, patronized artists and lead men into battle.
@@НилИванов-ж1ц yes, there are things that are objectively better about past generations but by any metric a larger percentage of people live above the poverty line than ever before.
People don't realize there's always a replacement nipping at the leaders heels. Kings weren't just given power. They had to have a large network of nobles to keep the peace
"Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown." From Henry IV.
No joke Moldova had 4 guys that ruled them three times and 3 guys twice,a hungarian for 2 months and a gypsie(and son from a gypsie slave in wallachia) for an afternoon.
I will not talk about the shit show that was Wallachia,2 branches(Drăculeștii and Dăneștii) from the Basarab dynasty fighting with eachother the whole history tobsee who will rule
Some medieval kings deaths were horrible for the brutality, others for the humiliation. I wonder which of those deaths would be the worst case of brutality and unluckiness.
If the subject can be extended to Queens, Mary of Scotland had a horrifically botched execution.
Possibly botched on purpose
Richard III gets a bad reputation due to Shakespeare (all post war slander) who died bravely in battle, like all ancient stories go.
Hey Metty, can you please make a video on how the bow and arrow warfare was gradually replaced by early muskets in Europe vs Japan. Please!!!
The truth is that being royalty/a ruler only REALLY got good by the modern era. And by then, people were already realizing they didn't need to put up with nobility anymore. And then being a noble gor ahitty again...
Please make this a series.
HRE Emperors: Otto II died young from diarrhea. Henry VI killed his rival the would-be-king Jordan, by nailing a glowing-hot crown on his head - Henry died from Malaria (or poison) shortly thereafter. Konradin was beheaded by the Papal party. Adolf of Nassau was impeached, deposed and died in battle against his successor Albrecht I who was himself murdered ten years later. The murderers' were eradicated and their castles struck down, though.
Jumping ahead a lot, there was Vaclav I, rightful heir and eventually crowned emperor, but he was not doing anything so the electors just deposed him on charges of "idleness, negligence and futility". He lived in rebellion against his succesors for the rest of his evil life.
Hm, quite many of the HRE emperors might have died from poison, but mostly unproven.
Food poisoning is no joke.
I caught salmonella from some bad fish I ate abroad.
The sickness consisted of fever, severe joint pains, chills and the worst kind of diarrhea imaginable. Graphic detail: I passed BLOOD in my stool for three weeks and had severe stomach pains throughout on top of the other symptoms. And I could only eat food consisting of blueberry soup and hard bread and little else. Normal foods made me feel sick almost immediately and my apetite was pretty much absent.
At least I had access to antibiotics, but it was not a "quick" cure.
Crazy enough, lampreys aren't actual eels, nor are they closely related to them. Despite being commonly known as the lamprey eel lmao
Great video as always though!
Yeah, they are more closely related to sharks and rays.
@@ultimateshipper8997 Not really. Sharks, rays and eels had the same last common ancestor with the lamprey, which means they are equally unrelated to lampreys. Sharks are more closely related to eels (or humans, for that matter) than they are to lampreys.
@@arnehenkler8391
Thank you for your correction.
I checked my sources but not carefully enough, it seems.
The death of Edward II was grim. A hot iron where the sun doesn't shine. Nasty.
Bro I been watching your channel for 6 years! Still putting out great content! ❤ keep up that great work
Thanks! Will do!
Also John I, king of Bohemia, who fought and died at the battle of Crecy. He was blind and absolutely wanted to fight. He was on his horse, that was guided by some of his knights...
Try and beat this one! Andronikos I Komnenos. Tortured to death over a period of a three days after being handed over to the enraged mob in Constantinople. Remaining for that period tied to a post and beaten. His right hand was cut off, his teeth and hair were pulled out, one of his eyes was gouged out, and, among many other sufferings, boiling water was thrown in his face. Finally after three days of this torment, which he enduring quite stoically, he was hung up by his feet and two soldiers thrust their swords upwards into his innards. A very bad three days indeed.
Should do one on the riches people in history.
Like the swedish Gabriel de la Gardie, during the 1600.
He was so rich that he could go anywhere in Sweden, point to a random castle and say "I live there!"
Until the king decided to reduce the wealth of the nobels and poor poor Gabriel could only keep 1/3 of his castle....
