The Four Maddest Rulers Ever

Pope John XII

A sexually promiscuous pope, John XII was “elected” because his father, the Patrician of Rome, made his nobles swear that his son would become pope when the seat became vacant. He became pope at the age of 18 and quickly drove Italy into the ground.

A cardinal deacon named Benedict testified once that John XII “had been paid for ordaining bishops, specifically that he ordained a ten-year-old bishop in the city of Todi [a central Italian city]“. He castrated his cardinals and even toasted to Satan with wine. Eventually, John XII upset the Holy Roman Emperor Otto I and went to hide in some nearby mountains. He died in 964 AD – the cause of his death is unknown but it is rumoured that he was murdered by the husband of a woman he had been having a relationship with.

Elagabalus

Elagabalus came to power as the Roman Empire in 218 AD at age 14 in what was a very odd change of power. He was put in power by the same relative who would depose him in favour of his cousin four years later. Elagabalus was another sexually promiscuous leader who was most likely bisexual.

Image used by permission from Giovanni Dall’Orto.

Elagabalus married and divorced five women and one man. He also had a relationship with his male chariot driver. In an odd move, Elagabalus declared a relatively unknown “sun god” above all other gods and became High Priest of his new religion. These oddities angered the Praetorian Guard throughout his reign and made him an ineffective ruler. He was deposed by his guards in 222 AD.

Aurangzeb

Aurangzeb was the ruler of the Mughal Empire (what is now India and Pakistan) in the 17th century. While Aurangzeb oversaw the expansion of the Mughal Empire into part of Afghanistan and southern India, he was always focussed on military matters and almost bankrupted his empire. He also attempted to force Sharia (Islamic) law onto his empire, which was partly Hindu. This was met with much opposition.

Aurangzeb also favoured Muslims over non-Muslims during his reign. Officials were often appointed on the basis of their religion and, according to some, the emperor gave out cash and other bribes to converts. Aurangzeb also disliked many art forms and court musicians were not allowed to perform in his presence. Other cultural icons of the Mughal Empire were also destroyed by the emperor and allowed citizens to deface many architectural images he disliked.

Commodus

Many historians believe that Emperor Commodus’ reign marked the beginning of the end for the Roman Empire. Commodus came to power in 180 AD and in 191 much of Rome was destroyed by a fire. Commodus capitalised on this by declaring himself the “new Romulus” and renaming the city “Commodiana”. The months were renamed after the names Commodus had given himself over the years (all twelve of them), the Roman army was renamed “Commodianae” and the Roman people themselves were collectively renamed as “Commodianus”. He was killed in 192 and was declared a public enemy by the Senate the same year. However, in 195 Emperor Septimius Severus had him deified by the Senate to gain favour in Commodus’s family.