Most Humiliating Fate for a King/Emperor

[Exarch]

i'd jot mine down to
1) Vandal sack of rome (455) where the victorious vandals made sex slaves of the former empress Licinia Eudoxia and her two daughters.

followed closely by
mongol sack of baghdad where the ruler got rolled up in a carpet and trampled

[CtrlAltDe1337]

followed closely by
mongol sack of baghdad where the ruler got rolled up in a carpet and trampled

Thats the first thing I thought of when I saw this thread

[Exarch]

let us not forget the roman emperor valerian who got skinned and the barbarian warlord who skinned him had him made into a seat cover so he could sit on the 'late emperor'...
wait i got that wrong

[Juvenal]

Edward II of England in 1327 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_II_of_England).

Many English Kings have met sticky ends, but the death Edward II seems to have been particularly humiliating.

According to St. Thomas More

On the night of October 11 while lying in on a bed [the king] was suddenly seized and, while a great mattress... weighed him down and suffocated him, a plumber's iron, heated intensely hot, was introduced through a tube into his secret private parts so that it burned the inner portions beyond the intestines.

This account is actually supposition, but there was reason to believe it likely...

It was rumoured that Edward had been killed by the insertion of a piece of copper into his rectum (later a red-hot iron rod, as in the supposed murder of Edmund Ironside). Murder in this manner would have appeared a natural death, as a metal tube would have been inserted into the anus first, thus allowing the iron rod to penetrate the entrails without leaving a burn on the buttocks.

And as for why the King should be murdered, well according to Norman F. Cantor (In the Wake of the Plague, p. 75):

This savagery partly reflected hostility on the part of the Church and other opinion-makers to the king's homosexuality and his favoritism towards his young French male lover, but it also reflected the general malaise, anger, and pessimism of the new age of global cooling.

Also the rule of Isabella and Mortimer, who had forced Edward to abdicate in favour of his 15 year old son, was too precarious to allow the deposed king to remain alive.

[Dracula]

Edward II of England in 1327 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_II_of_England).
On the night of October 11 while lying in on a bed [the king] was suddenly seized and, while a great mattress... weighed him down and suffocated him, a plumber's iron, heated intensely hot, was introduced through a tube into his secret private parts so that it burned the inner portions beyond the intestines.

Looks like the english got the prize for cruelty and barbarism. All others seem to have been humiliated dead,or their remains. God,"the most advanced nation"...

[Markas]

Looks like the english got the prize for cruelty and barbarism. All others seem to have been humiliated dead,or their remains. God,"the most advanced nation"...

Well as I'm sure you probably don't know Isabella, his wife, was French...

[gaius valerius]

The funny thing about relating rulers to a nation is that in most cases they were foreign... :hmmm:

[Dracula]

Well as I'm sure you probably don't know Isabella, his wife, was French...

Yeah I know but the wiki article narrates that Edward was dethroned by the british nobility whom he opposed,and probably the verdict was given by them. Guess Isabella was also in.

[Stalins Ghost]

let us not forget the roman emperor valerian who got skinned and the barbarian warlord who skinned him had him made into a seat cover so he could sit on the 'late emperor'...
wait i got that wrong

It was the Sassanid Shah, not a barbarian warlord

More or less right, though it was rather he was used for a footstool, and upon his death, he was skinned and hung on his door

[Flavius Nevitta]

It was the Sassanid Shah, not a barbarian warlord

More or less right, though it was rather he was used for a footstool, and upon his death, he was skinned and hung on his door

We don't really know what happened. That starts with his capture and ends with his death (and what happened afterwards).

Shapor boasts of a great victory over the Romans under Valerian which is uncertain. even unlikely imho. Shapor usually avoided big battles with the Romans. He always attacked when he was sure to meet only minor opposition. Of course there's Roman and Persian "propaganda" concerning his capture. And of course the King of Kings would present even a minor engagement as a great glorious victory of his. The Roman accounts on the other hand vary greatly. It is more likely however that the Roman sources (note they're often not exactly friendly towards Valerian) hint into the right direction. Valerian's army fought several smaller engagements against raids along the Black Sea and was weakened by plague and logistic problems, the army is said to have been mutinous (seems to be true considering their later actions). We can't tell if Valerian was captured during negotiations (like the most pro Roman sources say) or in a minor engagement (like others state), one source even says Valerian fled from his forces and was captured (unlikely considering Shapors later actions imho). Fact is Shapor captured him.

Shapor'S own number of 70.000 defeated Romans can't be true however, as the the eastern army seems to be more or less intact after Valerian's capture. At least 40.000 men of Valerian's army join the Macriani on their march west. Some stay with Macrianus other son, many are under the command of Odhaenatus of Palmyra and fight Shapor. The 2 egyptian legions appear in Egypt. That leaves only few chances for high losses in a battle with Shapor considering that the army already had suffered severe losses due to a plague and fights along their route to Armenia.

Shapor wanted ransom for Valerian but Macrianus refused (being in open rebellion now) and Gallienus could not get his father back because he had lost control of the east to Macrianus and because it would have brought a bad light on the dynasty he tried to establish. An emperor is victorious, felix, and protected by the gods...something Valerian obviously wasn't anymore...he would have been considered as bringing bad omens for the empire and Gallienus did not try to get him back but removed him from the imperial coinage and titulature.