He even sent letters to the king begging to have some more returned to him because he could not live so very very poor....
Breaks your heart right?
I wish I could die hearing the sweet, sweet wisdom of the Metratron! The greatest and most awesome person to ever exist!!!!!
Charles IV., Holy Roman emperor, had a hunched back due to a tournament wound that he suffered in his youth. We almost lost one of our greatest kings to that.
I have a hard time imaging a medieval king having a field of potatoes.
But interesting video nontheless.
Yeah, I don't think Richard II had potatoes 😀 He missed them for almost 100 years.
Montezuma had potato fields and he was a medieval king in a way. He was killed when a stone was flung at him by angry peasants while he was addressing the crowd doing the bidding of his Spaniard captors. The stone struck his head and he died of brain hemorrhage shortly after.
@@ultimateshipper8997 Hmm, makes sense 🙂
I have to add - the parasitic eel is not an eel. It's atschualy a proto-fish.
Imagine dying being French, unfathomable
Gasp of shock in French!
Fr*nch 🤢
It's easy; just surrender, give up, doing those makes one truly French.
Mon dieux!
I don't know why, but this made me lol proper, hahaha
8:50 - Trebuchets had a terrible habit of blowing themselves apart every so often. So James II could have gotten impaled by a log from a trebuchet and not taken nearly as many castles…
Speaking of opulent palaces, I recently learned about Andrea Palladio. Sure, he's renaissance, not medieval, but holy smokes are his palaces insanely amazing!! You could do a whole video just showcasing his work!
I thought Richard II was thirsted to death. They just stopped giving him anything. And lack of water will kill you much faster.
Henry IV of England death was really bad too. He died of a skin disease that spread all over his body. Most likely psoriasis
Imagining a politician winning in a MMA cage....
"I'm standing here... And realized..."
i liked the crossbow shots to the dead kings and all. seemed funny to me imo
Even more when you know Richard the Lionheart was killed by a crossbow during a siege. He was so eager to go to the frontline that he didn't bother wearing his armour.
@@Duke_of_Lorraine oh god, not wearing armor while you pretty much are a noble is like winning a darwin award 🤣
@@Duke_of_Lorraine more then likely the armor would have still went threw his armor considering how powerful crossbows were compared to mail armor for example
@@The_Dodge_Meister this was around 1200, crossbow had just begun being used in warfare around 1000 so it may still have been a relatively light one, maybe lever-loaded instead of with a crank.
Still, any armour gives better chance than no armour, and I expect a king (England was a backwater but Richard controlled much of France) to have the best armour money could buy. A few years later at Bouvines, his rival Philippe Auguste would survive a head-on charge on a spear wall thank to an early plate armour.
Thanks!
Thank you!
Richard III?? I mean, he was killed of course, but it was most likely sharp-force head trauma in his case. Not that that would be necessarily fun, but it was at least probably fairly quick. It definitely could've been A LOT worse for sure! I mean... at least he wasn't sentenced to the "Blood Eagle", or anything like that! I'd say that Louis XVI likely had the most painless death of all (guillotine). Ironically, it was probably less painful than death by lethal injection as we practice it today! Now, as far as the absolute worst way to go: that unfortunate prize must surely go to poor Richard II, who was locked away in a cell to slowly starve and dehydrate to death!☠️ His killers wanted to avoid spilling royal blood, so they simply allowed his blood to get thicker, and thicker in his veins as he died an agonizing death of thirst. To him, by the end, I'm sure a Blood Eagle sentence would've seemed merciful by comparison!
Edit: Ok, I should've watched first!😂 Glad you covered Richard II! And Rafaello, where is your old Elgur-made arming sword? I remember your saying that your move to the United States required you to leave it behind, but that doesn't make any sense! How does leaving a land (Europe) where weapons are relatively NOT tolerated, and coming to a land (the United States) where all sorts of weapons ARE tolerated, cause you to have to leave your sword behind??? That was a nice sword, and I miss it!
Richard II: no potatoes. They are a New World item. (Picky, picky, picky)
‘T was a joke, my liege 🧐
I love your videos. You’re the man!!!!
Thanks!
Dear Metatron, I am Portuguese, lamprey rice is a traditional dish in northern Portugal and let tell you, it is freaking delicious…!! And another thing, sometime in the past year we had a judge challenging a chief of shock police squadron for an MMA match on account of some weird ruling… You are welcome… 😅😅
There is actually a later battle after Bosworth which concludes the War of the Roses known as the battle of Stoke field in June 1487
This video was hilarious. Nice change of pace lol
I'm surprised Edward II didn't make the list
I hear you.
Hot poker? 🔥 😂
"People imagining being a king: I'm so incredibly rich"-- well allow me to introduce half the Hungarian kings who were almost always bankrupt or financed by their questionably loyal barons :D
"Can you imagine a modern politician fighting in an MMA and winning?" I mean, on a whim, former California senator Arnold Schwarzengger comes to mind... :D
I'd pay to watch Trudeau and Putin slapping it out in the ring. Realistically, for most, that would fall under elder abuse.
@@givmi_more_w9251 But what is it when two elders abuse each other? O.o
The first king watched too many movies where the hero rides his horse alone against the enemy's army 😂
Or maybe he read too many epic poems and listened to too many bard songs. 😂
I really wouldn't mind if Metatron continued this series, with funny deaths from all sorts of people, like that guy who opened his helmet with a pistol and blew his own brains out by accident.
It's a shame that when Richard III's body was discovered he didn't recieve a catholic funeral but an anglican one🧐
Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord
And may perpetual light shine upon him
May his soul
Through Your mercy
Rest in peace forever
In the name of Jesus Christ Amen
What would it matter? Doubt he cared he was dead.
I want to be a medieval king with air conditioner, refrigerator, and penicillin.
Never heard about the death of James I before 😂 I wish you could make an entire video about that, sounds like an unusual death.
Fancy seeing you here ;)
@@danielweiss7396 Hahah yeah I love Metatron and watch a ton of his videos
My day is always instantly improved when I see a post of a new video from you! Better than that, the rest of my life is improved by the knowledge in it. Thanks!
There is also King Peter of Castile, called the Cruel by his enemies, and Just by his supporters, who was murdered by his bastard brother during a wrestling match. Oh, and his brother became the new king, but he was known ever hence as the Fratricide, the brother killer.
I can imagine the one artillery guy who managed to survive the explosion of the gun going "aw shit, methinks we might've blown up the king by accident"
You missed Edward 2 (of England) whose death was - according to the accepted version - literally a pain in the a..... Incidentally, I don’t think Medieval English peasants grew potatoes. Otherwise, gruesome but weirdly interesting.
Well the red hot poker story is likely apocryphal...
That was an urban legend, spread after his death. More than likely, he was strangled.
I was going to note that . . .
Fleetcenturion, I agree with both you and Robin Steedon. Strangulation or suffocation are both easier and don’t cause external bleeding. Also the aftermath suggests that no murder had actually taken place. That’s why I’m pleased it wasn’t mentioned even though it’s a popular story. It seems to do wonders for tourism at Berkeley Castle, however.
Hero wars: you probably won't be able to find another player with the same team.
Me who has never heard of hero wars: you probably won't be able to find another player.
Saint Edmund one of the first English Kings, before any united kingdom of England, during the start if the viking invasions was tied to a tree and slowly shot to death with arrows for hours till they eventually cut his head off finally killing him, his is a very interesting story for anyone interested he was also the first Saint of England
Edit: Also surprised no mention of Ethelread the unready who was famously stabbed from inside the toilet by a viking
Edit: 2 It was actually Ethelred the Unreasys son Edmund Ironside who died how I described thankyou for the correction Mr Mathew
I think you are confusing him for his son Edmund Ironside.
@@matthewlaurence3121 ah yes thank you for the correction just for clarity for people viewing your comment that was Ethelread the Unreadys son
@@oddglorfindel1106 Sorry to have to ask for clarification, but who was the father, who was the son, and which was tied to the tree and which was stabbed in a toilet?
(I must be a little dim since I can't work it out even with corrections)
@@SheyD78 Saint Edmund was tied to the tree and Edmund Ironside the son of Ethelread the Unready was stabbed from the toilet, sorry to cause the confusion
@@oddglorfindel1106 No worries, thanks for that!
"Can you imagine a modern politician fighting in an MMA cage?" No, but I can imagine one fighting in a boxing ring. It's how Canadian PM Justin Trudeau effectively announced his candidacy.