What happened later is uncertain. Lactanz wrote the story of how he was used as a footstool and later stuffed in "De Mortibus Persecutorum". A work made to show how cruel the christian god punished the enemies of Christianity. he was writing later with this certain purpose in mind, so it's more likely that he made it up because no one really knew what happened to Valerian. Usually this was not the way to treat a high hostage. It is more likely that Shapor either kept him somewhere until his death (he was quite old by then anyway) or had him killed after he got a negative response from the Roman officials.

[jermagon]

Maybe the fate of Al-Musta'sim the last Abbasid caliph,when Baghdad fell to the mongols,they wrapped him in a rug and trampled him to death with their horses.
or the fate of Al-sa'eed the Ayyubid Sultan of Meyafarqeen,he was captured by Hulagu,who ordered his men to starve him for 4 days,after they passed he ordered them again to cut from his own flesh and feed him

[Stavroforos]

Heraklonas and pour ol' Romanos IV.

[Exarch]

Heraklonas and pour ol' Romanos IV.

pls expound on wht happened to poor old romanus IV

[pannonian]

i'd jot mine down to
1) Vandal sack of rome (455) where the victorious vandals made sex slaves of the former empress Licinia Eudoxia and her two daughters.

I'd have thought you'd be more familiar with the Jingkang incident.

On the 19th of January, 1127, Kaifeng fell. Emperor Qinzong and his father Huizong were captured by Jin army and the Northern Song Dynasty fell.

On March 20, 1127 AD, Jin troops summoned the two captured emperors to their camps. Awaiting them was a directive from Taizong that they were to be demoted to commoners, stripped of their ceremonial trappings and Jin troops would compound the imperial palace. This was just the beginning of weeks of looting, rapes, arson and execution of prisoners of war and civilians.

According to the Accounts of Jingkang (靖康稗史箋證), Jin troops looted the entire imperial library and the decorations in the palace. Jin troops also abducted all the female servants and imperial musicians. [6] The royal family was abducted and their residences were looted. [7] All the female prisoners were ordered, on pain of death, to serve the Jin troops no matter what rank in society they had previously held.[8] A Jin general wanted Huizong’s daughter for his son, against the emperor's wishes. Later on, in an act of revenge, the emperor’s concubines were also given to the general’s son by Taizong. [9]

Taizong feared that the remaining Song troops would launch a counter offensive to reclaim the capital. Therefore, he made Kaifeng a small local center for the prefecture and ordered all the assets to be transferred back to Jin’s capital – Zhongdu (now Beijing) in the north. The prisoners would march back to the capital along with the assets. Over 14,000 people, including the entire royal family (except Zhao Gou) went on this “one-way” journey. Their entourage—almost all the ministers and generals of Northern Song Dynasty—suffered from sickness, dehydration and exhaustion, and many never made it. [10] Upon arrival, everybody had to go through a Jurchen ritual where the person has to be naked and wearing only sheep skins. Empress Zhu committed suicide because she could not bear the humiliation. Men were sold into slavery in exchange for horses with a ratio of ten men for one horse. Women were sold into brothels or offered for public bidding. Anybody could buy an “ex–royal” for less than ten ounces of gold.

[bushbush]

I'd have thought you'd be more familiar with the Jingkang incident.

On the 19th of January, 1127, Kaifeng fell. Emperor Qinzong and his father Huizong were captured by Jin army and the Northern Song Dynasty fell.

On March 20, 1127 AD, Jin troops summoned the two captured emperors to their camps. Awaiting them was a directive from Taizong that they were to be demoted to commoners, stripped of their ceremonial trappings and Jin troops would compound the imperial palace. This was just the beginning of weeks of looting, rapes, arson and execution of prisoners of war and civilians.

According to the Accounts of Jingkang (靖康稗史箋證), Jin troops looted the entire imperial library and the decorations in the palace. Jin troops also abducted all the female servants and imperial musicians. [6] The royal family was abducted and their residences were looted. [7] All the female prisoners were ordered, on pain of death, to serve the Jin troops no matter what rank in society they had previously held.[8] A Jin general wanted Huizong’s daughter for his son, against the emperor's wishes. Later on, in an act of revenge, the emperor’s concubines were also given to the general’s son by Taizong. [9]

Taizong feared that the remaining Song troops would launch a counter offensive to reclaim the capital. Therefore, he made Kaifeng a small local center for the prefecture and ordered all the assets to be transferred back to Jin’s capital – Zhongdu (now Beijing) in the north. The prisoners would march back to the capital along with the assets. Over 14,000 people, including the entire royal family (except Zhao Gou) went on this “one-way” journey. Their entourage—almost all the ministers and generals of Northern Song Dynasty—suffered from sickness, dehydration and exhaustion, and many never made it. [10] Upon arrival, everybody had to go through a Jurchen ritual where the person has to be naked and wearing only sheep skins. Empress Zhu committed suicide because she could not bear the humiliation. Men were sold into slavery in exchange for horses with a ratio of ten men for one horse. Women were sold into brothels or offered for public bidding. Anybody could buy an “ex–royal” for less than ten ounces of gold.

that summarized the latter part of northern song dynasty nicely.

[Ificratis]

When Crumus, capture the Byzantine Emperor and makes his head glass for wine.

[Erebus Pasha]

Yes advanced in the ways of death!

[NoFrag]

Yes advanced in the ways of death!

Yea exactly, like carpet bombing on cities full of civilians.

[Exarch]

wow, the sadism of human nature knows no bounds
fascinating no less tho.

@pannonian
me, that's intense.

[Captain Arrrgh!]

I've got one:
That emperor who thought he had new clothes, but went out nekkid.